THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL
JUNE 6, 1938
BARRETT WILL BE A FUTURE 'STAR'
It is official. High school phenom Bill Barrett will sign with the New York Stars. The announcement, along with that of 31 other top prospects, was made this week as the next wave of future FABL players began filtering out to teams. It was the 18 year old Barrett, who was the National High School player of the year, that drew the biggest attention and with good reason. Many, including scouting guru Rufus Barrell, feel that Barrett can step directly from the high school ballyard to the bright lights of Dyckman Stadium and has been compared to Max Morris. The Stars have yet to confirm what level Barrett will be asked to report to when he officially joins the club later this month.
It was also a win for the Baltimore Cannons as they landed the second ranked player available in New York City high school second baseman Howard Rivers, who was a two time All-American selection. Baltimore, along with Detroit and the New York Gothams were the other two clubs in the running for Barrett and while the Cannons got a decent consolation prize in the 17 year old Rivers both the Dynamos and Gothams were disappointed with what they ended up with. Each will get a first baseman but it was not a position of need for either club. New York adds a local product in Port Jervis High Schooler Frank Bunch Jr., who's dad played 169 games for the Gothams in the early 1920s. Detroit ends up with Mississippi Tech 21 year old Red Evans but he will at best be the second most talented first baseman named Red in Detroit as the Dynamos already have young Red Johnson manning the position very nicely at Thompson Field.
Perhaps it is fitting that both Detroit and the Gothams missed out on the top guys this time around as the new lottery system was exceptionally kind to both a year ago allowing Detroit to nab catcher Pete Casstevens (later traded to the Gothams) while New York ended up with highly touted infielder Roosevelt Brown.
Other key announcements include high school pitching phenom Donnie Jones joining the Toronto Wolves. Jones was a 3-time Prep All-American at Minneapolis High Scholl and is the all-time leader in career wins and strikeouts by a high school pitcher. Jones' brother Johnnie is a former first round pick of the New York Stars. Pat Weakley is another highly touted high school arm and while he lacks the experience of Jones with just the one season of ball under his belt, the 17 year old from Lexington, Massachusetts has a bright upside that his new club - the Montreal Saints - hope will be realized. Weakley joined Jones on the All-American team this season.
KINGS CONTINUE TO SET CONTINENTAL PACE
A recent 13 game winning streak has allowed the Brooklyn Kings to open up a 7 game lead atop the Continental Association as they bid for their third straight pennant. The Kings have been red hot of late posting a 21-9 May record and entering last Friday's game in Cleveland had won 18 of 20. Brooklyn cooled off over the weekend losing two of three games including that Friday night contest on the shores of Lake Erie before moving on to Philadelphia and splitting a pair with the Sailors Saturday and yesterday.
The Chicago Cougars have overcome a rough start to the season that saw them drop 10 of their first 15 games before picking things up substantially in early May including sweeping a two game set in Brooklyn. However, the Kings got their revenge a week later by earning a road sweep of their own with 3 wins in North Side Park. That was a rough week for Chicago which also included a series opening loss to Philadelphia but since then the Chicago side has won 7 of 9 games and will get another crack at Brooklyn next weekend.
The hottest team in the Federal Association right now is the Pittsburgh Miners who have won 14 of their last 19 games and are slowly creeping back into contention after getting off to an 11-18 start to the season. The Miners took two of three from the front-running Detroit Dynamos last week in what was just the second series loss all season for George Theobald's boys.
it was a tough week against some good opponents for Detroit and while they only dropped a half game off their lead (which now sits at 5 games over second place Chicago) perhaps the cracks are starting to show. After absorbing a tough 2-1 extra inning loss in St Louis on Sunday which allowed the Pioneers to avoid being swept, Detroit returned home for a twin bill with the Chiefs on Monday. The two clubs split a pair of one run games with Elmer Nolde's (.304,5,21) walk-off homer off Jim Lonardo salvaging the night cap for Detroit. Next up was a trip to Pittsburgh for three with the defending Federal Association champs. They split the first two contests before Miners bats clubbed Detroit starter Stubby Beaman (4-4, 3.96) on getaway day. Detroit finished the weekend in Washington with a 10-6 drubbing of the Eagles on Saturday but then was embarrassed 18-4 Sunday when Dynamos starter Ron Coles (4-4, 5.12) imploded by walking 11 batters in less than 6 innings of work.
The 28 year old Coles is becoming a big concern in Detroit. Acquired from Chicago in the deal that sent Hank Barnett to the Windy City, the Dynamos had hoped they would be getting a solid middle of the rotation arm but Coles has been very inconsistent and at times looked like he had no idea where the ball was going. Yesterday was the second time this season the 28 year old issued double-digit walks in a game. The other pitcher Detroit received in the Barnett deal has also been a huge disappointment. Bob Walls was struggling in the spring and now doing the same at AAA Newark with a 7.71 ERA and has been moved out of the Aces rotation. Detroit still has a decent lead but there are plenty of concerns about the pitching staff's ability to continue to perform at the level required to still be in the race in September.
QUICK HITS
- Pete Layton(.417,6,26) of the Chicago Chiefs was named the Fed's player of the week for the second time this season. Layton's week would have been great if he only played Friday as he had 6 hits in a 10-9 14-inning slugfest with Washington. He was certainly not down there as the 38 year old sandwiched the 6-hit effort between a pair of 3-hit games and finished 20-for-32 on the week. No records exist but you have to think a 20-hit week ranks right up there with the greatest 7-day performances of all-time.
- It was a huge deal when Washington's Mel Carrol hit .409 last year and Carrol is off to another strong start with a .396 average so far this season but it will be downright amazing if Pete Layton can hit .400 at his age. Obviously Layton still has an awful long way to go but as the season approaches the one-third completed point he is batting .417.
- The arrival of Fred McCormick (.396,6,27) in Toronto must have rubbed off on 3B Nick Wallace (.412,1,31). Wallace went 16-for-25 this week to win the CA top player award. He leads the CA in batting in what is starting to look like a career year for the 30 year old. Wallace did hit .321 in 1936 but seems to have found a new gear this season.
- Yet another injury for George Gillard of the Washington Eagles. The 27 year old righthander blew out his arm and is done for the year in the latest in what has been a string of injuries to derail the career of the 1932 fifth overall draft pick. Highly touted out of Henry Hudson University and a top ten prospect at one point, injuries have limited him to just 10 big league appearances in his career and a 3-1 record.
- The Boston Minutemen organization is reeling with word that ace Dick Higgins (5-2, 3.96) will miss at least two months with more elbow troubles. Another great college arm, Higgins was selected 2nd overall in 1933 out of Dickson College and had an outstanding debut in 1935 with Boston, posting a 15-15 record and leading the Fed in K's. He wrecked his elbow midway through the 1936 season and missed a full calendar year before returning midway through last season and pitching like he did as a rookie. However, this second setback certainly raises some red flags in Boston and is disheartening for the club that recently added 22 year old John Edwards from Baltimore to fill out what would have been a pretty solid rotation. Edwards, by the way, is coming off his best outing in a Boston uniform as he threw a 1-0 5-hit complete game against Philadelphia for his shutout with the club.
- No surprise here for Miners fans. Mahlon Strong (.348,4,26) is hurt again. The immensely talented but all too often injured 29 year old is out at least 6 weeks after hurting his knee running the bases. Injuries limited Strong to just 29 games last season.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 06/05/1938
- Japan's air forces struck heavily at two centers vital to Chinese resistance: Hankow, the provisional capital and Canton, a southern city and key gateway for war supplies from abroad. The death toll in Canton alone after 4 days of raids is said to exceed 6000.
- An insurgent air raid near Barcelona killed nearly 500 civilians
- The US condemns the civilian deaths in China and Spain while in Britain the official opposition party demands that Prime Minister Chamberlain does something besides having England "hold up it's hands in horror."
- Two Germans were wounded when a Czech non-commissioned officer fired two pistol shots during a quarrel in a restaurant at Eger, the same location two members of the German minority were killed 10 days ago.
- Prof. Sigmund Freud, 82 year old "Father of Psychoanalysis" left Vienna for New York, telling friends he had been planning to leave ever since Germany absorbed Austria March 13th.