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Jiggs McGee · 08-27-2021, 10:45 PM

THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL

July 18, 1938

FORESTERS ADD .400 HITTER CARROL IN SURPRISE DEAL WITH STRUGGLING EAGLES

The Cleveland Foresters made a big move to reshape their aging roster and have found their long term solution at third base with acquisition of Mel Carrol (.370,7,67) from the struggling Washington Eagles. It was no secret changes were coming in Washington after the club's terrible play of late but dealing the 26 year old who hit .409 last season counts as a huge surprise. Finding offense has never been an issue in Washington but pitching has always been in short supply and the Eagles hope they have at least partially addressed that situation by getting Sergio Gonzales in exchange for their star infielder.

The 26 year old Gonzales is a polished 4 pitch starter who belongs at the front of any rotation and had gone 35-13 over the past two seasons. He was 8-9 with a 3.68 era for the Foresters this year and should slot right in at the front of the Eagles rotation. Interestingly, the deal unites Gonzales with Washington outfielder Moxie Pidgeon, for whom he was traded when Cleveland acquired Gonzales from the New York Gothams in 1935. The Eagles hope the move injects some life in to a club that appears to be close to receiving last rites. For the second year in a row Washington has stumbled out of the gate. Last year they entered July with a 26-42 record before a 55-31 second half gave fans plenty of optimism about this season. Sitting at 30-55 and in the cellar of the Federal Association this season has quickly eroded any hopes of contending this year and just like last season the blame falls entirely on the shoulders, well arms, of their pitching staff.

The move also saw shortstop Mel Hancock Jr. (.314,0,5) move from Cleveland to the club that just fired his father Mel Sr. as their manager 3 weeks ago. Cleveland gets a pair of minor league arms but it is clear the prize is Carrol, who immediately solves what has been a big problem for the Foresters at third base this year. Charlie Barry (.259,2,38) has picked up his play of late but it was painfully obvious the first couple months of the season that the 39 year old is showing his age and the man the Foresters had expected to replace Barry - 23 year old Hank Stratton - is clearly not ready yet after hitting .145 in limited action before spending some time in AAA Cincinnati in hopes of sorting out his troubles.

Gonzales was a big piece of the Foresters rotation but Carrol is an amazing hitter and likely was only available because there is so much pressure on Washington to improve it's woeful staff. The pain of losing Gonzales should be lessened for Cleveland as the club recently announced it had acquired veteran righthander Dave Rankin (5-11, 4.12) from the Chicago Cougars for a draft pick and a minor league arm. Rankin is certainly better than his record indicates but not at the same level as Gonzales. It seems to be a gutsy move by the Foresters but one that makes perfect sense as the franchise had some great success with a smooth swinging bat at third base earlier in the decade and Mel Carrol looks like the perfect replacement for Charlie Barry.

The Cougars made a second deal with a pitcher as they got together with the New York Gothams, who badly needed to make a move for a veteran arm in an attempt to shore up their leaky rotation. New York sent minor league shortstop Stu Stasny and a 6th round pick to the Chicago Cougars in exchange for 35 year old Oscar Morse (6-6, 3.55). Morse owns a 127-113 career record with the first 8 of his 10 big league seasons coming in a Philadelphia Sailors uniform. The Cougars grabbed him as a waiver claim prior to last season and he had an impressive 15-9 campaign for Chicago that season. Morse is considered a solid back of the rotation arm and will be counted on to add some veteran leadership and stability to the young Gothams staff.

ROUGH WEEK FOR DYNAMOS TIGHTENS UP FEDERAL RACE

Entering last week the Detroit Dynamos were the model of consistency as they had not lost more than two games in a row all season. That consistency was a big reason Detroit had built a decent lead in the Federal Association but all that changed last week. Detroit came out of the all-star break with a pair of wins over St Louis to extend their winning streak to 4 games and their lead on second place Chicago to 5 and a half games entering play last Sunday. The Dynamos then proceeded to drop six of seven and with the Chiefs on a 4-game winning streak to end the week the surprise team of the 1938 season is suddenly clinging to a 1.5 game lead on the Chiefs, who were widely favoured at seasons start to claim their second pennant in a three year span.

This marks the first real test for the Detroit side, who were playing with house money as, while they were expected to be greatly improved from their woes of the past few seasons, no one expected them to be in first place at this stage of the year. The big question is how do they handle the adversity of their first losing streak? Will Detroit rebound or is this the point that, as some have predicted, the Dynamos pitching staff wilts under the summer heat?

Meanwhile the Chiefs are finding their groove, posting a 27-12 record since June 3rd including wins in 10 of their last 13 games. The Pittsburgh Miners, who took two of three from both the Dynamos and Chiefs last week, are also heating up. They were a .500 ballclub as late as June 7th but since then have gone 23-12 and are just 4.5 games off the pace, tied with the St Louis Pioneers in what is now shaping up to be the tight, multi-team race that was expected out of the Federal Association.

The Continental Association sees everyone trying to keep pace with the Brooklyn Kings as the defending champs continue to reel off 4 and 5 victories a week and now lead Toronto by 10 games with the Philadelphia Sailors, who were expected to challenge Brooklyn for the title after taking them to a tie-breaker game a year ago, hovering just above the .500 mark. The Sailors did get a small boost last week by taking two of three from the front-running Kings at Sailors Memorial Stadium.

QUICK HITS

The career of former Allan Award winner Hardin Bates quietly came to an end recently when Bates suffered a career ending shoulder injury while pitching for San Francisco of the Great Western League. It was quite a ride for the 31 year old Michigan native that might have been over before it ever started as he was undrafted out of high school. The New York Gothams decided to take a chance on the then 19 year old Bates and signed him to a minor league contract prior to the 1926 season. It took a while for him to get to the big leagues but he certainly showed some signs of potential along the way such as a 15 strikeout game in Class B and at the age of 24 he finally cracked the top 100 prospect list. The Gothams promoted him to the big leagues that season (1931) and he went 10-6 in half a year helping New York reach the WCS. He would lose a pair of Series starts as the Chicago Cougars topped the Gothams in 6 games. Bates did finally get a WCS ring in 1935 but might have won another in 1934 had he not missed the end of the season and the Series with an injury. 1934 was the year of his career when Bates led the Fed in ERA and went 19-5 prior to his injury to win the Allen Award. Over a 3 year span from 1933-35 he was 53-24 but just 33-53 for the rest of his major league career that also included stops with the Chicago Cougars and Detroit before returning to the Gothams this season. He struggled in 4 starts prompting New York to release him last month and he caught on with the Sailors AAA club in San Francisco but his 8th game with the Hawks would prove to be the last of his career.
Great start to the Pete Papenfus era in Chicago. The Cougars eased the 20 year old in by giving him a pair of relief innings against the Sailors on Tuesday. He ended up giving up the tying run but the offense bailed him out and he was rewarded with his first career big league victory. On Thursday "Peter the Heater" made his first start and came up with a masterful performance, fanning 8 in beating the New York Stars 4-1 on a complete game 4-hitter.
Watching Papenfus pitch once again brings up the question why is Deuce Barrell is still in Indianapolis and not pitching in the big leagues? The 1935 first overall draft pick is 8-4 with a 3.12 era and is second in the Century League in strikeouts (trailing only Papenfus) despite spending the first month of the season in AA. Yet the Baltimore Cannons have not called him up. Red Johnson, who was taken right after Barrell in the '35 draft is doing just fine in Detroit and the third pick of that class, George Garrison has just been called up by Toronto. The Cannons are a bad team with bad pitching in danger of a fifth straight last place finish. Barrell looked pretty good in spring training and likely should have gone north with the team then instead of down to AA. He is 11-4 with a 2.83 era and a 160 ERA+ through 20 minor league starts and at the very least seems like a much better option that Howie Pike (0-3, 4.56) as the number four starter in the Baltimore rotation.
If the Cannons do beat the New York Stars in the race to the bottom of the Continental Association they will be the first CA team in history to finish last 5 years in a row. The Philadelphia Keystones finished last in the Federal Association 5 years in a row beginning in 1920. The Keystones also had 4 straight 8th place showings, same as the current Cannons run, from 1903-06 as did the pre-FABL 1881-1884 Washington Eagles franchise (then known as the Baltimore Bannermen). No CA team besides the current edition of the Cannons has ever finished last 4 consecutive seasons.
From the "Even when you make the right move things can still backfire" department. On Saturday, the Chiefs scored 4 runs in the 9th to beat the Eagles 5-2. The Eagles had taken a 2-1 lead with 2 unearned runs in the bottom of the 8th. The runs scored after an error by the short stop. Pete Layton? No--Layton's "defensive" replacement Bill White.
The Foresters are liking what they are seeing out Eli Harkless (.368,0,1). The 20 year old outfielder, who was selected 16th overall in 1935 went 0-for-2 in his first two pinch-hit assignments with Cleveland but since then had an 8 game hitting streak although he did come to an end yesterday. His play since coming up from Cincinnati has pushed starting right field Lou Balk (.289,6,25) to the bench. Another rookie, 22 year old catcher Ken Vance (.227,0,9) was given a few games to see if he can replace aging T.R. Goins (.250,0,23) or backup Mickey Patterson (.255,1,14) as the answer behind the plate. Vance was an 8th round selection in 1934.
Lefty Allen has reeled off 5 straight wins and is up to a 16-7 record with a 3.23 ERA, which makes him a big reason the Miners are challenging in the Fed.
The Chiefs have been throwing Sergio Vergara's name around in trade discussions the last couple of seasons but I expect they are glad he is still with the organization. The 22-year-old was just promoted to class AA Memphis after 97 class A innings with a 3.96 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and 6.6 K/9. Chicago Scouting Director Rube Carter was never really sold on him, but now he's "better than simple rotation filler."
3 of the Chiefs top 4 prospects are now in Memphis (Vergara, Chuck Adams, and Jim Alarie). Chicago could use some help in the outfield, and so there has been some internal debate over bringing up Alarie--who is the elusive right-handed bat--from AA. But the Chiefs brass worries that would be just too big of a jump for him. Outfielder Paddy Smith (hitting just .184) was sent down to Fort Wayne and Bobby Small was recalled to take his spot. Small hit .305 in 24 games for the Chiefs last season (and was hitting .387 in Fort Wayne). But he is--you guessed it--a left-handed bat. A number of teams in this league seem to have an abundance of lefthanders, both on the mound and in the batters box.
The Gothams are again preaching patience. The big club's rotation has been a series of inexperienced pitchers trying to find there way. Mostly with little in the way of positive results. Sure Nate Spear (22) has had some bright spots in an 8-8, 4.12 season, and Ernie Wise (26) and Earle Killebrew (25) have been hit or miss. Now the team is bringing in veteran Oscar Morse to show the kids how it's done. All of this is for entertainment as the team waits for the next wave. It's getting closer. At AAA Charlie Sutton (22) is 4-0, 2.18 to go with Fred Ratcliffe (24), 2-22, 2.53 and Mule Earl (25) 5-0, 1.49. Be hind them at AA is top 20 prospect Bunny Edwards (22) 3-1, 2.80. At A level is Ray Wilcox (23) 3-6, 3.57 and at B level making his professional debut is #2 FABL prospect Ed Bowman who started his pro career with a CG win, allowing 2 earned runs. It just "requires some patience" according to Gothams Scouting Director Dave White.
it is with great sadness that the Pioneers had to DFA longtime star Alex Ingraham with the intent of giving him his unconditional release after he refused a demotion to AAA. The performance of rookie Les Hendrix forced their hand as Gail Gifford was due to come off the IL. No way to justify carrying seven out fielders and Ingraham's sub .200 batting average only made the move easier. Alex ends his St. Louis career third in SLG%(.514) and HR(161), fourth in doubles(237), triples(111), and RBI(831).
Still with the Pioneers, it was Otis Cook, not Sam Sheppard, that got the call to the rotation to replace injured David Abalo. Cook gave up just one run in 5.1 innings in his first start of the season. Recently called up Russ Peeples finished the game for the Pioneers. With Peeples getting the call to the big club that means all four players obtained from Toronto in the McCormick trade are now playing in the majors and three of them are in the four man rotation.
I don't think Toronto feels bad about that as the Wolves remain ecstatic with their piece of the deal after Fred McCormick (.408,9,55) had a 12-for-24 week and extended his lead on teammate Nick Wallace (.363,6,56) atop the CA batting race.
For the second time this season the CA player of the week is Philadelphia Sailors first baseman Dick Walker (.282,11,56), one of the most underappreciated players in the game. Walker is a 3-time all-star and in his 11th season with the Sailors but seldom gets mentioned when talking about the elite first baseman around the league. Of course playing in Philadelphia in the giant shadow of Rankin Kellogg, at least until recent years, can certainly do that.
Pittsburgh outfielder Joe Owens (.330,7,43) took the weekly hardware in the Federal Association after going 13-for-26 with 12 rbi's to help the Miners win 5 of 7 games last week.
It took some time but the Toronto Wolves finally got young pitching phenom Donnie Jones under contract as the 18 year old from Minneapolis High School signed this week. Jones was immediately slotted in as the 22nd best prospect in the game according to OSA which puts him one spot ahead of his brother Johnnie. There had been rumours Johnnie was trying to influence his younger sibling to seriously consider the scholarship offer he had from CCLA as the 20 year old is said to be very discouraged with how things have been going in the Stars organization. At least one team has made overtures to New York to try and coax them to move the lefthander but the Stars say he still fits into their plans. Johnnie Jones was just promoted from Class C to Class B by New York but continues to be used in a long reliever role by the organization, which is thought to be the biggest cause of Jones' frustrations.

MINOR LEAGUES
ROCHESTER'S 4 YEAR PENNANT RUN ON SHAKY GROUND

It was a nice run atop the Union League for the Rochester Rooks. The city of Rochester had an entry in the AA Eastern Association from 1897 until 1928 but never won a pennant. In 1929 the Kings moved their AAA affiliate from Houston and selected Rochester due to it's proximity to the parent club, elevating the Rooks to the Union League. The Rooks had 3 third place finishes in their first 5 seasons in the Union League but still no titles for the city. That changed in 1934 when they finished 2 games up on Cincinnati and started a nice rivalry with the Steamers that seemed to match that of their respective big league affiliates in Brooklyn and Cleveland who were duking it out for Continental Association supremacy. However, while the Kings were coming up short in those first couple of battles with the Foresters, the Rooks would get the best of Cincinnati each time. The Steamers would finish second to Rochester three consecutive seasons before slipping to 7th last year, which would likely be the last of the Rooks streak of titles as well.

Stars of the Rochester team in 1934 included Bill White (now with Chiefs), Vernon Ruch, Bill May (BKN), Buck Sargent (DET), Rabbit Mudd (NYG) and pitchers Gordie Woods, Mickey Beavers, Art Blake (Tor) and George DeForest (STL).

The '35 club included veteran Art Summers and Ab Thomas, both of whom spent a number of seasons as starters in Brooklyn before losing their jobs in the deep Kings crop of outfielders. as well as pitchers Jack Beach (Chiefs), Bob Cummings (BKN) and DeForest, who won 18 games for the Rooks that season. The club won a franchise record 94 games, third highest total in the 31 year history of the league.

1936 saw young OF Alf Pestilli (BKN) burst on to the scene as well as current Kings Ab Thomas, Bill Johnson and Curly Jones. Other members included Jim Gentry (NYS) and was the year of long time AAA hurler Mickey Beavers (20-6) best season of pro ball.

Last season saw veteran OF Ab Thomas lead the team with help from another OF who has been around a while in Jake Matheson, who played a couple of seasons for Cleveland early in his career. Current Kings Bill Johnson, Alf Pestilli and Vernon Ruch also played key roles while on the mound it was the trio of veteran minor leaguers in Beavers, Gordie Woods and Mickey Lasson along with rising prospects Jack Goff and Charlie Britton, the former the son of Brooklyn's pitching coach and the later being groomed to replace Del Lyons as the big arm in the Brooklyn pen.

At the midway point this season the Rooks are mired in 7th, 10 games under the break even mark and the roster has had a lot of turnover from vets to youth as the parent Kings 3 year rebuild of their minor league system is starting to pay dividends. Joe Herman, Jim Lightbdoy, Eddie Miller and Dan Rogers are all young, high draft picks who hope to crack the stacked Brooklyn lineup in the near future. Beavers, Woods and Lassen are still on the mound but the focus is now on Goff and Britton along with newly acquired youngster Hank Mittan but with youth comes growing pains and the Rooks have certainly had their share so far this season.

JAPANESE LEAGUE UPDATE

The Osaka Sailors were crowned the first half winners in the inaugural season of the Japanese Baseball League. The Sailors finished 5 games up on second place Yokohama with the Kobe Bulls coming in third. The Sailors will face the winners of the second half in the league's first championship series.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 07/17/1938

American sportsman Howard Hughes completed a transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in 16 hours and 38 minutes, less than half the time it took Charles Lindbergh to make the same journey in 1929. It was the first leg of a round the world journey that took him less than 91 hours to complete and included stops in Moscow and Alaska.
One dead and scores injured in another riot between cops and striking workers. This one in California as 2,000 lumber employees attempted to prevent people from crossing picket lines.
With the conflict with China continuing, Japan has announced Tokyo will no longer host the 1940 Olympic games. Grover Whalen, president of the World's Fair 1939 group, announces he will ask the Olympic committee to try and bring the 1940 games to the World's Fair site. He was unsuccessful in his lobbying as Helsinki was selected as the new host although they would eventually be abandoned altogether due to the outbreak of WWII.
A patrol of British troops and Palestine police killed 10 members of an attacking band planning an ambush near Jerusalem. The clash brought total casualties in the week's bloody conflict to over 300 including 55 Arabs and 22 Jews killed.
Prime Minister Chamberlain says Britain will not protect British merchant ships who enter the "danger zone" in Spanish waters.

08-27-2021, 10:45 PM	#231
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	This Week in Figment Baseball: July 18, 1938 THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL July 18, 1938 FORESTERS ADD .400 HITTER CARROL IN SURPRISE DEAL WITH STRUGGLING EAGLES The Cleveland Foresters made a big move to reshape their aging roster and have found their long term solution at third base with acquisition of Mel Carrol (.370,7,67) from the struggling Washington Eagles. It was no secret changes were coming in Washington after the club's terrible play of late but dealing the 26 year old who hit .409 last season counts as a huge surprise. Finding offense has never been an issue in Washington but pitching has always been in short supply and the Eagles hope they have at least partially addressed that situation by getting Sergio Gonzales in exchange for their star infielder. The 26 year old Gonzales is a polished 4 pitch starter who belongs at the front of any rotation and had gone 35-13 over the past two seasons. He was 8-9 with a 3.68 era for the Foresters this year and should slot right in at the front of the Eagles rotation. Interestingly, the deal unites Gonzales with Washington outfielder Moxie Pidgeon, for whom he was traded when Cleveland acquired Gonzales from the New York Gothams in 1935. The Eagles hope the move injects some life in to a club that appears to be close to receiving last rites. For the second year in a row Washington has stumbled out of the gate. Last year they entered July with a 26-42 record before a 55-31 second half gave fans plenty of optimism about this season. Sitting at 30-55 and in the cellar of the Federal Association this season has quickly eroded any hopes of contending this year and just like last season the blame falls entirely on the shoulders, well arms, of their pitching staff. The move also saw shortstop Mel Hancock Jr. (.314,0,5) move from Cleveland to the club that just fired his father Mel Sr. as their manager 3 weeks ago. Cleveland gets a pair of minor league arms but it is clear the prize is Carrol, who immediately solves what has been a big problem for the Foresters at third base this year. Charlie Barry (.259,2,38) has picked up his play of late but it was painfully obvious the first couple months of the season that the 39 year old is showing his age and the man the Foresters had expected to replace Barry - 23 year old Hank Stratton - is clearly not ready yet after hitting .145 in limited action before spending some time in AAA Cincinnati in hopes of sorting out his troubles. Gonzales was a big piece of the Foresters rotation but Carrol is an amazing hitter and likely was only available because there is so much pressure on Washington to improve it's woeful staff. The pain of losing Gonzales should be lessened for Cleveland as the club recently announced it had acquired veteran righthander Dave Rankin (5-11, 4.12) from the Chicago Cougars for a draft pick and a minor league arm. Rankin is certainly better than his record indicates but not at the same level as Gonzales. It seems to be a gutsy move by the Foresters but one that makes perfect sense as the franchise had some great success with a smooth swinging bat at third base earlier in the decade and Mel Carrol looks like the perfect replacement for Charlie Barry. The Cougars made a second deal with a pitcher as they got together with the New York Gothams, who badly needed to make a move for a veteran arm in an attempt to shore up their leaky rotation. New York sent minor league shortstop Stu Stasny and a 6th round pick to the Chicago Cougars in exchange for 35 year old Oscar Morse (6-6, 3.55). Morse owns a 127-113 career record with the first 8 of his 10 big league seasons coming in a Philadelphia Sailors uniform. The Cougars grabbed him as a waiver claim prior to last season and he had an impressive 15-9 campaign for Chicago that season. Morse is considered a solid back of the rotation arm and will be counted on to add some veteran leadership and stability to the young Gothams staff. ROUGH WEEK FOR DYNAMOS TIGHTENS UP FEDERAL RACE Entering last week the Detroit Dynamos were the model of consistency as they had not lost more than two games in a row all season. That consistency was a big reason Detroit had built a decent lead in the Federal Association but all that changed last week. Detroit came out of the all-star break with a pair of wins over St Louis to extend their winning streak to 4 games and their lead on second place Chicago to 5 and a half games entering play last Sunday. The Dynamos then proceeded to drop six of seven and with the Chiefs on a 4-game winning streak to end the week the surprise team of the 1938 season is suddenly clinging to a 1.5 game lead on the Chiefs, who were widely favoured at seasons start to claim their second pennant in a three year span. This marks the first real test for the Detroit side, who were playing with house money as, while they were expected to be greatly improved from their woes of the past few seasons, no one expected them to be in first place at this stage of the year. The big question is how do they handle the adversity of their first losing streak? Will Detroit rebound or is this the point that, as some have predicted, the Dynamos pitching staff wilts under the summer heat? Meanwhile the Chiefs are finding their groove, posting a 27-12 record since June 3rd including wins in 10 of their last 13 games. The Pittsburgh Miners, who took two of three from both the Dynamos and Chiefs last week, are also heating up. They were a .500 ballclub as late as June 7th but since then have gone 23-12 and are just 4.5 games off the pace, tied with the St Louis Pioneers in what is now shaping up to be the tight, multi-team race that was expected out of the Federal Association. The Continental Association sees everyone trying to keep pace with the Brooklyn Kings as the defending champs continue to reel off 4 and 5 victories a week and now lead Toronto by 10 games with the Philadelphia Sailors, who were expected to challenge Brooklyn for the title after taking them to a tie-breaker game a year ago, hovering just above the .500 mark. The Sailors did get a small boost last week by taking two of three from the front-running Kings at Sailors Memorial Stadium. QUICK HITS The career of former Allan Award winner Hardin Bates quietly came to an end recently when Bates suffered a career ending shoulder injury while pitching for San Francisco of the Great Western League. It was quite a ride for the 31 year old Michigan native that might have been over before it ever started as he was undrafted out of high school. The New York Gothams decided to take a chance on the then 19 year old Bates and signed him to a minor league contract prior to the 1926 season. It took a while for him to get to the big leagues but he certainly showed some signs of potential along the way such as a 15 strikeout game in Class B and at the age of 24 he finally cracked the top 100 prospect list. The Gothams promoted him to the big leagues that season (1931) and he went 10-6 in half a year helping New York reach the WCS. He would lose a pair of Series starts as the Chicago Cougars topped the Gothams in 6 games. Bates did finally get a WCS ring in 1935 but might have won another in 1934 had he not missed the end of the season and the Series with an injury. 1934 was the year of his career when Bates led the Fed in ERA and went 19-5 prior to his injury to win the Allen Award. Over a 3 year span from 1933-35 he was 53-24 but just 33-53 for the rest of his major league career that also included stops with the Chicago Cougars and Detroit before returning to the Gothams this season. He struggled in 4 starts prompting New York to release him last month and he caught on with the Sailors AAA club in San Francisco but his 8th game with the Hawks would prove to be the last of his career. Great start to the Pete Papenfus era in Chicago. The Cougars eased the 20 year old in by giving him a pair of relief innings against the Sailors on Tuesday. He ended up giving up the tying run but the offense bailed him out and he was rewarded with his first career big league victory. On Thursday "Peter the Heater" made his first start and came up with a masterful performance, fanning 8 in beating the New York Stars 4-1 on a complete game 4-hitter. Watching Papenfus pitch once again brings up the question why is Deuce Barrell is still in Indianapolis and not pitching in the big leagues? The 1935 first overall draft pick is 8-4 with a 3.12 era and is second in the Century League in strikeouts (trailing only Papenfus) despite spending the first month of the season in AA. Yet the Baltimore Cannons have not called him up. Red Johnson, who was taken right after Barrell in the '35 draft is doing just fine in Detroit and the third pick of that class, George Garrison has just been called up by Toronto. The Cannons are a bad team with bad pitching in danger of a fifth straight last place finish. Barrell looked pretty good in spring training and likely should have gone north with the team then instead of down to AA. He is 11-4 with a 2.83 era and a 160 ERA+ through 20 minor league starts and at the very least seems like a much better option that Howie Pike (0-3, 4.56) as the number four starter in the Baltimore rotation. If the Cannons do beat the New York Stars in the race to the bottom of the Continental Association they will be the first CA team in history to finish last 5 years in a row. The Philadelphia Keystones finished last in the Federal Association 5 years in a row beginning in 1920. The Keystones also had 4 straight 8th place showings, same as the current Cannons run, from 1903-06 as did the pre-FABL 1881-1884 Washington Eagles franchise (then known as the Baltimore Bannermen). No CA team besides the current edition of the Cannons has ever finished last 4 consecutive seasons. From the "Even when you make the right move things can still backfire" department. On Saturday, the Chiefs scored 4 runs in the 9th to beat the Eagles 5-2. The Eagles had taken a 2-1 lead with 2 unearned runs in the bottom of the 8th. The runs scored after an error by the short stop. Pete Layton? No--Layton's "defensive" replacement Bill White. The Foresters are liking what they are seeing out Eli Harkless (.368,0,1). The 20 year old outfielder, who was selected 16th overall in 1935 went 0-for-2 in his first two pinch-hit assignments with Cleveland but since then had an 8 game hitting streak although he did come to an end yesterday. His play since coming up from Cincinnati has pushed starting right field Lou Balk (.289,6,25) to the bench. Another rookie, 22 year old catcher Ken Vance (.227,0,9) was given a few games to see if he can replace aging T.R. Goins (.250,0,23) or backup Mickey Patterson (.255,1,14) as the answer behind the plate. Vance was an 8th round selection in 1934. Lefty Allen has reeled off 5 straight wins and is up to a 16-7 record with a 3.23 ERA, which makes him a big reason the Miners are challenging in the Fed. The Chiefs have been throwing Sergio Vergara's name around in trade discussions the last couple of seasons but I expect they are glad he is still with the organization. The 22-year-old was just promoted to class AA Memphis after 97 class A innings with a 3.96 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and 6.6 K/9. Chicago Scouting Director Rube Carter was never really sold on him, but now he's "better than simple rotation filler." 3 of the Chiefs top 4 prospects are now in Memphis (Vergara, Chuck Adams, and Jim Alarie). Chicago could use some help in the outfield, and so there has been some internal debate over bringing up Alarie--who is the elusive right-handed bat--from AA. But the Chiefs brass worries that would be just too big of a jump for him. Outfielder Paddy Smith (hitting just .184) was sent down to Fort Wayne and Bobby Small was recalled to take his spot. Small hit .305 in 24 games for the Chiefs last season (and was hitting .387 in Fort Wayne). But he is--you guessed it--a left-handed bat. A number of teams in this league seem to have an abundance of lefthanders, both on the mound and in the batters box. The Gothams are again preaching patience. The big club's rotation has been a series of inexperienced pitchers trying to find there way. Mostly with little in the way of positive results. Sure Nate Spear (22) has had some bright spots in an 8-8, 4.12 season, and Ernie Wise (26) and Earle Killebrew (25) have been hit or miss. Now the team is bringing in veteran Oscar Morse to show the kids how it's done. All of this is for entertainment as the team waits for the next wave. It's getting closer. At AAA Charlie Sutton (22) is 4-0, 2.18 to go with Fred Ratcliffe (24), 2-22, 2.53 and Mule Earl (25) 5-0, 1.49. Be hind them at AA is top 20 prospect Bunny Edwards (22) 3-1, 2.80. At A level is Ray Wilcox (23) 3-6, 3.57 and at B level making his professional debut is #2 FABL prospect Ed Bowman who started his pro career with a CG win, allowing 2 earned runs. It just "requires some patience" according to Gothams Scouting Director Dave White. it is with great sadness that the Pioneers had to DFA longtime star Alex Ingraham with the intent of giving him his unconditional release after he refused a demotion to AAA. The performance of rookie Les Hendrix forced their hand as Gail Gifford was due to come off the IL. No way to justify carrying seven out fielders and Ingraham's sub .200 batting average only made the move easier. Alex ends his St. Louis career third in SLG%(.514) and HR(161), fourth in doubles(237), triples(111), and RBI(831). Still with the Pioneers, it was Otis Cook, not Sam Sheppard, that got the call to the rotation to replace injured David Abalo. Cook gave up just one run in 5.1 innings in his first start of the season. Recently called up Russ Peeples finished the game for the Pioneers. With Peeples getting the call to the big club that means all four players obtained from Toronto in the McCormick trade are now playing in the majors and three of them are in the four man rotation. I don't think Toronto feels bad about that as the Wolves remain ecstatic with their piece of the deal after Fred McCormick (.408,9,55) had a 12-for-24 week and extended his lead on teammate Nick Wallace (.363,6,56) atop the CA batting race. For the second time this season the CA player of the week is Philadelphia Sailors first baseman Dick Walker (.282,11,56), one of the most underappreciated players in the game. Walker is a 3-time all-star and in his 11th season with the Sailors but seldom gets mentioned when talking about the elite first baseman around the league. Of course playing in Philadelphia in the giant shadow of Rankin Kellogg, at least until recent years, can certainly do that. Pittsburgh outfielder Joe Owens (.330,7,43) took the weekly hardware in the Federal Association after going 13-for-26 with 12 rbi's to help the Miners win 5 of 7 games last week. It took some time but the Toronto Wolves finally got young pitching phenom Donnie Jones under contract as the 18 year old from Minneapolis High School signed this week. Jones was immediately slotted in as the 22nd best prospect in the game according to OSA which puts him one spot ahead of his brother Johnnie. There had been rumours Johnnie was trying to influence his younger sibling to seriously consider the scholarship offer he had from CCLA as the 20 year old is said to be very discouraged with how things have been going in the Stars organization. At least one team has made overtures to New York to try and coax them to move the lefthander but the Stars say he still fits into their plans. Johnnie Jones was just promoted from Class C to Class B by New York but continues to be used in a long reliever role by the organization, which is thought to be the biggest cause of Jones' frustrations. MINOR LEAGUES ROCHESTER'S 4 YEAR PENNANT RUN ON SHAKY GROUND It was a nice run atop the Union League for the Rochester Rooks. The city of Rochester had an entry in the AA Eastern Association from 1897 until 1928 but never won a pennant. In 1929 the Kings moved their AAA affiliate from Houston and selected Rochester due to it's proximity to the parent club, elevating the Rooks to the Union League. The Rooks had 3 third place finishes in their first 5 seasons in the Union League but still no titles for the city. That changed in 1934 when they finished 2 games up on Cincinnati and started a nice rivalry with the Steamers that seemed to match that of their respective big league affiliates in Brooklyn and Cleveland who were duking it out for Continental Association supremacy. However, while the Kings were coming up short in those first couple of battles with the Foresters, the Rooks would get the best of Cincinnati each time. The Steamers would finish second to Rochester three consecutive seasons before slipping to 7th last year, which would likely be the last of the Rooks streak of titles as well. Stars of the Rochester team in 1934 included Bill White (now with Chiefs), Vernon Ruch, Bill May (BKN), Buck Sargent (DET), Rabbit Mudd (NYG) and pitchers Gordie Woods, Mickey Beavers, Art Blake (Tor) and George DeForest (STL). The '35 club included veteran Art Summers and Ab Thomas, both of whom spent a number of seasons as starters in Brooklyn before losing their jobs in the deep Kings crop of outfielders. as well as pitchers Jack Beach (Chiefs), Bob Cummings (BKN) and DeForest, who won 18 games for the Rooks that season. The club won a franchise record 94 games, third highest total in the 31 year history of the league. 1936 saw young OF Alf Pestilli (BKN) burst on to the scene as well as current Kings Ab Thomas, Bill Johnson and Curly Jones. Other members included Jim Gentry (NYS) and was the year of long time AAA hurler Mickey Beavers (20-6) best season of pro ball. Last season saw veteran OF Ab Thomas lead the team with help from another OF who has been around a while in Jake Matheson, who played a couple of seasons for Cleveland early in his career. Current Kings Bill Johnson, Alf Pestilli and Vernon Ruch also played key roles while on the mound it was the trio of veteran minor leaguers in Beavers, Gordie Woods and Mickey Lasson along with rising prospects Jack Goff and Charlie Britton, the former the son of Brooklyn's pitching coach and the later being groomed to replace Del Lyons as the big arm in the Brooklyn pen. At the midway point this season the Rooks are mired in 7th, 10 games under the break even mark and the roster has had a lot of turnover from vets to youth as the parent Kings 3 year rebuild of their minor league system is starting to pay dividends. Joe Herman, Jim Lightbdoy, Eddie Miller and Dan Rogers are all young, high draft picks who hope to crack the stacked Brooklyn lineup in the near future. Beavers, Woods and Lassen are still on the mound but the focus is now on Goff and Britton along with newly acquired youngster Hank Mittan but with youth comes growing pains and the Rooks have certainly had their share so far this season. JAPANESE LEAGUE UPDATE The Osaka Sailors were crowned the first half winners in the inaugural season of the Japanese Baseball League. The Sailors finished 5 games up on second place Yokohama with the Kobe Bulls coming in third. The Sailors will face the winners of the second half in the league's first championship series. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 07/17/1938 American sportsman Howard Hughes completed a transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in 16 hours and 38 minutes, less than half the time it took Charles Lindbergh to make the same journey in 1929. It was the first leg of a round the world journey that took him less than 91 hours to complete and included stops in Moscow and Alaska. One dead and scores injured in another riot between cops and striking workers. This one in California as 2,000 lumber employees attempted to prevent people from crossing picket lines. With the conflict with China continuing, Japan has announced Tokyo will no longer host the 1940 Olympic games. Grover Whalen, president of the World's Fair 1939 group, announces he will ask the Olympic committee to try and bring the 1940 games to the World's Fair site. He was unsuccessful in his lobbying as Helsinki was selected as the new host although they would eventually be abandoned altogether due to the outbreak of WWII. A patrol of British troops and Palestine police killed 10 members of an attacking band planning an ambush near Jerusalem. The clash brought total casualties in the week's bloody conflict to over 300 including 55 Arabs and 22 Jews killed. Prime Minister Chamberlain says Britain will not protect British merchant ships who enter the "danger zone" in Spanish waters. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports