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Jiggs McGee · 09-02-2021, 02:53 PM

THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL

August 15, 1938

CLOCK STRIKES MIDNIGHT ON DYNAMOS

Thanks to a 10 game winning streak and taking two of three from Detroit over the weekend the Chicago Chiefs have replaced the Dynamos atop the Federal Association. The last time the Chiefs, who seemed the clear favourite to claim the Fed title after adding veteran pitcher Jim Lonardo and solid hitting infielder Hank Barnett over the winter, were alone in first place was way back on May 15th when they enjoyed a half game lead over Detroit. After that top spot in the Fed belonged to the surprising Dynamos. That changed last Thursday when the Chiefs completed a 3 game sweep of the Gothams while Detroit was dropping it's 3rd decision in 4 days in St Louis. Chicago now held the upper hand, by a single game, over the Dynamos entering a crucial weekend series between the two in the Windy City.

With Rabbit Day (18-7, 3.41) and Jim Lonardo (17-6, 2.11), each with 3 Allen Awards and a total of 7 all-star game selections between them, on the hill for the first two games of the series, Chicago seemed to make it look easy with wins by the scores of 4-2 Friday and 6-1 Saturday extending the Chiefs lead to 3 full games. Give the Dynamos credit for salvaging the Sunday matinee as young star Sal Pestilli (.319,32,92) homered and tripled while recent pickup William Jones (6-8, 2.89) did enough on the mound to allow Detroit to claim a 9-5 victory and cut the deficit back to 2 games.

George Theobald has had his young charges playing outstanding baseball, seemingly carefree and with good reason as few expected Detroit to spend most of the season in first place. The test now that the lead has evaporated is how will the Dynamos react? They are now the hound instead of the hare, as the attempt to chase down the hard charging Chiefs, winners of 18 of their last 21 games. Detroit has an opportunity to respond next weekend when they face Chicago, and almost assuredly Day and Lonardo once again, but this time they will do so in front of the hometown fans at Thompson Field. Already more than 1.25 million paying customers have entered the stadium and the Dynamos will likely break their all-time season attendance record next weekend in the Chicago series. The question is does Theobald have enough magic left in his now 75 year old mind to coax a big stretch run out of a suddenly relevant Detroit team that has finished in the first division since 1932 and there are actually more members of that '32 team now playing for Chicago (Jack Beach) than Detroit (nobody).

The big question is can Detroit's offense, which packs plenty of wallop, get going against a Chiefs rotation that has been dominant of late? Here are the records of the 4 Chicago starters since July 1st:

Code:

Jim Lonardo	7-2
Al Miller	7-3
Rabbit Day	6-3
Jack Beach	6-1

QUICK HITS

Chiefs catcher Tom Bird has been on a tear--hitting .641 over this last 40 at-bats, and .581/.615/1.047 so far in August. Bird has now taken over the batting lead from teammate Pete Layton (who has been on a hot streak of his own, but eclipsed by Bird). Bird's wRc+ (one of those fancy stats Jiggs doesn't understand) is currently 208. T.R. Goins, long considered the dean of catchers, best total was 163 in 1932 and had 5 seasons of at least 150. As a 22 year old Joe Welch had a wRC+ of 201 but that was in just 107 games. The only other season that we can find where a catcher topped to 200 was way back in 1903 when George Cary of the Miners put up a 203. (.419/.509/.571, 219 OPS+ 8.1 WAR). Plenty of noise coming out of Chicago trying to drum up support for Bird to win the Whitney Award - something only done once before by a Chief when Joe Masters claimed it in 1928.
After struggling at times in Whitney Park early in the season the Chiefs completed a recent homestand by going 16-2 and are now 37-19 playing in front of the hometown fans.
Add clutch hitting to the long list of attributes the Chicago Chiefs possess. Tom Taylor's overall numbers aren't so good, but as a pinch hitter? .333/.438/.444. And don't forget Frankie Cohen is on the roster. He's been exclusively a pinch hitter and doing a bang up job at it with a slash line of .348/.375/.478
The Gothams were swept by the Chiefs to start the week but then won 3 straight in St Louis including a pair of extra innings victories. The Pioneers did start the week well, winning 3 of 4 to drop Detroit out of first place but you can't help but wonder what might have been for a St Louis club that will finish the season without it's top two pitchers after they recently lost 23 year old rookie sensation Buddy Long (14-7,3.99) for the season with a shoulder injury. Long, who was an all-star this year after joining the Pioneers in the Fred McCormick deal with Toronto, joins fellow St Louis all-star pitcher David Abalo (7-4, 2.27) on the shelf for the rest of the year. Abalo, who was an all-star last year and was 41-35 over the last 3 seasons, hurt his elbow in July.
Big week for rookie Eli Harkless in Cleveland. The 1935 first round pick is just 20 years old but he now can call himself a CA player of the week award winner. The native of Cambridge, Massachusetts went 12-for-27 with a homer last week. In 36 games since being promoted from AAA, the outfielder is batting .322 and doing a great job at the plate as the Foresters lead-off man. His defense does worry his manager but as long as he keeps producing at the plate they can overlook his shortcomings in the field.
A couple positives in what has been a year filled with negatives for the Philadelphia Keystones. First off they had a winning week - something that has been all to rare this year at Broad Street Park - by taking 4 of 6 from Washington and Pittsburgh. Second piece of positive news is the resurgence of George Wright. The 24 year old rookie, after an encouraging Spring proceeded to go 6-for-38 (.158) to start the season before being demoted to AAA. He was called back up a couple of weeks ago and just earned FABL Player of the Week Award in the Fed. Wright did not sulk in Louisville, driving in 69 in 68 games while slashing .349/.391/.569 and continued his hot hitting in Philadelphia, mashing to a .490/.500/.765 clip in 51 at bats since his call up.
Another great moment of many for the Barrell clan. Young Rufus 'Deuce' Barrell's(1-2, 3.73) 4th career big league start came against Brooklyn and the Kings juggled their rotation slightly so that Tom Barrell(10-9, 4.14) would get the start against his nephew. Tom got the bragging rights as the Kings beat Deuce's Cannons 5-2 but it was not a bad outing from the youngster, who also managed to get a single off his brother (although Tom had 2 hits off Deuce). Uncle's Harry and Fred Barrell also played for the Kings and each went 1-for-4 vs their nephew.
Bob Walls makes a successful first start for Toronto after being exiled to AAA Newark by the Dynamos. Complete game 1 earned run in a 2-1 victory. Wolves continue to surprise in '38 as they remain firmly entrenched in second place. The last time they finished higher than third in the Continental Association was their title season of 1911.
Hardly a week goes by without news of a Gothams prospect enjoying success. This time it is from AA Jersey City where Constantine Peters had himself quite a week. Peters, one of the Gothams less heralded prospects, signed during the first league pool draft out of college, has moved quickly through the minors. A consistent .300 hitter, Peters has played 3B and all outfield positions. Last week he hit .567 (17-30) with a homer and 13 RBI to win EA Player of the Week. Constantine is currently rated the #87 prospect.
Let's finish up with more Chiefs news. A couple of years ago in these pages we talked about Rabbit Day and his chances at 300 victories. Now 34 years old and with 227 wins under his belt you have to think Day has a pretty good shot at it if he can stay healthy. He has 18 wins so far this year and won 18 a year ago after a 25 win 1936 season. Another milestone to look at for Day is strikeouts. He has slowed a little this year, fanning just 4.1 batters per 9 innings after being around or just above 5 pretty well his entire career. He has 1,891 career K's which places him 13th all-time. Charlie Sis (3462) and Bill Temple (3131) are likely out of reach but Day might have a shot at catching Mike Marner (2667) for third all-time.
It would have been good for Day to get started a couple seasons earlier than he did. He likely could have handled it as he was pretty good as a 20-year-old in class A in 1924 but also started 1925 in class A, not making it to AAA until 1926 and then the FABL in 1927 at 23-years-old.
Day also was drafted twice in the pre-human GM era. The Philadelphia Keystones took him in a round that no longer exists (the 27th) in 1922 but in their wisdom cut him and he returned to high school (rules were a little different back then) only to be taken 5th overall by Baltimore the next season. I expect a few in Philadelphia lost their jobs over that move, but it was likely only a very small reason for someone to get canned in Keystone-land. The Stones were rock bottom for most of the first 25 years of the 19th century - making the first division just twice between 1901 and 1924 and finishing last in the Fed 13 times in that span, including 5 consecutive from 1920-24. The good news is it allowed them to draft Rankin Kellogg and others who would play a key role on their 1927 title winner- the first FABL series win for the franchise.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 08/14/1938

German military maneuvers near Czech border have put other European powers on an unusually vigilant lookout to prevent anything which might lead to a swift Nazi strike against Czechoslovakia.
Berlin vows to support Japan morally and otherwise if the Siberian border conflict develops into a full fledged war with Russia.
London is trying to head off further escalation with an offer to mediate dispute between Russia and Japan.
Britain also once again issues a warning to Rome that continued Italian intervention in Spain would prejudices the friendly relations of the two countries.
Spanish insurgents announced the seizure of a large amount of US war materials from government armies in an announcement apparently designed to match government assertions that new German and Italian aid is reaching the insurgents.
One of the largest Opium seizures on record, valued at over $250,000 was recovered in waters just off New York City's Pier 3 by Harbor Police after a patrol became suspicious of a motorboat tied up at the pier in the early morning hours. The lone occupant leapt into the water and eluded capture. Weight of the seized opium, which was in burlap bags in the water, was over 500 pounds.
The Queen Mary established a new eastward Atlantic Ocean crossing record this week by traversing 730 nautical miles in a 23 hour time period (the clock was set ahead one hour because of a change in time zone). The previous record was 728 miles by the French liner Normandie.

09-02-2021, 02:53 PM	#236
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	This Week in Figment Baseball: August 15, 1938 THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL August 15, 1938 CLOCK STRIKES MIDNIGHT ON DYNAMOS Thanks to a 10 game winning streak and taking two of three from Detroit over the weekend the Chicago Chiefs have replaced the Dynamos atop the Federal Association. The last time the Chiefs, who seemed the clear favourite to claim the Fed title after adding veteran pitcher Jim Lonardo and solid hitting infielder Hank Barnett over the winter, were alone in first place was way back on May 15th when they enjoyed a half game lead over Detroit. After that top spot in the Fed belonged to the surprising Dynamos. That changed last Thursday when the Chiefs completed a 3 game sweep of the Gothams while Detroit was dropping it's 3rd decision in 4 days in St Louis. Chicago now held the upper hand, by a single game, over the Dynamos entering a crucial weekend series between the two in the Windy City. With Rabbit Day (18-7, 3.41) and Jim Lonardo (17-6, 2.11), each with 3 Allen Awards and a total of 7 all-star game selections between them, on the hill for the first two games of the series, Chicago seemed to make it look easy with wins by the scores of 4-2 Friday and 6-1 Saturday extending the Chiefs lead to 3 full games. Give the Dynamos credit for salvaging the Sunday matinee as young star Sal Pestilli (.319,32,92) homered and tripled while recent pickup William Jones (6-8, 2.89) did enough on the mound to allow Detroit to claim a 9-5 victory and cut the deficit back to 2 games. George Theobald has had his young charges playing outstanding baseball, seemingly carefree and with good reason as few expected Detroit to spend most of the season in first place. The test now that the lead has evaporated is how will the Dynamos react? They are now the hound instead of the hare, as the attempt to chase down the hard charging Chiefs, winners of 18 of their last 21 games. Detroit has an opportunity to respond next weekend when they face Chicago, and almost assuredly Day and Lonardo once again, but this time they will do so in front of the hometown fans at Thompson Field. Already more than 1.25 million paying customers have entered the stadium and the Dynamos will likely break their all-time season attendance record next weekend in the Chicago series. The question is does Theobald have enough magic left in his now 75 year old mind to coax a big stretch run out of a suddenly relevant Detroit team that has finished in the first division since 1932 and there are actually more members of that '32 team now playing for Chicago (Jack Beach) than Detroit (nobody). The big question is can Detroit's offense, which packs plenty of wallop, get going against a Chiefs rotation that has been dominant of late? Here are the records of the 4 Chicago starters since July 1st: Code: Jim Lonardo 7-2 Al Miller 7-3 Rabbit Day 6-3 Jack Beach 6-1 QUICK HITS Chiefs catcher Tom Bird has been on a tear--hitting .641 over this last 40 at-bats, and .581/.615/1.047 so far in August. Bird has now taken over the batting lead from teammate Pete Layton (who has been on a hot streak of his own, but eclipsed by Bird). Bird's wRc+ (one of those fancy stats Jiggs doesn't understand) is currently 208. T.R. Goins, long considered the dean of catchers, best total was 163 in 1932 and had 5 seasons of at least 150. As a 22 year old Joe Welch had a wRC+ of 201 but that was in just 107 games. The only other season that we can find where a catcher topped to 200 was way back in 1903 when George Cary of the Miners put up a 203. (.419/.509/.571, 219 OPS+ 8.1 WAR). Plenty of noise coming out of Chicago trying to drum up support for Bird to win the Whitney Award - something only done once before by a Chief when Joe Masters claimed it in 1928. After struggling at times in Whitney Park early in the season the Chiefs completed a recent homestand by going 16-2 and are now 37-19 playing in front of the hometown fans. Add clutch hitting to the long list of attributes the Chicago Chiefs possess. Tom Taylor's overall numbers aren't so good, but as a pinch hitter? .333/.438/.444. And don't forget Frankie Cohen is on the roster. He's been exclusively a pinch hitter and doing a bang up job at it with a slash line of .348/.375/.478 The Gothams were swept by the Chiefs to start the week but then won 3 straight in St Louis including a pair of extra innings victories. The Pioneers did start the week well, winning 3 of 4 to drop Detroit out of first place but you can't help but wonder what might have been for a St Louis club that will finish the season without it's top two pitchers after they recently lost 23 year old rookie sensation Buddy Long (14-7,3.99) for the season with a shoulder injury. Long, who was an all-star this year after joining the Pioneers in the Fred McCormick deal with Toronto, joins fellow St Louis all-star pitcher David Abalo (7-4, 2.27) on the shelf for the rest of the year. Abalo, who was an all-star last year and was 41-35 over the last 3 seasons, hurt his elbow in July. Big week for rookie Eli Harkless in Cleveland. The 1935 first round pick is just 20 years old but he now can call himself a CA player of the week award winner. The native of Cambridge, Massachusetts went 12-for-27 with a homer last week. In 36 games since being promoted from AAA, the outfielder is batting .322 and doing a great job at the plate as the Foresters lead-off man. His defense does worry his manager but as long as he keeps producing at the plate they can overlook his shortcomings in the field. A couple positives in what has been a year filled with negatives for the Philadelphia Keystones. First off they had a winning week - something that has been all to rare this year at Broad Street Park - by taking 4 of 6 from Washington and Pittsburgh. Second piece of positive news is the resurgence of George Wright. The 24 year old rookie, after an encouraging Spring proceeded to go 6-for-38 (.158) to start the season before being demoted to AAA. He was called back up a couple of weeks ago and just earned FABL Player of the Week Award in the Fed. Wright did not sulk in Louisville, driving in 69 in 68 games while slashing .349/.391/.569 and continued his hot hitting in Philadelphia, mashing to a .490/.500/.765 clip in 51 at bats since his call up. Another great moment of many for the Barrell clan. Young Rufus 'Deuce' Barrell's(1-2, 3.73) 4th career big league start came against Brooklyn and the Kings juggled their rotation slightly so that Tom Barrell(10-9, 4.14) would get the start against his nephew. Tom got the bragging rights as the Kings beat Deuce's Cannons 5-2 but it was not a bad outing from the youngster, who also managed to get a single off his brother (although Tom had 2 hits off Deuce). Uncle's Harry and Fred Barrell also played for the Kings and each went 1-for-4 vs their nephew. Bob Walls makes a successful first start for Toronto after being exiled to AAA Newark by the Dynamos. Complete game 1 earned run in a 2-1 victory. Wolves continue to surprise in '38 as they remain firmly entrenched in second place. The last time they finished higher than third in the Continental Association was their title season of 1911. Hardly a week goes by without news of a Gothams prospect enjoying success. This time it is from AA Jersey City where Constantine Peters had himself quite a week. Peters, one of the Gothams less heralded prospects, signed during the first league pool draft out of college, has moved quickly through the minors. A consistent .300 hitter, Peters has played 3B and all outfield positions. Last week he hit .567 (17-30) with a homer and 13 RBI to win EA Player of the Week. Constantine is currently rated the #87 prospect. Let's finish up with more Chiefs news. A couple of years ago in these pages we talked about Rabbit Day and his chances at 300 victories. Now 34 years old and with 227 wins under his belt you have to think Day has a pretty good shot at it if he can stay healthy. He has 18 wins so far this year and won 18 a year ago after a 25 win 1936 season. Another milestone to look at for Day is strikeouts. He has slowed a little this year, fanning just 4.1 batters per 9 innings after being around or just above 5 pretty well his entire career. He has 1,891 career K's which places him 13th all-time. Charlie Sis (3462) and Bill Temple (3131) are likely out of reach but Day might have a shot at catching Mike Marner (2667) for third all-time. It would have been good for Day to get started a couple seasons earlier than he did. He likely could have handled it as he was pretty good as a 20-year-old in class A in 1924 but also started 1925 in class A, not making it to AAA until 1926 and then the FABL in 1927 at 23-years-old. Day also was drafted twice in the pre-human GM era. The Philadelphia Keystones took him in a round that no longer exists (the 27th) in 1922 but in their wisdom cut him and he returned to high school (rules were a little different back then) only to be taken 5th overall by Baltimore the next season. I expect a few in Philadelphia lost their jobs over that move, but it was likely only a very small reason for someone to get canned in Keystone-land. The Stones were rock bottom for most of the first 25 years of the 19th century - making the first division just twice between 1901 and 1924 and finishing last in the Fed 13 times in that span, including 5 consecutive from 1920-24. The good news is it allowed them to draft Rankin Kellogg and others who would play a key role on their 1927 title winner- the first FABL series win for the franchise. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 08/14/1938 German military maneuvers near Czech border have put other European powers on an unusually vigilant lookout to prevent anything which might lead to a swift Nazi strike against Czechoslovakia. Berlin vows to support Japan morally and otherwise if the Siberian border conflict develops into a full fledged war with Russia. London is trying to head off further escalation with an offer to mediate dispute between Russia and Japan. Britain also once again issues a warning to Rome that continued Italian intervention in Spain would prejudices the friendly relations of the two countries. Spanish insurgents announced the seizure of a large amount of US war materials from government armies in an announcement apparently designed to match government assertions that new German and Italian aid is reaching the insurgents. One of the largest Opium seizures on record, valued at over $250,000 was recovered in waters just off New York City's Pier 3 by Harbor Police after a patrol became suspicious of a motorboat tied up at the pier in the early morning hours. The lone occupant leapt into the water and eluded capture. Weight of the seized opium, which was in burlap bags in the water, was over 500 pounds. The Queen Mary established a new eastward Atlantic Ocean crossing record this week by traversing 730 nautical miles in a 23 hour time period (the clock was set ahead one hour because of a change in time zone). The previous record was 728 miles by the French liner Normandie. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports