September 5, 1938
13 AND COUNTING FOR RED HOT WOLVES
The Toronto Wolves continue to be the surprise team of the Continental Association and suddenly with just 4 weeks remaining in the season the Wolves find themselves alone in first place for the first time since they briefly held the lead in mid-May. Winners of 13 straight games, the Wolves have been on an amazing run since the all-star break when at that point they trailed the Brooklyn Kings by 8 games.
On the morning of August 19th, less than 3 weeks ago the margin was 10 games after the Wolves were blown out 11-0 by Philadelphia the previous day while the Kings were beating Montreal 4-2. The next day Wolves rookie Jim Morrison beat the Sailors 3-1 and the Wolves have not lost since then. 13 straight victories including yesterday's 9-6 win over the same Philadelphia Sailors that they started their streak against. Meanwhile, Brooklyn fell 4-0 to Baltimore that Friday and has won only 3 times since while losing 10 times - including their last six in a row - and saw their lead which once appeared insurmountable, disappear.
The breaks just seem to be going Toronto's way as the Wolves are 11 games better than their Pythagorean record would suggest they should be. The Wolves are winning the tight games with a .697 (23-10) percentage in 1-run games and a 6-1 record in extra innings - both figures tops in either Association and at 36-18 since the ASG only the Chiefs (37-14) have fared better since the break. After a dominating 51-24 first half, the Kings are just a game over .500 at 27-26 since the All-Star contest.
Code:
RECORD SINCE THE ALL STAR BREAK
FEDERAL ASSN CONTINENTAL ASSN
Chiefs, 37-13 Wolves, 36-18
Miners, 32-22 Cougars, 31-23
Dynamos, 27-25 Sailors, 29-25
Minutemen, 25-27 Kings, 27-26
Gothams, 24-27 Stars, 27-26
Pioneers, 24-28 Foresters, 27-27
Eagles, 24-29 Cannons, 21-32
Keystones, 16-37 Saints, 16-37
Toronto has replaced the Detroit Dynamos as the 'feel good story" of the season and their revival is nearly as impressive - and unexpected - as the Dynamos was up until they began to stumble the past couple of weeks. Everyone knew both Detroit and Toronto would be improved this season but it is unlikely anyone expected the improvement to be so drastic especially in the Wolves case. Toronto finished 6th in the CA a year ago and was 10 games under .500. With 27 games remaining the Wolves already have 78 wins this season, a figure they had not surpassed in a full season in 11 years. They also won 88 games in 1926. Prior to that, you would need to go all the way back to 1911 when they won 90 games and the series championship. They have only won 90 or more three times: 1911, 1909 (91), and 1898 (96). They are currently on pace for 95 victories.
Much of the credit has gone to Frank McCormick (.405,14,77), who looks like he will finally win his first Whitney Award after several near misses while playing for St Louis in the Federal Association, but there have been a number of other standouts. 30 year old third baseman Nick Wallace (.370,11,78), a former Brooklyn King, is enjoying the best season of his career while 25 year old righthander Joe Hancock (21-6, 2.81), who won 20 games a year ago as a sophomore, has hit a whole new level and appears a lock to win his first Allan Award. Veteran Chuck Wirtz (13-10, 4.24), another former Brooklyn draft pick, has won a career high games this season and is holding his own as the #2 starter while rookies Jim Morrison (9-8, 4.98) and George Garrison (4-3, 5.03) are starting to settle in. Further proof that everything just seems to be clicking for the Wolves is Bob Walls (5-0, 2.79), who was picked up from Detroit at the deadline after spending the entire season in AAA, has done his best Rabbit Day impression over the past month and been an integral reason for the Wolves run.
Brooklyn, on the other hand, just seems to be spinning it's wheels and cannot buy a break. The Kings, despite a run differential of +113, best in the CA and 76 runs better than Toronto, are just 19-17 in one runs games - and lost 3 of them this week. The Kings are also just 3-3 in extra innings and dropped a pair of those this week as well.
The Kings have been a streaky team for most of this decade. Last year it was a positive streak with a red hot September allowing them to eventually beat Philadelphia in a one game playoff after the Kings were 8.5 out in late August. Of course they also had a terrible stretch of games in June-July last year. In 1936 the Kings led by 7 games on September 8th, but 10 days later the lead was down to 2.5 over Cleveland following a brutal 2-7 stretch. Only a complete collapse by the Foresters allowed Brooklyn to claim their first pennant in nearly a decade. In 1935 the Kings were 3 games up on Cleveland in late August but then proceeded to lose 7 straight and ended up losing the pennant by one game. The 1934 race, another near miss, is famous for Brooklyn dropping 4 of 5 games in the final week to finish a game back of Cleveland. Even prior to their contending years the Kings had some unusual runs. The 1932 team was among the worst in the league the first half of the season but was the best team in baseball over the final couple of months after dealing ace Tom Wilcox to the Cougars for the battery of Barrell brothers. Following that 1932 finish the Kings were thought to be contenders for the pennant in 1933, but that was the year of a second straight awful start and prompted the Kings to deal their other 'ace' in Milt Fritz after a stretch that saw them drop 18 of 25 games.
Looking at the numbers and the talent one would likely surmise Brooklyn's fortunes are due to turn and the Wolves will eventually run out of luck but crazy things always seem to happen when the Kings are involved and a Toronto pennant would certainly qualify in that regard. No matter how it may end this version of the Wolves have made baseball relevant in Toronto again - something that has not been the case for over a decade. A Toronto-Detroit World Championship Series would have been the surprise of the decade - if not longer. The Dynamos seem to be fading but the Wolves are looking like they just might live up to their end of the bargain.
QUICK HITS
- Toronto's Joe Hancock deserves the Allen Award in the CA, but scribes in Chicago say they can't not vote for the Cougars Dick Lyons. Not too many 38-year-olds have breakout years, but the 1938 All-Star is 16-6 with a 2.82 ERA (145 ERA+), 1.16 WHIP, 34 walks, and 39 strikeouts. His 16 wins are third in the league, his ERA a point behind Hancock for third, his BB/9 tied for first, and his WHIP second. For a guy the club expected to end up in the pen after a month or so of poor starts, Lyons is putting together potentially the most unlikely season we'll see for a while. TWIFB agrees that Lyons season is memorable but unfortunately he picked the same season as Hancock to do something special.
- With a 5-3 record next week, Chicago Chiefs skipper Joe Ward would get to .500 as a manager (w/l of 645-647 currently)
- On the topic of managers, Montreal's Dick Pozza needs 28 wins for 1000 in his career. Those 28 wins will likely not come this season.
- Staying with managers, if the Kings miss the playoffs will Powell Slocum be out in Brooklyn for a second time? Slocum managed the Kings from 1925-27 before being fired following a long slump (see that tradition goes way back for the Kings) but was rehired after a failed couple of years in Pittsburgh. If Slocum gets canned again Baltimore, where he had so many great years as a player, would be a perfect destination. It is clear that John Lawrence (111-170) is on thin ice in his second season with the Cannons and Slocum might be the perfect solution. Of course that would depend on if the rift between Slocum and long-time Baltimore owner Oscar Banner that prompted the star to demand a move to Brooklyn late in his playing days is over. While Banner has never commented on the possibility of Slocum returning to Baltimore he did say the rift was not ever really between himself and Slocum, but more a conflict between Powell and former manager Davey Kincaid.
- Bob Martin (.285,5,53) is only 31, but he's following up a poor showing in 1937 for the Chicago Chiefs with another poor season in 1938. Bill Jones has performed well in limited playing time, and so while nothing will change at this point in the season, one would expect to see an open competition at third base next season.
- Still with the Chiefs Bill May, who came over from Brooklyn at the deadline, stole 13 bases in August which is something the Chiefs are not used to seeing. Bob Worley, who went the other way in the deal along with some very good prospects, has hit .284 with 5 homers in 27 games as a King. Brooklyn also announced they have just promoted Jim Alarie, who came over in the same deal, to the big club after the 22 year old looked very good the past month in AAA Rochester. Worley is coming off a 3-for-18 week and perhaps showing signs he is starting to regress to his career averages but he will still get the bulk of the starts in center next week although the Kings are going to get the youngster a game or two.
- The Gothams got a slap of reality with a 1-5 week and now face a doubleheader in St. Louis followed by 7 straight against Detroit and Chicago. Despite their ups and downs at the top level the organization continued to accumulate awards at various levels down on the farm. Constantine Peters won player of the month at AA Jersey City, hitting .385 with 3 homers, 30 RBI and scoring 23 runs in August. Peters is expected to move to AAA for September. Down at class C Rock Island, hurler Johnnie Walker was August pitcher of the month going 5-0 with a 2.00 ERA, tossing 45 innings in 5 starts. Finally this past week catcher Cliff Smith won POW honors for Jersey City, going 11-21 with a homer and 6 RBI.
- Keystones with a rare winning week (4-3) but officially eliminated from postseason and own the worst record in either league. The Keystones showing this year has to rank as the biggest disappointment after the club won 85 games a year ago and was in contention.
- All in all not a good year for the Barrell family with Bobby struggling in Philadelphia, Rufus is 1-7 with a 6.22 era as a rookie in Baltimore, Tom not getting any breaks and Fred having another down year in Brooklyn. At least Kings shortstop Harry is doing okay but that’s about it unless the recently retired Dan is really kicking it with OSA as a scout. And after a quick start young James Barrell is batting just .115 over his last 2 weeks in Class C.
- Another team that has had a rough go of things this year is the Washington Eagles. They came back to normal after two good weeks by posting a 2-5 record this time. Rookie CF Jim Hanshaw is showing good skills playing almost everyday in the outfield and notched his first FABL HR this week. With September upon us and a stretch of 8 games in 7 days, there will be a few call-ups from AAA for trials to finish the season. 1B Harry Pickering got his second promotion of season following the nomination for CL player of the week. The 25 year old was hitting .301 with 11 homers in just 55 games at AAA. Outfielders Joe Ellicott and Bob Gillespie are both coming back up after spending a little time with the big club earlier in the season and catcher Ernie Killam has been rewarded for many years of service in the organization with his first trip to Washington at the age of 27. Pitching has been the big problem in the nation's capital and Lou Johnson will be the latest to get a shot in the Eagles rotation. The 21 year old was selected in the second round of the 1934 draft. He did not look overly impressive at AAA Kansas City (7-7, 5.64) there has not been much to impress anyone on the big league staff either. Eagles brass feels Johnson's K/BB ratio is good enough to see if his control can lead him to success at the big league level.
- Even Sergio Gonzales (11-15, 4.02) is struggling after the move from Cleveland. Since his trade Gonzales is 3-6 with an era nearly a full run higher in Washington than it was with the Foresters. His ERA+ is also below average for the first time in his career. The player Gonzales was traded for, 3B Mel Carrol (.363,13,101) is faring very well in Cleveland and just claimed his first CA player of the week award to go with the 8 (along with a Whitney Award) he won in Washington.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 09/05/1938
- Britain sends Hitler a final warning not to start a war with Czechs while France speeds up arms production.
- Germany cannot count on support from Italy in case of war over Czechoslovakia according to information received in Paris.
- President Roosevelt is conferring with senior cabinet members on the crisis in Central Europe as both the Nazi's and British/French increase their military presence.
- Italy exiled all Jews who have settled in the country in the past twenty years. The 20,000 affected have been given 6 months to leave the county.
- The British navy stepped up it's presence in the Strait of Gibraltar to counteract mysterious activities of Spanish insurgents.