[Jiggs McGee]

May 1, 1939

MINERS OFF TO FAST START

The Federal Association race is expected to be a hard fought battle between Pittsburgh, Detroit and Chicago so every win counts and while the Chiefs and Dynamos encountered some opening week difficulties the Miners were at the top of the their game. No one in either Association is unbeaten after the first week of play but Pittsburgh, thanks to a powerful offense, is the closest with a 5-1 record. The Miners opened the season by sweeping 3 games from the Washington Eagles at Fitzpatrick Park before going on the road to Boston where they won two of three. Pittsburgh's only loss came Friday and needed extra frames as the Minutemen prevailed 3-2 in 11 innings.

The Miners key hitters looked to be in midseason form as Mahlon Strong (.375,2,9), newcomer Pablo Reyes (.320,0,3) and the Cleaves brothers all had big weeks. Unfortunately something else also appeared to be in mid-season form the Miners and that was injuries as the club has had more than it's share over the years. Two more players got banged up this week as pitcher Henry Crayton and infielder Jack Cleaves each were bit by the injury bug. Fortunately neither is serious and both are expected to be fine in a couple of days but with outfielder Joe Owens already nursing a sore arm there is a constant fear amongst Miners fans that someone else in Pittsburgh is going to get hurt. For now, the Miners can just enjoy the fact that they are already 3 games ahead of both Detroit and Chicago.

The Dynamos and Chiefs each dropped season opening series to New York and St Louis. For Chicago it was simply a week worth forgetting as, aside from Rabbit Day's solid outing in 1-0 loss to New York at the debut of Gothams Stadium, the pitching was awful. One consolation for the Chiefs was catcher Tom Bird had a big week, hitting .429 with 3 homers and 7 rbi's to claim the Federal Association player of the week award. In Detroit the pitching was very solid but it was the bats that must have missed the train ride up from spring training. Reigning Fed Whitney Award winner Sal Pestilli had one of his worst weeks as a big leaguer, notching just 4 hits, and only one extra base knock (a double), in 24 at bats. None of Detroit's 4 losses were by more than 2 runs but St Louis and New York were both considered to be second division clubs so starting 2-4 against them is not the way Detroit, or Chicago, wanted the season to begin.

In the Continental Association it seems all the turmoil of last week had little effect on the Cleveland Foresters. The Cleveland crew saw their General Manager replaced and future Hall of Fame catcher T.R. Goins hang 'em up just before they were to open the season against Philadelphia. It had no negative effect on the Cleveland bats as the Foresters pounded out a FABL best 44 runs in their 6 games last week and started the season with a 4-2 record and a share of the CA lead with the Chicago Cougars. It was a case of all or nothing for the Cleveland bats as they scored 41 runs in their 4 wins but just 3 in their two losses. Dan Fowler, perhaps one of the most underappreciated players in the big leagues, had a strong start, socking 2 homers, driving in 8 while batting .455 last week to earn the nod as the Continental Association's top performer.

THOMAS HAS 52 GAME HIT STREAK COME TO AN END

It took 3 years to accomplish but former Brooklyn King Ab Thomas hit safely in 52 consecutive Dixie League games, which is the fifth longest such streak in a professional league ever recorded. Thomas' streak is certainly unique as it started way back on July 27, 1936 when Thomas went 2-for-5 for Knoxville in a 7-4 loss to Mobile. He had been demoted from AAA Rochester just prior to that and finished the season up with the Knights while hitting safely in each of the final 49 games of the season which bested the 1901 Dixie League record, set by Bobby Reuscher of Birmingham, by one.

Thomas would spend all of 1937 in AAA and was with the Brooklyn Kings last year before the now 34 year old was assigned back to Knoxville this season. He went just 4-for-18 in the Knights opening week but did get at least one hit in the first 3 games of the year to run his streak to 52 games before it was ended yesterday in a 5-2 loss to the same team it started against 3 years ago - the Mobile Commodores - when he went 0-for-5.

There have only been 6 streaks of at least 50 games in all of organized baseball (including one in college play). The longest streak in the major leagues is 47 games set by Rich Rowley with the Toronto Wolves in 1900.

		50+ GAME HITTING STREAKS
#    YEAR	PLAYER		TEAM		LEAGUE			LEVEL
57   1908  Ollie Miller		Evansville	Heartland League	Class A
54   1907  Al Eide		Lincoln		Heartland League	Class A
53   1908  Bill Williams	Reading		Middle Atlantic League	Class A
53   1919  Bill Smith		Dayton		Eastern Association	  AA
53   1927  Frank Simpson	Opelika State	AIAA			College
52   1939  Ab Thomas		Knoxville	Dixie League		  AA

QUICK HITS

• Not the start the Kings expected at 3-3. Tom had a rough spring and it continued with 2 more bad outings. Offense needs to get going. 7th in batting average and runs scored but first in on base and slugging percentage. Not sure what to make of that other than some bad luck perhaps.
• Gothams Mule Monier, who had his debut season ended early in 1938 with a fractured finger, picked up where he'd let off. Coming into the new season with a 15 game hitting streak dating back to his late August injury, Monier put up hits in the Gothams first three games before being stopped by Charlie Wheeler and the Detroit Dynamos. Monier has hit in 5 of the Gothams first 6 games this season.
• A mixed bag of news for the St Louis Pioneers. The good news includes a 4-2 start and Sam Sheppard with an outstanding performance to ruin the Chicago Chiefs WCS celebration day in their home opener. Sheppard went 8 and a third allowing just 2 runs as the Pioneers upended the defending champs 4-2. The 1935 Allan Award winner had 3 straight twenty-plus win seasons before falling off a cliff last year and losing his spot in the rotation. It will be a huge win for the Pioneers if the 31 year old is back to his old form. But the bad news is David Abalo, who missed half of last year with arm troubles had to leave his debut this season with another injury but the hope is he will only miss a start or two.
• In spring training the Washington Eagles might have got a little carried away when club execs suggested that Jack Bush, a 25 year old who had yet to make his big league debut, was a potential Hall of Famer. Talk about putting a target on a kids head and the rookie clearly buckled under the pressure, starting his big league career by going 0-for-21. Yes his defense at shortstop was very good but scouts have stated that Bush appears to lack the tools to hit consistently in the big leagues and to put added pressure on him by calling him a Hall of Famer before his first big league game was not the best move the Eagles could have made.
• Washington does deserve credit for a 4-3 start and look like perhaps they will not be the last place team desperately trying to avoid 100 losses that TWIFB sees for them. One reason for the quick start is Jack Elder. The 28 year old, who worked primarily out of the pen the last two seasons, won both of his starts this week including a complete game 3-hit shutout in a 5-0 win over Philadelphia to officially open Columbia Stadium.
• It is disappointing to see just 11,124 in the brand new park to witness the first game when the venue was designed to hold nearly 42,000. Washington's bad play the last couple of years has just destroyed the fan support and they averaged just 7,200 for their other 3 home games last week. That is an increase on the 5800 they average per game a year ago but the Eagles, despite a shiny new concrete cathedral, are still playing before a lot of empty seats.
• New York and the Chicago Cougars also welcomed new ballparks with the Gothams drawing what is believed to be a record crowd for a regular season FABL game in the opener of Gothams Stadium. Here is how each team fared in it's home opener.
  

  HOME OPENER ATTENDANCE THIS WEEK
  Gothams		32,924*	beat Chiefs 1-0
  Detroit		31,193	lost 5-4 to Gothams
  Stars		30,128	beat Brooklyn 3-0
  Cougars		29,706*	lost 10-5 to Cleveland
  Cleveland	28,055	beat Sailors 7-4
  Chiefs		26,718	lost 4-2 to St Louis
  Pittsburgh	25,834	beat Washington 7-5
  Sailors		23,909	lost 6-4 to Toronto
  Montreal	22,879	beat Baltimore 7-4
  Toronto		22,862	lost 6-4 to Cougars in 11 innings
  Brooklyn	22,579	lost 8-1 to Montreal
  Keystones	17,954	lost 1-0 to Boston
  St Louis	14,299	beat Detroit 2-1
  Baltimore	13,150	lost 5-3 to Stars
  Boston 		11,305	beat Pittsburgh 3-2 in 11 innings
  Washington	11,124*	beat Keystones 5-0
    *debut of a new stadium

  
  
  NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE
• NEW YORK WORLD TELEGRAM : Rain Does Nothing to Dampen Spirits at Gothams Stadium Opener
  On a rainy Tuesday afternoon 32,924 fans braved the elements to be present for the opening of New York's latest gleaming bauble. The Gothams opening the new season and their new ballpark with a game against the champion Chicago Chiefs and their ace, former Gotham Rabbit Day. What they were rewarded with was a pitching duel to remember. For one afternoon at least, their local boys stood toe to toe with the champs, and prevailed. In the bottom of the second John Phillips reached on a walk, then was balked to second. New catcher Jack Flint then singled to leftfield. Phillips challenged the arm of 37 year old Jim Hampton and scored the first run in the new stadium. Unbeknownst to the opening day faithful that would be the only run of the afternoon. Veteran started Oscar Morse matched zeroes with Day, scattering six singled while walking none. Day went seven innings, allowing just the one run with giving up four hits and walking three. The only other scoring threat was a long triple to left-center by Mule Monier leading off the 8th against Chief's reliever Charlie Bingham. Bingham worked around two intentional walks to get out of the inning unscathed. Morse went the distance and the Gothams were 1-0 at their sefl-named stadium.
  As for the stadium, there is much to be said for the more suburban location. Just across the East River from Manhattan, fan poured in from cars and the nearby N train station. The main view from the stadium is of Robert Moses' Triborough Bridge which spans the distance from the leftfield foul pole, across to righ center. The stadium is more comfortable, with wider seats and better sightlines than the old refurbished Oval. Fans will have better access from the sprawling suburbs of Long Island and even from over in New Jersey. Local businesses will prosper from the added foot traffic as fans walked the several blocks from the subway terminal. The Gothams should be proud of their new ballpark, and with the promising young players on the way, may soon be seeing these large crowds on a regular basis.
  
• MONTREAL STAR
  Opening week in Montreal saw the Saints finish with a 3-3 record. Most important thing is the fact that on home opening day against Baltimore, Saints honored Joe Ward, recently nominated to the HOF, by retiring jersey #20 and uncovered the large sign on the left field wall. The physical 3rd base that Joe Ward was use to cover, was also removed and given to the HOF museum for exhibit. Joe Ward was not there in person to receive the honors as the team he now manages, the Chiefs, were playing the same day in Chicago. Ward gave a speech through the radio that left Saints players and the fans at Parc Cartier pumped up for the opening game. The opening home game was won by rookie Karl Weiss followed by Snyder to end the game. CF Dilly Ward was 4-5 with 3 RBIs during the game. Overall good first week with SP DeYoung getting 2 wins and showing the leader skills that Montreal believes he has. C Mullins has a great week also. Big week ahead again... keep the finger crossed to maintain the level of energy. 2B Banks has lost the starting job at second for 2B/3B Carmichael stepping up in week #2. Banks had a great training camp but was silent in week #1 of the calendar.
  
• WASHINGTON TIMES-HERALD
  Though it's too early to say, Washington has been... genuinely good in their first 7 games. Though going 4-3, they've scored the most runs of any FABL franchise, with an offense led by ball slammers Shoe Shumate and Sam Brown, as well as very very fast man Don Miller, (who leads the league in WAR, a new statistic proposed by some west coast sports journalists).
  On the fun side of the ball, they've also allowed the 3rd fewest runs of anyone in the league. This is, in large part, because of Jack Elder, who posted a 2-0 record and .5 ERA, striking out 9 and walking none over 18 innings pitched, tied for the most of anyone in the league.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 05/01/1939

• In his speech to the Reichstag Hitler rebuffs FDR's peace talk plan and advised Roosevelt that nations directly concerned should determine the matter while adding that evidently no nation has asked for American protection against Germany.
• Hitler also delved into history showing that for hundreds of years the United States and other nations settled their differences by arms instead of conferences.
• Poland is preparing for a Nazi attack after Warsaw refused German demands for disputed Polish territory.
• Mussolini weighed in as well, calling Roosevelt "a hippopotamus in a crystal shop" and "spectacularly ignorant" to attempt to intervene in matters that do not concern him or the United States. Mussolini also announced plans to strengthen the Italian army.
• Prime Minister Chamberlain says the British Empire is "ready for world parley" and announces that all British men in their 21st year would become liable to six months of military training before either entering the national guard or the reserves. Chamberlain's 'draft' decree causes the opposition in British parliament to demand an election be called.
• British, French and German warships are all gathering near the western entrance to the Mediterranean as Germany conducts war maneuvers in the area.
• Japan is set to tell Germany and Italy she will agree to a military alliance only against Russia if the British-Soviet alliance creates dangers to Japanese position in the Orient.
• President Roosevelt submitted to Congress a sweeping Government reorganization plan calling for the creation of three new Federal agencies by merging welfare, works and lending functions.
• It was described as looking like a New Year's Eve gala as 600,000 attended the opening day of the 1939 World's Fair in New York. In his fair opening speech Norway's Crown Prince Olav told the crowd to "hope against hope" for a peaceful end to the troubles in Europe.