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Jiggs McGee · 11-15-2021, 10:21 PM

SEPTEMBER 18, 1939

IS PROSPECTIVE "NEW" OWNER FROM FAMILIAR STOCK?

The baseball fans of Cincinnati are buzzing (as are those in Buffalo, Milwaukee and even New Orleans) about the possibility of FABL's Baltimore Cannons moving to their city for the 1940 season. The rumor mill has been going full tilt since the Cannons' current owner Oscar Banner mentioned that an unnamed person in Cincinnati had expressed interest in his club, with the assumption following that this new owner would move the club to the Queen City. Now, a reporter's happenstance encounter at Cincinnati's Monarchs Park might have unearthed that mystery man's identity.

While walking past the current home of the Triple-A Cincinnati Steamers, a columnist for one of the city's dailies happened to look through the gate and saw two men in deep discussion. One of them was holding what appeared to be a set of blueprints, and both men were in animated conversation, with each peering down at the unrolled paper in the second man's hands. The Steamers were away on a road trip and no one, theoretically, should have been in the stadium. The reporter noted that the first man was gesturing at the stands, along the baseline, sweeping his hand left-to-right and motioning upwards. The first man rubbed his chin and nodded, then both again referred to the "blueprints" and continued their conversation.

The columnist, who typically writes about business and economic matters, recognized the first man immediately. He reports this man was John Erasmus Tice, scion of the famous Tice family of Cincinnati. The Tice family is best known as the founders of the famous Tice & Chiles Company, which began as a soap and candle-maker in the 1840s and today is one of the nation's largest manufacturers of soap, detergent and other household goods. John E. Tice is the company's current President and CEO. He is also the grandson of James Tice, who famously founded both the Cincinnati Monarchs Baseball Club and the Border Association, the forerunner of FABL's Continental Association. The elder Tice passed away in 1891, shortly before William Whitney famously brokered the "peace" that ended the Century League-Border Association war and founded the Federally Aligned Baseball Leagues.

The columnist, believing he had a scoop that would make him the envy of the newsroom, waited until Tice and his unnamed associate left the ballpark. As Tice approached a waiting car, the columnist approached. As he was known to Tice, the businessman stopped and shook his hand. The man asked point-blank if Tice was at the ballpark because he was the unnamed suitor mentioned by Oscar Banner. Tice's mouth twitched in a smirk and he gave a terse, "No comment" before excusing himself and stepping into the waiting car, which promptly sped off.

As the famous saying goes, "Where there is smoke, there is fire," and in this case, it certainly appears that John Tice might just be the man seeking to return big league baseball to Cincinnati for the first time in nearly fifty years.

STARS, MINERS CLOSE GROUND ON LEADERS

The New York Stars and Pittsburgh Miners each made a statement that neither is conceding the pennant just yet. Time may be winding down with just 3 weeks remaining in the season but both the Stars and Miners are within striking distance of the front-running Cleveland Foresters in the Continental Association and Detroit Dynamos in the Federal Association. The Dynamos and Foresters are very close geographic rivals and share the common thread of a General Manager who has led both teams to great success in recent years but they have never faced each other in the World Championship Series and both the Stars and Miners would like to see that trend continue.

New York just won't go away in the Continental Association as they are certainly the surprise club of the season and have shown some great resilience in battling back in September after a dreadful 10-18 August. The Stars have won 10 of their last 14 games and are now within 3.5 games of the front-running Foresters. However, one can't help but think the Stars missed a glorious opportunity this past weekend as, while Cleveland was losing 4 straight, the Stars could only split their 4 games with the two bottom feeders of the CA this season in Brooklyn and Baltimore. One can't help but think the Stars season might just come down to a 3-game set in Cleveland a week and a half from now.

The Pittsburgh Miners are slowly making up ground in the Fed as they continue to charge back after a terrible 10-17 July destroyed the lead they had built up in the first half of the season. Detroit's margin atop the Federal Association is down to three games after the Dynamos went just 3-4 this past week while the Miners were winning 5 of 7 including a weekend split with the fading Boston Minutemen. The Minutemen were the team that hastened the Miners July swoon when they swept their 6 games head to head that month.

A big reason for Pittsburgh's success of late is the club has been staying healthy, although Jack Cleaves did get nicked up the other day but the Miners expect him to just miss 1 game at most. The older Pittsburgh arms of Charlie Stedman (11-18, 3.17), who has pitched much better than his record indicates, and Karl Johnson (19-10, 3.35) have held up and so for the most part has slugger Mahlon Strong (.333,13,76) who, when he next takes the field it will be his 93rd game of the season, most in his 3 seasons in Pittsburgh.

In preseason previews it was speculated injuries could decide the Federal Association crown but that statement was intended to talk about the older and much more injury prone Miners, not the Detroit Dynamos but here we are in September and it is the Detroit roster that is feeling the crunch. Charlie Wheeler (11-6, 3.06) suffered a season ending shoulder injury in late August but Detroit has survived that rather well thanks in no small part to the acquisitions of Mike Murphy (11-12, 4.37) and Joe Shaffner (10-12, 3.35) who are a combined 13-8 since being moved to the Dynamos. What is much more difficult to overcome are the injuries to both Pestilli brothers. First Alf (.296,23,71), another mid-season pickup from Brooklyn, was shelved at the end of August with a hamstring problem that continues to sideline him. Now Sal (.253,28,109) - the reigning Whitney Award winner - was forced to sit out last week as the shoulder he banged up in late August continues to give him trouble. It is expected with big series coming up against Boston and Pittsburgh over the next week and a half the Dynamos will allow Sal to play if he is at all able to, but the question is just how effective will he be.

With the Detroit injuries and 11 straight home games coming up, including a pair against the Dynamos, the Pittsburgh Miners have to feel fairly confident about their chances to get back on even footing with Detroit, which must play it's next 10 and 15 of their final 18 games away from Thompson Field.

Not so long ago Boston was celebrating taking over top spot in the Fed but a stretch that saw the club go 12-21 while both Detroit and Pittsburgh were surging crushed the hopes of all but the most ardent of Minutemen fans, who continue cringe whenever they can hear the chant 1915! 1915! over the airwaves as they listen to Boston games via radio from visiting stadiums. The reference by opposing crowds is to mock that club over the fact that the Minutemen have gone longer than any other team in the Fed without a pennant, a drought that traces back to the previously mentioned 1915 campaign. There may still be a small glimmer of hope for Boston as they do have 15 of their final 20 games at home including 3 this week against Detroit but first they desperately need a win today in Pittsburgh. The Pennant Chase report gives Boston a 0.5% chance of winning the pennant but there have been some great near comebacks in recent years. While no one has ultimately been successful overcome a deficit that large a pair of teams came very close, which perhaps gives Boston fans a small sliver of hope. Just last year the Toronto Wolves turned a 9 game deficit in late August to a 2.5 game lead on Brooklyn heading into the final week of the season. The Kings salvaged their season by winning 5 of 6 that final week while the pack of young Wolves folded under the pressure of a pennant race. It was still a very impressive comeback bid from Toronto. Back in 1927 the Detroit Dynamos were 11 games back of Philadelphia in the Federal Association with 40 games left to play. Detroit came storming back while the Keystones finished the season 15-25 before Bill Ross threw a shutout in the one-game playoff to salvage the pennant for Philadelphia. Detroit did win the Fed two years later though so maybe that is the most positive thing that Minutemen fans can take from this column. It is almost assuredly not their year this season but the club is improving and maybe they can silence the 1915 chant in the next season or two. As for this year it is easy to point to the Minutemen's dreadful 5-14 record against Detroit that included 6 straight losses to the Dynamos over the past month.

QUICK HITS

For the second time in just over a month Leo Mitchell is the Continental Association's player of the week. The 26 year old Chicago outfielder, who also made the all-star team this year for the first time in his career, went 16-for-29 last week with 8 rbi's. On the season the Cougars rising star is hitting .349 with 8 homers and 73 rbi's. He also had a 5-hit game recently.
St Louis Pioneers rookie shortstop Ivan Cameron (.277,4,60) was the winner in the Fed. Cameron was a Chicago Cougars prospect before being dealt to the Pioneers over the winter in the trade that sent Freddie Jones to the Windy City.
Bobby Barrell (.278,17,77) is not enjoying the best season of his career but the veteran outfielder has been inked to an extension with the Philadelphia Keystones. The Chicago Chiefs also resigned a couple of players this week, giving outfielder Jim Hampton (.296,0,24) and first baseman Ron Rattigan (.286,16,64) extensions. The 38 year old Hampton is very popular with Chiefs fans and has spent his entire 14 year career with the club. His role was greatly diminished this season but it seems clear the Chiefs want him to retire with the organization.
Chiefs catcher Tom Bird has just been such a good hitter over the past few years--some might be taking him for granted. He'll likely finish above 7.0 WAR this season, which would be the 3rd year in a row.
If this season shows one thing, it's that people like something new, especially in New York. Despite falling out of the playoff race early this summer, fans have been coming out to see the Gothams' new park. With only 3 home games remaining, a season closing set against 1st place Detroit, the Gothams attendance total has reached heights not seen since the pennant winners of 1930 and 1931. The final total will be the 3rd highest attendance figure in their long history. How long this will last without winning more games? We'll have to wait until 1940 for that answer.
After hitting .413 in August, Fred McCormick is now hitting .518 (!!) in September. He currently sits at .396 on the season. Can he top .400? If so he would be the second to do it in three years, following Mel Carrol who hit .409 with Washington in 1937. Prior to that you have to go back to Max Morris in 1925 to find another .400 hitter.
It finally happened!! A Boston player hit over 30 homers in a season. Bob Donoghue's is at 33 and counting (Hopefully). Can he clear 40?? Only 18 times has a FABL player reached the 40 homer mark in a season and 8 of them were by Max Morris. Prior to Donohue breaking the mark this season the Minutemen franchise record was 26 set by Dan Fowler, now with Cleveland, in 1932.
Bill Ross likely never pays for a drink in Philadelphia. He earned the moniker "Big Game Bill" for that playoff win in 1927 and a Game Seven win in the 1933 Series. Counting his 1922 WCS appearance with the Cougars, Ross was 5-1 with a 2.09 era in 8 World Championship Series appearances. His regular season record was not to shabby either, posting a 230-164 lifetime mark.
One of the better deals the Keystones ever made was acquiring Ross from the Cougars following the 1926 season. The price was a young pitcher named Dick Kadlec, who was the Keystones third round pick three years ago, and a minor league outfielder by the name of Dave Lappin, who never did make it to the big leagues. Kadlec went just 19-29 over parts of 5 seasons with the Cougars before they waived him and he finished up with a handful of games back with the Keystones. To further rub salt in the wound, the team that Ross beat in Game Seven of that 1933 Series was, you guessed it - the Cougars.
28 year old outfielder Andy Dye quest for a historic mark in the Great Western League has been put on hold due to an injury. The San Francisco Hawks star has hit safely in the last 35 games and is closing in on the league record. George Reid, who played over 1700 FABL games for 5 teams in his career, also spent a couple season in Oakland and in 1909 he had a 45 game hitting streak. Dye is 10 away but if he is going to equal the mark it won't be until next season as the Hawks have just 7 games remaining in their season and Dye left yesterdays game with an injury that will sideline him likely for the final week. His big league career has consisted of just 30 games for the parent Philadelphia Sailors but he is hitting .405 in 37 career big league at bats.
We don't cover the Japanese League much but it is worth mentioning that the two year old loop just had it's first no-hitter. It was tossed by Kyoto's Hachiro Ishii in a win over Tokyo last week. Ishii, a 23 year old rookie, is 7-12 on the season.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 09/17/1939

Warsaw claims to be driving back German troops after a four-day battle. Nazis merely admit there is a major battle raging. As the week ends Warsaw is described as a "flaming torch" following a German land and air bombardment of the city in what is described as a German attempt to take Warsaw at all costs.
British troops have joined the French in advancing along Germany's western front and as fighting intensifies and German's focus divided allied troops say the Nazis are retreating.
Holland announces it will force down or shoot down any and all foreign airplanes flying over the nation.
Russia and Japan are reported to have reached an armistice in their undeclared war on the Manchukuo-Mongolian border.
A fishing trawler off the cost of Boston reports seeing a mysterious "swastika marked" flying over the same general area where an unidentified submarine had been in operation last week. The area is in the Atlantic Ocean about 190 miles east of Boston.
The New York Stock Exchange hit new heights for the year amidst great enthusiasm early in the week for war group stocks, particularly the steel industry. The remainder of the week would be a wild ride with sharp declines midweek before a recovery on Friday.

11-15-2021, 10:21 PM	#286
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	September 1939 SEPTEMBER 18, 1939 IS PROSPECTIVE "NEW" OWNER FROM FAMILIAR STOCK? The baseball fans of Cincinnati are buzzing (as are those in Buffalo, Milwaukee and even New Orleans) about the possibility of FABL's Baltimore Cannons moving to their city for the 1940 season. The rumor mill has been going full tilt since the Cannons' current owner Oscar Banner mentioned that an unnamed person in Cincinnati had expressed interest in his club, with the assumption following that this new owner would move the club to the Queen City. Now, a reporter's happenstance encounter at Cincinnati's Monarchs Park might have unearthed that mystery man's identity. While walking past the current home of the Triple-A Cincinnati Steamers, a columnist for one of the city's dailies happened to look through the gate and saw two men in deep discussion. One of them was holding what appeared to be a set of blueprints, and both men were in animated conversation, with each peering down at the unrolled paper in the second man's hands. The Steamers were away on a road trip and no one, theoretically, should have been in the stadium. The reporter noted that the first man was gesturing at the stands, along the baseline, sweeping his hand left-to-right and motioning upwards. The first man rubbed his chin and nodded, then both again referred to the "blueprints" and continued their conversation. The columnist, who typically writes about business and economic matters, recognized the first man immediately. He reports this man was John Erasmus Tice, scion of the famous Tice family of Cincinnati. The Tice family is best known as the founders of the famous Tice & Chiles Company, which began as a soap and candle-maker in the 1840s and today is one of the nation's largest manufacturers of soap, detergent and other household goods. John E. Tice is the company's current President and CEO. He is also the grandson of James Tice, who famously founded both the Cincinnati Monarchs Baseball Club and the Border Association, the forerunner of FABL's Continental Association. The elder Tice passed away in 1891, shortly before William Whitney famously brokered the "peace" that ended the Century League-Border Association war and founded the Federally Aligned Baseball Leagues. The columnist, believing he had a scoop that would make him the envy of the newsroom, waited until Tice and his unnamed associate left the ballpark. As Tice approached a waiting car, the columnist approached. As he was known to Tice, the businessman stopped and shook his hand. The man asked point-blank if Tice was at the ballpark because he was the unnamed suitor mentioned by Oscar Banner. Tice's mouth twitched in a smirk and he gave a terse, "No comment" before excusing himself and stepping into the waiting car, which promptly sped off. As the famous saying goes, "Where there is smoke, there is fire," and in this case, it certainly appears that John Tice might just be the man seeking to return big league baseball to Cincinnati for the first time in nearly fifty years. STARS, MINERS CLOSE GROUND ON LEADERS The New York Stars and Pittsburgh Miners each made a statement that neither is conceding the pennant just yet. Time may be winding down with just 3 weeks remaining in the season but both the Stars and Miners are within striking distance of the front-running Cleveland Foresters in the Continental Association and Detroit Dynamos in the Federal Association. The Dynamos and Foresters are very close geographic rivals and share the common thread of a General Manager who has led both teams to great success in recent years but they have never faced each other in the World Championship Series and both the Stars and Miners would like to see that trend continue. New York just won't go away in the Continental Association as they are certainly the surprise club of the season and have shown some great resilience in battling back in September after a dreadful 10-18 August. The Stars have won 10 of their last 14 games and are now within 3.5 games of the front-running Foresters. However, one can't help but think the Stars missed a glorious opportunity this past weekend as, while Cleveland was losing 4 straight, the Stars could only split their 4 games with the two bottom feeders of the CA this season in Brooklyn and Baltimore. One can't help but think the Stars season might just come down to a 3-game set in Cleveland a week and a half from now. The Pittsburgh Miners are slowly making up ground in the Fed as they continue to charge back after a terrible 10-17 July destroyed the lead they had built up in the first half of the season. Detroit's margin atop the Federal Association is down to three games after the Dynamos went just 3-4 this past week while the Miners were winning 5 of 7 including a weekend split with the fading Boston Minutemen. The Minutemen were the team that hastened the Miners July swoon when they swept their 6 games head to head that month. A big reason for Pittsburgh's success of late is the club has been staying healthy, although Jack Cleaves did get nicked up the other day but the Miners expect him to just miss 1 game at most. The older Pittsburgh arms of Charlie Stedman (11-18, 3.17), who has pitched much better than his record indicates, and Karl Johnson (19-10, 3.35) have held up and so for the most part has slugger Mahlon Strong (.333,13,76) who, when he next takes the field it will be his 93rd game of the season, most in his 3 seasons in Pittsburgh. In preseason previews it was speculated injuries could decide the Federal Association crown but that statement was intended to talk about the older and much more injury prone Miners, not the Detroit Dynamos but here we are in September and it is the Detroit roster that is feeling the crunch. Charlie Wheeler (11-6, 3.06) suffered a season ending shoulder injury in late August but Detroit has survived that rather well thanks in no small part to the acquisitions of Mike Murphy (11-12, 4.37) and Joe Shaffner (10-12, 3.35) who are a combined 13-8 since being moved to the Dynamos. What is much more difficult to overcome are the injuries to both Pestilli brothers. First Alf (.296,23,71), another mid-season pickup from Brooklyn, was shelved at the end of August with a hamstring problem that continues to sideline him. Now Sal (.253,28,109) - the reigning Whitney Award winner - was forced to sit out last week as the shoulder he banged up in late August continues to give him trouble. It is expected with big series coming up against Boston and Pittsburgh over the next week and a half the Dynamos will allow Sal to play if he is at all able to, but the question is just how effective will he be. With the Detroit injuries and 11 straight home games coming up, including a pair against the Dynamos, the Pittsburgh Miners have to feel fairly confident about their chances to get back on even footing with Detroit, which must play it's next 10 and 15 of their final 18 games away from Thompson Field. Not so long ago Boston was celebrating taking over top spot in the Fed but a stretch that saw the club go 12-21 while both Detroit and Pittsburgh were surging crushed the hopes of all but the most ardent of Minutemen fans, who continue cringe whenever they can hear the chant 1915! 1915! over the airwaves as they listen to Boston games via radio from visiting stadiums. The reference by opposing crowds is to mock that club over the fact that the Minutemen have gone longer than any other team in the Fed without a pennant, a drought that traces back to the previously mentioned 1915 campaign. There may still be a small glimmer of hope for Boston as they do have 15 of their final 20 games at home including 3 this week against Detroit but first they desperately need a win today in Pittsburgh. The Pennant Chase report gives Boston a 0.5% chance of winning the pennant but there have been some great near comebacks in recent years. While no one has ultimately been successful overcome a deficit that large a pair of teams came very close, which perhaps gives Boston fans a small sliver of hope. Just last year the Toronto Wolves turned a 9 game deficit in late August to a 2.5 game lead on Brooklyn heading into the final week of the season. The Kings salvaged their season by winning 5 of 6 that final week while the pack of young Wolves folded under the pressure of a pennant race. It was still a very impressive comeback bid from Toronto. Back in 1927 the Detroit Dynamos were 11 games back of Philadelphia in the Federal Association with 40 games left to play. Detroit came storming back while the Keystones finished the season 15-25 before Bill Ross threw a shutout in the one-game playoff to salvage the pennant for Philadelphia. Detroit did win the Fed two years later though so maybe that is the most positive thing that Minutemen fans can take from this column. It is almost assuredly not their year this season but the club is improving and maybe they can silence the 1915 chant in the next season or two. As for this year it is easy to point to the Minutemen's dreadful 5-14 record against Detroit that included 6 straight losses to the Dynamos over the past month. QUICK HITS For the second time in just over a month Leo Mitchell is the Continental Association's player of the week. The 26 year old Chicago outfielder, who also made the all-star team this year for the first time in his career, went 16-for-29 last week with 8 rbi's. On the season the Cougars rising star is hitting .349 with 8 homers and 73 rbi's. He also had a 5-hit game recently. St Louis Pioneers rookie shortstop Ivan Cameron (.277,4,60) was the winner in the Fed. Cameron was a Chicago Cougars prospect before being dealt to the Pioneers over the winter in the trade that sent Freddie Jones to the Windy City. Bobby Barrell (.278,17,77) is not enjoying the best season of his career but the veteran outfielder has been inked to an extension with the Philadelphia Keystones. The Chicago Chiefs also resigned a couple of players this week, giving outfielder Jim Hampton (.296,0,24) and first baseman Ron Rattigan (.286,16,64) extensions. The 38 year old Hampton is very popular with Chiefs fans and has spent his entire 14 year career with the club. His role was greatly diminished this season but it seems clear the Chiefs want him to retire with the organization. Chiefs catcher Tom Bird has just been such a good hitter over the past few years--some might be taking him for granted. He'll likely finish above 7.0 WAR this season, which would be the 3rd year in a row. If this season shows one thing, it's that people like something new, especially in New York. Despite falling out of the playoff race early this summer, fans have been coming out to see the Gothams' new park. With only 3 home games remaining, a season closing set against 1st place Detroit, the Gothams attendance total has reached heights not seen since the pennant winners of 1930 and 1931. The final total will be the 3rd highest attendance figure in their long history. How long this will last without winning more games? We'll have to wait until 1940 for that answer. After hitting .413 in August, Fred McCormick is now hitting .518 (!!) in September. He currently sits at .396 on the season. Can he top .400? If so he would be the second to do it in three years, following Mel Carrol who hit .409 with Washington in 1937. Prior to that you have to go back to Max Morris in 1925 to find another .400 hitter. It finally happened!! A Boston player hit over 30 homers in a season. Bob Donoghue's is at 33 and counting (Hopefully). Can he clear 40?? Only 18 times has a FABL player reached the 40 homer mark in a season and 8 of them were by Max Morris. Prior to Donohue breaking the mark this season the Minutemen franchise record was 26 set by Dan Fowler, now with Cleveland, in 1932. Bill Ross likely never pays for a drink in Philadelphia. He earned the moniker "Big Game Bill" for that playoff win in 1927 and a Game Seven win in the 1933 Series. Counting his 1922 WCS appearance with the Cougars, Ross was 5-1 with a 2.09 era in 8 World Championship Series appearances. His regular season record was not to shabby either, posting a 230-164 lifetime mark. One of the better deals the Keystones ever made was acquiring Ross from the Cougars following the 1926 season. The price was a young pitcher named Dick Kadlec, who was the Keystones third round pick three years ago, and a minor league outfielder by the name of Dave Lappin, who never did make it to the big leagues. Kadlec went just 19-29 over parts of 5 seasons with the Cougars before they waived him and he finished up with a handful of games back with the Keystones. To further rub salt in the wound, the team that Ross beat in Game Seven of that 1933 Series was, you guessed it - the Cougars. 28 year old outfielder Andy Dye quest for a historic mark in the Great Western League has been put on hold due to an injury. The San Francisco Hawks star has hit safely in the last 35 games and is closing in on the league record. George Reid, who played over 1700 FABL games for 5 teams in his career, also spent a couple season in Oakland and in 1909 he had a 45 game hitting streak. Dye is 10 away but if he is going to equal the mark it won't be until next season as the Hawks have just 7 games remaining in their season and Dye left yesterdays game with an injury that will sideline him likely for the final week. His big league career has consisted of just 30 games for the parent Philadelphia Sailors but he is hitting .405 in 37 career big league at bats. We don't cover the Japanese League much but it is worth mentioning that the two year old loop just had it's first no-hitter. It was tossed by Kyoto's Hachiro Ishii in a win over Tokyo last week. Ishii, a 23 year old rookie, is 7-12 on the season. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 09/17/1939 Warsaw claims to be driving back German troops after a four-day battle. Nazis merely admit there is a major battle raging. As the week ends Warsaw is described as a "flaming torch" following a German land and air bombardment of the city in what is described as a German attempt to take Warsaw at all costs. British troops have joined the French in advancing along Germany's western front and as fighting intensifies and German's focus divided allied troops say the Nazis are retreating. Holland announces it will force down or shoot down any and all foreign airplanes flying over the nation. Russia and Japan are reported to have reached an armistice in their undeclared war on the Manchukuo-Mongolian border. A fishing trawler off the cost of Boston reports seeing a mysterious "swastika marked" flying over the same general area where an unidentified submarine had been in operation last week. The area is in the Atlantic Ocean about 190 miles east of Boston. The New York Stock Exchange hit new heights for the year amidst great enthusiasm early in the week for war group stocks, particularly the steel industry. The remainder of the week would be a wild ride with sharp declines midweek before a recovery on Friday. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports