OCTOBER 13, 1939
STARS SHINE IN PITTSBURGH. NEW YORK UP 2-0 IN SERIES
Maybe the New York Stars really are a team of destiny. The improbable run that has been the entire season for the Stars just added two more unlikely chapters with a pair of shocking victories on the road over the mighty Pittsburgh Miners to open the World Championship Series. So much has already been said about the Stars surprising ascent to the top of the Continental Association, as they defied the pundits and seemingly the laws of baseball all along the way. As a result it really should come as no shock that the Stars, always the underdog this season it seems, simply went into Pittsburgh and stared down a Miners team that played .701 baseball at Fitzpatrick Park this season, then proceed to destroy the Miners and their so-called superior pitching staff in back to back games. Ageless wonder Dave Trowbridge and teen phenom Bill Barrett -who is less than half Trowbridge's age- combined to go 11-for-17 with 8 RBI's and 7 runs scored in the two games making for a short day for both Lefty Allen and Hard Luck Chuck Stedman. Meanwhile, the Stars pitching did just enough to keep the Pittsburgh offense, which has been murder on righthanders all season, from taking the game back. Yes the Miners did manage to get 10 runs in the two contests but Stars starters Bill Riley and George Phillips certainly did enough to keep the New York dream machine rolling.
The boxscores (shown below)from the opening two games were almost carbon copies of each other. New York put up a pair of runs in the top of the first inning in both games only to see Pittsburgh quickly tie it. In both instances the Stars would respond, padding their leads with 2 more runs before eventually adding some insurance which allowed them to withstand late rally attempts from the Miners. The last time Pittsburgh lost back to back games at home was August 19th and 20th to the Philadelphia Keystones and that was one of just three times all season they were beaten in consecutive games at Fitzpatrick Park but here it happened again on the biggest stage possible.
The Series now shifts to New York where the Stars hope to pen the final two chapters of this fantasy season. Is it perhaps time for everyone to stop doubting their ability to do it?
STARS BUSY OFF THE FIELD TOO
The New York Stars are still involved in the 1939 season but word is they have already agreed to a move for next year. A handshake deal is already agreed upon for a 3-player trade sending St Louis pitcher Dixie Lee to the Continental Association champs in exchange for a pair of minor leaguers in Ira Armstrong and Carl Page. The Pioneers had been shopping the disgruntled 26 year old pitcher who was once the darling of OSA as a top ten prospect but has fallen out of favour with St Louis skipper George Sparkman after an erratic 3-11 season that cost the former 15 game winner his spot in the rotation and exiled him to the bullpen.
Armstrong, a 20 year old second baseman, and Page, a 19 year old centerfielder, were both considered top 100 prospects with Armstrong believed to have the higher ceiling of the two.
QUICK HITS
- Al Wheeler was quick to shoulder the blame for the Brooklyn Kings collapse this season. The 31 year old outfielder had the worst season of his 11 year career, batting just .243 with 19 homers and 76 rbi's and when asked to sum up how he felt about his season his one word reply was "Angry!" adding "this is on me. I have to be better...we have to be better. This year was simply unacceptable and the worst season of my career. I don't want to feel like this again." Wheeler vows the Kings will be back in contention for the pennant again next season but there is still an awful lot up in the air in Brooklyn, including whether or not manager Powell Slocum will return. Rumours persist Slocum is Baltimore bound as long as there still is a team in Baltimore next season and it hasn't packed up and moved to Cincinnati, or some other destination.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 10/13/1939
- French Premier Daladier brands Hitler's peace proposal a trick, calling the Nazi offer a peace of "ruse and violence" but promised his people a "real peace" sometime in the future.
- Prime Minister Chamberlain said it would be impossible for Britain to accept any such basis for peace as Hitler proposed "without forfeiting her honor."
- Germany turns it's full attention to French lines within her borders but despite heavy fighting the Nazi's have so far failed to regain any ground they lost while focused on taking Warsaw.
- Sources say France and Britain are bracing for a major German offensive as any possible peace maneuvers are on the verge of collapse. The Allies are said to be not contemplating a big scale offensive this year due to the weather conditions but the source says "Adolf Hitler cannot wait until spring."
- Russia is massing the might of it's Navy in the Gulf of Finland coinciding with the massing of hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops along the frontiers facing the Baltic states.
- Helsinki is holding out hope that diplomatic action by the United States and the Scandinavian countries might save Finland from Russia domination.