JANUARY 29, 1940
BIG GEORGE ADDED TO HALL OF FAME ALONG WITH TURN OF CENTURY SKIPPER
George Johnson, long-time star of the Boston Minutemen and one of the greatest pitchers in FABL history, is the lone former player who will be inducted into the Professional Baseball Hall of Fame. Johnson was the only player to receive sufficient votes to qualify this season but he won't go in alone as Big George will be joined in the Class of 1940 by turn of the century manager Edward Wakeham who was selected by a special panel.
'Big George' Johnson started and ended his 16 year major league career with the Washington Eagles but it was as a Boston Minutemen that he will be best remembered. A native of Shamokin, Pennsylvania he made his FABL debut with Washington in 1907, posting an 11-9 record to go with a 2.65 era but the Eagles would not bring him back the following year, selling him to the Class A Lincoln Legislators. He helped Lincoln win the Class A Heartland League championship in 1908 and then moved up to AAA Denver for the next three seasons. It would be 1912 before he returned to the big leagues when the Boston Minutemen purchased his contract. It was a triumphant return as Big George led the Federal Association in victories that season, posting a 25-15 record before splitting his two decisions in the World Championship Series to help Boston top the Brooklyn Kings in 5 games to claim the crown. It would be the only championship ring Johnson would earn although he did lead the Minutemen to another pennant in 1915 but they fell to Montreal in 7 games in the famed Johnston & Johnson series. George Johnson had beaten Montreal ace Bob Johnston in games one and four but came up just short in the deciding game as the Saints pulled out a 1-0 victory to take the series.
Johnson would continue to pitch well for the Minutemen, winning a career best 31 games the following season (1916) and a total of 258 in his dozen seasons with Boston. Following an injury plagued 1923 season in which he struggled to an 8-17 record and a 4.44 era Johnson was traded to Washington and would finish his career with 3 seasons in the nation's capital. At the age of 38 he had a last hurrah of sorts, pacing the Eagles to the Federal Association pennant with a 22-5 record but a September shoulder injury sidelined him for the WCS, which the Eagles lost in 6 games to the New York Stars. The injuries continued in 1926 and while Johnson did win 8 more games to boost his career total to 311 victories, he spent as much time in the trainer's room as he did on the mound. Approaching age 40 he attempted to return for the 1927 season but another injury in spring training forced him to retire.
There was no all-star game or Allen Award in the prime of Johnson's career but he did finish third in the Whitney Award voting in 1916 - his 31 win season for Boston. That season is somewhat overshadowed as both Jim Golden and Charlie Firestone each earned 35 victories that year but since then no other pitcher has won as many as 30 game in a season. Johnson led the Federal Association in wins 3 times in his career and posted a final FABL mark of 311-209, good for 10th place all-time on the career wins list. He also sits tenth in career strikeouts with 2069 over his career and 7th in shutouts with 56. Johnson finished his career with a 2.96 ERA. He racked up 625 mound appearances and struck out 2069 in 4811 innings. Johnson's legacy also includes a no-hitter, tossed against Detroit in 1914, and now also includes the designation "Hall of Famer."
Asked by reporters to describe what it takes to become a Hall of Famer, he replied, "I guess it all started at my high school graduation. The speaker said to be successful in life, you needed to find 'something you love.' I am here today because I found something I love. Baseball has been my life. It has never been a job. I have been able to have fun playing a game and making a wonderful life for myself and my family. I am a kid that never really had to grow up. Just go to the ballpark each day and throw strikes. That's it."
George Johnson closed by saying, "God gave me the talent and blessed me with great coaches, managers, and teammates, who helped me develop it."
Now 53 years old, Johnson will return to FABL dugouts this spring as he has joined the Cincinnati Cannons, and his long-time former Manager with the Minutemen George Theobald, as the club's new pitching coach.
A short-list of 9 candidates was presented to a group of veteran baseball writers and they were allowed to list a maximum of three names on their ballot with a player being required to appear on 75% of them to qualify for election. Johnson was the lone qualifier and did so with the minimum 9 votes. Here are the 1940 election results:
Code:
HOF Voting results. 12 ballots, 9 votes needed for election:
Big George Johnson 9
Jack Arabian 7
Charlie Wilson 7
Jim Golden 6
Bill Temple 3
Thomas Watkins 2
Jim Jones 1
Fred Robey 0
Joe Carney 0
The second inductee in this year's class is 19th century manager Edward Wakeham who was added by a special committee which looks at managers and other builders of the game. Wakeman spent over 20 years as a manager primarily in leagues prior to the formation of FABL. He led the Chicago Chiefs to a championship in the old Border Association in 1877 and a decade later Wakeham would guide the Providence Gems to three straight Century League titles. He would return to the Chiefs and usher them into the beginning of FABL before also spending time with the New York Stars and Pittsburgh Miners. In all, Waheham spent 22 seasons as a big league manager, posting a 1397-1160 record and winning four league titles. He also played briefly as an outfielder in the first two seasons of the Border Association, including 1877 when he held the dual role of player-manager for the Chiefs. His younger brothers Jack and Park also played professionally but like big brother Edward were better known as managers. Jack, who was 12 years younger, managed nearly as long as his older brother while Park spent 5 seasons as manager at the major league level and a number of years in the minors.
JACK CLEAVES MAY MISS START OF SEASON
Bad news for the Pittsburgh Miners as all-star infielder Jack Cleaves has reportedly suffered a setback in his recovery from a broken kneecap which leaves his status for the start of the season in doubt. The 32 year old hitting .326 last season but was limited to just 88 games due to a number of injuries including the broken kneecap which was suffered late in the season and prevented Cleaves from suiting up in the World Championship Series, in which Pittsburgh was swept by the New York Stars.
Cleaves was said to be pushing himself too hard in efforts to be ready when Miners camp opens next month and the result is he is expected to miss most, if not all of spring training, and there is a chance he will not be ready return when the Miners open defense of their Federal Association Pennant in April.
COMPLETE RESULTS OF 1940 WINTER DRAFT
The January phase of the 1940 Amateur player draft has been completed and while outfielders dominated the first few picks when the dust settled on the opening round it was once again the pitchers who were in the highest demand with 8 of them going in the opening round. The eight first round pitchers selected this year is tied for the second most ever and the highest total since a record 12 pitchers went in the first 16 selections of the 1933 draft. That 1933 class included Joe Hancock, Dick Higgins, John Edwards, Al Miller and Earle Robinson who were picks one thru five as well as Bob Cummings, Nate Spear, rusty Petrick, Chris Clarke, Don Miller, Tommy Trott and Jim Whitely. The 1932 class marked the only other time prior to this year that at least half of the first round picks were pitchers.
Three teams (Cincinnati, New York Stars and Brooklyn) had two first round selections which left the New York Gothams, Washington Eagles and Detroit Dynamos without a pick in the opening round. The Gothams had also traded their second round selection away making them the final team to have a selection with their regional round choice (round three) being the only player the Gothams would add in the winter phase. The remaining 22 rounds of the draft will be conducted in June.
Code:
ROUND ONE
# TEAM NAME AGE POS SCHOOL HOMETOWN
1 Cincinnati Dick Blaszak 18 OF Morris HS, Bronx New York, NY
2 Cincinnati Bill Sohl 20 P Lane State Portland, OR
3 Keystones Joe Quade 17 P West Chester (PA) HS West Chester, PA
4 Brooklyn John Moss 18 OF Lexington (KY) HS Lexington, KY
5 NY Stars Bill Barnett 17 1B Brunswick (OH) HS Brunswick, OH
6 Toronto John Graves 21 OF Detroit City College New Philadelphia, PA
7 Chiefs Joe Rutherford 17 OF Chillicothe (OH) HS Middletown, OH
8 Montreal George Wynn 21 P Willamette Valley Coll Walla Walla, WA
9 St Louis Tucker Ness 20 C Boston State Rochester, NY
10 Sailors Jimmy J Walker 18 OF Linwood (PA) HS Linwood, PA
11 Boston Andy Howell 18 P Hamilton HS, Brooklyn New York, NY
12 Cougars Mel Haynes 18 P Princeton (NJ) HS Garfield, NJ
13 Brooklyn Tom Landowski 21 SS St. Magnus Univ. Rice Lake, WI
14 Cleveland Richie Hughes 17 P Amboy (IL) HS Chicago, IL
15 Pittsburgh Bill Traylor 20 P Coastal State Columbus, GA
16 NY Stars Wally Hunter 18 P Branford (CT) HS Branford, CT
ROUND TWO
# TEAM NAME AGE POS SCHOOL HOMETOWN
17 NY Stars Newt Cooper 21 OF American Atlantic Tupelo, MS
18 NY Stars Bill Grove 17 3B Swedesboro (NJ) HS Swedesboro, NJ
19 Keystones Lou Bayer 18 C Hatboro (PA) HS Philadelphia, PA
20 Brooklyn Wiley Bowens 18 3B Council Grove (KS) HS Mulberry, NC
21 Washington Johnny Thacker 17 C Portsmouth (OH) HS Charleston, WV
22 Toronto Tommy Anderson 20 P Chesapeake State Hampton, VA
23 Chiefs Bob Crowley 18 P Fort Lee (NJ) HS Fort Lee, NJ
24 Montreal Hi Penley 18 1B Fayetteville (NY) HS Brighton, NY
25 St Louis Frank McNeil 20 SS Daniel Boone College Decatur, IN
26 Sailors Joe Lund 17 P Bennington (VT) HS Bennington, VT
27 Boston Hal Pratt 17 OF Calexico (CA) HS San Diego, CA
28 Cougar Don Lee 17 OF Lincoln HS, Jersey City Jersey City, NJ
29 Detroit Eddie Barkley 21 3B Grange College Dallas, TX
30 Cleveland George Bray 18 SS Lincoln HS, Cleveland Cleveland, OH
31 Pittsburgh Gordon Carter 18 2B Carteret (NJ) HS Newark, NJ
32 NY Stars Don Bitters 22 P Hamman College Signal Mountain, TN
REGIONAL ROUND SELECTIONS
TEAM NAME AGE POS SCHOOL HOMETOWN
NY Gothams Bill Payne 17 OF Noblesville (IN) HS Brooklyn, NY
Cincinnati Troy Crockett 17 P Anderson (IN) HS Bloomington, IN
Keystones Charlie Waddell 17 P Central Catholic HS Toledo Cleveland, OH
Brooklyn Dave Low 17 P Hamilton HS, Brooklyn Hillsdale, NJ
Washington John Dickerson 21 OF Eastern State Hampton, VA
Toronto Billy Hill 17 OF St Edmund Prep, Brooklyn Edmonton, Canada
Chiefs Allie Harvey 17 2B Grundy Center (IA) HS Des Moines, IA
Montreal Francois Laurent 17 C Suffern (NY) HS London, Canada
St Louis Hal Hackney 18 P Fulton (MO) HS Fulton, MO
Sailors Charlie Gordon 17 P McConnelsville (OH) HS Logan, OH
Boston Bob Regan 21 1B Pierpont University Ansonia, CT
Cougars Bill Rich 20 OF Grange College Quincy, IL
Detroit Herb Hartman 21 C Mississippi A&M Tipp City, OH
Cleveland Rollie Shoemaker 22 SS Amarillo Methodist Youngstown, OH
Pittsburgh Bob Warner 18 OF Mahoney City (PA) HS Philadelphia, PA
NY Stars Jack Bullock 18 2B Utica (NY) HS Utica, NY
LOOPHOLE ALLOWS SEVERAL PIONEERS TO COLLECT UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
Jefferson City, Mo (AP)- Several big time baseball players - at least one of whom earns more than $7,000 a year - are cashing in on Missouri unemployment insurance, but their bosses and the men who wrote the law don't like the idea.
Players of the St Louis Pioneers of the Federal Association and the Kansas City Eagles, resting through the hot stove season, have been officially declared out of work and are drawing weekly checks up to the $15 maximum. The Kansas City team is the Century League affiliate of the Washington Eagles.
Although red tape has prevented official disclosure of the players' identity, the Eagles management had said that six had applied while the in St Louis the Post-Dispatch is reporting that several players including outfielder Hal Sharp along with pitchers Sam Sheppard and Willie Montgomery were collecting the compensation insurance. An interpretation of the State law by E.C. Crow, a member of the Unemployment Compensation Commission, which controls job insurance, made the players eligible for the Missouri checks, even though most of them are paid on a yearly contract basis. They draw their salary only during the regular season and the law provides "an individual shall be deemed totally unemployed in any week during which he performs no services and with respect to which no wages are payable to him."
State Senators Allen McReynolds and George A. Rozier, co-authors of the job insurance law, declared: "We do not hesitate to say that under the law it was never contemplated that men who were drawing handsome salaries on a yearly basis could receive any benefits. The purpose of the law was to assist temporarily men who had lost their jobs until such time as they could obtain re-employment."
"I think it is a downright shame that fellows who average $2,000 a year should get additional compensation in such a method," said Washington Eagles Assistant General Manager Joe Dittrich. "Not only is it shameful, I think it is illegal. We tried to dissuade them from receiving it without success."
"I tried my best to stop them," echoed Pioneers assistant General Manager Charlie Kane. "One of them is receiving a salary from us of between $7,000 and $8,000."
Commission Chairman Andrew J. Murphy Sr. summed up the situation: "It doesn't seem right to me, but under the law there's nothing we can do but give it to them if they qualify."
St Louis outfielder Al Tucker was also previously named as receiving unemployment compensation but said today he had "voluntarily stopped" the practice several months ago. "When I applied," Tucker said, "I thought it might help get me through college. But I when I learned that the public might resent such things I told them to stop my payments. It was about the time those stories appeared about Patterson." (Mickey Patterson of the Cleveland Foresters was denied such insurance several months ago in Ohio.) Tucker is attending Jefferson City University during the off-season in hopes of obtaining his law degree.
QUICK HITS
- The Cincinnati Cannons are said to be seriously considering promoting 1939 number one overall pick Vic Carroll to the big leagues, perhaps as early as the beginning of May. The 20 year has had two velocity bumps in the past six months and with the Cannons staff looking very weak the plan of attack is to get him two or three starts in AAA and if all goes well Carroll will move up to the big leagues before his 21st birthday.
- There were no sophomores on the AIAA first team All-American list last season and just two made the second team. One of them, St Magnus shortstop Tom Landowski, was taken 13th overall by the Brooklyn Kings in last week's draft. The other is Bob Regan, a first baseman from Pierpont who made the first team in 1938 as a freshman and has hit more homers (29) in the past two seasons than any other college player but was not selected until the Regional Round phase of the draft when Boston grabbed the Connecticut native.
- On the high school side all of the draft eligible All-Americans were selected last week. Dick Blaszak and Bill Barnett were both two-time All-American selections and went first and fourth overall. Jimmy J Walker was the other Junior position player to make the list and he was selected 10th by the Philadelphia Sailors. The other three were pitchers with Richie Hughes going to Cleveland with the 14th pick and Joe Lund to the Sailors in the second round leaving just Fulton, Missouri's Hal Hackney as the only All-American not to be selected in the opening two rounds, although St Louis did use it's regional pick (round 3) on Hackney.
- Catcher Lou Bayer of Hatboro (PA) HS and Chillicothe Ohio's Joe Rutherford were each honourable mention All-Americans and both were drafted. Rutherford went to the Chicago Chiefs 7th overall while Bayer stayed close to home as the Philadelphia Keystones called his name in the second round.
- There are always some great nicknames among the kid's in the draft class and this year is no different with Dick "The Polish Hammer" Blaszak, Wally "The Mulberry Mule" Bowens and George "The Walla Walla Winner" Wynn leading the way in that department. Names to look at in future classes include Bert "The Buckeye Bullet" Cupid, Hiram "The Undertaker' Steinberg and Joe "Kitchen Sink" Beane, who is a 15 year old righthander who already has 6 pitches in his arsenal.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 1/28/1940
- Finnish ski fighters continue to report great success in trapping Red Army troops unprepared for the subzero wilderness north of Lake Ladoga.
- Reports out of Rome claim mass arrests in the Ukraine following exposure of a 'vast plot' to assassinate Russian leader Josef Stalin. News of 150 arrests by Soviet secret police was leaked by the Italian foreign office.
- For the first time in the war there are reports of German planes attacking a column of French trucks as Germany ramps up it's attacks on ground forces after focusing heavily on stopping shipping traffic.
- The United States has told Japan in no uncertain terms that the US has no interest in negotiating a temporary agreement to replace the US-Japanese commercial treaty which expired this week.
- United Mine Workers Union boss John Lewis declared that should the Democratic National Convention be "coerced or dragooned" into re-nominating President Roosevelt "his candidacy would result in defeat." Lewis has accused the Democratic party of "failing to keep faith with labor."