Big league baseball is back in Cincinnati. Well, almost as the Cincinnati Cannons begin their spring camp in Florida today in preparation for their April 16th season opener in Cleveland. The Cannons home opener at newly renovated Monarchs Field will be on April 30th against the Brooklyn Kings. It will mark the first FABL game ever played in the Queen City as Cincinnati lost it's major league team at the conclusion of the 1891 season when the Century and Peerless Leagues along with the Border Association united to create FABL. The Monarchs, Cincinnati's Border Association representative at the time, folded following the death of owner James Tice. Tice's grandson, John E. Tice finally rectified that snub by purchasing the Baltimore Cannons over the winter and moving the club to Cincinnati with the promise that a state of the art new stadium would be constructed.
There will be plenty of construction required on the roster as well because the Cannons have been the laughing stock of baseball most of the past decade with six consecutive last place finishes in the Continental Association. Tice and his co-owner, Hall of Fame manager George Theobald, have made sweeping changes in both the front office and coaching staff plus there have been several moves made already to upgrade the on-field personnel as well. However, if the truth is to be told this will likely be a long season filled with many losing days as the Cannons, while there is some hope with future prospects, are simply not a very good team.
Here is a look at the candidates vying for inclusion on the Opening Day roster:
CATCHER: A pair of veterans new to the organization will battle it out for the starting spot. Jack Flint was acquired from the New York Gothams in the trade that sent pitcher Gus Goulding to the Big Apple. The 31 year old hit .266 for the Gothams last season. Ben Richardson is a 30 year old who was in AAA last year but is a veteran of 281 big league games with 3 teams and is well known to manager George Theobald who had him in the Detroit Dynamos system in the past. Both are a lock to make the team as 26 year old Joe Rainbow, who had spent much of the past 5 seasons with the Cannons will go to AAA or be released.
INFIELD: The Cannons are expected to carry 7 infielders on their final 24 man roster. Ken Mayhugh and Frank Covarrubias are expected to start at first base and third base with a pair of youngsters in Jim Hensley and Charley McCullough as the middle infielders. Mayhugh is a 28 year old who may be better suited to the hot corner than first base but his starting job at either position may be on the line. The 5 year veteran hit just .273 last season and does not have the power the Cannons would like to see from their first baseman. Covarrubias has been a part-time player the past two seasons but his .301 batting average a year ago allowed him to wrestle the third base job and send Mayhugh across the diamond. There is a good chance if either struggles that the Cannons will consider using one of their outfielders at first base. 23 year old Hensley is one of the top young infield prospects in the game after being selected in the first round of the 1934 draft out of high school. He made a brief cameo in Baltimore last September and the shortstop job is expected to be his for the next decade. McCullough is 24 and has spent a little over a year in the big leagues but primarily as a shortstop. With Hensley's arrival McCullough will shift to second base.
There is some pretty good competition for the three backup spots. Veterans Bunny Stapleton, a first baseman, and middle infielder Pete Asher have the inside track on two of them. The final spot will go to Charlie but which one? Charlie Ross, Charlie Willis and Charlie Rivera are the candidates but none is expected to be an impact player. There is a good chance the Cannons may look to the waiver wire for the final infielder instead of relying on one of the Charlies.
OUTFIELD: The outfield actually looks pretty good with newly acquired Moxie Pidgeon leading the way. The 33 year old owns 3 World Championship rings earned with 3 different organizations and was an all-star last season for the fifth time in his career. He will play in left field with 24 year old Fred Galloway, who made the all-star team last season as well, patrolling center. Right field will be a battle between 21 year old Mike T Taylor, who hit .364 with 8 homers in a 51 game trial in Baltimore last season, trying to earn the spot with veterans Doc Love, who was acquired from Detroit, and long-time Cannon Whit Williams also in the mix. All five seem a lock to head north with the club as does Joe Perret, a 37 year old waiver wire pickup from Brooklyn who can play first base as well but his main responsibility will be to pinch-hit, a task he performed very well over the years for the Kings.
PITCHING: With 15 position players that leaves room for 9 pitchers and it is here where the Cannons have a lot of tough decisions to make as they have 18 of them in camp and will probably be watching the waiver wire closely for an upgrade as the start of the season approaches.
The locks(5) - Veteran William Jones will be the Opening Day starter which is a huge bonus to the Cannons. They acquired the 35 year old from the World Champion New York Stars over the winter with the expectation he would be sidelined until at least May with an arm injury suffered last season but Jones made exceptional progress recovering the past couple of months and has been pronounced fit for the start of spring camp. Beyond Jones the rotation is very much up in the air. You have to think that former first round picks Rufus Barrell and Rusty Petrick will claim two of the four remaining starting spots at least to start the season, but Petrick in particular has struggled and he may be given a very short leash. Butch Smith and Glenn Payne spent most of last season in the rotation and have the inside track to start there this year as well.
The bullpen- It is expected veterans Larry Brown and Donie Scheuermann, both acquired over the winter, will claim two spots with former Detroit minor leaguer Eddie Seguin likely getting the third. That leaves a host of pitchers vying for the final opening including the two Rule 5 draft picks in Art Black and Jesse Bowen, veterans Pinky Conlan and Eddie Burgess, and long-time Cannons farm hands Bob Hunter, Art Edwards and Paul Richardson.
Expect the pitching position to be one in constant flux in the early part of the year as, aside from Jones and Barrell, the Cannons do not have a lot of confidence in the present makeup of their staff. One other player that could play a big role in the second half of the season is last year's first overall draft pick Vic Carroll. Just 21 years old the former Richmond State star could have been on the Opening Day roster had he enjoyed a little more success in the minors last summer. Carroll struggled in three starts at the AA level so the Cannons want to see him gain a bit more experience before they promote him to the major leagues.
OUTLOOK- Cincinnati baseball fans are used to some pretty good seasons over the years from the AAA Steamers although last year was not one of them after a 64-76 season resulted in a 7th place finish. The Steamers are gone but Cincinnati's new team will be hard pressed to top the 7th place showing from the Steamers last year. Expect a lot of losses from a team that has more of them over the last decade than 14 of the other 15 big league clubs and has finished last 6 years in a row. Early predictions from BNN point towards a 7th straight last place showing for the Cannons while This Week in Figment Baseball's Jiggs McGee sees a slight improvement - tabbing the Cannons to finish 7th ahead of only Montreal either. Either way big league baseball is back in Cincinnati and there is a real buzz in the city. The question is How long will the honeymoon with the Cannons last if the club is as bad as most expect them to be?