[Jiggs McGee]

May 20, 1940

CHIEFS SWEEP KEYSTONES: LEAD NOW 3 IN FED

The Chicago Chiefs remain the hottest team in baseball after sweeping the Philadelphia Keystones in a 3-game series between the top two clubs in the Federal Association. The Chiefs, who won World Championship Series titles in 1936 and 1938 but finished a disappointing 5th last season, have caught fire in May with a 14-4 record. They had an 11-1 run going before falling 4-1 at home to Washington yesterday in the opener of a 3 game series.

Pitching has played a key rule in Chicago's rebound front last season's stumble as the Chiefs have allowed the fewest runs against in either Association. Rabbit Day (5-1, 2.36) and Al Miller (5-2, 2.80) are both looking like they did in each of the title winning seasons but it is the sudden emergence of Red Hampton (5-1, 1.59) that has the city buzzing. The 33 year old Hampton did win 17 games back in 1934 but he really has not been much more of an afterthought in the Chicago rotation since then. He did start 22 games for the Chiefs last season but was considered to be barely an average level pitcher. He had a couple of rough outings in the spring this year but as soon as the season started he has been lights out, beginning with two very strong wins to start his season over St Louis and the New York Gothams, then continuing with 3 straight complete game victories including a 3-0 shutout of the Boston Minutemen last week. Hampton is not the only pleasant surprise on the mound for Chicago manager Joe Ward this season. Charlie Bingham (4 sv,0.00) has been outstanding out of the pen and former Montreal Saint George Thomas (4-3, 3.51) has looked much better this season than the 30 year old did in his Federal Association debut last year.

Offense has seldom been a concern in Chicago and this season is no different. Lead-off man Bill May (.376,2,19) leads the Fed in both batting average and stolen bases while Cliff Moss (.333,5,16) and Hank Barnett (.296,6,18) have been their usual solid self. Perhaps it should come as no surprise considering the the Chiefs management team's connection to Montreal but each of those three players were originally Saints draft picks. One other very pleasant surprise is a homegrown Chief in Bill Jones (.336,3,15) as the third baseman has greatly eased the pain of being without Bob Martin, who has been sidelined since spring camp with elbow issues.

The Chiefs lead is 3 games on Pittsburgh and 3.5 on the Philadelphia Keystones. The Keystones being in the hunt for the top spot in mid-May was an even bigger surprise than the Chiefs, but Chicago burst Philadelphia's bubble starting Thursday afternoon at Whitney Park. That was the day of the series opener and Jack Beach got the call on the mound to start for the Chiefs. Beach (1-1, 1.59) has certainly had his ups and downs of late but the 38 year old has been another one of those pitchers coming up big for the Chiefs this season and he did just that on this occasion. Beach allowed just 2 hits through 6 and 2/3 innings as early homeruns by Moss and May gave him a comfortable lead in a game that the Chiefs would waltz to a 7-1 victory. Had the Keystones prevailed they would have overtaken the Chiefs for first place but after Rabbit Day shut them out 8-0 the next day and Al Miller had a solid Saturday outing in a 4-2 win the Keystones were suddenly 3.5 games back and wondering what happened.

CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
There was a key showdown in the Continental Association last week as well as the front-running Toronto Wolves opened the week with 3 games in New York against the third place Stars. The Stars took the series, winning a pair of 1-run games while the Wolves grab the middle game of the set by an 11-3 count. New York gave back any gains they made by dropping two of three over the weekend so the week ended with Toronto still a game up on the surprising Cincinnati Cannons with the defending champs 4.5 games back.

AIAA ALL-AMERICAN TEAM ANNOUNCED

A pair of New York Stars January draft picks highlight the college baseball All-American teams, which were announced this week. Newt Cooper, an outfielder from American Atlantic that the Stars selected with the first pick of the second round, was named to the first team while Hamman College pitcher Don Bitters, who is one of the finalists for the Frank Christian Trophy, was a second team selection. Bitters was selected by the Stars with the final pick of the second round, 32nd overall. Only seven 1940-draft eligible players were named to the two squads highlighted by Lane State pitcher Bill Sohl, who made the first team and was chosen by the Cincinnati Cannons 2nd overall in January. Sohl is also one of the finalists for the Christian Trophy following a 10-4 season for the Emeralds.

Boston State catcher Tucker Ness, who was selected 9th overall by the St Louis Pioneers, was the other drafted player to make the first team while St Patrick's shortstop Tom Landowski was named to the second team. He had been drafted by Brooklyn with the 13th overall pick in January. A pair of first team selections are eligible for the June phase of the draft after not being selected in the winter portion. They are Wisconsin State first baseman Rube Townsend (.306,10,51) and City College of Los Angeles outfielder Vern Wilson, who led the nation with 17 homers this season.

Here are the 1940 All-Americans and their draft status:

1940 AIAA FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICANS
POS  NAME		YR	SCHOOL			FABL DRAFT
 C   Tucker Ness	Jr	Boston State		9th overall St Louis
1B   Rube Townsend	Jr	Wisconsin State		   June 1940
2B   Jack Wilson	Fr	North Carolina Tech	     1942
SS   Verlin Alexander   So	American Atlantic	     1941
3B   Johnny Weisz	Fr	Three Rivers State	     1942
OF   Vern Wilson	Jr	CCLA			   June 1940
OF   Newt Cooper	Jr      American Atlantic	17th overall NY Stars
OF   Hank Eason		So	Huntington State	     1941
P    Bill Sohl		Jr      Lane State		2nd overall Cincinnati

1940 AIAA FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICANS
POS  NAME		YR	SCHOOL			FABL DRAFT
 C   Chick McKnight	Fr	Eastern Oklahoma	     1942
1B   Billy Cox		Fr	Columbia Military	     1942
2B   Al Wright		Fr	Mississippi Tech	     1942
SS   Tom Landowski	Jr      St Magnus		13th overall Brooklyn
3B   Mule Richmond	So	St Patrick's		     1941
OF   Mike Opsal		So	Redwood University	     1941
OF   Ernie McCoy	Fr	Bluegrass State		     1942
OF   Eddie Heaton	So	Amarillo Methodist	     1941
 P   Don Bitters	Jr	Hamman College		32nd overall NY Stars

CHRISTIAN TROPHY NOMINEES

Three pitchers highlight the list of 5 players who have been named finalists for the 1940 Frank Christian Trophy, awarded annually to the nation's top college baseball player. In alphabetical order the five are as follows:

DON BITTERS -Senior at Hamman (WV) (Good Competition)- 12-3, 2.44. Just the fourth pitcher (including feeders) to ever win 12 games in a college season. Second in nation in ERA, third in FIP. Second in strikeouts with 126 but 6th in K/9 at 8.3. Top in pitching WAR at 4.9.

ERNIE McCOY- Freshman at Bluegrass State(Great) - .314,9,49 Led all AIAA hitters in WAR, 2nd in OBP and wOBA, 7th in batting average. Played vs Great competition.

BILL SOHL - Junior at Lane State (Great) 10-4, 2.60 Third in ERA but first among those who played vs Great competition. Tied for second in wins but first among those who played Great competition. fifth overall in FIP and K's with 119.

VERN WILSON - Junior at CC Los Angeles (Great). -.268,17,56 Only Ockie Holliday ever hit more homeruns in a non-feeder league AIAA season than the 17 socked by Wilson. He was second in the AIAA in RBI's and 8th in slugging percentage. Played vs Great competition.

GEORGE WYNN- Junior at Willamette Valley College (Fair) 8-3, 2.13 era. 11.2 K/9 which is tied for second best in the non-feeder era with Harry Sharp (1939) and behind only Al Jones of Central Ohio's 1935 total of 11.5. His 2.13 era is also third lowest all-time in non-feeder era, trailing Sharp (1.92) and Bunny Edwards (2.10 in 1936). Ranked third this season in K's at 121, first in FIP, first in ERA and fourth K/BB ratio. Were his numbers strong enough to warrant consideration despite the fact unlike other nominees he played vs just fair competition?

      PAST FRANK CHRISTIAN AWARD WINNERS 			
YEAR	NAME		POS	CLASS	 SCHOOL
1927	Sam Orr		2B	FR	Henry Hudson
1928	Tommy Wilcox	P 	JR	Liberty College
1929	Vic Crawford	OF	JR	Commonwealth Catholic
1930	Freddie Jones	2B	SO	Central Ohio
1931	Bill Moore	1B	SO	Lubbock State
1932	Bill Moore	1B	JR	Lubbock State
1933	Joe Hancock	P	JR	Henry Hudson
1934	Sal Pestilli	OF	FR	Narrangansett
1935	Al Jones	P	JR	Central Ohio
1936	Sal Pestilli	OF	JR	Narrangansett
1937	Alex LaComb	OF	JR	Cuyahoga University
1938	Bob Coon	OF	SO	St Magnus
1939	Rats McGonigle	OF	JR	Bronx Tech

QUICK HITS

• St Louis Pioneers supporters can't help but feel BNN is playing a cruel joke on them. The league news service pegged the Pioneers to finish second this season, just two games back of Detroit but at 11-21 and 11 games out already St Louis has the worst record in the big leagues.
• Philadelphia has looked exceptional at home, posting a 15-4 record at Broad Street Park - which is the best home mark in either Association at the moment. However, they are a mess on the road right now with 10 losses in 14 game which is the worst road mark in either Association. Bad news for Keystones fans is they remain on the road this week with 6 more games on enemy turf before finally returning home a week from today.
• Chiefs manager Joe Ward on Red Hampton: "When I took over in Chicago, Red Hampton was arguably the Chiefs ace (he was 17-10 in 1934). We upgraded the rotation over the next few seasons (adding Miller, Bingham, Day, Beach, among others) and Red Hampton was slowly pushed to the side. He would occasionally have a stretch of games that were ace-quality, but he's never had a run like what he is on now. I just hope he can keep it up." Hampton's only clunker this season was a loss in Boston in which he gave up 6 runs on 12 hits over 7 innings. He atoned for that last week by shutting out the Minutemen in Chicago.
• In two starts for the Chicago Chiefs Earl Killebrew has given up 7 home runs. That's over half of the team's total of 13 allowed. Guess the Chiefs now know why the New York Gothams gave up on the 27 year old righthander.
• Hampton's big effort for Chicago was the same game the Minutemen lost Mike Lee (1-2, 2.34) for the season after blowing out his shoulder. It is the first injury of the 24 year old former second round pick's career. Boston may be active in the trade market for a replacement as there are doubts if the club feels ready to promote either of their top two pitching prospects as both 24 year old Duke Hendricks (3-4, 5.05) and 23 year old Ray Dalpman (1-4, 5.18) are struggling at AAA Columbus.
• Last year the big story in Boston was the breakout season of Bob Donoghue. The 26 year old first baseman (.264,5,16) is still hitting the ball well despite a couple of nicks this season but he is finally being joined by Mack Sutton as a power bat in the Boston lineup. The 23 year old Sutton (.323,6,18) looks like a completely different player from the one who had his first full season a year ago. Sutton had power last year (20 HR) but hit just .235. The other Boston youngster our season preview issue said needed a breakout year is 23 year old catcher Bill Van Ness (.272,2,12) and he also seems to be trending in the right direction.
• Boston also has Chick Donnelly (.301,0,20) enjoying a fine season. Donnelly was named Federal Association player of the week for the third time in his career after going 14-for-29 with 7 rbi's in his last 6 games.
• A solid big league debut week for Buddy Schneider with the Boston Minutemen. The first of the 19 year old Schneider triplets to make the big leagues, Buddy had the thrill of lacing an extra base hit in his big league debut. It was a big one too, as Schneider faced Chicago's George Thomas with 2 on and 2 out in the top of the first inning last Tuesday. He laced a two bagger to drive in two runs in a game the Minutemen would win 5-4. By the end of the week Buddy was 6-for-26 with a pair of doubles and 3 runs scored in his first 6 games. He also looked well above average in the field at second base.
• Buddy might have the family bragging rights of getting to the bigs first but Skipper is right behind him as the Chicago Cougars announced the #25 prospect will make his FABL debut this week. Due to Rich Langton's early season struggles and the injuries to both Carlos Montes and Leon Drake, Skipper Schneider gets the call. He will mainly play right field, despite spending all but 11 of his minor league innings at short, but will also get a few games at short. He'll hit 8th against lefties and righties, but will get the occasional day off against southpaws. It's uncertain how he'll do in the outfield grass, but he is expected to be one of the games best defensive shortstops.
• In all seven games this week, Cougar starting pitcher went 9 or more innings. If it wasn't for a 10th inning win over the Foresters that was finished by Joe Brown, the Cougars rotation would have pitched every single inning of the week.
• The Cincinnati Cannons made a trade this week in order to clear room for Mike T Taylor to return to the big leagues. Taylor, who turns 22 tomorrow, was dominant in his stint with Baltimore last season. He hit .364 with 8 homers and 43 rbi's in just 51 games with the Cannons but after a slow start to the season and the off-season additions of Moxie Pidgeon, Doc Love and Joe Perret, Cannons brass sent him to Indianapolis to get his confidence back. Mission accomplished as Taylor tore the cover off the ball in AAA, hitting to the tune of a .443 average, and will be back in the Cannons lineup this week. To make room veteran outfielder Whit Williams was dispatched to Pittsburgh for a 10th round pick. Williams had been a Cannons regular the past 5 seasons but saw his playing time drastically cut this season and was batting just .188 in 35 plate appearances.
• To clear a spot for Williams the Miners have announced that 34 year old Cy Bryant will be waived. Bryant has played nearly 1100 FABL games and his strength has always been his defense, in his 20's he was one of the better defensive CF in baseball. Seasons of +18.2, +17.5, +23.4, +12.4, 15.6 ZR in center from '31-'35. He's been a steady, if unspectacular hitter, .289 in 3,976 at bats. Bryant's claim to fame will always be he was the Most Valuable Player of the very first FABL all-star game, played in 1933.
• While pitching is a worry in Detroit right now after the injury to Allan Award winner Frank Crawford, the Dynamos continue to have the most imposing group of power hitters in baseball. Sal Pestilli (.254,7,16) leads the way with Frank Vance (.341,6,19), Red Johnson (.305,5,19), Alf Pestilli (.229,4,21) and Elmer Nolde (.262,4,14) also providing plenty of power. Imagine how dangerous the Detroit lineup might be if Hank Koblenz was still in the Motor City. He was a top prospect when he was dispatched to the Keystones in the deal that netted Crawford for Detroit. 'Hard Boiled Henry' is now 23 and in his first full season in the majors is batting .300 while tied with Sal for the homerun lead at 7.
• Cannons fans have to be wondering what Moxie Pidgeon needs to do to win a player of the week award. Pidgeon continued his outstanding play with 3 HR and 11 RBI last week to go with a .417 average. On the season he is hitting .373 with a FABL leading 33 rbi and tied with Red Bond for the homer lead at 8. He lost the POW this time to Cleveland's Mel Carrol, who hit .538. The previous week was also a big one for Pidgeon but Fred McCormick of Toronto claimed the award that time.
• Looks like Dixie Lee (3-3, 2.47) is finally finding his groove in his debut season with the New York Stars after coming over from St Louis. Despite a rough start and a couple close losses he is doing well. 5 quality starts in 6 games including 2 shutouts. Pitching overall looks decent from the Stars staff but Vern Hubbard (2-3, 5.97) is struggling. Bullpen has only seen modest use. On the offensive side the Stars feel they just have 3 position players really weighing them down right now. When nearly half your lineup isn't hitting, you cant expect to win no matter how good the pitching is. Hub Parks (.257,1,7), Clark Car (.250,0,10) and catcher Johnny Hopper (.184,0,11) need to get it together.
• Parks is especially feeling the heat from fans at Dyckman Stadium. Moxie Pidgeon was dealt to the Cincinnati Cannons to make room for the 26 year old rookie and while Pidgeon is leading the CA in homers and rbi's Parks has been struggling to find his footing.
• The AIAA season came to a close this week and it was a very nice year for New York Stars draftee Don Bitters. The Hamman University senior pitcher went 12-3 to become just the fourth college pitcher to win 12 games in a season. He joins Phil Gregg from Redwood University in 1934 and Cal Roe of Valley State, who did it in 1936. Gregg pitched briefly for the Stars last season but is now with Independent Richmond while Roe is in AAA in the Pioneers system. The only other college pitcher to win 12 games in a season is current Brooklyn King Bob Cummings. He went 12-1 for College of San Diego as a freshman in 1931 and in doing so became the only college feeder league pitcher to win a dozen in a year.
• George Wynn of Williamette Valley College had a strong showing in his first and only season of AIAA ball. Wynn finishes with a 2.13 career era (although in just the 1 season). That places him third all-time for career AIAA era behind Huck Moore (Commonwealth Catholic 1925-27) 1.65 and Harry Sharp (Red River State 1939) 1.92. Wynn was selected 8th overall by Montreal in January.
• Among AIAA hitters only the career stolen base total of Ed Sullivan from Central Illinois cracks a top ten list. The junior shortstop swiped 117 bases in his three seasons with the Condors. Only Maryland State's Spud Bent (151) stole more as a college player while Cal Holmes, who played for Lane State from 1935-37 also ended up with 117. Sullivan was not selected in January so remains eligible next month.
• I think we have found the first overall draft pick next January. We have known about Hiram Steinberg for two years now as in 1938 the freshman righthander at New York City's Washington High School was 12-0 with a 0.65 era and 203 strikeouts in 124 innings of work. He posted similar numbers as a sophomore and this season the 17 year old junior nicknamed "The Undertaker" just buried opposing hitters with a national high school record 222 strikeouts and a 0.23 ERA, which is the best single season mark ever recorded. When he is done Steinberg is expected to own each of the major single season and career high school pitching marks.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 5/19/1940

• New British Prime Minister Winston Churchill warned Parliament that "without victory there is no survival" either for the British Empire or what it represents. In a passionate speech Churchill said his mission is to "wage ware by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God give us" against "a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime."
• Estimates indicate that fully one quarter of the Dutch army, over 100,000 men, are dead as the Nazi offensive continues.
• Allied troops were forced to retreat from Brussels and the British public was warned that the military situation is "extremely grave."
• By the weekend Antwerp had fallen while to the south German forces thundered to within 60 miles of Paris. Heavy attacks by Nazi warplanes against Allied troops already reeling back under the impact of German ground attacks have turned the Allied withdrawal into a retreat which "at a number of places resembled a rout."
• The French government, striving to combat Germany's admitted superiority in the air on the western front, has ordered a 12-hour work day for all aviation industries.
• President Roosevelt decided to put his Administration's full force behind efforts to speed deliveries of American made war planes to the hard hit Allies, calling for an increased pace to complete delivery of more than 4,000 plans which Britain and France have ordered since the war started.
• Roosevelt asks Congress to recommend more money for national defense, over $1 billion more after stressing just how vulnerable the United States might be to attack from air.
• Roosevelt also held a Council of War, an emergency meeting of top officials to map defenses against what the White House described as a four-alarm fire sweeping towards the New World.