[Jiggs McGee]

JULY 31, 1940

DEADLINE DAY COMES AND GOES WITH A FIZZLE

There were plenty of rumours leading up to the July 31st FABL trading deadline but when the dust had settled it was all talk and very little action. Big names were bandied about over the past two or three days but in the end the biggest, and only, late move saw the Chicago Chiefs add shortstop Frank Davis in a deal with Montreal. While there were several teams after Davis he was clearly not the prize most contenders were looking for at the bottom of the Saints crackerjack box.

Montreal catcher Adam Mullins was the one it seemed almost everyone wanted but in the end perhaps we can blame the lack of a big move this deadline on T.R. Goins. Why Goins? Well the Montreal General Manager was burned before dealing the top catcher in the league, that was the aforementioned Goins back when he was running the Washington Eagles, so you can understand why he might be gun shy about parting with the 27 year old Mullins, who may not be the best catcher in the game right now, but is certainly well entrenched in the top five. Should Montreal, with a lot of holes to fill and a lot of losing seasons in their recent history, have put Mullins or even fellow 27 year old Red Bond up for auction is a matter of debate. It would have been interesting to see how high a team like Detroit, Boston or the New York Stars would have bid for Mullins' services but in the end the price any of the contenders was willing to pay did not matter as Mullins was remaining in Montreal.

Cleveland's George Dawson was also a hot commodity as it is believed were Forester pitchers Dean Astle and Dave Rankin but the brand new head man in town decided to stand pat rather than make a move in haste he might regret. It makes sense as those three will likely not lose much value should the Foresters decide to trade them in the off-season or even at the deadline next year. We also had big bats in Cincinnati's Moxie Pidgeon and the Kings duo of Al Wheeler and Tiny Tim Hopkins drawing some interest but in the end both clubs decided to stand pat. The Cannons in a spot no one expected them to be at this point of the season: just one game out of first place, and the Kings, at 5.5 games behind front-running Toronto, feeling they needed to give their veterans one more chance to get hot and perhaps claim a 4th pennant in the past 5 years.

In some rare cases we had players being shopped that quite likely could have helped someone only for their current club's to find there were no takers. Detroit, which was bitterly disappointed not to land Davis, was also shocked no serious offers were made to take Mike Murphy off their hands. The 32 year old struggled last season in Brooklyn before his trade to the Dynamos but his performance this season seems to indicate he would be a nice bottom of the rotation addition for someone. Whether Detroit was simply asking too much for Murphy, or other teams were scared off because they figured if the Dynamos would move him while they were in a pennant race and without Frank Crawford there must be something wrong with the lefthander, is unknown but the bottom line is Mike Murphy (8-10,3.77) is still in Detroit. The lack of urgency to add an arm may well prove to be the undoing for a club like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia or Boston in the Federal Association and, who knows, perhaps Detroit's inability to find a trade partner to take Murphy might just be the thing that helps the Dynamos end their two year run as bridesmaids and finally claim the ring.

Enough focus on what didn't happen, even though speculating about the moves that were not made is a lot more interesting than the two deals that were actually consummated. The trade of a struggling Leon Drake (.197,7,26) from the Chicago Cougars to the New York Gothams was addressed in these pages last issue leaving only the Davis deal as untrodden ground.

At first glance one really has to question why the Montreal Saints would be unwilling to deal Mullins or Bond but would part with a very talented 23 year old shortstop in Frank Davis (.307,5,39). Mullins perhaps one can understand because of the bad experience that trading Goins ended up being, and because the Saints did not have a good young catcher in their system but they do possess a solid replacement for Davis in 24 year old Hank Grant. Grant, a 1934 4th round pick who is having an outstanding year at AAA Minneapolis, was also targeted by at least one Federal Association team before the Davis deal was announced. Grant might not have the elite upside potential Davis possesses, but he also lacks the ego and selfish reputation that the youngster Davis has already been saddled with. That, more than the on field presence, was the reason the Saints were so willing to move him despite the fact Davis is already in his fourth full season, has four 5-hit games on his resume, and is hitting .307 while playing elite level defense and making the All-Star team this year.

The Chiefs are banking on their solid core group of veterans, led by 38 year old captain Bill Rich, being enough to turn Davis' attitude around, despite the fact the 23 year old is already on to his fourth FABL organization. On the field the hope in Chicago is that Davis puts an end to the revolving door that has been the shortstop position since 1929, which is the last time a Chief led the club in games played at shortstop for two consecutive seasons.

The cost to the Chiefs was perhaps a little more than they wanted to spend - Chicago is sending it's 1st and 4th round picks along with promising Class A middle infielder Monte Sawyer to Montreal. Sawyer is a 20 year old former sixth round pick who seems best suited for second base and projects to be an average big leaguer one day. He was the 4th best prospect (109th overall) in the depleted Chiefs system according to OSA.

JIGGS MCGEE'S TAKE ON THE DAIVS DEAL: While the price was higher than the Chiefs had hoped, especially considering Davis' reputation, a Chicago source did indicate it was the only deal they had available that would not have involved their top prospect, 19 year old lefthander Bob Crowley. "All the trade discussions we had with various teams, including Detroit with Alf Pestilli, the conversation started with Bob Crowley," explained the Chiefs executive. "Frank Davis was rather expensive, but (the) thinking was that he is just 23 and OSA has him as the #6 shortstop, and Rube Carter thinks he is a "premier" shortstop. The fact that we got the deal done without giving up Crowley, Wes Parks, or Joe Rutherford (Chiefs top 3 prospects) is a win to us."

The question now is will the addition of Davis be enough to lift the Chiefs to the top of the Federal Association? They are the only contender that took a step forward this deadline and if the recently acquired Alf Pestilli can get untracked it will be two steps forward with each addressing the two biggest needs for the club. Davis should make an immediate impact both with his bat and his glove. Ducky Jordan, Tony White, Rabbit Mudd and Bill Rich have all started games at shortstop this season for the Chiefs and to be quite frank, none of them were very good. Jordan and White, who combined to start 81 of the 95 games this season, managed to hit just .178 between them and it is a good chance that if you put both of them on the field at shortstop at the same time they would still get to less balls than Davis will retrieve alone.

It is a great pickup for the Chiefs, but I am not sure if it will be quite enough to win their third pennant in 5 years but they certainly get an 'A' for effort. George Dawson of Cleveland was reported to be number one on the Chiefs list but there is nothing wrong at all ending up with Davis. The Chiefs need to just make sure they keep his locker as far away as possible from fellow malcontent Andy Carter, although Carter is hitting and looking happy to be in Chicago. Maybe that bodes well for Davis also.

QUICK HITS

• Sentiment was much the same around the league regarding the lack of deadline movement. Cannons Assistant General Manager Red Franklin said he keep waiting for a big move to be announced late but nothing ever happened. "Just too many teams believing they are contenders so not much being offered up for sale," surmised Franklin.
• Pittsburgh manager Dan Andrew, like Franklin in Cincinnati, blamed it on too many contenders, so there was just little talent available to be had.
• "Well that was not the trade deadline I was hoping for," said a dejected Detroit scouting director Dutch Forrester.
  "None of the 3 deals we were working came to fruition. The flip side is that with so many teams believing they are in it, you would think more buying might be out there. Detroit was willing to buy or sell but the only ones that came calling were the deals done early in the month."
• Boston was also said to be working the phones to the very last minute with a catcher, a power bat and possibility another starting pitcher on their wish list, but, while the Minutemen possibly made more pitches than any other club, they whiffed on all of them. But that was the trend for everyone this deadline.
• Toronto was caught betwixt and between this deadline. The team had a few exploratory discussions but nothing became serious, so the Wolves are dancing with the one that brung 'em as they attempt to claim their first Continental crown in 29 years.
• On a separate topic, Detroit World writer Freddie Farhat offered some thoughts on the comparison between Whitney Award candidates Sal Pestilli of the Dynamos and the Chiefs Hank Barnett.
  "Percy Sutherland (of the Chicago Herald-Examiner) had talked about Pestilli and Barnett with their 23 homers each but the RBI discrepancy with Sal holding an 82 to 58 edge. Turns out Sal has come to the plate 136 times with runners in scoring position compared to Barnett just getting 90 chances. The fact that both are hitting “poorly” in those situations surprised me.
  Here are their lines with runners in scoring position.

  Sal Pestilli  32-136  .235/.299/.687  5 HR  56 RBI
  Hank Barnett   20-90  .222/.315/.748  5 HR  36 RBI

  Honestly I'm shocked both are not doing better in those situations. I spoke with (Detroit Dynamos Manager) Patrick Licthenegger and he confided he has been looking at his lineup and considering shifting the 2-6 hitters so that is something for Dynamos fans to watch for.
• From Percy Sutherland: The last time the Chiefs had the same player make the majority of starts at short in consecutive seasons was 1927 - 1929, when Mike Pierce was the starter. Since then: Jim Thompson, Joe Foy, Thompson, Foy, Thompson, Bob Barringer, Bill White, Barringer, Pete Layton, Tony White, Ducky Jordan.
• Joe Foy Joe Foy was a big deal coming out of Opelika State and won an AIAA title his draft year. Selected 14th overall. He hit pretty well for Chiefs (.315 career average) but was out of the league by age 30 and retired shortly after. Defense killed him as long-time Chiefs scouting director Rube Carter says he remembers Foy well. "I remember he could hit but couldn't catch a cold during his tenure in Chicago." Weird thing is his college defense in feeder era at shortstop was not too bad.
• Chiefs skipper Joe Ward chimed in with "Regardless of not being able to hold down the shortstop position, Foy will be remembered fondly in Chicago. In September of 1936, he was given the role of right-handed platoon in right field. That carried into the Series where he had two great starts. He couldn't hold onto that role in 1937 unfortunately."
• Foy was a second team All-American in 1928 and made the first team the following season and was starting for the Chiefs two years later. His senior collegiate season was impressive: .432/.502/.617 but it was Freddie Jones, then of Central Ohio that won the batting crown that year with a .486 average. Looking back, the 1929 AIAA All-American team had some talent, but also some busts:
  

   C Jack Flint      Lubbock State
  1B Bill Tucker     Indiana A&M
  2B Freddie Jones   Central Ohio
  SS Joe Foy         Opelika State
  3B Johnny McDowell Georgia Baptist
  OF Elmer Nodle     Coastal California
  OF Vic Crawford   Commonwealth Catholic
  OF Bobby Many     Whitney College
   P Chick Stout    Rainier College

  The second team that year included Tom Barrell, Jake Shadoan and Rip Curry.

The Week That Was
Current events from the day of 7/31/1940

• "Britain may fall within 30 days." That warning along with calls for an immediate military draft in the United States comes from newly appointed Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson.
• The US embargoes the shipment of American aviation gasoline outside the Western Hemisphere and bars the sale of fuel to Great Britain, Japan and other non-Western Hemisphere powers. President Roosevelt said the United States has no surpluses of aviation fuel and that a stoppage is necessary to conserve it for this nation's own defenses.
• The Italian newspaper editor that is the mouthpiece of Mussolini, warned his countrymen not to expect an immediate attempt to invade England. Virginio Gayda explained that because of different conditions "the spectacular lightning campaign" such as Germany waged against France was not feasible against Britain.
• Britain caught a German raider off guard in the South Atlantic as the merchant cruiser Alcantara, outfitted with heavy artillery, heavily damaged an unsuspecting Nazi ship looking for an easy target.