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Jiggs McGee · 01-17-2022, 04:44 PM

SEPTEMBER 9, 1940

CONTINENTAL PACK CLOSES IN ON WOLVES

Shades of 1938 perhaps? Toronto Wolves fans well remember the collapse two years ago when their heroes blew a 3 game lead by losing 8 of their final 9 games, costing them the pennant. Flash forward to this season and the Wolves entered the week with a 3.5 game lead on the Chicago Cougars and 4.5 up on the Cincinnati Cannons. Seven straight losses later including a pair at home to Cincinnati and that lead was gone as the surprising Cannons took over top spot. Cincinnati's stay in first was very brief as Toronto finally stopped their skid yesterday with a 6-4 win over Philadelphia but even that wasn't easy as the Wolves needed 5 runs in the bottom of the ninth to salvage one game from the week. At the same time the Cannons were losing in Cleveland to the Foresters, the same last place club that had swept Toronto 3 straight to start the week, dropping the Cannons back to second place a half game back of Toronto. As a result with 3 weeks remaining in the schedule the Continental pennant race is wide open.

FEDERAL ASSOCIATION
The race in the Federal Association is also far from decided. The Pittsburgh Miners still are in control, with a better than 50% chance of prevailing according to the bookmakers, but the Miners did not do themselves any favours last week by splitting their six games. The big moment was a Labor Day doubleheader in Philadelphia when the surprising Keystones swept both ends of the twin bill and did so in dramatic fashion. Each was a 2-1 win and each required extra innings. The opener saw Lefty Allen (21-10, 2.72) spin a 4-hitter but lost on a Bobby McHenry sacrifice fly in the 10th inning. The nightcap went 13 innings with Hans Wright (.268,16,55), who's single in the 10th inning of the opener was key to that win, took care of business with a solo homerun off of Gene Stevens with two out in the bottom of the 13th inning.

The Keystones, who struggled on the road all season, were clearly energized by the big wins at Broad Street Park over Pittsburgh. They headed out on the road but finished the week strong, taking two of three in Washington and then winning a pair in Boston. With 13 wins in their last 15 games the Keystones are just 2 games back of the defending champion Miners. Detroit is also in the mix, but now 2.5 off the pace after a pair of disappointing defeats at the hands of their nemesis from Chicago.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Jiggs McGee takes a look around FABL with a quick comment or two on each of the 16 clubs. Just whatever catches Jiggs eye:

BOSTON- Mack Sutton has improved on both his strikeout frequency and BB frequency. He is also slowly improving at the hot corner. Is next year the breakout year for the "Arkansas Artilleryman"? Boston looks like it will come up short once again but the Minutemen have a good young team and their time should come.

BROOKLYN- Kings are not entirely out of the race yet but there chances are very slim. Still Brooklyn is playing a role as spoiler, taking both ends of a doubleheader from the Cougars last week before winning 2 of three against the Stars.
Joe Herman was never a top 50 prospect (peaked at #64) but he is quietly having a breakout season in Brooklyn. The 24 year old former lottery pick out of Grange College is batting .329 with 13 homers and 65 rbi's. He slowed down a bit in August but is picking it up again this month.

CHIEFS- Unfortunately a little too late but the Chiefs are back on track, winning 7 of their last 8 including taking all 3 games with Detroit this month. It's just too bad Chicago encountered a 4-17 stretch to close out August and with it their pennant hopes.

COUGARS- The veteran arms have been doing their job as the Cougars try to catch Toronto for the CA lead. Jim Lonardo (11-11, 3.28) is 5-0 with a 0.75 era since August 1st while Dick Lyons (17-8, 3.09) has allowed one earned run or less in 3 of his last 4 starts.

CINCINNATI- The Cannons offense slumbered through much of July and August and as a result the team struggled. That changed in a big way to start September as the Cannons put 17 runs on the board in the opener of a Labor Day doubleheader and ended up scoring 48 runs in their last 6 games. Unfortunately they lost two of them, both starts from rookie Jim Anderson (2-4, 2.84) who has pitched well but was the victim of some untimely errors behind him. With the schedule winding down Anderson may not get another start as the Cannons are dropping to a 4 man rotation.

CLEVELAND- Don Hallam is making a bid for a roster spot next season. The 29 year old is hitting .311 with 2 homers in the 45 at bats he has been given since his promotion from AAA. He had a game winning rbi on a walk-off single to beat Toronto last week and is hitting .450 in his last dozen games. He was a 5th round pick of Toronto's way back in 1929, spent some time in the Indy Leagues after being released by a couple of organization. He did get 9 big league games with Montreal in 1934 but has been in AAA ever since, until the Foresters gave him shot this year.

DETROIT- Sergio Gonzales might miss a start this week for Detroit. Dynamos dropped two to nemesis Chicago on weekend and fail to gain ground on Miners but did they did sweep New York earlier in the week so are still just 2.5 games back. Detroit is 12-4 vs the Gothams this season and with 6 more games remaining against New York you have to think that helps Detroit's chances in the Fed race.

MONTREAL- Red Bond (.343,26,91) is certainly not slowing down. The 27 year old outfielder is batting .526 with 2 homers in his last 9 games and was recently named player of the week for the fourth time this season. He has a chance at a triple crown this year.

NY STARS- Stars management is blaming their bullpen for much of New York's troubles of late. They certainly have had their share of extra inning losses and tight games that got away late recently. New York is 0-4 in extra inning contests the past two weeks after winning 8 of their first 9.

NY GOTHAMS- The Gothams have owned Washington (13-6) and St Louis (13-9) but against the other 5 Federal Association teams New York is 25-68 including just 4-12 against Detroit and 5-15 vs both Pittsburgh and Boston.

KEYSTONES- Pepper Tuttle (14-8, 2.98) has stepped up of late for the Keystones. The 24 year old is 3-0 in his last five starts with a 1.90 era over that stretch. With 3 extra innings games all resulting in wins, plus a pair of 1 run victories, you can't help but start to get the feeling maybe the Keystones are destined to win the Fed this season. They are even winning on the road now, but that will need to continue with an important series against Detroit starting tomorrow.

SAILORS- At 14-22 this season only the last place Cleveland Foresters (14-25) have had less success in one run games among Continental Association teams. Add in a 3-10 extra inning mark, worst in either association, and it is easy to assume the Sailors, with a couple of breaks, could be in first place right now.

PITTSBURGH- A big opportunity missed to put away their cross-state rivals last week when the Miners dropped a pair of 2-1 extra innings games in Philadelphia on Labor Day. Pittsburgh did rebound with a pair of wins in Boston but the Keystones are on a roll and making more than a few people in Steeltown nervous.

ST LOUIS- Is the season almost over? Another losing streak is underway for the Pioneers, this one at 5 games. And another pitcher is hurt. This time it is 31 year old Jake Smith (6-8, 5.26) who was having a terrible season to begin with. Now he is sidelined a week with a dead arm.

TORONTO- Larry Vestal (.280,2,46) is finally pronounced fit and back in the lineup after missing over a month with a sore knee. Maybe he can give the slumping Wolves a spark. You can't blame Fred McCormick (.338,10,76) for Toronto's recent struggles. McCormick has been steady as usual, batting .386 with 3 homers in his last 11 games, during which Toronto has gone 3-8.

WASHINGTON- Sig Stofer has injected some life in a lackluster Washington team. The Boardwalk Bopper is hitting .283 with 5 homers and 16 rbi's in just 53 at bats since being acquired from the Philadelphia Keystones. Looks like he will be given every opportunity to be the starting first baseman next season as Harry Shumate's (.242,5,44) days may be numbered in the nation's capital.

TOP DEFENDERS IN BASEBALL

Defense is vastly underrated in baseball but Percy Sutherland of the Chicago Herald-Examiner wants to change that. The long-time baseball columnist has always acknowledged great glovemen in his writings and recently he penned a column outlining who he felt were the best defender at each position in both the Federal and Continental Associations. Here is what Sutherland had to say:

FEDERAL ASSOCIATION
C - John Wicklund (DET) -- The old man still has it.
1B - Ron Rattigan (CHI) -- Red Johnson is getting close to supplanting Rattigan.
P - Red Hampton (CHI)
2B - Buddy Schneider (BOS) -- the 19-year-old has only played half a season, but I had to give it to him--he's that good.
3B - Tommy Wilson (STL)
SS - Jack Bush (WAS) -- yes, Bush can field, but that's about all he can do.
LF - Dilly Ward (WAS) -- This is what you get when you put a good center fielder in a corner.
CF - Sal Pestilli (DET) -- The competition is strong in the Fed, but Pestilli just gets to more balls than anyone else.
RF - Bill Burkett (BOS) -- Burkett's a natural centerfielder, see Dilly Ward.

CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
C - Fred Barrell (BRK) -- Adam Mullins in Montreal is a very, very close second.
P - George Phillips (NYS)
1B - Ray Ford (CHC) -- Ford has Ron Rattigan type range at first.
2B - Clark Car (NYS) -- Great range and excels at turning the double play.
3B - Mel Carrol (CLE)
SS - Harry Barrell (BRK) -- The standard-bearer at short but Charlie Artuso (TOR) is close.
LF - Hub Parks (NYS)
CF - Carlos Montes (CHC) -- Like Buddy Schneider, the youngster didn't begin the season as the starter but he is that good.
RF - Bill Barrett (NYS) -- Almost a dead heat between Barrett, Lou Balk (CLE), and Orlin Yates (CHC).

Sutherland and the Chicago Herald-Examiner were instrumental in creating a trophy presented by the Chicago Sportswrtiers Guild to the top rookie a couple of years running. Al Miller of the Chiefs claimed the award the first year it was presented in 1936 and the following season it went to Sal Pestilli of the Detroit Dynamos. They did not announce winners each of the past two seasons but word is they plan to make it an annual award starting this season. Perhaps if Sutherland really wants to see fielders with golden hands get their due perhaps he should see if he can also drum up support for an annual award presented to the top defenders of the diamond as well.

1941 DRAFT PREVIEW

A LOOK BACK AT THE 1930 DRAFT

A decade ago in his annual mock draft Jiggs McGee felt this was a very weak class and time has certainly proven that to be the case. Here is what Jiggs said leading up the 1930 draft: "It is unusual for several reasons and all of them centering around a dearth of high end college talent. This college portion of the draft pool, at least aside from 3 time All-American Jack Flint, who may have had the best college catching career of all-time, is simply not very deep and lacks high profile star power. Maybe it is the lack of a Barrell brother in this pool- Fred went 3rd overall in 1926, Bobby 6th in 1928 and Tom first last year with young Harry not eligible until next season. Perhaps it is the lack of a dominant pitching prospect such as Tom Barrell and Chick Stout a year ago or Tommy Wilcox in 1928 but this draft appears to be lacking the high end can't miss prospect of years gone by."

Only one player from the 1930 draft has reached the 1,000 hit milestone, Keystones outfielder Rip Curry who was the 13th selection of the draft. Compare that with the draft the previous year (1929) which has 5 players with over 1,000 career hits and the year after (1931), which has 4 of them. Likewise the crop of pitchers was not very strong in 1930. Only Chuck Murphy, who was selected 12th by Montreal and presently owns a 60-62 record while pitching for his 5th FABL club, has won at least 40 games out of the 4 pitchers taken in the first round. 1929 also had one but he is Tom Barrell and has 130 wins and 3 Allan Awards while 1931 had two pitchers taken in the opening round with at least 40 wins.

Below is a comparison of first round picks over the first seven human GM drafts. It is plain to see the top crop of players available in 1930 pales in comparison with the other years:

Code:

FIRST ROUND PICKS WITH 750 CAREER HITS OR 40 CAREER WINS
1925
Al Wheeler	2,345 hits
Bud Jameson	2,044 hits
Bill Ashbaugh   1,420 hits
Doug Lightbody  1,978 hits
Jack Cleaves	2,050 hits
Eddie Quinn	 121-127 record
Art Myers	 132-100 record
Lou Martino	 104-91 record

1926
Fred Barrell	 1,447 hits
Frank Huddleston 1,117 hits
Woody Armstrong	   795 hits
Frank Crawford	 118-79 record

1927
Cliff Moss	1,683 hits
Frank Lightbody 1,695 hits
Andy Carter	1,400 hits
Jim Watson	1,123 hits
Rabbit Mudd	  762 hits
Bill Anderson	 84-101 record

1928
Bobby Barrell	1,946 hits
Wally Flowers	1,186 hits
Tommy Wilcox	 91-84 record
Mike Murphy	135-90 record
Chuck Cole	 93-109 record

1929
Vic Crawford	1,427 hits
Sam Orr		1,194 hits
Dan Fowler	1,363 hits
Jake Shadoan	1,223 hits
Lou Williams	1,079 hits
Tom Barrell	 137-78 record

1930
Rip Curry	1,198 hits		
Jim Beard	  947 hits	
Jack Flint	  764 hits
Chuck Murphy	  60-62 record

1931		
Harry Barrell	1,400 hits		
Freddie Jones	1,509 hits		
George Cleaves	1,140 hits		
Bill May	1,154 hits	
Bernie Johnson	  60-84 record
Dixie Lee	  41-58 record

What about beyond the first round? Back in the feeder era there were always some surprises out of late round picks but once again the 1930 class comes up short. Zip Sullivan is the best of the hitters, with 438 career games and 429 hits as a 23rd round steal for St Louis. Then you have Lou Balk (rd 4) with 422 games and counting or Boston reserve Charlie Reed, originally a Cougars 2nd pick with 402 games on his FABL resume. Who else among hitters? Clem Bliss (3rd round), Al Mann (5th rd), Gene Tirre (4th rd) or Elias Bradley (7th rd) That is it for players with at least 10 career FABL hits. The pitching crop fared a little better thanks to 13th round pick Jake Smith (80 career wins so far) and 3rd rounder Bill Ross (47 wins). After that we have George Jacobs (3rd rd), Karl Moore (2nd rd) and Earle Killebrew (5th rd) as the only 1930 pitchers selected outside the first round to have at least 10 career FABL wins.

1929 in comparison gave us George Dawson, Joe Owens, Mel Carrol, Gail Gifford, Johnny McDowell and quite a few other position players plus 4 pitchers with at least 10 wins highlighted by George Phillips. 1931 was not quite as strong as '29 but certainly far better than the 1930 class beyond the first round when you have Leo Mitchell, Red Bond, Al Tucker, Joe Rainbow, Ed Reyes, Jake DeYoung, Billy Stall and Glenn Payne leading the way.

So, yes it is pretty obvious the 1930 draft class was very weak, quite likely the weakest class of the feeder league era. Here is a look at each of the first round selections:

1-JACK FLINT - Catcher ST LOUIS PIONEERS: In his final mock draft Jiggs McGee had this to say about Flint, who he placed number one on his list after briefly debate the merits of infielder Johnny Turner:

There has never been a catcher who posted the kind of college numbers that Jack Flint put up during 3 All-American seasons at Lubbock State. The closest is probably Dick York, the long-time Detroit catcher who played for Georgia Baptist from 1915-17. Flint is the career leader among catchers in virtually every AIAA offensive category and the single-season record holder among catchers in OBP, hits and runs scored. Here is a comparison of Flint's career college stats to 4 prominent FABL catchers who also played college ball. (Note TR Goins and Joe Welch are excluded as they did not play college ball)

Code:


TEAM    NAME                SLASH       OPS+    WAR
?	JACK FLINT 	.356/.449/.546	159	8.3
DET	Dick York	.336/.417/.547	150	4.3
CHC	Fred Barrell	.331/.427/.462	141	4.0
PIT	Jim Pool	.301/.410/.486	139	5.6
BKN     Mike Taylor     .299/.381/.520  126     4.3

Now, I am not saying Flint is going to have a better career then Dick York, but it certainly looks like he is a much better prospect then York and far better than even Fred Barrell, who the Chicago Cougars drafted third overall in 1926.

As it turned out Flint is not going to have a better pro career than Dick York and although he is 3 years younger so still has time, will likely not outperform Fred Barrell as a big leaguer either. What St Louis did get in the draft was a steady catcher, a 2-time all-star who remains, at least at this date, a .300 career hitter. He spent six years with the Pioneers but they seem to do such a great job finding and developing catchers (Tom Bird and Clarence Howerton have also passed through St Louis) that Flint lost his job to Heinie Zimmer. He spent one season with the Gothams, just babysitting the spot until Pete Casstevens was deemed ready and moved on to his third FABL club last winter. He appears to have found a home in Cincinnati and at 31 should have some productive years left. A solid pick for the Pioneers, who likely wish they held out for more than former 11th round pick Del Thomas, when they traded Flint to the Gothams. Thomas, incidentally was a first round pick as well, just not in baseball as the Boston Americans of the American Football Association drafted him in the first round 7th overall in 1937.

2- JIM HARRIS Pitcher Toronto Wolves: This draft class was so weak it is hard to blame any team that did not land a future big leaguer but at pick #2 you have to hope you do better than this. Jiggs McGee had just 3 pitchers in his mock first round (Mel Ennis, Ike Joyal and Donie Scheuermann) but none were higher than fifth on his list. In fact a short time earlier when Jiggs listed his top ten pitchers available in the draft Harris was again absent(red flag #1). Harris was originally a 6th round pick out of high school by Cleveland in 1927 but failed to sign and went to Northern California University, for whom he was primarily a relief pitcher.(red flag #2). His ERA+ was 87 as a sophomore and 84 in his junior season (red flags 3&4). Simply put he was not a very good college pitcher so his scouting report must have really said something amazing to the Wolves at the time. It should have stated "don't draft me" but they did and while he did have some decent seasons in the minors, they were all in Class B and when the Wolves moved him up (likely a little late as he was still in A at the age of 25) it was too late. He was decent between AA and AAA in 1936 as a 27 year old but was released the following spring and retired before ever making it to FABL.

3- JIM BEARD Infielder Washington Eagles: Shortstop, especially of the high school variety was something that seemed plentiful in this draft. Jiggs McGee felt there were close to a dozen high school shortstop that impressed him and felt half a dozen could go in the first round. Beard was not at the top of Jiggs list: that would have been Lee Porter who ended up going to the Sailors in round three but, while still active, has yet to advance past AA ball. Beard proved to be a pretty solid pick for this draft group and is now in his 6th big league season. The Eagles traded him to the Sailors a couple of years ago and he has found third base is better suited to his skill set but Beard is a steady infielder with some speed- he led the Fed with 55 steals in 1937.

4- JOHNNY TURNER - Third Base Cleveland Foresters: First team All-American at George Fox his draft year and briefly considered by Jiggs to place him #1 on the mock before deciding to drop him behind Jack Flint. Maybe it was the serious ankle injury he suffered as a rookie pro. Maybe it was because most of his teammates disliked him for the lack of effort and penchant for disrupting the clubhouse. Or maybe it was just the fact he could not hit big league pitching. Turner had a couple of chances with the Foresters, but batted just .234 in 420 career plate appearances. He hit fine in AAA and that's where he found a home, signing with the independent Sacramento Governors after both the Foresters and the Chicago Cougars gave up on him.

5- JOE SCHNELL - Pitcher Pittsburgh Miners: This is right about the time period when the 'draft pitchers early' craze took off and the Miners seemed to be an early adapter taking Walt Palmer, Chick Stout, Schnell, Lefty Allen and Nate Spear as first round picks between 1926 and 1933. Certainly Allen made all the other misses worthwhile - not that I would call Spear or Stout misses - but Schnell certainly was. Schnell had a decent sophomore season at College of San Diego but was terrible his draft year. The Miners felt they saw something and who knows, if he stayed healthy perhaps Schnell could have made more than 4 career FABL starts. However a torn rotator cuff in 1934 just as he seemed on the verge of being a FABL regular derailed him and there were more shoulder troubles a couple seasons later. He is still active at age 31, or at least thinks he is, but is sitting in the free agent pool hoping someone will call him. The Chicago Cougars, who seem to give every failed first round pitcher a shot, tried briefly and he looked okay in spring action but was not offered a contract.

6- BOLIVAR JIM SMITH- Shortstop Chicago Chiefs: The name conjures up memory of what was not one of Jiggs McGee's finer moments. The Chicago Chiefs had recently landed a new General Manager at the time and he was feeling a little overwhelmed trying to get on the same page as his scouting staff. He ran into Jiggs at the winter meetings shortly before the draft and point blank asked Jiggs who he liked for the Chiefs picks, which were back to back at 6 and 7. As Jiggs recalls he was told by the GM he needed infielders so Jiggs suggested shortstop Bolivar Jim and third baseman Tom Eggleton. The two combined for 7 FABL games and I am not sure the GM ever trusted another draft article Jiggs wrote. Jiggs had never revealed that story until this column and I doubt the now-former Chiefs GM ever wanted to revisit it. In Jiggs defense, Boliver Jim Smith had a terrific couple of seasons at Cumberland with the glove and was pretty good throughout his minor league career but he just couldn't hit.

7- TOM EGGLETON- Third Base Chicago Chiefs: The high school third baseman showed a little more promise than Bolivar Jim with the bat in the minors, but never got much of a chance in the big leagues and is now playing in the Lone Star Association. If only the GM and Jiggs had talked about outfielders as Rip Curry might have been a Chief.

8- ART MCMAHON- Outfield New York Stars: You know it is a weak draft class when we say Art McMahon was not a bad first round draft pick. Maybe it was because fellow Honolulu native Vic Crawford looked like such a star when he was picked the previous season, but the Stars decided McMahon was the best outfielder available. Obviously Rip Curry was the right pick but at least McMahon has played over 300 big league games.

9- BUTCH WALDRON - Outfield Boston Minutemen: Waldron had a great first season at Lincoln College and was very good the next year as well. His draft stock dropped somewhat with career lows in every offensive category in his draft season but, the class being what it was, he was still a first round selection in Jiggs McGee's mind, and the Boston Minutemen concurred. He made his Boston debut three years later and hit .288 in a 96 game stretch which led to him being a starter in 1934 where he also hit close to .300. He really struggled in the big leagues in '35 but did well in AAA Columbus after his demotion and even had a 26 game hitting streak at AAA that year. Other than a 21 game stretch in 1938 he never made it back to the big leagues and retired last year with a .276 batting average in 303 FABL games.

10- JAMES DEMASTUS - Catcher Chicago Cougars: Bill Ashbaugh, Fred Barrell, Mike Murphy, Tom Barrell, Ed Reyes, Billy Hunter. The Cougars had some very nice first round picks in those feeder era drafts. But they messed up on a pair of them. One was Harry Humphrey, an outfielder out of Whitney College they took third overall in 1927 and the other was high school catcher James Demastus. Combined those first round picks accounted for 3,306 FABL games as position players and 272 career pitching wins. Humphrey and Demastus together added a grand total of 0 to those amounts. So it was feast or famine for the Cougars in the feeder draft era and Chicago fans went hungry at the 1930 draft. After doing little the first two seasons of his high school career, Demastus did hit .361 as a senior. Not good enough to crack the top ten catchers in Jiggs McGee's positional mock and as it turned out, not good enough to get out of the low minors. He peaked with 6 games at the AA level as a 23 year old and was out of the game by age 25.

11- DONIE SCHEUERMANN - Pitcher Detroit Dynamos: Scheuermann has actually had one of the better careers out of this draft class. He was up and down with the Dynamos for six seasons, good enough to earn a spot in their pen during the awful years but not quite good enough as the team got better, but he did land in Cincinnati this season as a waiver claim and provided decent work out of the pen.

He lived up to his billing as Jiggs McGee put Scheuermann number 11 on his final mock draft. Of Scheuermann Jiggs offered "The safest bet among the top pitchers in this draft. Scheuermann should be good enough to pitch in the major leagues but I am not sure that he will be any more than a bottom of the rotation guy. He was consistent for most of his college career, but like so many others was just a little less productive in his draft year."

12- CHUCK MURPHY - Pitcher Montreal Saints: Only 13th round pick Jake Smith had a better pitching career among the 1930 draftees, although Murphy may just surpass Smith as he seems to be a late bloomer, having won 25 of his 60 career victories in the 2 years since he turned 30 years of age. It took a while for him to find his place as he had stops in Montreal, Brooklyn and with the Chicago Chiefs before finally getting a real opportunity in Detroit and then was moved to the Philadelphia Sailors prior to the 1938 season. He has been traded for some pretty solid players in pitcher Milt Fritz and young shortstop Gil London but also waived once (by the Chiefs) so his value has certainly gone up and down over the years. The Sailors seem to have good success in squeezing production out of pitchers others overlook and Murphy just might have a home in Philadelphia now.

13- RIP CURRY - Outfield Philadelphia Keystones: Here he is, the class of the 1930 draft. His best season at George Fox was the year before he was draft eligible, batting .474 and being named a second team All-American. Curry's production dipped somewhat his draft year but he remained the top outfielder on Jiggs McGee's draft board and Jiggs felt he had another talent that should perhaps be explored: "The corner outfielder has been a three year starter for the Reds and hit .414 for his collegiate career including .398 this season. No other draft eligible outfielder with 150 or more career plate appearances has a higher OBP and his 7.2 career WAR ranks third among all draftees. I am concerned about his lack of power - just 19 homers in 143 games- and his small frame (5'10", 160 lbs) makes one wonder if the power will ever come. One other note is Curry is a two-way player and may actually be a better prospect as a pitcher. He was 11-1, 3.05 in 1929 but struggled on the mound this season."

The Keystones never explored the possibility of Curry being a pitcher but he worked out just fine as an outfielder and put on some muscle so he has hit 13 homers in a season twice in his career. It is the .326 batting average and steady play (Curry has never hit below .300 in a FABL season) that makes Curry look like the best pick of the 1930 draft. He was dealt to Detroit last winter and, aside from missing a nearly two months with various injuries, has been his usual productive self, batting .331 this season.

14- AL HORTON - Outfield Baltimore Cannons: Jiggs McGee liked the College of San Diego outfielder and had him second at his position behind only Rip Curry on his final mock draft. Horton "was among the top five in draft eligible outfielders in WAR, slugging percentage, ops+ and stolen bases with 26 in his 100 game career," wrote McGee at the time. Baltimore was just about to become an awful team as Horton matured so his 386 career big league games are likely more than he would have received with another organization. Not a bad player, he did steal 23 bases and hit .314 in 1934 -his only season as an everyday player - but also led the CA with 108 strikeouts. He never quite cut it after that, getting a few games with the big club each year but not establishing himself as a big leaguer. With the move to Cincinnati and the influx of better talent Horton found himself spending the entire season in AAA Indianapolis and it is highly unlikely he adds to his big league totals anymore.

15- JIM MASON - Outfield New York Gothams: Mason was drafted in the third round by the Chicago Cougars in 1929 but failed to sign so he returned to Ellery College for his senior season. It was a good one, he hit .393 with 11 homers in 50 games but not good enough to crack Jiggs McGee's top ten outfielders on the mock draft. His claim to fame will always be he was traded for one of the greatest pitchers of his era - going from the Gothams to Baltimore (along with Rusty Petrick, Oscar King, Billy Marshall and a bunch of picks) in exchange for Rabbit Day. That will, of course, be the only time Day and Mason will be mentioned in the same sentence but Mason's 1935 season was actually pretty good. He played 146 games for the Cannons as a 26 year old rookie that year, hitting .343 with 11 homers and was one of the few bright spots on a team that won only 65 games and finished last for the the second year in a row. He hit just .275 the following season and was demoted to AAA for a good portion of it but rebounded in 1937 by batting .323 with 12 homers as an everyday player. Consistency was an issue as he struggled in 1938 and again was demoted to AAA. That would appear to be the end of Mason's days as he was taken by the Stars in the rule 5 draft prior to the 1939 season but returned to the Cannons, who promptly released him when he refused a minor league assignment. Mason insists he is still an active player but has not stepped on the field since 1938. 16 FABL General Manager's and a host of independent clubs feel otherwise so expect Mason to get the hint and eventually tell us what we already know - his baseball career is over.

16- FLOYD SPENCER - First base Philadelphia Sailors: Originally an 8th round pick of St Louis out of Frankford State, Spencer did not sign and was rewarded the following season when the Sailors picked him in the first round. He did crack the OSA top 100 prospect list but just barely (100th in July of 1932) and being part of the best minor league system in baseball means Spencer did win his fair share of pennants in the Sailors organization but he never made it to the big leagues and only managed to appear in 43 games as high as the AAA level. He could hit for average in the minors but Spencer just did not have the power one would like to see out of a first baseman. The Sailors did have some first round misses in those days such as Everett Juergens in 1926, Jack Bates in 1927, Ed Scott in 1928, Spencer in 1930 and Fritz Bach in 1932. No major league experience for any of them but before you go thinking the Sailors seemed to excel at reaching for future Lone Star Association players in first rounds of the past, stop and remember Jack Cleaves (1925) and Lou Williams (1929) were also in that mix. The last one from that time frame is 1931 first rounder Marcel Boismenu. He has played 136 FABL games but is 27 years old so he will likely end up closer to the first group than being on the Cleaves, Williams side of the ledger.

SUMMARY So there you have it. The dumpster fire that was the 1930 draft. There was not a lot to choose from. Long-time Scouting Director Rube Carter, who was in his final season with the Brooklyn Kings before moving on to the Chicago Chiefs kindly shared his ranking of the top 45 pitchers and hitters on his personal draft list. Why 45? Well that is what easily fit into a screen shot. Here they are. A lot of names no one will remember and that phrase might well be the best way to describe the 1930 Draft Class.

QUICK HITS

It has been quite a year for Cincinnati owner John E. Tice. Not only have his Cannons come close to doubling the attendance totals from a year ago in Baltimore and established a new franchise record with well over 1.1 million fans going through the turnstiles at Monarchs Field but the club is also challenging for a pennant after 6 straight last place finishes. Business is also booming for his soap company and Tice credits much of that success to a new baseball themed newspaper campaign featuring Cincinnati slugger Moxie Pidgeon. The now well know ad features the tag line "When clean-up hitters need help cleaning up they turn to Tice & Chiles soap." Pidgeon, who has played for 5 different teams is featured in most of the ads but regional ones have been added using Hank Barnett of the Chicago Chiefs, Detroit's Sal Pestilli and Hank Koblenz of the Philadelphia Keystones.
Ron Rattigan has 19 home runs--1 away from giving the Chiefs 3 batters with 20 or more. Rattigan, though, jammed his wrist last week in Detroit after running into Red Johnson when Rattigan was trying (successfully) to beat out an infield hit. Hank Barnett (.301,32,94) leads the Chiefs (and FABL) in homers while Cliff Moss also has 20, marking the third straight season the veteran outfielder has reached that plateau. Chicago acquired Moss in the beginning of 1935. He had opened the season in Minneapolis after losing his job in Montreal following two dismal seasons: an OPS+ of 80 in 1933 and 84 in 1934. In 697 games for Chicago Moss has hit .297 with 113 home runs. At 34 years of age and with 214 homers on his resume, Moss certainly looks to have a very solid shot at 250 before his playing days are done.
Montreal's Red Bond (.343,26,91) has rightfully entered the conversation as one of the best bats in baseball. But Percy Sutherland did a deeper dive into defense this morning, and wow--Bond is solidly the worst regular outfielder in not just the CA, but both leagues. But...Bond has only 6 errors for a fielding pct of .983, you say. That's because he doesn't actually get to any balls. He's like a statue out there. The Saints are considering moving him to first base next year.
Gothams youngster Pete Casstevens leads the Fed in caught stealing pct., throwing out 30 of 50 runners. He's already establishing himself as one of the top defensive catchers in the league. The same can't be said for the rest of the young infield where 2B Roosevelt Brewer, 3B Billy Dalton and SS Mule Monier all lead the league in errors. When complaining about the teams pitching one must keep in mind all the extra baserunners they have to work around.
Perhaps there is hope for the Cleveland Foresters. The club still has the worst record in baseball but they have won 9 of their last 13 including a 3 game sweep of first place Toronto that very quickly helped erode the Wolves lead atop the CA. Despite Dean Astle leaving in the first inning with a blister the Foresters beat Toronto 5-2 in the opener of a doubleheader before Dave Rankin (10-16, 3.96) outdueled Joe Hancock (14-11, 3.58) in the nightcap. To further complicate matters for the Wolves, the Foresters scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to rally from a 2-0 deficit and complete the 3-game sweep with a 3-2 victory. Cleveland then continued to play spoiler splitting two game series with both Philadelphia and Cincinnati to finish off the week.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 9/08/1940

The US swaps warships for Britain's bases. The deal sees the Americans trade much need destroyers to Britain and in exchange the US will take over control of air and naval bases from British colonies strewn from Newfoundland to British Guiana. President Roosevelt explained the new bases would allow the US to 'keep the enemy away from our front door."
Italy's top Mussolini mouthpiece, Virginio Gayda, declares the exchange of US destroyers for British bases "puts the United States still more dangerously into the European war."
Winston Churchill told British Parliament the ships for bases deal will enable the United States "to take danger by the throat whilst it is still hundreds of miles away" but warned the British to remember that America is not in the war. The Prime Minister did caution the US that Hitler would "no doubt will pay the United States out if he ever gets the chance."
Despite British Air Force success in turning back or shooting down countless Nazi aircraft in their attempts to destroy London, much of the English capital is in flames.
After the British countered with night raids on Germany, Adolf Hitler broke weeks of silence to threaten that his air force would 'erase' Britain's cities if the RAF persists in it's night raids on Germany.
The House passed the controversial draft bill but with a provision it be deferred by 60 days to permit further trial of the voluntary enlistment system. The measure would require all men between 21 and 44 to register for the draft, and must now go back to the Senate, which had fixed age limits at 21 to 30, to okay.
King Carol II, yielding to the demands of Rumania's new military dictatorship and clamor in the streets, abdicated his throne and fled into exile aboard his royal yacht.

01-17-2022, 04:44 PM	#333
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	September 9, 1940 SEPTEMBER 9, 1940 CONTINENTAL PACK CLOSES IN ON WOLVES Shades of 1938 perhaps? Toronto Wolves fans well remember the collapse two years ago when their heroes blew a 3 game lead by losing 8 of their final 9 games, costing them the pennant. Flash forward to this season and the Wolves entered the week with a 3.5 game lead on the Chicago Cougars and 4.5 up on the Cincinnati Cannons. Seven straight losses later including a pair at home to Cincinnati and that lead was gone as the surprising Cannons took over top spot. Cincinnati's stay in first was very brief as Toronto finally stopped their skid yesterday with a 6-4 win over Philadelphia but even that wasn't easy as the Wolves needed 5 runs in the bottom of the ninth to salvage one game from the week. At the same time the Cannons were losing in Cleveland to the Foresters, the same last place club that had swept Toronto 3 straight to start the week, dropping the Cannons back to second place a half game back of Toronto. As a result with 3 weeks remaining in the schedule the Continental pennant race is wide open. FEDERAL ASSOCIATION The race in the Federal Association is also far from decided. The Pittsburgh Miners still are in control, with a better than 50% chance of prevailing according to the bookmakers, but the Miners did not do themselves any favours last week by splitting their six games. The big moment was a Labor Day doubleheader in Philadelphia when the surprising Keystones swept both ends of the twin bill and did so in dramatic fashion. Each was a 2-1 win and each required extra innings. The opener saw Lefty Allen (21-10, 2.72) spin a 4-hitter but lost on a Bobby McHenry sacrifice fly in the 10th inning. The nightcap went 13 innings with Hans Wright (.268,16,55), who's single in the 10th inning of the opener was key to that win, took care of business with a solo homerun off of Gene Stevens with two out in the bottom of the 13th inning. The Keystones, who struggled on the road all season, were clearly energized by the big wins at Broad Street Park over Pittsburgh. They headed out on the road but finished the week strong, taking two of three in Washington and then winning a pair in Boston. With 13 wins in their last 15 games the Keystones are just 2 games back of the defending champion Miners. Detroit is also in the mix, but now 2.5 off the pace after a pair of disappointing defeats at the hands of their nemesis from Chicago. AROUND THE LEAGUE Jiggs McGee takes a look around FABL with a quick comment or two on each of the 16 clubs. Just whatever catches Jiggs eye: BOSTON- Mack Sutton has improved on both his strikeout frequency and BB frequency. He is also slowly improving at the hot corner. Is next year the breakout year for the "Arkansas Artilleryman"? Boston looks like it will come up short once again but the Minutemen have a good young team and their time should come. BROOKLYN- Kings are not entirely out of the race yet but there chances are very slim. Still Brooklyn is playing a role as spoiler, taking both ends of a doubleheader from the Cougars last week before winning 2 of three against the Stars. Joe Herman was never a top 50 prospect (peaked at #64) but he is quietly having a breakout season in Brooklyn. The 24 year old former lottery pick out of Grange College is batting .329 with 13 homers and 65 rbi's. He slowed down a bit in August but is picking it up again this month. CHIEFS- Unfortunately a little too late but the Chiefs are back on track, winning 7 of their last 8 including taking all 3 games with Detroit this month. It's just too bad Chicago encountered a 4-17 stretch to close out August and with it their pennant hopes. COUGARS- The veteran arms have been doing their job as the Cougars try to catch Toronto for the CA lead. Jim Lonardo (11-11, 3.28) is 5-0 with a 0.75 era since August 1st while Dick Lyons (17-8, 3.09) has allowed one earned run or less in 3 of his last 4 starts. CINCINNATI- The Cannons offense slumbered through much of July and August and as a result the team struggled. That changed in a big way to start September as the Cannons put 17 runs on the board in the opener of a Labor Day doubleheader and ended up scoring 48 runs in their last 6 games. Unfortunately they lost two of them, both starts from rookie Jim Anderson (2-4, 2.84) who has pitched well but was the victim of some untimely errors behind him. With the schedule winding down Anderson may not get another start as the Cannons are dropping to a 4 man rotation. CLEVELAND- Don Hallam is making a bid for a roster spot next season. The 29 year old is hitting .311 with 2 homers in the 45 at bats he has been given since his promotion from AAA. He had a game winning rbi on a walk-off single to beat Toronto last week and is hitting .450 in his last dozen games. He was a 5th round pick of Toronto's way back in 1929, spent some time in the Indy Leagues after being released by a couple of organization. He did get 9 big league games with Montreal in 1934 but has been in AAA ever since, until the Foresters gave him shot this year. DETROIT- Sergio Gonzales might miss a start this week for Detroit. Dynamos dropped two to nemesis Chicago on weekend and fail to gain ground on Miners but did they did sweep New York earlier in the week so are still just 2.5 games back. Detroit is 12-4 vs the Gothams this season and with 6 more games remaining against New York you have to think that helps Detroit's chances in the Fed race. MONTREAL- Red Bond (.343,26,91) is certainly not slowing down. The 27 year old outfielder is batting .526 with 2 homers in his last 9 games and was recently named player of the week for the fourth time this season. He has a chance at a triple crown this year. NY STARS- Stars management is blaming their bullpen for much of New York's troubles of late. They certainly have had their share of extra inning losses and tight games that got away late recently. New York is 0-4 in extra inning contests the past two weeks after winning 8 of their first 9. NY GOTHAMS- The Gothams have owned Washington (13-6) and St Louis (13-9) but against the other 5 Federal Association teams New York is 25-68 including just 4-12 against Detroit and 5-15 vs both Pittsburgh and Boston. KEYSTONES- Pepper Tuttle (14-8, 2.98) has stepped up of late for the Keystones. The 24 year old is 3-0 in his last five starts with a 1.90 era over that stretch. With 3 extra innings games all resulting in wins, plus a pair of 1 run victories, you can't help but start to get the feeling maybe the Keystones are destined to win the Fed this season. They are even winning on the road now, but that will need to continue with an important series against Detroit starting tomorrow. SAILORS- At 14-22 this season only the last place Cleveland Foresters (14-25) have had less success in one run games among Continental Association teams. Add in a 3-10 extra inning mark, worst in either association, and it is easy to assume the Sailors, with a couple of breaks, could be in first place right now. PITTSBURGH- A big opportunity missed to put away their cross-state rivals last week when the Miners dropped a pair of 2-1 extra innings games in Philadelphia on Labor Day. Pittsburgh did rebound with a pair of wins in Boston but the Keystones are on a roll and making more than a few people in Steeltown nervous. ST LOUIS- Is the season almost over? Another losing streak is underway for the Pioneers, this one at 5 games. And another pitcher is hurt. This time it is 31 year old Jake Smith (6-8, 5.26) who was having a terrible season to begin with. Now he is sidelined a week with a dead arm. TORONTO- Larry Vestal (.280,2,46) is finally pronounced fit and back in the lineup after missing over a month with a sore knee. Maybe he can give the slumping Wolves a spark. You can't blame Fred McCormick (.338,10,76) for Toronto's recent struggles. McCormick has been steady as usual, batting .386 with 3 homers in his last 11 games, during which Toronto has gone 3-8. WASHINGTON- Sig Stofer has injected some life in a lackluster Washington team. The Boardwalk Bopper is hitting .283 with 5 homers and 16 rbi's in just 53 at bats since being acquired from the Philadelphia Keystones. Looks like he will be given every opportunity to be the starting first baseman next season as Harry Shumate's (.242,5,44) days may be numbered in the nation's capital. TOP DEFENDERS IN BASEBALL Defense is vastly underrated in baseball but Percy Sutherland of the Chicago Herald-Examiner wants to change that. The long-time baseball columnist has always acknowledged great glovemen in his writings and recently he penned a column outlining who he felt were the best defender at each position in both the Federal and Continental Associations. Here is what Sutherland had to say: FEDERAL ASSOCIATION C - John Wicklund (DET) -- The old man still has it. 1B - Ron Rattigan (CHI) -- Red Johnson is getting close to supplanting Rattigan. P - Red Hampton (CHI) 2B - Buddy Schneider (BOS) -- the 19-year-old has only played half a season, but I had to give it to him--he's that good. 3B - Tommy Wilson (STL) SS - Jack Bush (WAS) -- yes, Bush can field, but that's about all he can do. LF - Dilly Ward (WAS) -- This is what you get when you put a good center fielder in a corner. CF - Sal Pestilli (DET) -- The competition is strong in the Fed, but Pestilli just gets to more balls than anyone else. RF - Bill Burkett (BOS) -- Burkett's a natural centerfielder, see Dilly Ward. CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION C - Fred Barrell (BRK) -- Adam Mullins in Montreal is a very, very close second. P - George Phillips (NYS) 1B - Ray Ford (CHC) -- Ford has Ron Rattigan type range at first. 2B - Clark Car (NYS) -- Great range and excels at turning the double play. 3B - Mel Carrol (CLE) SS - Harry Barrell (BRK) -- The standard-bearer at short but Charlie Artuso (TOR) is close. LF - Hub Parks (NYS) CF - Carlos Montes (CHC) -- Like Buddy Schneider, the youngster didn't begin the season as the starter but he is that good. RF - Bill Barrett (NYS) -- Almost a dead heat between Barrett, Lou Balk (CLE), and Orlin Yates (CHC). Sutherland and the Chicago Herald-Examiner were instrumental in creating a trophy presented by the Chicago Sportswrtiers Guild to the top rookie a couple of years running. Al Miller of the Chiefs claimed the award the first year it was presented in 1936 and the following season it went to Sal Pestilli of the Detroit Dynamos. They did not announce winners each of the past two seasons but word is they plan to make it an annual award starting this season. Perhaps if Sutherland really wants to see fielders with golden hands get their due perhaps he should see if he can also drum up support for an annual award presented to the top defenders of the diamond as well. 1941 DRAFT PREVIEW A LOOK BACK AT THE 1930 DRAFT A decade ago in his annual mock draft Jiggs McGee felt this was a very weak class and time has certainly proven that to be the case. Here is what Jiggs said leading up the 1930 draft: "It is unusual for several reasons and all of them centering around a dearth of high end college talent. This college portion of the draft pool, at least aside from 3 time All-American Jack Flint, who may have had the best college catching career of all-time, is simply not very deep and lacks high profile star power. Maybe it is the lack of a Barrell brother in this pool- Fred went 3rd overall in 1926, Bobby 6th in 1928 and Tom first last year with young Harry not eligible until next season. Perhaps it is the lack of a dominant pitching prospect such as Tom Barrell and Chick Stout a year ago or Tommy Wilcox in 1928 but this draft appears to be lacking the high end can't miss prospect of years gone by." Only one player from the 1930 draft has reached the 1,000 hit milestone, Keystones outfielder Rip Curry who was the 13th selection of the draft. Compare that with the draft the previous year (1929) which has 5 players with over 1,000 career hits and the year after (1931), which has 4 of them. Likewise the crop of pitchers was not very strong in 1930. Only Chuck Murphy, who was selected 12th by Montreal and presently owns a 60-62 record while pitching for his 5th FABL club, has won at least 40 games out of the 4 pitchers taken in the first round. 1929 also had one but he is Tom Barrell and has 130 wins and 3 Allan Awards while 1931 had two pitchers taken in the opening round with at least 40 wins. Below is a comparison of first round picks over the first seven human GM drafts. It is plain to see the top crop of players available in 1930 pales in comparison with the other years: Code: FIRST ROUND PICKS WITH 750 CAREER HITS OR 40 CAREER WINS 1925 Al Wheeler 2,345 hits Bud Jameson 2,044 hits Bill Ashbaugh 1,420 hits Doug Lightbody 1,978 hits Jack Cleaves 2,050 hits Eddie Quinn 121-127 record Art Myers 132-100 record Lou Martino 104-91 record 1926 Fred Barrell 1,447 hits Frank Huddleston 1,117 hits Woody Armstrong 795 hits Frank Crawford 118-79 record 1927 Cliff Moss 1,683 hits Frank Lightbody 1,695 hits Andy Carter 1,400 hits Jim Watson 1,123 hits Rabbit Mudd 762 hits Bill Anderson 84-101 record 1928 Bobby Barrell 1,946 hits Wally Flowers 1,186 hits Tommy Wilcox 91-84 record Mike Murphy 135-90 record Chuck Cole 93-109 record 1929 Vic Crawford 1,427 hits Sam Orr 1,194 hits Dan Fowler 1,363 hits Jake Shadoan 1,223 hits Lou Williams 1,079 hits Tom Barrell 137-78 record 1930 Rip Curry 1,198 hits Jim Beard 947 hits Jack Flint 764 hits Chuck Murphy 60-62 record 1931 Harry Barrell 1,400 hits Freddie Jones 1,509 hits George Cleaves 1,140 hits Bill May 1,154 hits Bernie Johnson 60-84 record Dixie Lee 41-58 record What about beyond the first round? Back in the feeder era there were always some surprises out of late round picks but once again the 1930 class comes up short. Zip Sullivan is the best of the hitters, with 438 career games and 429 hits as a 23rd round steal for St Louis. Then you have Lou Balk (rd 4) with 422 games and counting or Boston reserve Charlie Reed, originally a Cougars 2nd pick with 402 games on his FABL resume. Who else among hitters? Clem Bliss (3rd round), Al Mann (5th rd), Gene Tirre (4th rd) or Elias Bradley (7th rd) That is it for players with at least 10 career FABL hits. The pitching crop fared a little better thanks to 13th round pick Jake Smith (80 career wins so far) and 3rd rounder Bill Ross (47 wins). After that we have George Jacobs (3rd rd), Karl Moore (2nd rd) and Earle Killebrew (5th rd) as the only 1930 pitchers selected outside the first round to have at least 10 career FABL wins. 1929 in comparison gave us George Dawson, Joe Owens, Mel Carrol, Gail Gifford, Johnny McDowell and quite a few other position players plus 4 pitchers with at least 10 wins highlighted by George Phillips. 1931 was not quite as strong as '29 but certainly far better than the 1930 class beyond the first round when you have Leo Mitchell, Red Bond, Al Tucker, Joe Rainbow, Ed Reyes, Jake DeYoung, Billy Stall and Glenn Payne leading the way. So, yes it is pretty obvious the 1930 draft class was very weak, quite likely the weakest class of the feeder league era. Here is a look at each of the first round selections: 1-JACK FLINT - Catcher ST LOUIS PIONEERS: In his final mock draft Jiggs McGee had this to say about Flint, who he placed number one on his list after briefly debate the merits of infielder Johnny Turner: There has never been a catcher who posted the kind of college numbers that Jack Flint put up during 3 All-American seasons at Lubbock State. The closest is probably Dick York, the long-time Detroit catcher who played for Georgia Baptist from 1915-17. Flint is the career leader among catchers in virtually every AIAA offensive category and the single-season record holder among catchers in OBP, hits and runs scored. Here is a comparison of Flint's career college stats to 4 prominent FABL catchers who also played college ball. (Note TR Goins and Joe Welch are excluded as they did not play college ball) Code: TEAM NAME SLASH OPS+ WAR ? JACK FLINT .356/.449/.546 159 8.3 DET Dick York .336/.417/.547 150 4.3 CHC Fred Barrell .331/.427/.462 141 4.0 PIT Jim Pool .301/.410/.486 139 5.6 BKN Mike Taylor .299/.381/.520 126 4.3 Now, I am not saying Flint is going to have a better career then Dick York, but it certainly looks like he is a much better prospect then York and far better than even Fred Barrell, who the Chicago Cougars drafted third overall in 1926. As it turned out Flint is not going to have a better pro career than Dick York and although he is 3 years younger so still has time, will likely not outperform Fred Barrell as a big leaguer either. What St Louis did get in the draft was a steady catcher, a 2-time all-star who remains, at least at this date, a .300 career hitter. He spent six years with the Pioneers but they seem to do such a great job finding and developing catchers (Tom Bird and Clarence Howerton have also passed through St Louis) that Flint lost his job to Heinie Zimmer. He spent one season with the Gothams, just babysitting the spot until Pete Casstevens was deemed ready and moved on to his third FABL club last winter. He appears to have found a home in Cincinnati and at 31 should have some productive years left. A solid pick for the Pioneers, who likely wish they held out for more than former 11th round pick Del Thomas, when they traded Flint to the Gothams. Thomas, incidentally was a first round pick as well, just not in baseball as the Boston Americans of the American Football Association drafted him in the first round 7th overall in 1937. 2- JIM HARRIS Pitcher Toronto Wolves: This draft class was so weak it is hard to blame any team that did not land a future big leaguer but at pick #2 you have to hope you do better than this. Jiggs McGee had just 3 pitchers in his mock first round (Mel Ennis, Ike Joyal and Donie Scheuermann) but none were higher than fifth on his list. In fact a short time earlier when Jiggs listed his top ten pitchers available in the draft Harris was again absent(red flag #1). Harris was originally a 6th round pick out of high school by Cleveland in 1927 but failed to sign and went to Northern California University, for whom he was primarily a relief pitcher.(red flag #2). His ERA+ was 87 as a sophomore and 84 in his junior season (red flags 3&4). Simply put he was not a very good college pitcher so his scouting report must have really said something amazing to the Wolves at the time. It should have stated "don't draft me" but they did and while he did have some decent seasons in the minors, they were all in Class B and when the Wolves moved him up (likely a little late as he was still in A at the age of 25) it was too late. He was decent between AA and AAA in 1936 as a 27 year old but was released the following spring and retired before ever making it to FABL. 3- JIM BEARD Infielder Washington Eagles: Shortstop, especially of the high school variety was something that seemed plentiful in this draft. Jiggs McGee felt there were close to a dozen high school shortstop that impressed him and felt half a dozen could go in the first round. Beard was not at the top of Jiggs list: that would have been Lee Porter who ended up going to the Sailors in round three but, while still active, has yet to advance past AA ball. Beard proved to be a pretty solid pick for this draft group and is now in his 6th big league season. The Eagles traded him to the Sailors a couple of years ago and he has found third base is better suited to his skill set but Beard is a steady infielder with some speed- he led the Fed with 55 steals in 1937. 4- JOHNNY TURNER - Third Base Cleveland Foresters: First team All-American at George Fox his draft year and briefly considered by Jiggs to place him #1 on the mock before deciding to drop him behind Jack Flint. Maybe it was the serious ankle injury he suffered as a rookie pro. Maybe it was because most of his teammates disliked him for the lack of effort and penchant for disrupting the clubhouse. Or maybe it was just the fact he could not hit big league pitching. Turner had a couple of chances with the Foresters, but batted just .234 in 420 career plate appearances. He hit fine in AAA and that's where he found a home, signing with the independent Sacramento Governors after both the Foresters and the Chicago Cougars gave up on him. 5- JOE SCHNELL - Pitcher Pittsburgh Miners: This is right about the time period when the 'draft pitchers early' craze took off and the Miners seemed to be an early adapter taking Walt Palmer, Chick Stout, Schnell, Lefty Allen and Nate Spear as first round picks between 1926 and 1933. Certainly Allen made all the other misses worthwhile - not that I would call Spear or Stout misses - but Schnell certainly was. Schnell had a decent sophomore season at College of San Diego but was terrible his draft year. The Miners felt they saw something and who knows, if he stayed healthy perhaps Schnell could have made more than 4 career FABL starts. However a torn rotator cuff in 1934 just as he seemed on the verge of being a FABL regular derailed him and there were more shoulder troubles a couple seasons later. He is still active at age 31, or at least thinks he is, but is sitting in the free agent pool hoping someone will call him. The Chicago Cougars, who seem to give every failed first round pitcher a shot, tried briefly and he looked okay in spring action but was not offered a contract. 6- BOLIVAR JIM SMITH- Shortstop Chicago Chiefs: The name conjures up memory of what was not one of Jiggs McGee's finer moments. The Chicago Chiefs had recently landed a new General Manager at the time and he was feeling a little overwhelmed trying to get on the same page as his scouting staff. He ran into Jiggs at the winter meetings shortly before the draft and point blank asked Jiggs who he liked for the Chiefs picks, which were back to back at 6 and 7. As Jiggs recalls he was told by the GM he needed infielders so Jiggs suggested shortstop Bolivar Jim and third baseman Tom Eggleton. The two combined for 7 FABL games and I am not sure the GM ever trusted another draft article Jiggs wrote. Jiggs had never revealed that story until this column and I doubt the now-former Chiefs GM ever wanted to revisit it. In Jiggs defense, Boliver Jim Smith had a terrific couple of seasons at Cumberland with the glove and was pretty good throughout his minor league career but he just couldn't hit. 7- TOM EGGLETON- Third Base Chicago Chiefs: The high school third baseman showed a little more promise than Bolivar Jim with the bat in the minors, but never got much of a chance in the big leagues and is now playing in the Lone Star Association. If only the GM and Jiggs had talked about outfielders as Rip Curry might have been a Chief. 8- ART MCMAHON- Outfield New York Stars: You know it is a weak draft class when we say Art McMahon was not a bad first round draft pick. Maybe it was because fellow Honolulu native Vic Crawford looked like such a star when he was picked the previous season, but the Stars decided McMahon was the best outfielder available. Obviously Rip Curry was the right pick but at least McMahon has played over 300 big league games. 9- BUTCH WALDRON - Outfield Boston Minutemen: Waldron had a great first season at Lincoln College and was very good the next year as well. His draft stock dropped somewhat with career lows in every offensive category in his draft season but, the class being what it was, he was still a first round selection in Jiggs McGee's mind, and the Boston Minutemen concurred. He made his Boston debut three years later and hit .288 in a 96 game stretch which led to him being a starter in 1934 where he also hit close to .300. He really struggled in the big leagues in '35 but did well in AAA Columbus after his demotion and even had a 26 game hitting streak at AAA that year. Other than a 21 game stretch in 1938 he never made it back to the big leagues and retired last year with a .276 batting average in 303 FABL games. 10- JAMES DEMASTUS - Catcher Chicago Cougars: Bill Ashbaugh, Fred Barrell, Mike Murphy, Tom Barrell, Ed Reyes, Billy Hunter. The Cougars had some very nice first round picks in those feeder era drafts. But they messed up on a pair of them. One was Harry Humphrey, an outfielder out of Whitney College they took third overall in 1927 and the other was high school catcher James Demastus. Combined those first round picks accounted for 3,306 FABL games as position players and 272 career pitching wins. Humphrey and Demastus together added a grand total of 0 to those amounts. So it was feast or famine for the Cougars in the feeder draft era and Chicago fans went hungry at the 1930 draft. After doing little the first two seasons of his high school career, Demastus did hit .361 as a senior. Not good enough to crack the top ten catchers in Jiggs McGee's positional mock and as it turned out, not good enough to get out of the low minors. He peaked with 6 games at the AA level as a 23 year old and was out of the game by age 25. 11- DONIE SCHEUERMANN - Pitcher Detroit Dynamos: Scheuermann has actually had one of the better careers out of this draft class. He was up and down with the Dynamos for six seasons, good enough to earn a spot in their pen during the awful years but not quite good enough as the team got better, but he did land in Cincinnati this season as a waiver claim and provided decent work out of the pen. He lived up to his billing as Jiggs McGee put Scheuermann number 11 on his final mock draft. Of Scheuermann Jiggs offered "The safest bet among the top pitchers in this draft. Scheuermann should be good enough to pitch in the major leagues but I am not sure that he will be any more than a bottom of the rotation guy. He was consistent for most of his college career, but like so many others was just a little less productive in his draft year." 12- CHUCK MURPHY - Pitcher Montreal Saints: Only 13th round pick Jake Smith had a better pitching career among the 1930 draftees, although Murphy may just surpass Smith as he seems to be a late bloomer, having won 25 of his 60 career victories in the 2 years since he turned 30 years of age. It took a while for him to find his place as he had stops in Montreal, Brooklyn and with the Chicago Chiefs before finally getting a real opportunity in Detroit and then was moved to the Philadelphia Sailors prior to the 1938 season. He has been traded for some pretty solid players in pitcher Milt Fritz and young shortstop Gil London but also waived once (by the Chiefs) so his value has certainly gone up and down over the years. The Sailors seem to have good success in squeezing production out of pitchers others overlook and Murphy just might have a home in Philadelphia now. 13- RIP CURRY - Outfield Philadelphia Keystones: Here he is, the class of the 1930 draft. His best season at George Fox was the year before he was draft eligible, batting .474 and being named a second team All-American. Curry's production dipped somewhat his draft year but he remained the top outfielder on Jiggs McGee's draft board and Jiggs felt he had another talent that should perhaps be explored: "The corner outfielder has been a three year starter for the Reds and hit .414 for his collegiate career including .398 this season. No other draft eligible outfielder with 150 or more career plate appearances has a higher OBP and his 7.2 career WAR ranks third among all draftees. I am concerned about his lack of power - just 19 homers in 143 games- and his small frame (5'10", 160 lbs) makes one wonder if the power will ever come. One other note is Curry is a two-way player and may actually be a better prospect as a pitcher. He was 11-1, 3.05 in 1929 but struggled on the mound this season." The Keystones never explored the possibility of Curry being a pitcher but he worked out just fine as an outfielder and put on some muscle so he has hit 13 homers in a season twice in his career. It is the .326 batting average and steady play (Curry has never hit below .300 in a FABL season) that makes Curry look like the best pick of the 1930 draft. He was dealt to Detroit last winter and, aside from missing a nearly two months with various injuries, has been his usual productive self, batting .331 this season. 14- AL HORTON - Outfield Baltimore Cannons: Jiggs McGee liked the College of San Diego outfielder and had him second at his position behind only Rip Curry on his final mock draft. Horton "was among the top five in draft eligible outfielders in WAR, slugging percentage, ops+ and stolen bases with 26 in his 100 game career," wrote McGee at the time. Baltimore was just about to become an awful team as Horton matured so his 386 career big league games are likely more than he would have received with another organization. Not a bad player, he did steal 23 bases and hit .314 in 1934 -his only season as an everyday player - but also led the CA with 108 strikeouts. He never quite cut it after that, getting a few games with the big club each year but not establishing himself as a big leaguer. With the move to Cincinnati and the influx of better talent Horton found himself spending the entire season in AAA Indianapolis and it is highly unlikely he adds to his big league totals anymore. 15- JIM MASON - Outfield New York Gothams: Mason was drafted in the third round by the Chicago Cougars in 1929 but failed to sign so he returned to Ellery College for his senior season. It was a good one, he hit .393 with 11 homers in 50 games but not good enough to crack Jiggs McGee's top ten outfielders on the mock draft. His claim to fame will always be he was traded for one of the greatest pitchers of his era - going from the Gothams to Baltimore (along with Rusty Petrick, Oscar King, Billy Marshall and a bunch of picks) in exchange for Rabbit Day. That will, of course, be the only time Day and Mason will be mentioned in the same sentence but Mason's 1935 season was actually pretty good. He played 146 games for the Cannons as a 26 year old rookie that year, hitting .343 with 11 homers and was one of the few bright spots on a team that won only 65 games and finished last for the the second year in a row. He hit just .275 the following season and was demoted to AAA for a good portion of it but rebounded in 1937 by batting .323 with 12 homers as an everyday player. Consistency was an issue as he struggled in 1938 and again was demoted to AAA. That would appear to be the end of Mason's days as he was taken by the Stars in the rule 5 draft prior to the 1939 season but returned to the Cannons, who promptly released him when he refused a minor league assignment. Mason insists he is still an active player but has not stepped on the field since 1938. 16 FABL General Manager's and a host of independent clubs feel otherwise so expect Mason to get the hint and eventually tell us what we already know - his baseball career is over. 16- FLOYD SPENCER - First base Philadelphia Sailors: Originally an 8th round pick of St Louis out of Frankford State, Spencer did not sign and was rewarded the following season when the Sailors picked him in the first round. He did crack the OSA top 100 prospect list but just barely (100th in July of 1932) and being part of the best minor league system in baseball means Spencer did win his fair share of pennants in the Sailors organization but he never made it to the big leagues and only managed to appear in 43 games as high as the AAA level. He could hit for average in the minors but Spencer just did not have the power one would like to see out of a first baseman. The Sailors did have some first round misses in those days such as Everett Juergens in 1926, Jack Bates in 1927, Ed Scott in 1928, Spencer in 1930 and Fritz Bach in 1932. No major league experience for any of them but before you go thinking the Sailors seemed to excel at reaching for future Lone Star Association players in first rounds of the past, stop and remember Jack Cleaves (1925) and Lou Williams (1929) were also in that mix. The last one from that time frame is 1931 first rounder Marcel Boismenu. He has played 136 FABL games but is 27 years old so he will likely end up closer to the first group than being on the Cleaves, Williams side of the ledger. SUMMARY So there you have it. The dumpster fire that was the 1930 draft. There was not a lot to choose from. Long-time Scouting Director Rube Carter, who was in his final season with the Brooklyn Kings before moving on to the Chicago Chiefs kindly shared his ranking of the top 45 pitchers and hitters on his personal draft list. Why 45? Well that is what easily fit into a screen shot. Here they are. A lot of names no one will remember and that phrase might well be the best way to describe the 1930 Draft Class. QUICK HITS It has been quite a year for Cincinnati owner John E. Tice. Not only have his Cannons come close to doubling the attendance totals from a year ago in Baltimore and established a new franchise record with well over 1.1 million fans going through the turnstiles at Monarchs Field but the club is also challenging for a pennant after 6 straight last place finishes. Business is also booming for his soap company and Tice credits much of that success to a new baseball themed newspaper campaign featuring Cincinnati slugger Moxie Pidgeon. The now well know ad features the tag line "When clean-up hitters need help cleaning up they turn to Tice & Chiles soap." Pidgeon, who has played for 5 different teams is featured in most of the ads but regional ones have been added using Hank Barnett of the Chicago Chiefs, Detroit's Sal Pestilli and Hank Koblenz of the Philadelphia Keystones. Ron Rattigan has 19 home runs--1 away from giving the Chiefs 3 batters with 20 or more. Rattigan, though, jammed his wrist last week in Detroit after running into Red Johnson when Rattigan was trying (successfully) to beat out an infield hit. Hank Barnett (.301,32,94) leads the Chiefs (and FABL) in homers while Cliff Moss also has 20, marking the third straight season the veteran outfielder has reached that plateau. Chicago acquired Moss in the beginning of 1935. He had opened the season in Minneapolis after losing his job in Montreal following two dismal seasons: an OPS+ of 80 in 1933 and 84 in 1934. In 697 games for Chicago Moss has hit .297 with 113 home runs. At 34 years of age and with 214 homers on his resume, Moss certainly looks to have a very solid shot at 250 before his playing days are done. Montreal's Red Bond (.343,26,91) has rightfully entered the conversation as one of the best bats in baseball. But Percy Sutherland did a deeper dive into defense this morning, and wow--Bond is solidly the worst regular outfielder in not just the CA, but both leagues. But...Bond has only 6 errors for a fielding pct of .983, you say. That's because he doesn't actually get to any balls. He's like a statue out there. The Saints are considering moving him to first base next year. Gothams youngster Pete Casstevens leads the Fed in caught stealing pct., throwing out 30 of 50 runners. He's already establishing himself as one of the top defensive catchers in the league. The same can't be said for the rest of the young infield where 2B Roosevelt Brewer, 3B Billy Dalton and SS Mule Monier all lead the league in errors. When complaining about the teams pitching one must keep in mind all the extra baserunners they have to work around. Perhaps there is hope for the Cleveland Foresters. The club still has the worst record in baseball but they have won 9 of their last 13 including a 3 game sweep of first place Toronto that very quickly helped erode the Wolves lead atop the CA. Despite Dean Astle leaving in the first inning with a blister the Foresters beat Toronto 5-2 in the opener of a doubleheader before Dave Rankin (10-16, 3.96) outdueled Joe Hancock (14-11, 3.58) in the nightcap. To further complicate matters for the Wolves, the Foresters scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to rally from a 2-0 deficit and complete the 3-game sweep with a 3-2 victory. Cleveland then continued to play spoiler splitting two game series with both Philadelphia and Cincinnati to finish off the week. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 9/08/1940 The US swaps warships for Britain's bases. The deal sees the Americans trade much need destroyers to Britain and in exchange the US will take over control of air and naval bases from British colonies strewn from Newfoundland to British Guiana. President Roosevelt explained the new bases would allow the US to 'keep the enemy away from our front door." Italy's top Mussolini mouthpiece, Virginio Gayda, declares the exchange of US destroyers for British bases "puts the United States still more dangerously into the European war." Winston Churchill told British Parliament the ships for bases deal will enable the United States "to take danger by the throat whilst it is still hundreds of miles away" but warned the British to remember that America is not in the war. The Prime Minister did caution the US that Hitler would "no doubt will pay the United States out if he ever gets the chance." Despite British Air Force success in turning back or shooting down countless Nazi aircraft in their attempts to destroy London, much of the English capital is in flames. After the British countered with night raids on Germany, Adolf Hitler broke weeks of silence to threaten that his air force would 'erase' Britain's cities if the RAF persists in it's night raids on Germany. The House passed the controversial draft bill but with a provision it be deferred by 60 days to permit further trial of the voluntary enlistment system. The measure would require all men between 21 and 44 to register for the draft, and must now go back to the Senate, which had fixed age limits at 21 to 30, to okay. King Carol II, yielding to the demands of Rumania's new military dictatorship and clamor in the streets, abdicated his throne and fled into exile aboard his royal yacht. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 01-17-2022 at 04:45 PM.