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Jiggs McGee · 01-31-2022, 10:20 AM

NOVEMBER 18, 1940

MULLINS NOW A CANNON

Through a rather unusual chain of events 4-time all-star catcher Adam Mullins moved from Detroit to Cincinnati. Mullins had been traded by the Montreal Saints to the Detroit Dynamos in a multi-player deal last month but one of the key pieces in the transaction, catcher John Wicklund, refused to report to the Saints. As a result the deal fell apart and Mullins, who was introduced to the Detroit media a short time ago, found himself packing up his belongings and heading further south after being informed he was instead dealt to the Cincinnati Cannons.

The trade saw the Cannons part with two very highly touted prospects and a pair of first round picks as well as a backup catcher. Heading to Montreal will be Ben Richardson (.251,1,28), who celebrated his 31st birthday earlier this month as well as two players out of the Cannons very deep collection of minor league talent in 21 year old outfielder Otis Parker (ranked #12 by OSA) and 20 year old righthander Jackie James (#26). The Saints also pick up Cincinnati's first round pick 11th overall and the 4th overall selection, acquired earlier in the off-season from the New York Gothams in exchange for pitcher Rusty Petrick.

"It is a lot to give up," admitted Cannons Scouting Director Rufus Barrell, "and as a scout you always hate to lose the opportunity to make those first round picks, but Mullins is one of the best catchers in the league so an opportunity like this does not come up often."

With Mullins in the fold the Cannons then had a logjam behind the plate so 31 year old Jack Flint (.313,5,70) was moved to Boston in exchange for the Minutemens second and fifth round selections. Cincinnati expects to promote veteran minor leaguer Buster Farrar from AAA Indianapolis to serve as Mullins new backup, at least until prize 20 year old prospect Rick York is ready for the major leagues.

As for the Saints, despite the controversy with Wicklund, they certainly ended up with a large haul in return for Mullins and Montreal management hints the dealing may not be done. The Saints now own 4 first round picks (3rd, 4th, 10th and 11th) and Montreal Assistant General Manager Phil Catalfamo says don't rule out the possibility of a move prior to the draft that sees the Saints package one or more of those picks for a solid starting pitcher.

PERCY SUTHERLAND'S TAKE: First of all, to be perfectly frank, I'm of the opinion that once you have a hold of a player of Adam Mullins' capabilities, you don't want to let that player go. Just think--Tom Bird was traded away from Montreal so that Mullins could start. Having said that, one can understand the Montreal-side of the equation here. The Saints are entering their third decade of being for all practical purposes irrelevant. Adam Mullins and Red Bond are the two biggest assets the Saints have. Can they turn Mullins into some hope for the future? Let's look at what they received from Cincinnati.

Picks 4 and 11 in the upcoming draft. Draft picks, particularly first round picks, have some good value. The issue is that, unless you get lucky and stumble across a Sal Pestilli, draft picks are part of the long game. You need to scout and draft well, and then once the youngsters are in your organization, they will need to develop. All of this takes time (and coaching). You won't see the return from this part of the deal in Montreal for a number of years.
21-year-old OF Otis Parker. Parker is a big (6'2") kid who hits the ball very hard. As he fills out, he should develop some nice, big league power. And as Red Bond has now shown you can, in fact, hit home runs in Montreal. Parker is a big-time prospect and there is a good chance that you will see him in Montreal sometime next summer.
20-year-old P Jackie James. James is a 4-pitch pitcher who throws a fastball with a heavy sink. He is more raw as a talent than Parker, but James is someone I see as developing into a nice mid-rotation starter.
31-year-old C Ben Richardson. Montreal needs someone to play catcher. Richardson is a good handler of the pitching staff with a below average bat.

All things considered, Montreal did well in trading the Continental Association's top catcher. Parker and James both have a good chance of being productive big league players, but the full return of the trade will be known only after the players taken with the two draft picks have time to develop.

What of the Cincinnati side of the trade? When you trade good, young prospects, there is always a lingering doubt: what if these players are future hall of famers? Well, there is a big "if" in that question. Potential talent, no matter how good, is still just that: potential. What Cincinnati is getting in return for trading that potential is a known commodity: a 28-year-old catcher who will play in 140 games and hit 30% above league average. Mullins is in the same category as T.R. Goins and Tom Bird. Both Goins and Bird were traded and then went on to help the clubs they were traded to win championships. Cincinnati, who finished just off the pace in 1940, is hoping that Mullins can do likewise.

MORE TRADE NEWS

The Detroit Dynamos acquired shortstop Ernie Brown from the New York Stars in exchange for minor league pitcher Jim Baker and a second round draft pick. Brown, 25, spent most of the season in AAA but did participate in 20 games with the Stars after being called up a couple of times during the season. Baker is a 22 year old who went 10-6, 3.81 at AA last season. He is ranked as the 111th best prospect by OSA.

FREDDIE FARHAT ON THE TRADE: With the Dynamo's trade for SS Brown from NY Stars the club will be bringing competition to spring training to challenge Gil London for his starting job. London (.216,1,35) was terrible last year at the plate. He batted leadoff about half the time (early in the year) but struggled there and was worse in the #8 spot. In looking at leverage situations he didn't excel in any (High, medium or low). Was it just a horrible year at the plate or is he just not a very good hitter despite what the managers, coaches and scouts say? Now he has to earn it to keep his job in '41.

WASHINGTON-BROOKLYN DEAL

The other move saw the Washington Eagles deal 24 year old backup corner infielder Bill Downs (.292,4,42) and an 8th round pick to the Brooklyn Kings in exchange for a pair of decent prospects in Bill Willman and George Zavala. The 24 year old Willman went 10-13 at AAA last season and seemed ready to step up to the big leagues this year. OSA sees him as the #34th best prospect in the game and potentially a top of the rotation arm. Zavala is a 25 year old outfielder the Kings traded away 3-time Allan Award winner Tom Barrell a couple of weeks ago in order to acquire. He hit .287 with 10 homers at AAA St Paul last season.

JIGGS MCGEE ON THE TRADE: I am trying to find a nicer way to say this but I just can't. I have absolutely no idea what Brooklyn's plan is. First they trade Barrell, a possibly damaged arm to be sure but at the very least still a valuable trade chip, without shopping him around and just taking a 4th round pick and a mid level prospect in Zavala, who is an outfielder and the Kings do not need any more outfielders. So they then turn around and send Zavala plus a pretty strong pitching prospect in Willman, who looks big league ready and could have stepped into the spot opened when Barrell was moved. What do they get in return? A back up first baseman when if there is one position they need players even less than they do outfielders it is first base with rising young star Tiny Tim Hopkins already there and prospect Chuck Adams knocking on the door at first or in the outfield. I guess the plan is to try Downs at third base but again I ask why? The Kings have Frank LeMieux who should be playing third everyday or John Langille, who is not the hitter he was a few seasons ago but still likely a better option than Downs at the hot corner. Maybe, some have speculated the plan is to move LeMieux to second base were Walt Layton has a great glove but no offensive skills at all. Again, I ask why? The Kings have Jim Lightbody, a very talented hitter but admittedly below average with his glove. Still, Lightbody could solve their lead-off problems and his offense could possibly make up for more than any negatives on the defensive side of the ball. Bat LeMieux second and then you have are very solid 3-thru-6 in some combination of Hopkins plus outfielders Al Wheeler, Joe Herman and Rats McGonigle. Use Layton as a late innings defensive replacement for Lightbody and you are all set. As it is now the Kings gave away two pitchers in veteran Barrell and prospect Willman for what???? A 4th round pick, an 8th round pick and a backup corner infielder.

QUICK HITS

Pestilli traded for Wheeler. That sure got your attention but no it wasn't Sal for Al, nor was it Alf for Charlie but instead the Pestilli in question is Little Joe, the third eldest of the 4 Pestilli ballplaying brothers and quite likely the least talented. The 24 year old second baseman was dealt from the St Louis Pioneers organization to the Cincinnati Cannons in exchange for fellow 24 year old minor leaguer infielder Bob Wheeler, who is not related to either the Kings Al or the Dynamos Charlie Wheeler. Neither Little Joe or Bob Wheeler is expected to be more than a minor league depth piece.

ALL-TIME HITS LEADERS (BY LETTER)

(Editor's note: This article is a blatant rip-off - but let's call it a tribute instead - to my favourite modern sportswriter Joe Posnanski, a great baseball writer and football and well pretty much anything he pens is a very entertaining read because of the many twists and turns down side streets he takes but always tying back in to his original topic. I try, but fail miserably most times, to capture a little bit of his style in some of Jiggs McGee's materials so let's see how this one goes.)

I was thinking the other day about my favourite FABL player, Doug Lightbody and his pursuit for 2,000 career hits. Due to many, many games lost to injury Lightbody is a very old 36 and will turn 37 in 5 days. He needs 18 more hits to get to 2,000 and so far it appears the Philadelphia Keystones, for whom he now plays after well over a decade in Brooklyn and a 2 month excursion to Cincinnati, are going to give the man affectionately known as The Mississippi Mouth a shot to stick with the club as a pinch-hitter. I was thinking about Lightbody's career and in trying to find a category he would lead I got to wondering if any player in baseball who's name started with the letter 'L' had more career hits than Lightbody. I quickly realized that no he is definitely not the leader even by letter but thought that would make an interesting exercise to see which players actually do lead the way in FABL hits by each letter of the alphabet. So here we go:

A - Jack Arabian 3,391 1896-1915
This was a pretty easy one to figure out well before I looked it up. A second baseman and likely a future Hall of Famer at some point, Arabian is 6th all-time in FABL hits and has more of them than any player not yet enshrined in the soon to be finished construction baseball Hall of Fame in Boone County, Illinois. A long time star for the Cleveland Foresters before finishing out his career in St Louis (like Max Morris would later it seemed the Foresters perhaps had a habit of sending superstars to the banks of the Mississippi) he won 3 Continental Association batting titles. The Foresters were rarely good in that era but Arabian was their star and in 1901 he had the season of his life, hitting .406 with 13 homers and 101 RBIs to lead the club to it's first and only pennant during his tenure. They came up against the powerful Pittsburgh Miners in the Series that year. It was Pittsburgh fourth straight trip to the Fall Classic and believe it not the Miners actually won that one, in a sweep no less. Of course Pittsburgh has been to plenty of WCS since but are still looking for their second trophy. Arabian never got his ring, as it would be his only taste of October baseball but he acquainted himself quite well, batting .308 in the series with 3 rbi's and 4 runs scored.

Number Two on the list of A's is Moses Ammon, a late 1800's second baseman with 2,575 hits on his resume and number three is still active as it is veteran Philadelphia Keystones catcher Carl Ames with 2,021 hits and counting.

B- Zebulon Banks 3,423 1876-1898
Another easy one to guess as 'Hawkeye' is in the Hall of Fame and was the first of two legendary first baseman to spend a lot of years in Philadelphia with the Keystones organization. Rankin Kellogg of course was the other one but it was Banks who was one of the very first great stars of the game.

Following Banks we have Bill Brady, a turn of the century Philadelphia Sailors catcher, who had 2,592 with just recently retired Charlie Barry - the long-time Boston third baseman who went to Cleveland for a spell to get his World Championship Series title before ending his career with the Minutemen. Barry had 2,323 hits. It likely won't be long before Bobby Barrell, the current face of the Keystones pass all of them except for Banks as the 30 year old member of baseball's first family has 1,972 hits so far.

C- Bill Craigen 2,906 1899-1917
This one took a little more thinking but probably shouldn't have as the now 60 year old Craigen has been involved in the game in one form or another for well over 40 years. Most recently known as a manager, Craigen won 4 WCS titles at the helm of the New York Stars between 1920-38 and after spending a year away from the game in 1939 he resurfaced this past season as a base coach in Cleveland. Craigen is 6th all-time with 1,512 wins as a manager and his 4 WCS titles are equaled only by the great George Theobald although Edward Wakeham did win 4 titles as well, but that was in the days before the WCS existed.

Prior to his managerial career Craigen was an outfielder and a pretty good hitter for the New York Stars. He won a batting title, led the CA in triples 7 times, homers 3 times and rbi's on 5 occasions. He also won 3 WCS titles as a player so his total of 7 between his playing and managing days may well be the most all-time.

Long-time New York Gothams shortstop Joe Carney (1891-1908) is second with 2,618 hits including 119 with the New York Imperials of the Peerless League. We count those totals as well as the Border Association and Century League in our numbers but for pure FABL stats the Peerless League is not included so I wonder if Joe Carney ever looked back and said if I only played 1 more game. Carney, you see, is credited with 2,499 career FABL hits.

John Cook, a Boston and Brooklyn infielder who played in the first two decades of this century holds third place with 2,505, all of which came in FABL. Cook may be best known as the long-time record holder for career WCS games with 31. His total was matched by Max Morris and later Pete Layton before being surpassed in 1938 by the recently retired Tom Taylor, who now holds the record for WCS games all to himself with 32 of them. Each of those 'C' hitters overlapped much of their careers and each won 3 WCS titles but they were never teammates on a title team or otherwise.

Number 4 is well known as it is current Pittsburgh Miners infielder Jack Cleaves with 2,072 hits. Cleaves owns a pair of WCS titles from his days with the Philadelphia Sailors and is tied for 14th all-time with 24 WCS games under his belt.

D- John Dibblee 3,913 1906-1931
Another easy one to figure out as the Hall of Famer trails only the legendary Powell Slocum for career hits. With 11,325 of them, Dibblee had more at bats during his FABL career than any other player and he, along with fellow Hall of Famer Ed Ziehl, are the only two men to play in more than 3,000 career big league games.

Number two among the D's is almost 1,700 hits behind Dibblee as George Dunlap is next with 2,219. Dunlap had a long career with the New York Gothams at the turn of the century. The highest active player among the D's - that would be 29 year old Boston outfielder Chick Donnelly with 1,463.

E- Jim Elkins 2,318 1909-1925
Another long-time Gotham, Elkins caught me by surprise on this list as my guess would have been the former Montreal slugger Hal Eason, but Eason had 'just' 2,173 hits over his 17 year career. If you want to talk homeruns or RBI's than Eason would be our man. We may be hearing the Eason name much more in the coming years as his son Hal is a junior outfielder at Huntington State and a probable first round pick in the January draft.

The top active player who's last name starts with E? You have to look a long ways down the list to find Joe Ellicott of the Washington Eagles, proud owner of 156 big league hits.

F- Denny Fuller 2,535 1880-1897
Late 19th century first baseman Denny Fuller began his career in 1880 with Cleveland Cuyahogas and finished it with the Washington Eagles but is best known as a New York Gotham. He won 4 titles including 3 after the WCS began and finished with 109 more hits than Morris Ford. Ford, Chick Futrell and Fred Feiden all topped the 2000 hit mark and each played in both the 1800s and 1900s. Current active leader among the F's is Cleveland's Dan Fowler but he is quite a ways back at 1,378 hits as he prepares for his age 33 season.

G- T.R. Goins 2,622 1923-1938
Goins was instrumental in a pair of mini-dynasty's and won 2 WCS titles and a pair of Whitney Awards, accomplishing one of each in both associations. Take first overall out of Cincinnati High School in 1919 by the Washington Eagles, Goins would help the Eagles win 3 pennants early in his career with the highlight being his .395,24,121 showing in 1926. In 1933 he was moved to Cleveland and while the Eagles would drop to the second division and remain there ever since, Goins played a key role on a rising Foresters club that won a pair of pennants and the first WCS in franchise history in 1934. That '34 Cleveland team relied on recently acquired greybeards with Goins,33 at the time, being the baby of the bunch as he along with Charlie Barry and Max Morris, in a thrilling return to the city it all started for him, combined to carry Cleveland to the crown. Goins participated in four of the first five all-star games and seems a certainty to make it to Boone County one day.

Four other players who's last name starts with G also surpassed the 2,000 hit mark for their careers. They are Amos Gatlin, Conrad Gardner, Wally Grant and George Gardner. Grant, a catcher like Goins, was a bench coach with the Eagles when Goins was drafted by the club and would later go on to spend a decade as a FABL manager in Boston and Brooklyn. The highest active player on the G list is Gail Gifford, as the 28 year old Pioneer outfielder has 1,139 base knocks.

H- Chick Hamm 2,592 1888-1906
A piece of the early Pittsburgh Miners dynasty that won 4 straight pennants and the 1901 WCS, the first baseman was never a superstar but rather just a solid, steady contributor. Veteran Chicago Chiefs outfielder Jim Hampton is 141 hits behind Hamm and while Hampton only had 78 hits this past season there is a chance of increased play this season in Chicago with the trade of Cliff Moss from the Chiefs to the Cougars. Can Hampton's 39 year old legs carry him long enough to get those 141 hits is in question, but I am sure the more pressing target for the veteran outfielder is 49 more to become just the 24th player to reach 2,500.

I- BILL INSCOE 1,222 1909-1920
As one would expect there are very few players who's last name started with 'I' to play major league baseball, just 12 in fact. Inscoe was a regular for 7 years in the Brooklyn Kings outfield and a part of their first pennant winner in 1912 before finishing his career mostly as a backup with the Sailors.

Alex Ingraham, who spent much of the 1930's patrolling right field for the St Louis Pioneers but did not play anywhere this past season, is second on the list with 1,205 hits. He was signed a couple of weeks ago by the Chicago Cougars and maybe will be reunited with his old St Louis buddy Freddie Jones in the Windy City. More likely the 34 year old was brought to the Cougars organization strictly as a minor league depth piece. He was an All-Star in 1934 and Ingraham's big claim to fame likely will center around a sunny June day in 1933 when he became just the 6th player in FABL history to hit 3 homeruns in a single game. Freddie Jones also homered that day and Ingraham's came in the second, third and fifth innings, all off a pitcher named Stan Harrison, who only gave up 2 other homeruns in his entire FABL career.

Harrison is one of those peripheral players you only ever hear about when someone else does something memorable, such as Ingraham in this case. He was a 7th round pick of the Chicago Cougars out of high school in 1922 but was released in camp and enrolled at Mississippi A&M where he actually had a pretty solid 1924 season, posting an 8-4 record with a 2.55 era. Only 3 college pitchers won more games than Harrison that season: Jim Morales, Walt Palmer and Joe Dorsainval. The Foresters took Harrison in the 6th round in 1925 and they kept him, although they never brought him up to the big club. He threw a no-hitter for AAA Cincinnati in 1927 and twice won 18 games in the minors but still never got the call to Cleveland. In December of 1932 he got his break when the Keystones selected him in the Rule 5 draft. He was 29 and after a decade in the minors Stan Harrison was finally a FABL player. It lasted just the one year as he was back in AAA the following season and never did return to the big leagues before retiring in 1937 but he did go 3-2 with a 5.06 era in 28 appearances that season for the Keystones and pitched 2 and a third scoreless innings in Game One of the 1933 WCS. The Keystones lost that game but did win the series so Harrison owns a WCS ring. I should mention that aside from the 3 Ingraham hit, Harrison only gave up 2 other homeruns that year and they were to a pair of talented ballplayers in Frank Vance and Joe Masters, so no shame in that. Ingraham's 3 homeruns in the first 5 innings of that June game are likely something Harrison will long remember, but not just for surrendering those blasts, but for the fact that this particular game was also the one and only big league start Harrison ever made in his career. He didn't get a decision that day but his club did overcome an early 6-0 deficit and won the game 10-9 in 12 innings. Harrison will also remember that game because it was the day of his first big league hit, a first pitch single off of Sam Sheppard.

J- JIM JONES 2,786 1879-1904
If I was taking a guess I would have gone with Bud Jameson, the long-time New York Gotham who recently crossed the 2,000 hit threshold and sits fourth all-time among letter 'J' hitters. Jones's nickname of 'The Big Steam Engine' tells all you need to know about him. He just kept going and going and was a hitting machine, playing a game in 4 different decades although the 1904 contest was really just a publicity stunt, as Jones had last played in the minors two seasons prior but came out of retirement at 46 for one game with Detroit against Boston when the then Mighty Minutemen activated 54 year Lynwood Trease Sr, who was a coach with Boston at the time and the father of Boston's hot shot 24 year old Woody Trease. Woody pitched that game with Lynwood handling the catching in what would be the first and so far only father-son partnership on a FABL diamond. Jones went 0-for-4 vs Woody and did not play again afterwards but Lynwood and Woody would team up one more time that season.

As for Jones, he is 13th all-time in career hits and 21st in games played. This all predates FABL but Jones won 6 Century League batting crowns in the 1880s and 3 league championships with the old Providence Gems of that loop.

Another interesting name on this list is Ossie Julious, who is fifth with 1,923 career hits. Julious is much better known for having managed, and having lost more games as a manager, than any other skipper in FABL history. He did pilot the Toronto Wolves when they won their last WCS (at least prior to a month ago) in 1911.

K- Calvin Kidd 3,169 1890-1909
What an infield you could build with the K's! Let's start with Hall of Famer Rankin Kellogg at first, who had 2,770 hits and was second only to Max Morris with 475 homers, at first base. Across the diamond at the hot corner we could place John Kincaid and his 2,065 hits. Our second baseman would be Davey Kincaid, who had 1,575 hits at the turn of the century for the Chiefs and before we get to our shortstop how about an outfield of Lou Kelly (2,009 hits), Norwegian born centerfielder Charlie Kinney (1,959 hits) and 1890s Baltimore star Lewis Kendrick (1,453 hits) who hails from Youngstown, Ohio and is said to have played a role in shaping the career of a very young Max Morris.

Finding a catcher would be a problem but this is a pretty good starting group of seven especially when we slide Calvin Kidd in at shortstop. The Wizard of Wausau, Wisconsin was just that with the glove and spent 15 glorious seasons playing the most difficult defensive position the game with ease while also hitting well over .300 for all of the meaningful seasons of his career. He debut at 19 and perhaps hung around a little too long, playing his last big league game for the Gothams at the age of 38 but there is little doubt that in his prime he was one of the best all-around shortstops ever to play the game.

Finding an active K player is an arduous task needing to go all the way down to 630 to find Oscar King, and even that requires as asterisk as King, now 30, was released by the Keystones - his 4th big league team- at the conclusion of the season and there is no guarantee he will find big league employment again.

L- JOHN LAWSON 2,722 1927-present
Where my search began with Doug Lightbody, who sits third in his letter group with 1,982 surpassed by the recently retired Pete Layton (2,506 hits), who won 6 World Championships - believed to be the most ever by a player - and is the postseason career leader in runs and hits and one shy of Tom Taylor's record 32 Series games played. Layton was quite simply a winner, playing in 6 WCS and winning each of them, batting .361 in postseason play and each of the six series he played in he averaged at least a hit a game. He won 2 WCS MVP awards and made 4 all-star games but one has to remember Layton was already 33 years old when the All-Star game was first conceived. He also won two batting titles and they came a decade apart with the second one in 1938 at the age of 38 and was immediately followed by his retirement announcement. Batting champ, WCS winner and WCS MVP are not a bad way to go out on top.

Tough act for the still active John Lawson to top but he has 3 Whitney Awards including one this season at the age of 37, 7 All-Star appearances and a WCS title on his resume. Lawson also won 4 batting titles and came within a whisker of a fifth one a month ago but the 37 year old was nosed out by his former teammate on the 1932 WCS winning New York Stars and now 42 year old Dave Trowbridge. Lawson certainly appears to have done enough to make the Hall of Fame one day, as has Pete Layton, but the cherry on top for the Chicago Cougars star would be to join the exclusive 3,000 hit club which presently has just 10 members. Lawson needs 278 more to open that door.

M- Max Morris 3,651 1914-1937
Not much to say here that hasn't been already said about the greatest slugger in baseball history. His 3,651 hits trail only Powell Slocum and John Dibblee. No one comes within shouting distance of his 711 homers or 2,323 rbi's and he could have been a great pitcher too, twice win more than twenty games in a season before becoming a full-time outfielder at age 24.

Bob Martin of the Chicago Chiefs tops active players with 2,297 hits but it will just be a matter of time before 31 year old Wolves star Fred McCormick passes him. McCormick will enter next season with 2,067 hits.

N- Charlie Nabb 2,279 1898-1913
Long time Toronto Wolves third baseman helped the club win 4 pennants and a pair of World Championship Series titles. "Nibs" Nabb is the only player who's last name starts with N to record 2,000 hits. Top active player is Detroit's Elmer Nolde with just 575 hits. Nolde also leads his letter group with 79 homers.

O- Joe Owens 1,324 1933-present
Never much of an Irish influence in the early days of big league ball as the top 3 guys - Owens, Sam orr and Hank Odegaard - are recent and you need to go down to 524 hits to find a O with an apostrophe in Sean O'Bannon. As for Joe Owens, a very talented lead-off man for the pennant winning but Series-challenged Pitttsurgh Miners is the top guy.

P- George Pruitt 2,812 1894-1912
Never really a star George Pruitt was just a steady decent outfielder for a decade in Montreal and then 8 solid seasons with the Chicago Chiefs. The top active player is Moxie Pidgeon with 2,169 hits at the age of 33. Not sure Pidgeon will catch Pruitt and eventually both may be passed by Sal Pestilli but Pidgeon has carved out a very special career despite, and I guess it's how you look at it, either no one wanting him or everyone wanting him.

Pidgeon, who spent last season helping revive the Cannons from the near death of 6 seasons sitting at the bottom of the Continental Association, is second all-time among active players with 271 homers, and after surpassing T.R. Goins with the last of his 21 dingers this past season, is now 5th all-time. Only Hall of Famers Max Morris (711), Rankin Kellogg (475) along with current Brooklyn King Al Wheeler (374) and the recently retired Lou Kelly (274) have hit more longballs than Pidgeon.

Moxie has done something no one else in baseball ever has, and quite possibly ever will. We mentioned how no one, or everyone, wanted him because Pidgeon has played for 5 different FABL teams and has hit at least twenty homers in a season for each of them. Hard to imagine another slugger ever getting bounced around as much as Pidgeon has. He also had great success, winning a WCS title with three of those teams and making 6 all-star teams. Despite all of his talent, Pidgeon only lasted 7 seasons in Cleveland before his travelling journey began with being shipped to the New York Gothams despite hitting 25 homers and batting .325 for the World Championship Series winning 1934 Foresters. Move him to New York, no big deal as Pidgeon hits 28 homers in 1935 and adds two more in the WCS to help the Gothams get their revenge on the Foresters and give him WCS title number two. A half year later despite being on the pace that would allow him to win his first batting title, Pidgeon was dealt to Washington. No WCS with the struggling Eagles but two more twenty plus homer seasons in DC before he was flipped to the New York Stars in 1939. Ho hum, just another 21 homer season with the Stars and his third WCS title helping a 6th place team the year before he arrived rise to the pinnacle of the sport. What happened next? You guessed it. He was traded, this time to Cincinnati to join the transplanted Cannons who had that albatross of 6 consecutive last place finishes from their Baltimore days hanging around their neck. Pidgeon nearly helped the Cannons pull off the unbelievable as they were in first place as late as mid-September before falling just short and settling for third. Pidgeon was in contention for his first Whitney Award and showed he was nothing if not consistent, by hitting 21 homers for the third straight season with 3 different organizations.

Q- Fred Quinn 467 1935-present
Slim pickings here as only 9 players who's last name starts with Q have ever played a major league baseball game. It would have been something if a pitcher, Eddie Quinn -owner of 121 career victories - could have topped the list but Fred Quinn (no relation) is the leader. The 29 year old spent the bulk of this past season in AAA but did add 1 to his big league total of 467 hits, accumulated over 466 career games, all with the Cleveland Foresters.

R- Fred Roby 3,026 1888-1910
Fred Roby was one of those guys I never really looked at. He had a long career, playing 2187 games which ties him for 23rd all-time. He had over 3,000 hits as a big leaguer but only 2,675 of them were considered part of FABL. He won a couple of batting titles and hit .417 one year and well before the Pestilli clan was considered the pride of Rhode Island there was Roby, a Cranston native who came to be known as The Rhode Island Ripper. And rip he did, hitting 19 homers in 1894 and 116 in total at a time when homeruns were extremely rare. And he was a shortstop who put up some pretty good defensive numbers. Certainly a player that warrants a closer look one day.

For the top active R player you need to go down to 1,176 hits were we find current Pittsburgh outfielder Pablo Reyes.

S- Powell Slocum 4,144 1905-1925
We all know about The Ragland Ripper. All-time baseball hit king who won 4 Whitney Awards and 15 batting titles. His .435 batting average in 1913 is the highest ever recorded in a single season and he is also the career leader hitting at a .375 clip. 7 times he hit over .400. Slocum has also had success as a manager, guiding the Brooklyn Kings to a WCS title and 3 pennants. Another Pittsburgh Miner is the top active player in this letter group. That would be Ed Stewart has his 1,450 career hits.

T- Dave Trowbridge 2,443 1923-present
Trowbridge seems to be getting better with age. He won his first batting title this past season when he hit .346 at the age of 41 and looks like a lock for 2,500 career hits after averaging 195 the past two seasons. To bad he didn't debut until the age of 23 and did not become an everyday player until he was traded to the Stars as a 29 year old or who knows what totals he might have reached.

U- Albert Ulmer 1,114 1892-1907
Ulmer, a turn of the century shortstop who played for 4 FABL teams, is one of just 9 players none of whom are active that played in the majors and had a last name starting with U. The most unusual thing I noticed about Ulmer was his stats line from his final season. He was a member of the Baltimore Clippers as a 37 year old in 1907. Ulmer appeared in 55 games for the club that season but almost exclusively as a defensive replacement as he had just 1 at bat and did not score a run all season, so could not have been a pinch-runner. I would highly doubt any other player in FABL history played more games in a season while getting just a single plate appearances. It wasn't the first time he had such an usual batting line as in 1901 with Boston Ulmer played in 43 games but made just 5 trips to the plate.

V- Frank Vance 2,379 1927-present
Took me a minute to think about this one but once I got it Vance seemed like the obvious choice. Now 38 and in his second go round with the Detroit Dynamos after a 4 year excursion to win 3 pennants and his second career WCS with the Kings, Vance is showing no signs of slowing down after batting .307 with a Federal Association leading 111 runs. He has also played in 7 of the 8 all-star games, won a WCS MVP in 1929 with Detroit and claimed the Whitney that same year following a season in which he led the Fed with a .372 average. Vance teamed with Al Wheeler as the first dynamic duo in Detroit and now that he is back he can mentor Sal Pestilli and Red Johnson who appear to be a modern day version of Wheeler/Vance.

No other player who's last name starts with V has 1,500 career hits but Toronto's Larry Vestal, 31 years old and with 1,261 should get there.

{b]W- John Waggoner 3,207 1897-1914[/b]
No other letter of the alphabet has more than 1 player who topped the 3,000 hit plateau in FABL action but W has three of them with Waggoner narrowly finishing ahead of Thomas Watkins and Joe Ward. Waggoner was also third all-time in stolen bases which explains the "Wheels' nickname in part, hailing from Wheeling, West Virginia also rounds it out nicely. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1938 a year ahead of Ward. Watkins has not got the call yet but Big Tom should at some point, perhaps as early as this winter.

The top active W player is the previously mentioned Al Wheeler, now 33 and showing signs of slowing down of late but a 5 time Whitney Award winner who also claimed a triple crown and is third all-time with 374 career homeruns. Wheeler presently has 2,362 hits on his big league resume.

X - No player with a last name starting with X has ever played professional baseball

Y- Jason Young 1,922 1878-1894
Jason 'Cap' Young was a shortstop/pitcher who played nearly his entire career in the days before FABL existed. Only 11 times has a player stole more than 90 bases in a season and Young was one of them, doing it for the New York Gothams in 1889. I should mention here that only twice has a player swiped more than 90 in a season after 1900 and that person will be one we talk about shortly. Back to Jason Young, he is also one of just 4 pitchers to enjoy a 40-win season and was the first of them after going 42-33 for the 1881 Boston Pilgrims of the Century League. And yes before you start to look it up, Young's 77 games started that season remains a professional baseball record. He never approached that win total, or starts again and was actually done pitching at age 24 but still finished with 135 career pitching victories.

Former Dynamos catching great Dick York is number two on the short list of 'Y' players with 1,638 hits. There is only one active big leaguer right now with a name starting with the letter Y and that is Orlin Yates of the Cougars, who has 147 career hits but there are a number of minor leaguers including Dick York's sons Joe and Rick.

Z- Ed Ziehl 3,496 1906-1929
As you might have guessed Ed Ziehl is the answer to the note above, he stole 95 bases in 1911 and added 91 more thefts the following year. Ziehl's 3,496 hits are more than every other player who's last name started with Z amassed as major leaguers if you added them all together. A Hall of Famer who went right from the playing field to the manager's seat with the Gothams, Ziehl is baseball's career leader in stolen bases with 913 of them and games played (3,025). With 13 seasons and 2,002 games managed - all with the Gothams - there is likely no player ever to witness more games from one team while on the playing field than Ed 'The Lion' Ziehl. The active leader among the Z's. That would be 26 year old St Louis catcher Heinie Zimmer with 368 career hits so far.

So there you have it, a quick trip going from A-Z through some of FABL's rich history.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 11/18/1940

President Roosevelt wins 40 states and earns a third term, taking the popular vote 22 million to 18.4 million over Wilkie. FDR says labor peace is his first goal. In conceding Wilkie urged the nation to unite, to "send aid to Britain and insist upon removal of antagonisms in America."
Greece claims to having successfully driven out of it's country all invading Italian troops.
German subs destroy a convoy of 15 merchant ships coming from Canada and the United States. Berlin also refused to guarantee safe passage for American ships leaving Irish ports with US citizens returning from Europe.
British bombs aiming for Munich Hall while Hitler spoke earlier in the night had arrived after the Nazi leader had left the building. In revenge the Germans leveled much of the city of Coventry in a 10 hour long raid.
FDR pledged of the United States plane production would be made available to Britain and Canada with 12,000 aircraft going to the British as soon as a possible.
Sabotage blamed for 3 explosions at a New Jersey arms plant and a fire at a National Guard base in Atlanta that destroyed $1 million worth of arms and equipment. A special squad of FBI agents have started circulating through many plants and navy yards in order to attempt to uncover any future sabotage plots.
Former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who stepped down in the spring, passed away after a brief illness.

01-31-2022, 10:20 AM	#344
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	November 1940 - offseason NOVEMBER 18, 1940 MULLINS NOW A CANNON Through a rather unusual chain of events 4-time all-star catcher Adam Mullins moved from Detroit to Cincinnati. Mullins had been traded by the Montreal Saints to the Detroit Dynamos in a multi-player deal last month but one of the key pieces in the transaction, catcher John Wicklund, refused to report to the Saints. As a result the deal fell apart and Mullins, who was introduced to the Detroit media a short time ago, found himself packing up his belongings and heading further south after being informed he was instead dealt to the Cincinnati Cannons. The trade saw the Cannons part with two very highly touted prospects and a pair of first round picks as well as a backup catcher. Heading to Montreal will be Ben Richardson (.251,1,28), who celebrated his 31st birthday earlier this month as well as two players out of the Cannons very deep collection of minor league talent in 21 year old outfielder Otis Parker (ranked #12 by OSA) and 20 year old righthander Jackie James (#26). The Saints also pick up Cincinnati's first round pick 11th overall and the 4th overall selection, acquired earlier in the off-season from the New York Gothams in exchange for pitcher Rusty Petrick. "It is a lot to give up," admitted Cannons Scouting Director Rufus Barrell, "and as a scout you always hate to lose the opportunity to make those first round picks, but Mullins is one of the best catchers in the league so an opportunity like this does not come up often." With Mullins in the fold the Cannons then had a logjam behind the plate so 31 year old Jack Flint (.313,5,70) was moved to Boston in exchange for the Minutemens second and fifth round selections. Cincinnati expects to promote veteran minor leaguer Buster Farrar from AAA Indianapolis to serve as Mullins new backup, at least until prize 20 year old prospect Rick York is ready for the major leagues. As for the Saints, despite the controversy with Wicklund, they certainly ended up with a large haul in return for Mullins and Montreal management hints the dealing may not be done. The Saints now own 4 first round picks (3rd, 4th, 10th and 11th) and Montreal Assistant General Manager Phil Catalfamo says don't rule out the possibility of a move prior to the draft that sees the Saints package one or more of those picks for a solid starting pitcher. PERCY SUTHERLAND'S TAKE: First of all, to be perfectly frank, I'm of the opinion that once you have a hold of a player of Adam Mullins' capabilities, you don't want to let that player go. Just think--Tom Bird was traded away from Montreal so that Mullins could start. Having said that, one can understand the Montreal-side of the equation here. The Saints are entering their third decade of being for all practical purposes irrelevant. Adam Mullins and Red Bond are the two biggest assets the Saints have. Can they turn Mullins into some hope for the future? Let's look at what they received from Cincinnati. Picks 4 and 11 in the upcoming draft. Draft picks, particularly first round picks, have some good value. The issue is that, unless you get lucky and stumble across a Sal Pestilli, draft picks are part of the long game. You need to scout and draft well, and then once the youngsters are in your organization, they will need to develop. All of this takes time (and coaching). You won't see the return from this part of the deal in Montreal for a number of years. 21-year-old OF Otis Parker. Parker is a big (6'2") kid who hits the ball very hard. As he fills out, he should develop some nice, big league power. And as Red Bond has now shown you can, in fact, hit home runs in Montreal. Parker is a big-time prospect and there is a good chance that you will see him in Montreal sometime next summer. 20-year-old P Jackie James. James is a 4-pitch pitcher who throws a fastball with a heavy sink. He is more raw as a talent than Parker, but James is someone I see as developing into a nice mid-rotation starter. 31-year-old C Ben Richardson. Montreal needs someone to play catcher. Richardson is a good handler of the pitching staff with a below average bat. All things considered, Montreal did well in trading the Continental Association's top catcher. Parker and James both have a good chance of being productive big league players, but the full return of the trade will be known only after the players taken with the two draft picks have time to develop. What of the Cincinnati side of the trade? When you trade good, young prospects, there is always a lingering doubt: what if these players are future hall of famers? Well, there is a big "if" in that question. Potential talent, no matter how good, is still just that: potential. What Cincinnati is getting in return for trading that potential is a known commodity: a 28-year-old catcher who will play in 140 games and hit 30% above league average. Mullins is in the same category as T.R. Goins and Tom Bird. Both Goins and Bird were traded and then went on to help the clubs they were traded to win championships. Cincinnati, who finished just off the pace in 1940, is hoping that Mullins can do likewise. MORE TRADE NEWS The Detroit Dynamos acquired shortstop Ernie Brown from the New York Stars in exchange for minor league pitcher Jim Baker and a second round draft pick. Brown, 25, spent most of the season in AAA but did participate in 20 games with the Stars after being called up a couple of times during the season. Baker is a 22 year old who went 10-6, 3.81 at AA last season. He is ranked as the 111th best prospect by OSA. FREDDIE FARHAT ON THE TRADE: With the Dynamo's trade for SS Brown from NY Stars the club will be bringing competition to spring training to challenge Gil London for his starting job. London (.216,1,35) was terrible last year at the plate. He batted leadoff about half the time (early in the year) but struggled there and was worse in the #8 spot. In looking at leverage situations he didn't excel in any (High, medium or low). Was it just a horrible year at the plate or is he just not a very good hitter despite what the managers, coaches and scouts say? Now he has to earn it to keep his job in '41. WASHINGTON-BROOKLYN DEAL The other move saw the Washington Eagles deal 24 year old backup corner infielder Bill Downs (.292,4,42) and an 8th round pick to the Brooklyn Kings in exchange for a pair of decent prospects in Bill Willman and George Zavala. The 24 year old Willman went 10-13 at AAA last season and seemed ready to step up to the big leagues this year. OSA sees him as the #34th best prospect in the game and potentially a top of the rotation arm. Zavala is a 25 year old outfielder the Kings traded away 3-time Allan Award winner Tom Barrell a couple of weeks ago in order to acquire. He hit .287 with 10 homers at AAA St Paul last season. JIGGS MCGEE ON THE TRADE: I am trying to find a nicer way to say this but I just can't. I have absolutely no idea what Brooklyn's plan is. First they trade Barrell, a possibly damaged arm to be sure but at the very least still a valuable trade chip, without shopping him around and just taking a 4th round pick and a mid level prospect in Zavala, who is an outfielder and the Kings do not need any more outfielders. So they then turn around and send Zavala plus a pretty strong pitching prospect in Willman, who looks big league ready and could have stepped into the spot opened when Barrell was moved. What do they get in return? A back up first baseman when if there is one position they need players even less than they do outfielders it is first base with rising young star Tiny Tim Hopkins already there and prospect Chuck Adams knocking on the door at first or in the outfield. I guess the plan is to try Downs at third base but again I ask why? The Kings have Frank LeMieux who should be playing third everyday or John Langille, who is not the hitter he was a few seasons ago but still likely a better option than Downs at the hot corner. Maybe, some have speculated the plan is to move LeMieux to second base were Walt Layton has a great glove but no offensive skills at all. Again, I ask why? The Kings have Jim Lightbody, a very talented hitter but admittedly below average with his glove. Still, Lightbody could solve their lead-off problems and his offense could possibly make up for more than any negatives on the defensive side of the ball. Bat LeMieux second and then you have are very solid 3-thru-6 in some combination of Hopkins plus outfielders Al Wheeler, Joe Herman and Rats McGonigle. Use Layton as a late innings defensive replacement for Lightbody and you are all set. As it is now the Kings gave away two pitchers in veteran Barrell and prospect Willman for what???? A 4th round pick, an 8th round pick and a backup corner infielder. QUICK HITS Pestilli traded for Wheeler. That sure got your attention but no it wasn't Sal for Al, nor was it Alf for Charlie but instead the Pestilli in question is Little Joe, the third eldest of the 4 Pestilli ballplaying brothers and quite likely the least talented. The 24 year old second baseman was dealt from the St Louis Pioneers organization to the Cincinnati Cannons in exchange for fellow 24 year old minor leaguer infielder Bob Wheeler, who is not related to either the Kings Al or the Dynamos Charlie Wheeler. Neither Little Joe or Bob Wheeler is expected to be more than a minor league depth piece. ALL-TIME HITS LEADERS (BY LETTER) (Editor's note: This article is a blatant rip-off - but let's call it a tribute instead - to my favourite modern sportswriter Joe Posnanski, a great baseball writer and football and well pretty much anything he pens is a very entertaining read because of the many twists and turns down side streets he takes but always tying back in to his original topic. I try, but fail miserably most times, to capture a little bit of his style in some of Jiggs McGee's materials so let's see how this one goes.) I was thinking the other day about my favourite FABL player, Doug Lightbody and his pursuit for 2,000 career hits. Due to many, many games lost to injury Lightbody is a very old 36 and will turn 37 in 5 days. He needs 18 more hits to get to 2,000 and so far it appears the Philadelphia Keystones, for whom he now plays after well over a decade in Brooklyn and a 2 month excursion to Cincinnati, are going to give the man affectionately known as The Mississippi Mouth a shot to stick with the club as a pinch-hitter. I was thinking about Lightbody's career and in trying to find a category he would lead I got to wondering if any player in baseball who's name started with the letter 'L' had more career hits than Lightbody. I quickly realized that no he is definitely not the leader even by letter but thought that would make an interesting exercise to see which players actually do lead the way in FABL hits by each letter of the alphabet. So here we go: A - Jack Arabian 3,391 1896-1915 This was a pretty easy one to figure out well before I looked it up. A second baseman and likely a future Hall of Famer at some point, Arabian is 6th all-time in FABL hits and has more of them than any player not yet enshrined in the soon to be finished construction baseball Hall of Fame in Boone County, Illinois. A long time star for the Cleveland Foresters before finishing out his career in St Louis (like Max Morris would later it seemed the Foresters perhaps had a habit of sending superstars to the banks of the Mississippi) he won 3 Continental Association batting titles. The Foresters were rarely good in that era but Arabian was their star and in 1901 he had the season of his life, hitting .406 with 13 homers and 101 RBIs to lead the club to it's first and only pennant during his tenure. They came up against the powerful Pittsburgh Miners in the Series that year. It was Pittsburgh fourth straight trip to the Fall Classic and believe it not the Miners actually won that one, in a sweep no less. Of course Pittsburgh has been to plenty of WCS since but are still looking for their second trophy. Arabian never got his ring, as it would be his only taste of October baseball but he acquainted himself quite well, batting .308 in the series with 3 rbi's and 4 runs scored. Number Two on the list of A's is Moses Ammon, a late 1800's second baseman with 2,575 hits on his resume and number three is still active as it is veteran Philadelphia Keystones catcher Carl Ames with 2,021 hits and counting. B- Zebulon Banks 3,423 1876-1898 Another easy one to guess as 'Hawkeye' is in the Hall of Fame and was the first of two legendary first baseman to spend a lot of years in Philadelphia with the Keystones organization. Rankin Kellogg of course was the other one but it was Banks who was one of the very first great stars of the game. Following Banks we have Bill Brady, a turn of the century Philadelphia Sailors catcher, who had 2,592 with just recently retired Charlie Barry - the long-time Boston third baseman who went to Cleveland for a spell to get his World Championship Series title before ending his career with the Minutemen. Barry had 2,323 hits. It likely won't be long before Bobby Barrell, the current face of the Keystones pass all of them except for Banks as the 30 year old member of baseball's first family has 1,972 hits so far. C- Bill Craigen 2,906 1899-1917 This one took a little more thinking but probably shouldn't have as the now 60 year old Craigen has been involved in the game in one form or another for well over 40 years. Most recently known as a manager, Craigen won 4 WCS titles at the helm of the New York Stars between 1920-38 and after spending a year away from the game in 1939 he resurfaced this past season as a base coach in Cleveland. Craigen is 6th all-time with 1,512 wins as a manager and his 4 WCS titles are equaled only by the great George Theobald although Edward Wakeham did win 4 titles as well, but that was in the days before the WCS existed. Prior to his managerial career Craigen was an outfielder and a pretty good hitter for the New York Stars. He won a batting title, led the CA in triples 7 times, homers 3 times and rbi's on 5 occasions. He also won 3 WCS titles as a player so his total of 7 between his playing and managing days may well be the most all-time. Long-time New York Gothams shortstop Joe Carney (1891-1908) is second with 2,618 hits including 119 with the New York Imperials of the Peerless League. We count those totals as well as the Border Association and Century League in our numbers but for pure FABL stats the Peerless League is not included so I wonder if Joe Carney ever looked back and said if I only played 1 more game. Carney, you see, is credited with 2,499 career FABL hits. John Cook, a Boston and Brooklyn infielder who played in the first two decades of this century holds third place with 2,505, all of which came in FABL. Cook may be best known as the long-time record holder for career WCS games with 31. His total was matched by Max Morris and later Pete Layton before being surpassed in 1938 by the recently retired Tom Taylor, who now holds the record for WCS games all to himself with 32 of them. Each of those 'C' hitters overlapped much of their careers and each won 3 WCS titles but they were never teammates on a title team or otherwise. Number 4 is well known as it is current Pittsburgh Miners infielder Jack Cleaves with 2,072 hits. Cleaves owns a pair of WCS titles from his days with the Philadelphia Sailors and is tied for 14th all-time with 24 WCS games under his belt. D- John Dibblee 3,913 1906-1931 Another easy one to figure out as the Hall of Famer trails only the legendary Powell Slocum for career hits. With 11,325 of them, Dibblee had more at bats during his FABL career than any other player and he, along with fellow Hall of Famer Ed Ziehl, are the only two men to play in more than 3,000 career big league games. Number two among the D's is almost 1,700 hits behind Dibblee as George Dunlap is next with 2,219. Dunlap had a long career with the New York Gothams at the turn of the century. The highest active player among the D's - that would be 29 year old Boston outfielder Chick Donnelly with 1,463. E- Jim Elkins 2,318 1909-1925 Another long-time Gotham, Elkins caught me by surprise on this list as my guess would have been the former Montreal slugger Hal Eason, but Eason had 'just' 2,173 hits over his 17 year career. If you want to talk homeruns or RBI's than Eason would be our man. We may be hearing the Eason name much more in the coming years as his son Hal is a junior outfielder at Huntington State and a probable first round pick in the January draft. The top active player who's last name starts with E? You have to look a long ways down the list to find Joe Ellicott of the Washington Eagles, proud owner of 156 big league hits. F- Denny Fuller 2,535 1880-1897 Late 19th century first baseman Denny Fuller began his career in 1880 with Cleveland Cuyahogas and finished it with the Washington Eagles but is best known as a New York Gotham. He won 4 titles including 3 after the WCS began and finished with 109 more hits than Morris Ford. Ford, Chick Futrell and Fred Feiden all topped the 2000 hit mark and each played in both the 1800s and 1900s. Current active leader among the F's is Cleveland's Dan Fowler but he is quite a ways back at 1,378 hits as he prepares for his age 33 season. G- T.R. Goins 2,622 1923-1938 Goins was instrumental in a pair of mini-dynasty's and won 2 WCS titles and a pair of Whitney Awards, accomplishing one of each in both associations. Take first overall out of Cincinnati High School in 1919 by the Washington Eagles, Goins would help the Eagles win 3 pennants early in his career with the highlight being his .395,24,121 showing in 1926. In 1933 he was moved to Cleveland and while the Eagles would drop to the second division and remain there ever since, Goins played a key role on a rising Foresters club that won a pair of pennants and the first WCS in franchise history in 1934. That '34 Cleveland team relied on recently acquired greybeards with Goins,33 at the time, being the baby of the bunch as he along with Charlie Barry and Max Morris, in a thrilling return to the city it all started for him, combined to carry Cleveland to the crown. Goins participated in four of the first five all-star games and seems a certainty to make it to Boone County one day. Four other players who's last name starts with G also surpassed the 2,000 hit mark for their careers. They are Amos Gatlin, Conrad Gardner, Wally Grant and George Gardner. Grant, a catcher like Goins, was a bench coach with the Eagles when Goins was drafted by the club and would later go on to spend a decade as a FABL manager in Boston and Brooklyn. The highest active player on the G list is Gail Gifford, as the 28 year old Pioneer outfielder has 1,139 base knocks. H- Chick Hamm 2,592 1888-1906 A piece of the early Pittsburgh Miners dynasty that won 4 straight pennants and the 1901 WCS, the first baseman was never a superstar but rather just a solid, steady contributor. Veteran Chicago Chiefs outfielder Jim Hampton is 141 hits behind Hamm and while Hampton only had 78 hits this past season there is a chance of increased play this season in Chicago with the trade of Cliff Moss from the Chiefs to the Cougars. Can Hampton's 39 year old legs carry him long enough to get those 141 hits is in question, but I am sure the more pressing target for the veteran outfielder is 49 more to become just the 24th player to reach 2,500. I- BILL INSCOE 1,222 1909-1920 As one would expect there are very few players who's last name started with 'I' to play major league baseball, just 12 in fact. Inscoe was a regular for 7 years in the Brooklyn Kings outfield and a part of their first pennant winner in 1912 before finishing his career mostly as a backup with the Sailors. Alex Ingraham, who spent much of the 1930's patrolling right field for the St Louis Pioneers but did not play anywhere this past season, is second on the list with 1,205 hits. He was signed a couple of weeks ago by the Chicago Cougars and maybe will be reunited with his old St Louis buddy Freddie Jones in the Windy City. More likely the 34 year old was brought to the Cougars organization strictly as a minor league depth piece. He was an All-Star in 1934 and Ingraham's big claim to fame likely will center around a sunny June day in 1933 when he became just the 6th player in FABL history to hit 3 homeruns in a single game. Freddie Jones also homered that day and Ingraham's came in the second, third and fifth innings, all off a pitcher named Stan Harrison, who only gave up 2 other homeruns in his entire FABL career. Harrison is one of those peripheral players you only ever hear about when someone else does something memorable, such as Ingraham in this case. He was a 7th round pick of the Chicago Cougars out of high school in 1922 but was released in camp and enrolled at Mississippi A&M where he actually had a pretty solid 1924 season, posting an 8-4 record with a 2.55 era. Only 3 college pitchers won more games than Harrison that season: Jim Morales, Walt Palmer and Joe Dorsainval. The Foresters took Harrison in the 6th round in 1925 and they kept him, although they never brought him up to the big club. He threw a no-hitter for AAA Cincinnati in 1927 and twice won 18 games in the minors but still never got the call to Cleveland. In December of 1932 he got his break when the Keystones selected him in the Rule 5 draft. He was 29 and after a decade in the minors Stan Harrison was finally a FABL player. It lasted just the one year as he was back in AAA the following season and never did return to the big leagues before retiring in 1937 but he did go 3-2 with a 5.06 era in 28 appearances that season for the Keystones and pitched 2 and a third scoreless innings in Game One of the 1933 WCS. The Keystones lost that game but did win the series so Harrison owns a WCS ring. I should mention that aside from the 3 Ingraham hit, Harrison only gave up 2 other homeruns that year and they were to a pair of talented ballplayers in Frank Vance and Joe Masters, so no shame in that. Ingraham's 3 homeruns in the first 5 innings of that June game are likely something Harrison will long remember, but not just for surrendering those blasts, but for the fact that this particular game was also the one and only big league start Harrison ever made in his career. He didn't get a decision that day but his club did overcome an early 6-0 deficit and won the game 10-9 in 12 innings. Harrison will also remember that game because it was the day of his first big league hit, a first pitch single off of Sam Sheppard. J- JIM JONES 2,786 1879-1904 If I was taking a guess I would have gone with Bud Jameson, the long-time New York Gotham who recently crossed the 2,000 hit threshold and sits fourth all-time among letter 'J' hitters. Jones's nickname of 'The Big Steam Engine' tells all you need to know about him. He just kept going and going and was a hitting machine, playing a game in 4 different decades although the 1904 contest was really just a publicity stunt, as Jones had last played in the minors two seasons prior but came out of retirement at 46 for one game with Detroit against Boston when the then Mighty Minutemen activated 54 year Lynwood Trease Sr, who was a coach with Boston at the time and the father of Boston's hot shot 24 year old Woody Trease. Woody pitched that game with Lynwood handling the catching in what would be the first and so far only father-son partnership on a FABL diamond. Jones went 0-for-4 vs Woody and did not play again afterwards but Lynwood and Woody would team up one more time that season. As for Jones, he is 13th all-time in career hits and 21st in games played. This all predates FABL but Jones won 6 Century League batting crowns in the 1880s and 3 league championships with the old Providence Gems of that loop. Another interesting name on this list is Ossie Julious, who is fifth with 1,923 career hits. Julious is much better known for having managed, and having lost more games as a manager, than any other skipper in FABL history. He did pilot the Toronto Wolves when they won their last WCS (at least prior to a month ago) in 1911. K- Calvin Kidd 3,169 1890-1909 What an infield you could build with the K's! Let's start with Hall of Famer Rankin Kellogg at first, who had 2,770 hits and was second only to Max Morris with 475 homers, at first base. Across the diamond at the hot corner we could place John Kincaid and his 2,065 hits. Our second baseman would be Davey Kincaid, who had 1,575 hits at the turn of the century for the Chiefs and before we get to our shortstop how about an outfield of Lou Kelly (2,009 hits), Norwegian born centerfielder Charlie Kinney (1,959 hits) and 1890s Baltimore star Lewis Kendrick (1,453 hits) who hails from Youngstown, Ohio and is said to have played a role in shaping the career of a very young Max Morris. Finding a catcher would be a problem but this is a pretty good starting group of seven especially when we slide Calvin Kidd in at shortstop. The Wizard of Wausau, Wisconsin was just that with the glove and spent 15 glorious seasons playing the most difficult defensive position the game with ease while also hitting well over .300 for all of the meaningful seasons of his career. He debut at 19 and perhaps hung around a little too long, playing his last big league game for the Gothams at the age of 38 but there is little doubt that in his prime he was one of the best all-around shortstops ever to play the game. Finding an active K player is an arduous task needing to go all the way down to 630 to find Oscar King, and even that requires as asterisk as King, now 30, was released by the Keystones - his 4th big league team- at the conclusion of the season and there is no guarantee he will find big league employment again. L- JOHN LAWSON 2,722 1927-present Where my search began with Doug Lightbody, who sits third in his letter group with 1,982 surpassed by the recently retired Pete Layton (2,506 hits), who won 6 World Championships - believed to be the most ever by a player - and is the postseason career leader in runs and hits and one shy of Tom Taylor's record 32 Series games played. Layton was quite simply a winner, playing in 6 WCS and winning each of them, batting .361 in postseason play and each of the six series he played in he averaged at least a hit a game. He won 2 WCS MVP awards and made 4 all-star games but one has to remember Layton was already 33 years old when the All-Star game was first conceived. He also won two batting titles and they came a decade apart with the second one in 1938 at the age of 38 and was immediately followed by his retirement announcement. Batting champ, WCS winner and WCS MVP are not a bad way to go out on top. Tough act for the still active John Lawson to top but he has 3 Whitney Awards including one this season at the age of 37, 7 All-Star appearances and a WCS title on his resume. Lawson also won 4 batting titles and came within a whisker of a fifth one a month ago but the 37 year old was nosed out by his former teammate on the 1932 WCS winning New York Stars and now 42 year old Dave Trowbridge. Lawson certainly appears to have done enough to make the Hall of Fame one day, as has Pete Layton, but the cherry on top for the Chicago Cougars star would be to join the exclusive 3,000 hit club which presently has just 10 members. Lawson needs 278 more to open that door. M- Max Morris 3,651 1914-1937 Not much to say here that hasn't been already said about the greatest slugger in baseball history. His 3,651 hits trail only Powell Slocum and John Dibblee. No one comes within shouting distance of his 711 homers or 2,323 rbi's and he could have been a great pitcher too, twice win more than twenty games in a season before becoming a full-time outfielder at age 24. Bob Martin of the Chicago Chiefs tops active players with 2,297 hits but it will just be a matter of time before 31 year old Wolves star Fred McCormick passes him. McCormick will enter next season with 2,067 hits. N- Charlie Nabb 2,279 1898-1913 Long time Toronto Wolves third baseman helped the club win 4 pennants and a pair of World Championship Series titles. "Nibs" Nabb is the only player who's last name starts with N to record 2,000 hits. Top active player is Detroit's Elmer Nolde with just 575 hits. Nolde also leads his letter group with 79 homers. O- Joe Owens 1,324 1933-present Never much of an Irish influence in the early days of big league ball as the top 3 guys - Owens, Sam orr and Hank Odegaard - are recent and you need to go down to 524 hits to find a O with an apostrophe in Sean O'Bannon. As for Joe Owens, a very talented lead-off man for the pennant winning but Series-challenged Pitttsurgh Miners is the top guy. P- George Pruitt 2,812 1894-1912 Never really a star George Pruitt was just a steady decent outfielder for a decade in Montreal and then 8 solid seasons with the Chicago Chiefs. The top active player is Moxie Pidgeon with 2,169 hits at the age of 33. Not sure Pidgeon will catch Pruitt and eventually both may be passed by Sal Pestilli but Pidgeon has carved out a very special career despite, and I guess it's how you look at it, either no one wanting him or everyone wanting him. Pidgeon, who spent last season helping revive the Cannons from the near death of 6 seasons sitting at the bottom of the Continental Association, is second all-time among active players with 271 homers, and after surpassing T.R. Goins with the last of his 21 dingers this past season, is now 5th all-time. Only Hall of Famers Max Morris (711), Rankin Kellogg (475) along with current Brooklyn King Al Wheeler (374) and the recently retired Lou Kelly (274) have hit more longballs than Pidgeon. Moxie has done something no one else in baseball ever has, and quite possibly ever will. We mentioned how no one, or everyone, wanted him because Pidgeon has played for 5 different FABL teams and has hit at least twenty homers in a season for each of them. Hard to imagine another slugger ever getting bounced around as much as Pidgeon has. He also had great success, winning a WCS title with three of those teams and making 6 all-star teams. Despite all of his talent, Pidgeon only lasted 7 seasons in Cleveland before his travelling journey began with being shipped to the New York Gothams despite hitting 25 homers and batting .325 for the World Championship Series winning 1934 Foresters. Move him to New York, no big deal as Pidgeon hits 28 homers in 1935 and adds two more in the WCS to help the Gothams get their revenge on the Foresters and give him WCS title number two. A half year later despite being on the pace that would allow him to win his first batting title, Pidgeon was dealt to Washington. No WCS with the struggling Eagles but two more twenty plus homer seasons in DC before he was flipped to the New York Stars in 1939. Ho hum, just another 21 homer season with the Stars and his third WCS title helping a 6th place team the year before he arrived rise to the pinnacle of the sport. What happened next? You guessed it. He was traded, this time to Cincinnati to join the transplanted Cannons who had that albatross of 6 consecutive last place finishes from their Baltimore days hanging around their neck. Pidgeon nearly helped the Cannons pull off the unbelievable as they were in first place as late as mid-September before falling just short and settling for third. Pidgeon was in contention for his first Whitney Award and showed he was nothing if not consistent, by hitting 21 homers for the third straight season with 3 different organizations. Q- Fred Quinn 467 1935-present Slim pickings here as only 9 players who's last name starts with Q have ever played a major league baseball game. It would have been something if a pitcher, Eddie Quinn -owner of 121 career victories - could have topped the list but Fred Quinn (no relation) is the leader. The 29 year old spent the bulk of this past season in AAA but did add 1 to his big league total of 467 hits, accumulated over 466 career games, all with the Cleveland Foresters. R- Fred Roby 3,026 1888-1910 Fred Roby was one of those guys I never really looked at. He had a long career, playing 2187 games which ties him for 23rd all-time. He had over 3,000 hits as a big leaguer but only 2,675 of them were considered part of FABL. He won a couple of batting titles and hit .417 one year and well before the Pestilli clan was considered the pride of Rhode Island there was Roby, a Cranston native who came to be known as The Rhode Island Ripper. And rip he did, hitting 19 homers in 1894 and 116 in total at a time when homeruns were extremely rare. And he was a shortstop who put up some pretty good defensive numbers. Certainly a player that warrants a closer look one day. For the top active R player you need to go down to 1,176 hits were we find current Pittsburgh outfielder Pablo Reyes. S- Powell Slocum 4,144 1905-1925 We all know about The Ragland Ripper. All-time baseball hit king who won 4 Whitney Awards and 15 batting titles. His .435 batting average in 1913 is the highest ever recorded in a single season and he is also the career leader hitting at a .375 clip. 7 times he hit over .400. Slocum has also had success as a manager, guiding the Brooklyn Kings to a WCS title and 3 pennants. Another Pittsburgh Miner is the top active player in this letter group. That would be Ed Stewart has his 1,450 career hits. T- Dave Trowbridge 2,443 1923-present Trowbridge seems to be getting better with age. He won his first batting title this past season when he hit .346 at the age of 41 and looks like a lock for 2,500 career hits after averaging 195 the past two seasons. To bad he didn't debut until the age of 23 and did not become an everyday player until he was traded to the Stars as a 29 year old or who knows what totals he might have reached. U- Albert Ulmer 1,114 1892-1907 Ulmer, a turn of the century shortstop who played for 4 FABL teams, is one of just 9 players none of whom are active that played in the majors and had a last name starting with U. The most unusual thing I noticed about Ulmer was his stats line from his final season. He was a member of the Baltimore Clippers as a 37 year old in 1907. Ulmer appeared in 55 games for the club that season but almost exclusively as a defensive replacement as he had just 1 at bat and did not score a run all season, so could not have been a pinch-runner. I would highly doubt any other player in FABL history played more games in a season while getting just a single plate appearances. It wasn't the first time he had such an usual batting line as in 1901 with Boston Ulmer played in 43 games but made just 5 trips to the plate. V- Frank Vance 2,379 1927-present Took me a minute to think about this one but once I got it Vance seemed like the obvious choice. Now 38 and in his second go round with the Detroit Dynamos after a 4 year excursion to win 3 pennants and his second career WCS with the Kings, Vance is showing no signs of slowing down after batting .307 with a Federal Association leading 111 runs. He has also played in 7 of the 8 all-star games, won a WCS MVP in 1929 with Detroit and claimed the Whitney that same year following a season in which he led the Fed with a .372 average. Vance teamed with Al Wheeler as the first dynamic duo in Detroit and now that he is back he can mentor Sal Pestilli and Red Johnson who appear to be a modern day version of Wheeler/Vance. No other player who's last name starts with V has 1,500 career hits but Toronto's Larry Vestal, 31 years old and with 1,261 should get there. {b]W- John Waggoner 3,207 1897-1914[/b] No other letter of the alphabet has more than 1 player who topped the 3,000 hit plateau in FABL action but W has three of them with Waggoner narrowly finishing ahead of Thomas Watkins and Joe Ward. Waggoner was also third all-time in stolen bases which explains the "Wheels' nickname in part, hailing from Wheeling, West Virginia also rounds it out nicely. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1938 a year ahead of Ward. Watkins has not got the call yet but Big Tom should at some point, perhaps as early as this winter. The top active W player is the previously mentioned Al Wheeler, now 33 and showing signs of slowing down of late but a 5 time Whitney Award winner who also claimed a triple crown and is third all-time with 374 career homeruns. Wheeler presently has 2,362 hits on his big league resume. X - No player with a last name starting with X has ever played professional baseball Y- Jason Young 1,922 1878-1894 Jason 'Cap' Young was a shortstop/pitcher who played nearly his entire career in the days before FABL existed. Only 11 times has a player stole more than 90 bases in a season and Young was one of them, doing it for the New York Gothams in 1889. I should mention here that only twice has a player swiped more than 90 in a season after 1900 and that person will be one we talk about shortly. Back to Jason Young, he is also one of just 4 pitchers to enjoy a 40-win season and was the first of them after going 42-33 for the 1881 Boston Pilgrims of the Century League. And yes before you start to look it up, Young's 77 games started that season remains a professional baseball record. He never approached that win total, or starts again and was actually done pitching at age 24 but still finished with 135 career pitching victories. Former Dynamos catching great Dick York is number two on the short list of 'Y' players with 1,638 hits. There is only one active big leaguer right now with a name starting with the letter Y and that is Orlin Yates of the Cougars, who has 147 career hits but there are a number of minor leaguers including Dick York's sons Joe and Rick. Z- Ed Ziehl 3,496 1906-1929 As you might have guessed Ed Ziehl is the answer to the note above, he stole 95 bases in 1911 and added 91 more thefts the following year. Ziehl's 3,496 hits are more than every other player who's last name started with Z amassed as major leaguers if you added them all together. A Hall of Famer who went right from the playing field to the manager's seat with the Gothams, Ziehl is baseball's career leader in stolen bases with 913 of them and games played (3,025). With 13 seasons and 2,002 games managed - all with the Gothams - there is likely no player ever to witness more games from one team while on the playing field than Ed 'The Lion' Ziehl. The active leader among the Z's. That would be 26 year old St Louis catcher Heinie Zimmer with 368 career hits so far. So there you have it, a quick trip going from A-Z through some of FABL's rich history. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 11/18/1940 President Roosevelt wins 40 states and earns a third term, taking the popular vote 22 million to 18.4 million over Wilkie. FDR says labor peace is his first goal. In conceding Wilkie urged the nation to unite, to "send aid to Britain and insist upon removal of antagonisms in America." Greece claims to having successfully driven out of it's country all invading Italian troops. German subs destroy a convoy of 15 merchant ships coming from Canada and the United States. Berlin also refused to guarantee safe passage for American ships leaving Irish ports with US citizens returning from Europe. British bombs aiming for Munich Hall while Hitler spoke earlier in the night had arrived after the Nazi leader had left the building. In revenge the Germans leveled much of the city of Coventry in a 10 hour long raid. FDR pledged of the United States plane production would be made available to Britain and Canada with 12,000 aircraft going to the British as soon as a possible. Sabotage blamed for 3 explosions at a New Jersey arms plant and a fire at a National Guard base in Atlanta that destroyed $1 million worth of arms and equipment. A special squad of FBI agents have started circulating through many plants and navy yards in order to attempt to uncover any future sabotage plots. Former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who stepped down in the spring, passed away after a brief illness. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports