MARCH 10, 1941
DRAFT LIKELY TO PROVE BIG PENNANT FACTOR
The military draft is digging deeper into baseball day by day and threatens to become the controlling factor in the Continental Association's pennant race this year if not in the Fed too. Now Dixie Lee, the New York Stars pitcher who was the first to get his notice and reported for induction into the Army two days ago, is hardly the type of chap to decide a pennant but had the Stars known in advance he was leaving they most certainly would not have parted with 14 game winner George Phillips, who might well be a factor in Pittsburgh's bid for a third straight Federal title.
Unless the Stars can do some fancy wrangling their hopes of contending for the Continental crown were dealt a serious blow with the loss of Lee, who despite a subpar 4-10, 5.25 campaign a year ago, seemed to be New York's number five starter this year almost by acclamation. Now the Stars are left scrambling after receiving notice of Lee's departure just a month before spring camps were set to begin.
You can bet before long other teams will be in a similar state and there was even a brief rumour, unsubstantiated of course, that Pittsburgh ace Lefty Allen, around whom all of the Miners championship hopes center, is in line to receive his preliminary draft questionnaire before July 4. A draft board official, while refusing to comment on any specific player, did state he expects a number of players might well be called to the colors before September.
Losing Allen in the heart of the pennant drive would be nothing short of a catastrophe for Pittsburgh, just as it would be for several other clubs if their ace suddenly was taken away. The tough part for FABL managers is there is absolutely nothing they can do but sit and wait. How can you plan for a situation like this? They can't even be sure any player will be summoned because there is no telling how fast the draft board will weed through it's list before a star player happens to show up on the role.
HITS QUICKER THAN EXPECTED
Dixie Lee was a real eye opener. The truth is the draft is striking harder and earlier than expected and all of the clubs are beginning to tremble at the prospect of losing leading players whom they heretofore have considered safe at least for the year.
Who is next? There has been much talk that a number of star players have local order numbers that are low enough they might not last the season before their call comes. Some players do contribute to the support of parents or siblings and might get an exception but even that is questionable depending upon location as draft boards have shown a great difference of opinion concerning what constitutes dependency. And then too there is speculation that several stars including Detroit Dynamos first baseman Red Johnson and all star Boston centerfielder Chick Donnelly are considering enlisting.
Dixie Lee didn't even get to go south with his club. He was helping his folks too, but was classified A-1 by the draft board and was inducted into the Army Saturday. It is only a matter of time before more players get the call, and how that will affect the pennant races this season is anyone's guess.
IT HAPPENED BEFORE- One man's ill luck is another guys gain is a moral that will be verified in major league baseball this season, if the selective draft keeps going the way it has started. It has happened before, and it will occur again, that as young'uns are called to the colors, the old fellows who quietly slipped out of the picture a year or two ago will be returning to the wars in the major leagues.
In other words history will be repeating itself after a pause of almost a quarter of a century. The last time the draft was taking its toll of the pivotal athletes, the aged and spavined performers serving out the their twilight in the minors came back in droves. Names that had been out of big league circulation for as long as three and four years, yes, even longer, came bobbing back as if they'd never been away.
The Great Western, Dixie and Union leagues were riddled by the recall of these spavined ancients. Their knees created and the grating squeal of their pitching elbows was excelled only by the cries of the bleacherites rendered indignant by their feeble antics, but the majors insisted on carrying on business.
Now, and then, the minors are filled with these passe major leaguers. The Lone Star Association for one, has more than you could shake a stick at if you worked overtime and had your old man helping you; and you'll have to take a memory course to remember some of them even by name, let alone by deed.
But as Rube Carter, a wise old baseball head points out, they'll be back, and if you don't like 'em you can lump 'em, for, as the club owners say, the game must go on. It must go on even if to fill in for Art White the dynamic Brooklyn starting pitcher, they have to give you Karl Clasby, who contrary to popular opinion was not around to help William Whitney create FABL.
All I want to do is to be around when some of those grandpapies come back. I've seen a lot, but I've never seen a beard hobbling to first base on a cane; and I don't want to miss it this time.
You can bet your bottom dollar that Daniel Prescott will have his staffers fine comb the bush leagues to bring back old Flatbush standbys if the emergency becomes acute. Before the summer is over we might be sitting in Kings County Ballpark and hear the announcer chat that Clarence Hall is in left, Lou Cox in center and Bud Rogers in right field. Even Danny Goff, although he hung up his glove nearly a decade and a half ago, might be persuaded to return to active duty on the mound. And what a picture it would make if mastodonic Paul Tattersall, who is still one of our most respected citizens, squatted behind the plate to receive old Danny's slants.
In addition it would be a picture to behold if Glenn Mowles was pried away from his management work in Tampa to man third base in a rocking chair. Yes, and maybe even 48 year old Calvin Dybas, who once hit 32 homers in a college season but never played professionally finally got the call, promoted from hitting coach in Springfield to make his big league debut.
As you will recall, some of the ancients were in our midst at the old-timers game in Kings County only last summer. A few of those old boys didn't look so bad in familiar toggery. Of course, they were as stiff as a board in many instances but the way things could go this summer and beyond is it could look like an Oldtimers game every day of the FABL season.
QUICK HITS
- Is it just filling holes prepping for spring training at minor league camps or something more? A lot of veteran free agent players with some big league experience were quickly inked to deals, all of the minor league variety, the past couple of weeks. Fallout from the shock of seeing Dixie Lee leave for basic training instead of spring training perhaps causing teams to worry about roster depth? Whatever it was the Cannons, Cougars, Dynamos and Miners all quickly signed a depth guy or two in the days leading up to the start of camp. Cincinnati inked 30 year old Art Blake, who pitched briefly for Toronto last season and is 9-15 in his FABL career, to a minor league deal while the Cougars inked a similar agreement with veteran outfielder Bobby Bond. Neither are likely good enough to crack a big league roster at this time but are probably worthwhile insurance in case a key player gets the call from the draft board. Pittsburgh and Detroit both signed players to minor league deals but each included a major league option so they could leave if not offered a big league spot. Shortstop Oscar King, a 30 year with over 800 big league games under his belt, is going to Miners camp while Detroit signed 29 year old infielder Tony White and 30 year old pitcher Jack Snyder, who had a brief stint in the Dynamos system last year.
- No surprise but 42 year old Dave Trowbridge arrived in Stars camp ready to go. All he did last season was lead the Continental Association in hitting and the man they call "Father Time" says he is expecting to have another solid year. Trowbridge is, of course, the oldest player on any team roster, big league or minor and is the only player active in FABL that was born last century. His 1898 birth year makes him 22 months over Cougars pitcher Dick Lyons, the second oldest big leaguer.
- Even the independent Lone Star Association, while home to some greybeards, can't match Trowbridge's age (42 years, 221 days as of this writing). But two players come close. Infielder Jack Collins, who played 427 games for Detroit in the late 1920's and is still active with Houston of the LSA, is just under two months younger than Trowbridge. The only other player in organized baseball who's birth year starts with '18' is Karl Clasby, who just celebrated his 42nd birthday last month. Clasby is entering his 9th season with Waco but the righthander did win 20 games in FABL 13 seasons ago and went 60-64 while pitching for four different big league clubs. Both seem like the kind of players who might just get one more kick at the can if enough players leave for military service.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 3/09/1941
- After much debate in the Senate the British aid bill passes and President Roosevelt is prepared to speed aid to Britain by turning over $1 billion worth of warships, freighters, airplanes, tanks, guns, ammunition, foot and other supplies immediately after he affixes his signature to the Lease-Lend Bill.
- "Many more ships and great numbers of men" to fight the triple German menace of submarines, long-range bombers and surface raiders in the battle of the Atlantic is desperately needed according to Britain's Admiralty Lord.
- Hitler says he is prepared to pit "half of Europe" against Great Britain and that unprecedented sea warfare is about to begin with the month of April also bringing "other things" - the nature of which he did not specify - to the enemy.
- Germany moves to occupy Bulgaria - the 11th sovereign state she has overrun since 1938- which raises grave concerns for Greece in her war with Italy, and Turkey's future under her alliance with Britain.
- The United States decided to restrict the movements of all Italian diplomatic representatives in this country and ordered that the Italian consulates in Newark and Detroit be closed. The action, one of the most drastic diplomatic measures ever taken toward a country with which the United States is at peace, was in response to similar actions taken by the Italians towards the American Embassy in Rome.