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Jiggs McGee · 02-14-2022, 12:11 PM

MARCH 31, 1941

A LOOK AHEAD: 1941 PREDICTION ISSUE

Once again it is time for Jiggs McGee to forecast how the upcoming baseball season will play out. A year ago Jiggs came up short in calling the winner of each of the Association as in both cases the team he tabbed to win it all finished in second place. In the Continental Association Jiggs felt the Chicago Cougars were the team to beat in 1940 and it was close, but in the end they came up a game short in their chase of the Toronto Wolves. After successfully calling the Pittsburgh Miners victory in 1939 Jiggs felt the Miners would be overtaken by Detroit last season but in the end Pittsburgh once more prevailed, but only by 2 games over the Dynamos who finished second for the third consecutive year.

As a reminder here is how Jiggs called the 1940 season at this time a year ago compared to how it ended up.

Code:


    1940 FEDERAL ASSOCIATION
TEAM		 W  L   JIGGS PICK
Pittsburgh	92 62     2nd
Detroit		90 64     1st
Philadelphia    87 67     8th
Chicago		82 72	  3rd
Boston		80 74     4th
Washington	69 85     7th
New York	59 95     6th
St Louis	57 97     5th

  1940 CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
TEAM		 W  L   JIGGS PICK
Toronto		88 66	  6th
Chicago		87 67	  1st
Cincinnati	84 70	  7th
New York	80 74	  3rd
Philadelphia	80 74	  4th
Brooklyn	73 81	  2nd
Montreal	71 83	  8th
Cleveland 	53 101    5th

JIGGS MCGEE'S FEARLESS FORECAST FOR 1941

CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION

The Toronto Wolves certainly rebounded nicely from a terrible 1939 season and I won't underestimate them again this year. Toronto has terrific pitching and in Fred McCormick one of the best pure hitters in the game. The CA race will go down to the wire again this year but just like I predicted last season I am going with the Chicago Cougars, as I expect them to atone for falling just short a year ago.

Pete Papenfus is ready to take a big step forward and if he does it will make the Cougars pitching nearly the equal of Toronto's staff. I feel Chicago has just a little more offensive talent and as long as vets John Lawson, Dick Lyons and Jim Lonardo don't start showing their age the Cougars will claim their first pennant since 1933. Toronto will be a close second and ready to repeat if the Chicago old-timers stumble.

Cincinnati added all-star catcher Adam Mullins to a pretty talented group and it will make the Cannons, who were the surprise of the CA a year ago, a team to be feared but I think they fall just short of the big two once again. The Stars and Sailors will once again battle it out for the final spot in the first division and I am going to give the nod to Philadelphia as the loss of George Phillips to Pittsburgh will hurt New York more than the addition of Lew Seals will help.

Montreal might take a small step backwards this season with the loss of Mullins but I think that will be counteracted by an improved pitching staff which will make them the best of the three remaining clubs. Brooklyn still has talent but the Kings seem to need to find their way and while they might challenge for the first division if all breaks right I believe in the end they will be much closer to last than first place. That leaves Cleveland and the Foresters season depends on their start. A quick start and the band might stay together as they challenge Montreal for 6th place but a slow start likely means a rebuild is triggered by a mass sell-off at the midway point and a second straight last place finish.

CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1- CHICAGO COUGARS
2- TORONTO WOLVES
3- CINCINNATI CANNONS
4- PHILADELPHIA SAILORS
5- NEW YORK STARS
6- MONTREAL SAINTS
7- BROOKLYN KINGS
8- CLEVELAND FORESTERS

FEDERAL ASSOCIATION

It would have been hard for me to pick against the Pittsburgh Miners before they made there two big off-season deals. Now it is impossible as George Phillips will be a key piece of the rotation and if Tom Barrell finds his game the Miners will be unstoppable. They really need George Cleaves, Jack Cleaves and Mahlon Strong to stay healthy, although the same can be said about any team and it's big offensive producers, but the Miners pitching rotation is just too deep with Phillips joining Lefty Allen, Charlie Stedman and Karl Johnson. Without Barrell returning to form it will be another tight race but if Tom is terrific again the Miners could have it wrapped up by Labor Day if all goes well.

It seemed like everything went right for the Philadelphia Keystones last year and while there are always chances young players will take a step back I just don't think that is a case in Philadelphia this year. The Keystones have so much young talent I expect at least the vast majority of it will improve and they might cause a few scares for the fans in western Pennsylvania but will ultimately fall short.

Detroit has finished second three years in a row and I am going on record saying it won't happen a 4th time. Unfortunately for Dynamos fans I am thinking they will slip to third but if things fall apart for the Miners it will be quite a race between the Keystones and Dynamos. There is a lot to like about Detroit, any team with Sal Pestilli and Red Johnson is capable of great things, but I worry if Frank Crawford will be at 100% quick enough upon returning for Detroit to keep pace with Pittsburgh.

The addition of Jack Flint behind the plate should help Boston and John Edwards seems poised for a big season but I worry about Dick Higgins bouncing back from an 11-19 campaign and Ed Wood duplicating his 21 win season a year ago. Likewise Art Myers had a career year as a 34 year old so the question is can he duplicate it. It won't matter if Duke Hendricks can finally live up to the hype but he is now 25 and was never overwhelming in AAA. The spring injury to slugger Bob Donoghue also amplifies concerns the Minutemen have not been able to add another big bat.

Tough to put a team with Al Miller and Rabbit Day in the second division but the Federal Association is very strong meaning the Chiefs are the odd team left out of the upper half. They may have sold off 34 year old Cliff Moss at just the right time but I feel his offense will be missed (and be very help for the cross-town Cougars). Tom Bird has caught a lot of games and will be 33 when the season starts so he may start to see his offensive production dip. The Chiefs are a strong team and will step up if anyone ahead of them struggles but their pennant contending days are done without some retooling.

The St Louis Pioneers had terrible luck last season. They are not a great team but certainly not a last place club either. If their pitching can have some better luck I can see them finish 6th as the Gothams, while somewhat improved, and Eagles will not threaten the first division at all again this season.

FEDERAL ASSOCIATION PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1- PITTSBURGH MINERS
2- PHILADELPHIA KEYSTONES
3- DETROIT DYNAMOS
4- BOSTON MINUTEMEN
5- CHICAGO CHIEFS
6- ST LOUIS PIONEERS
7- NEW YORK GOTHAMS
8- WASHINGTON EAGLES

ALL-TIME WINS LEADERS BY LETTER

A few issues back we took a look at the FABL career hits leader starting with each letter of the alphabet. Today we turn our attention to the mound and compile a similar list of pitchers with the most wins.

A: Allan Allen 514 1890-1909
No surprise here as the Hall of Famer is the all-time wins leader regardless of what letter the last name begins with as his 514 victories dwarf Charlie Sis's second place total of 395. The man for whom the top pitcher award is named after pitched for 20 seasons with the Chicago Cougars, Toronto and Cleveland. He also pitched in 4 WCS but was on the winning side only once, in 1898 when he didn't allow an earned run in two starts leading the Provincials (as Toronto was known back then) past the Pittsburgh Miners. Interesting to note even if you include minor league games -although Allen never pitched in the minors himself - his win total is still nearly 100 higher than the number two man on the list. That would be Johnny Ervin, who won 425 games over 21 seasons but all of those victories came in the minors. Ervin's entire big league career consisted of 1/3 of an inning for the 1885 Pittsburgh Quarries of the Border Association. He was tagged with the loss in that appearance leaving the Philadelphia native 0-1 for his major league career.

The active leader in career FABL wins for a pitcher who's last name starts with A? That would be Cleveland's Dean Astle at 121-96 but not for long as Lefty Allen of the Miners is 111-64 and closing fast.

B: GEORGE BURGER 236 1904-1916
A player most have never heard of but they should as Burger won at least 20 games in his first 4 seasons and 8 times overall in his 13 year career. He broke in with Washington in 1904 and won 179 games for the Eagles over 9 seasons before being traded to Brooklyn in a deal that brought Mel Hancock Sr to the Eagles. He only led his Association in strikeouts once but his 2,215 career total is 7th most all-time although Rabbit Day (2,133) could pass him this year.

Ed Baker of Montreal (166-135) is the active leader among the B's with new Pittsburgh Miner Tom Barrell (137-82) next on the list.

C: JIM CATHEY 267 1901-1915
Cathey is one of 4 pitchers who's last name starts with C to win 200 FABL games (Willie Couillard, Don Cannady and Ken Carpenter are the others). He had seven straight twenty-win seasons with Cleveland before finishing his career with the New York Stars. A western New Yorker he was nicknamed 'The Buffalo Bull". The active leader in the C's is Detroit's Frank Crawford (118-79) followed by the Stars Chuck Cole (95-102)

D: RABBIT DAY 264 1927-present
Our first active player to lead the way, Day recently passed Jim Dixon (1890-1905, 257-230) to claim top spot for his letter. No other 'D' reached 200 wins but George Davis (1916-1928) came close at 195-178. Note, if we include the minors and high school ball (Day was only 6-8 as a high schooler in Toledo) Rabbit has 299 career wins. Whether he gets to 300 strictly as a big leaguer remains to be seen but seems a pretty fair bet.

E: ALEXANDER ELLIOTT 366 1886-1906
We have the aforementioned Johnny Ervin as the big gun among the E's if we count minors but among big leaguers Elliott is the runaway winner. A large number of his wins came before the formation of FABL in 1892 but he did lead the Federal Association with 33 victories for the Gothams in 1896. The only other player who's last name starts with E to top 200 wins was Sam Evans, who like Elliott began his career prior to the formation of FABL and finished with 223 big league wins . Evans also played for 8 different FABL teams as well as two other teams in the Border Association and Players League.

The active leader in the E's is Washington's Jack Elder at 75-93 followed by Lou Ellertson of Montreal (63-70).

F: CHARLIE FIRESTONE 210 1912-1919
Firestone had a very short but productive big league career. He was 24 when he broke in with Montreal in 1912 after a number of seasons in the Dixie League. He went 22-18 as a rookie and then followed that up with 31,28,35,35 and 28 win seasons. He led the league in wins 4 times, era twice and strikeouts 3 times while winning the pitching triple crown in 1916. His 1915 and 1916 seasons were two of the best ever seen but he did not win the Whitney Award either time (there was no Allen Award at this point). In 1915 Firestone went 35-7, 1.84 with 317 strikeouts leading the league in wins and era but was 30 k's behind Tom Guarneri of the Cougars that season. Firestone did go 2-0 in the Series that year, beating Boston 2-1 and 2-0 to claim the WCS MVP. In 1916 he claimed his triple crown with 35-7, 1.88 and 291 k's but his Saints lost the Series in 6 to Detroit. Firestone was 3-1 with a 1.29 era in 35 innings of WCS work with 19 k's and 4 walks. Midway through the 1918 season he was dealt to the Keystones and the following year, despite being just 31, his FABL career came to an end and he finished out his pitching days back in the minors.

Lou Felkel (202-208) who retired in 1933 is second among the F's followed by our active leader in Milt Fritz (178-141), who is just 31 and seemingly in his prime still with the Chicago Cougars. Fritz seems to be a sure bet to eventually pass Firestone and 250 wins is not out of the question, maybe even 300 one day.

G: JIM GOLDEN 269 1909-1920
Golden has come close to making the Hall of Fame each of the past two years and should get there some day despite a career that, like Firestone, ended at age 31. Jim and his older brother Rip Golden (148-158) came from Mandeville, Louisiana to the big leagues. Jim was a star almost instantly, winning 23 for the Detroit Dynamos as a 20 year old rookie in 1909 and would win 4 WCS and a pair of Whitney Awards with Detroit. In 1919 he suffered a stomach strain which, at the age of 30 was his first serious injury. Some say he tried to come back from that injury too quickly, altering his windup slightly and they blame that for the career ending back injury he suffered the following season. His 8 career WCS wins remain a FABL post-season record and only the great Woody Trease fanned more than the 49 Golden struck out in WCS play.

Long-time Brooklyn great Danny Goff is second with 252 wins while the top active 'G' is Detroit's Sergio Gonzales at 85-65.

H: MORRIS HARRIS 319 1892-1906
Another player who was done early as Harris did not pitch after turning 33. He had some big years before the turn of the century including a Federal Association leading 35-7 1895 campaign for the Gothams. Much travelled, like the previously mentioned Alexander Elliott, Morris Harris pitched for 8 different FABL teams in his career: Boston, Brooklyn, Chiefs, Cougars, Gothams, Stars, Sailors and Washington and was on 3 WCS winner.

The active leader in H is Joe Hancock (89-61) of Toronto with Red Hampton (83-80) of the Chiefs and the Stars Boyd Harper (83-76 tied for second.

I: MICHAEL IVORY 75 1919-1930
One of just 2 pitchers who's last name starts with I to win a FABL game, Ivory pitcher for Toronto, the Cougars and St Louis with his best season being a 17-4 showing for Chicago in 1922, when he also won a WCS game helping the Cougars past Washington in 5. The other I is Hal Ingram, who went 1-8 for Pittsburgh and the Gothams between 1913-15.

J: BIG GEORGE JOHNSON 311 1907-1926
A recent Hall of Fame inductee and current pitching coach of the Cincinnati Cannons, Johnson was a dominant pitcher for the Boston Minutemen between 1912-1923 but started and ended his career with the Washington Eagles. He is the most recent pitcher to record his 300th win, with Johnson's coming in 1925. The active leader is one of Big George's players in Cincinnati as William Jones (187-137), who pitched primarily for the Sailors, leads the way ahead of Pittsburgh's Karl Johnson (153-142).

K: SAM KING 177 1888-1898
19th century star King won nearly half of his games prior to the creation of FABL but will soon be passed by Bill Ketterman of Pittsburgh, who at 175-154 is the active leader.

L: JACK LONG 339 1902-1919
Long was a star for the Chicago Cougars for well over a decade before finishing his career with the Toronto Wolves. Only Allan Allen (514), Charlie Sis (395) and Aaron Wright (341) won more games in FABL than Long, who along with Wright are the only two out of nine pitchers with 320 or more wins not to be in the Hall of Fame yet. Long led the CA in losses twice but never led in any of the pitching triple crown categories. A pair of current Chicago Cougars are 1-2 among active 'L' pitchers in Jim Lonardo (216-157) and Dick Lyons (201-145).

M: MIKE MARNER 325 1907-1918
The long-time Baltimore Clippers ace, who finished his career with stops in Detroit, Brooklyn and Washington leads the way among the M's. He led the CA in wins as a 19 year old rookie with 34 and topped the loop each of his first six seasons and seven of eight. He played in 4 WCS with Baltimore, going 4-4 and being on the winning side in three of them. Marner was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1938 and is third all-time in K's trailing only Charlie Sis and Bill Temple as well as 6th in career wins. The active leader is Oscar Morse (152-140), who is now 36 and was just released by the Chiefs this week with Mike Murphy of Detroit (138-92) and Boston's Art Myers (132-112) not far behind.

N: DON NOFTALL 282 1891-1903
Leads by a wide margin and is another one of those guys in the late 19th century that bounced around as Noftall suited up for 7 different FABL clubs between the league's creation in 1892 and his retirement 11 years later. He did win a pair of WCS titles for the Cougars in 1899 and 1900 and went 61-30 for the club those two seasons. Number two among the N's is current Philadelphia Sailors veteran pitcher Doc Newell (124-110). Newell also happens to be the only player in FABL history to throw three no-hitters. Only Bill Temple (who leads the T's in wins) and John Blackburn have thrown two.

O: RUDY OSMOND 106 1918-1927
Spent a decade with the New York Stars highlighted by an 18-13 season in 1922 and was part of their record 3 straight WCS titles between 1924-26. If we choose to include minor league stats our all-time leader among the O's is much more impressive as Hartigan O'Carroll went 343-325 in a 20 year career that began way back in 1876 - the first year of professional baseball. Most of his wins came for New Orleans and Memphis in the Dixie League but he did go 103-103 as a major league primarily with the Chicago Chiefs.

The active Major League leader is actually pitching in the Lone Star Association right now. Ken Owens was recently let go by the Eagles, for whom he went 4-8 over parts of 4 seasons before signing with Pueblo in the fall. 25 year old Don Orr is with St Louis but he has just one big league win and is 1-1 over parts of two seasons as a reliever for the Pioneers.

P: JERRY PARIS 264 1884-1898
Not a guy I would have thought of, Paris led the Border Association in wins with Cincinnati in 1884 and 1885 and later pitched in FABL for Detroit, the Cougars, Cleveland, the Gothams and Washington. He won a Border Association title with the Monarchs and then claimed a WCS win as a member of the 1896 Gothams, for whom he went 2-1 that year in the WCS. Surprisingly perhaps, but no other pitcher who's last name starts with P has won even 150 FABL games. The active leader is Roger Perry (110-61), who was recently traded from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati.

Q: EDDIE QUINN 121 1930-present
Shares the distinction with Rabbit Day and Les Zoller as being the only active players to lead in wins by letter. Much maligned through no fault of his own because of that infamous 1925 draft day deal that Toronto traded up to take him second overall, Quinn has carved out a nice career highlighted by a pair of all-star appearances, a WCS win with Cleveland in 1934 and a 20 win season in Washington two years ago. Now 34 and a Chicago Cougar, the club is hoping he can bounce back from a serious arm injury suffered last June. Only two other 'Q' pitchers have at least one FABL victory: they are Jake Quarels, who went 14-5 for three teams between 1895 and 1898, and Elijah Queen, who was just 12-14 for his career despite pitching in 149 FABL games with all but 3 in relief between 1893-1901. We also have Ike Quinn, who made 4 appearances for the 1935 Washington Eagles including 2 starts but went 0-1 and is now retired. Be aware that Philadelphia Keystones prospect Joe Quade will almost certainly expand that list some time in the next few years.

R: WILLIE RHINEHARDT 313 1887-1901
99 of his wins came with Cincinnati in the Border Association prior to the formation of FABL but he did have 8 straight 20-plus win seasons after the creation of FABL but he pitched with six different teams during that stretch. Two other R pitchers won over 200 games in Preston Royal (269-221), a turn of the century pitcher who led his league in wins twice but pitched for 6 different teams over his 13 year career, and Bill Ross, who retired 5 years ago after winning 230 games and 3 WCS titles for the Cougars and Keystones. Our active leader is Cleveland's Dave Rankin (119-164) despite a career record that is clearly slanted to the losing side of the ledger.

S: CHARLIE SIS 395 1903-1921
No doubt the leader here is the Hall of Famer who pitched 3 seasons for St Louis before going on to have a dominant career in Toronto. Sis is second all-time in wins behind only Double Al. With 249 victories Mose Smith is a distant number two while the active leader is Pittsburgh's Charlie Stedman (218-197) followed by Joe Shafner (165-137) of Detroit.

T: WOODY TREASE 325 1901-1912
Another of those legendary pitchers of the first two decades of this century who retired far too early. Trease broke in with Boston in 1901 and played in 5 WCS for the Minutemen before appearing in 3 more after his trade to Detroit. He owns nearly every WCS career record as he has started more games, completed more games and pitched more innings in the Series than any other player. His record in post-season baseball was a very pedestrian 7-8 and he was on the winning side only 3 of the 8 times but one of those was 1903 when he was named the Series MVP. His 325 career wins ties him with fellow Hall of Famer Mike Marner for 6th all-time. He is still active in baseball as a manager at AAA San Francisco and has won 11 minor league pennants as a skipper. A member of one of the most prominent families in the sport, Woody's father Lynwood was a former big league catcher and manager, and came out of retirement to catch Woody in a 1904 game. His uncle Frank Trease also played and managed in FABL while Woody's son Lyn Trease is a minor leaguer in the Brooklyn Kings system currently.

The active leader among the T's is Cleveland's Ben Turner (99-84) with a slight lead on Chicago Chief righthander George Thomas (95-109).

U: HAL UPTON 6 1932-1935
Upton went 5-5 for the Sailors as a reliever in 1934 and pitched parts of two other seasons with the club. He did win 97 more games as a minor leaguer before retiring in 1939. The are no active pitchers with FABL wins among the U's but Keystones 22 year old prospect Connie Upchurch is 29-37 over 4 seasons in the minors. And there are a pair of draft eligible U's that might get selected in June in Bob Umstead of Kit Carson University and Illinois high school senior Earl Ulrich.

V: JAKE VERMILLION 125 1908-1913
Started with Toronto but spent most of his 6 year big league career with the New York Stars. Four times Vermillion was a 20 game winner including a career best 26-14 as a 24 year old in 1909 but after an 18-16 showing as a 28 year old in 1913 he never pitched in the big leagues again, retiring following the 1920 season after bouncing around the minors for half a dozen odd years. He is one of those guys I wish I could find out more about as he seemed like a very solid pitcher but just suddenly was deemed not needed despite posting a 115 ERA+ in his final big league season. Our active leader among the V's is Sam Vaughan of the Chicago Chiefs at 8-4 but Brooklyn's Sergio Vergara (2-9) deserves watching as the 25 year old was once an 11th ranked prospect.

W: AARON WRIGHT 341 1899-1915
In Aaron Wright and Charlie Wilson (332-190) the W's join the A's (Allan Allen and Price Adams) as the only letter with a pair of 300 game winners. Wright is third all-time in wins trailing only Double-A and Charlie Sis but he, unlike Wilson, is not yet in the Hall of Fame. He had durability on his side, pitching at least 300 innings 17 of his 19 seasons and missing by less than 6 innings in the other two years but he never led his Association in any triple crown stat. Bill West, who pitched for Washington from 1904-1917 nearly made it 3 W pitchers with 300+ W's, but fell just short settling for 291.

Our active leader is Ed Wood (130-103) of Boston with Tommy Wilcox, who is now with independent Sacramento, second among active pitchers in the W's with a 91-84 record.

X: no players
No one with X to as the first letter of his last name ever pitched in the minors or FABL.

Y: BOB YOUNG 195 1908-1920
Young split his 13 year career almost equally between St Louis and Detroit and won 3 WCS titles with the Dynamos. He only won 20 games once, in 1919 when he went 20-19 for the Pioneers but led the Fed in losses three times and lost at least twenty six straight years which helps explain his (195-235) losing record overall. He was pretty good in the WCS, going 3-2 but posting a 1.80 era in his 5 starts. No currently active pitcher who's last name starts with 'Y' has won a FABL game but Washington's 20 year old Jackie Yates is 23-27 in Class A/B/C combined. Every pitcher with at least one major league win in his career among the Y's is named Young:

Code:

 NAME		FABL REC   YEARS[/b]
Bob Young	195-235	  1908-1920
Alex Young	107-114	  1888-1895
Henry Young	 75-89	  1883-1890
Sam Young	 28-36    1925-1936
George Young	 23-15    1884-1887
William Young	 11-16    1925-1932
Jake Young	  7-9	  1926-1928
Jim Young	  3-3       1925

Z: Les Zoller 61 1931-current
Zoller has been with the Stars nearly as long as Dave Trowbridge and was on both their 1932 and 1939 World Championship winning teams and made one appearance in relief in each series. He has more big league wins than every other player who's name starts with Z combined: Ike Zuckerman (10-10), Dutch Ziegler (6-3) and Edgar Zanueta (3-8). If we include all levels than the Z leader is Zanueta, who went 3-8 for the 1920 Brooklyn Kings but was 133-131 for his career including 12-13 at Mississippi A&M and a lot of years with the Houston Bulls when they were a AAA club.

Some thoughts at the midway point of Keystones camp: The big news in camp is Davey Robicheaux, who has hit everything and is currently leading the team in hits (14), RBI (10), home runs (3) and runs scored (6) through two weeks of exhibition play. Admittedly, he has gotten more playing time than some of the established players, which explains why he leads in so many categories, but he is definitely ready for the big time. Could Robicheaux's early success be causing Hank Koblenz to grip his bat a little too tight? Hard Boiled Henry is only hitting .194 with two weeks left on the schedule, while George Wright understands the urgency of what might be his last chance to hang on to the big club, going 7-for-17 with two doubles.

This might be the end of the line for Carl Ames, as he has been the third-best catcher in camp behind starter Walt Potter and Charlie Gump. Ames is 1-for-8 with three strikeouts, but sources say he'll have a few extra at-bats this week to make his case for a pinch-hitting role.

I have received a lot of mail about Doug Lightbody, so I will report on what I see and what I know about the Mississippi Mouth. He has the backup first-baseman's job almost locked up, going 4-for-13 so far this Spring, including 4 for his last 7. Austin Moore, a key competitor for the job, is struggling at the plate (2-for-14) and Gene Mathews, as expected, was sent to the minor leagues.

Believe it or not, the challenge for Lightbody's playing time at first might come from Marshall Strickland, who is making his case for cutting into Billy Woytek's time at second base. Woytek, in those cases, would easily slide over to first to spell Hans Wright. But, as far as making the team, Lightbody has an excellent chance. You could say that Ames might face longer odds if Strickland and Lightbody keep it up.

Ed Greenwood's struggles (1-for-17) has allowed Tony Pestilli to stick around for a backup outfield spot. Pestilli, whose highest level is Single A Allentown, brought his brand of defense and hustle to the club, but it is still Greenwood's job to lose.

The pitching has been very good this Spring. Bud Canfield may be the odd man out of the rotation, but Henry Shaffer has not overly impressed the Keystones brass. The relief corps has been extremely good and the cuts may come down to the players with remaining minor league options, which could spell doom for Scotty Thomas and Don Fluharty.

There are many more happy faces in Gothams camp this seasons. They're managing to win more often than lose and at 8-5 for tied for the best spring mark in baseball. The roster is shaping up with the move of a few players to minor league camp and those expected to lead the team are playing like it, for the most part.

The rotation has looked pretty good. Gus Goulding, Rusty Petrick, Harry Carter and Fred Ratcliffe have been reliable, and Bunny Edwards, while still plagues by control issues, has manage to dance through fires of his own making. Charlie Sutton has had his troubles and will work out of the pen while Manager Ed Ziehl takes a look at other options. In the pen, several arms are looking good and will cause some headaches come cutdown day.

On the offensive side the team is nearly set. The younger infielders, sans Walt Messer (.233,2,3), are hitting well. Hub Parks (.310,2,8) had a very good second week and Leon Drake continues to mash balls into the gaps. The only concerns at the moment are Mel Alvarez (.192,0,4) and Bud Jameson (.143,1,3), both vets who should be expected to be ready come opening day. Final roster battles are limited to the middle infield reserve role and outfield bench.

Top hitters this spring - Leon Drake (.458-2-4), Billy Dalton (.424-4-9) and Mule Monier (.367-0-4)

QUICK HITS

Is there a better story this spring than what Sig Stofer has done in two weeks at Eagles camp. The Boardwalk Bopper is living up to his name with a FABL leading 6 homers and 11 rbi's in 27 at bats so far. The 24 year old, who came over from the Keystones last July, is batting .370 and also has walked 7 times. Stofer hit 11 homers in 41 games after the Eagles acquired him so his power output may be more than just a spring phase.
He did not start this week but Tom Barrell had another solid outing in his only appearance for the Pittsburgh Miners this week. Count me as a card-carrying member of the Tom Barrell fan club. I can't see it happening but wouldn't it be great to see Barrell win an Allen Award in the Fed, allowing him to join Rabbit Day as the only pitchers with at least one in each association. Surprisingly, while Day is the only dual-association Allen winner there have been 3 Whitney Award winners to do the trick. Can you name them? Answer at the bottom of quick hits.
The other newcomer on the mound for Pittsburgh is also having a solid start to his spring. George Phillips, who came over from the New York Stars for whom he won 14 games last season, did not allow a run in either of his two outings for the Miners.
23 year old Mal Bianco continues to impress for the St Louis Pioneers. The 1939 first rounder pitched 4 more shutout innings this week and has a 0.73 era in 3 spring starts.
The Cincinnati Cannons sign Andy Carter to a minor league deal with an option. Can't see him making the big club but the Cannons hope is he decides he is happy in AAA and gives them some injury depth. Teams were certainly not beating Carter's door down as his attitude, combined with reduced production the past couple of seasons, left even independent teams unwilling to touch the 35 year old former two-time all-star.
Staying with Cincinnati, last year's second overall pick Bill Sohl had a terrific second spring outing allowing just 2 singles over 4 innings of work. That earned the 22 year old a couple more starts to prove he should begin the season in Cincinnati instead of AAA Indianapolis as the Cannons brass had planned.
Few minor moves made in Toronto camp but the real crunch will come next week, the waiver wire could be active with some tough decisions to be made by the Wolves brass who are expected to return virtually everyone from last October's championship club.
n the Chiefs camp, there are some interesting battles going on for the last few spots on the pitching staff. One player that has opened some eyes is Ralph Kendall (who came over from the Cougars in the Cliff Moss trade). Just before camp, Kendall had upped his fastball to the 96-98 mph range. In camp, he has struck out 25% of the batters he has faced (8 IP, 8 K, 2 BB). He's increased his chances of breaking camp with the big league club. Lou Eaker--who came over in the same trade--also looked impressive this spring, but 23 year old righthander has been reassigned to class AA Memphis.
Si Crocker is having a really nice spring for the Boston Minutemen. The former 4th rounder was a N.R.I and has made the most of his time. For the spring he is 9-19 (.529) with a triple, two homers and 10 RBI's. The young 22 year old has steadily moved up through the system but at 81 games in AAA Columbus last season he only hit .233 with double the strikeouts to walks. While his output this spring has been very encouraging the Minutemen do not plan to carry 6 outfielders going into opening day. So some decision will have to be made. Right now the Minutemen are down to 29 players in camp with 11 of them being pitchers. Currently, the Boston brass is having a really difficult time figuring who should be the 3 arms to go to Columbus. There is a lot of competition going into the last two weeks of camp.
The Minutemen are shopping 26 year old pitcher Joe Foote, who went 1-4 with 4 saves for the club last season. Foote is out of options and likely will not make the final 24 man roster that heads north to Boston.
The Stars are looking to move long-time backup catcher Mike Burkholder as he will be the odd-man out with the addition of Joe Rainbow to challenge Johnny Hopper for the starting job. The 34 year old Burkholder hit .296 last season.
Trivia answer. The Whitney Award winners with at least one in each league are Max Morris, T.R. Goins and Al Wheeler.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 3/30/1941

Britain took the war to the heart of Nazi Germany, dropping 10,000 bombs and explosives on Berlin.
Yugoslavia was forced to accept Axis terms and join with them but did so in a way that split the country due to the threat of a civil war so Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia will all sign separate pacts with Germany.
The plan to avoid civil war failed as the Yugoslav army coup ousted pro-Nazi government officials, prompting the US to pledge aid to the uprisers.
Danger of Germany-Japan pact collapsing as Hitler warns Tokio to formulate a definite Anglo-American policy or run the risk of not receiving Axis support.
British and Greek forces report a major naval victory over the Italians in the biggest sea engagement of the war.
Germany has extended the reach of it's patrols to Iceland in an effort to expand their blockade and prevent American shipments from reaching Britain. Several conveys of undisclosed origin were sunk this week by Nazi patrols.
Britain forecasts the crux of the battle of Britain will occur in the next few months in the North Atlantic and if the British win they "will go into the home stretch."
Violence in Chicago and central Pennsylvania as striking factory workers clashed with police, in yet more job action that threatens the production of military equipment and supplies.

02-14-2022, 12:11 PM	#356
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	March 31, 1941: Spring Training MARCH 31, 1941 A LOOK AHEAD: 1941 PREDICTION ISSUE Once again it is time for Jiggs McGee to forecast how the upcoming baseball season will play out. A year ago Jiggs came up short in calling the winner of each of the Association as in both cases the team he tabbed to win it all finished in second place. In the Continental Association Jiggs felt the Chicago Cougars were the team to beat in 1940 and it was close, but in the end they came up a game short in their chase of the Toronto Wolves. After successfully calling the Pittsburgh Miners victory in 1939 Jiggs felt the Miners would be overtaken by Detroit last season but in the end Pittsburgh once more prevailed, but only by 2 games over the Dynamos who finished second for the third consecutive year. As a reminder here is how Jiggs called the 1940 season at this time a year ago compared to how it ended up. Code: 1940 FEDERAL ASSOCIATION TEAM W L JIGGS PICK Pittsburgh 92 62 2nd Detroit 90 64 1st Philadelphia 87 67 8th Chicago 82 72 3rd Boston 80 74 4th Washington 69 85 7th New York 59 95 6th St Louis 57 97 5th 1940 CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION TEAM W L JIGGS PICK Toronto 88 66 6th Chicago 87 67 1st Cincinnati 84 70 7th New York 80 74 3rd Philadelphia 80 74 4th Brooklyn 73 81 2nd Montreal 71 83 8th Cleveland 53 101 5th JIGGS MCGEE'S FEARLESS FORECAST FOR 1941 CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION The Toronto Wolves certainly rebounded nicely from a terrible 1939 season and I won't underestimate them again this year. Toronto has terrific pitching and in Fred McCormick one of the best pure hitters in the game. The CA race will go down to the wire again this year but just like I predicted last season I am going with the Chicago Cougars, as I expect them to atone for falling just short a year ago. Pete Papenfus is ready to take a big step forward and if he does it will make the Cougars pitching nearly the equal of Toronto's staff. I feel Chicago has just a little more offensive talent and as long as vets John Lawson, Dick Lyons and Jim Lonardo don't start showing their age the Cougars will claim their first pennant since 1933. Toronto will be a close second and ready to repeat if the Chicago old-timers stumble. Cincinnati added all-star catcher Adam Mullins to a pretty talented group and it will make the Cannons, who were the surprise of the CA a year ago, a team to be feared but I think they fall just short of the big two once again. The Stars and Sailors will once again battle it out for the final spot in the first division and I am going to give the nod to Philadelphia as the loss of George Phillips to Pittsburgh will hurt New York more than the addition of Lew Seals will help. Montreal might take a small step backwards this season with the loss of Mullins but I think that will be counteracted by an improved pitching staff which will make them the best of the three remaining clubs. Brooklyn still has talent but the Kings seem to need to find their way and while they might challenge for the first division if all breaks right I believe in the end they will be much closer to last than first place. That leaves Cleveland and the Foresters season depends on their start. A quick start and the band might stay together as they challenge Montreal for 6th place but a slow start likely means a rebuild is triggered by a mass sell-off at the midway point and a second straight last place finish. CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH 1- CHICAGO COUGARS 2- TORONTO WOLVES 3- CINCINNATI CANNONS 4- PHILADELPHIA SAILORS 5- NEW YORK STARS 6- MONTREAL SAINTS 7- BROOKLYN KINGS 8- CLEVELAND FORESTERS FEDERAL ASSOCIATION It would have been hard for me to pick against the Pittsburgh Miners before they made there two big off-season deals. Now it is impossible as George Phillips will be a key piece of the rotation and if Tom Barrell finds his game the Miners will be unstoppable. They really need George Cleaves, Jack Cleaves and Mahlon Strong to stay healthy, although the same can be said about any team and it's big offensive producers, but the Miners pitching rotation is just too deep with Phillips joining Lefty Allen, Charlie Stedman and Karl Johnson. Without Barrell returning to form it will be another tight race but if Tom is terrific again the Miners could have it wrapped up by Labor Day if all goes well. It seemed like everything went right for the Philadelphia Keystones last year and while there are always chances young players will take a step back I just don't think that is a case in Philadelphia this year. The Keystones have so much young talent I expect at least the vast majority of it will improve and they might cause a few scares for the fans in western Pennsylvania but will ultimately fall short. Detroit has finished second three years in a row and I am going on record saying it won't happen a 4th time. Unfortunately for Dynamos fans I am thinking they will slip to third but if things fall apart for the Miners it will be quite a race between the Keystones and Dynamos. There is a lot to like about Detroit, any team with Sal Pestilli and Red Johnson is capable of great things, but I worry if Frank Crawford will be at 100% quick enough upon returning for Detroit to keep pace with Pittsburgh. The addition of Jack Flint behind the plate should help Boston and John Edwards seems poised for a big season but I worry about Dick Higgins bouncing back from an 11-19 campaign and Ed Wood duplicating his 21 win season a year ago. Likewise Art Myers had a career year as a 34 year old so the question is can he duplicate it. It won't matter if Duke Hendricks can finally live up to the hype but he is now 25 and was never overwhelming in AAA. The spring injury to slugger Bob Donoghue also amplifies concerns the Minutemen have not been able to add another big bat. Tough to put a team with Al Miller and Rabbit Day in the second division but the Federal Association is very strong meaning the Chiefs are the odd team left out of the upper half. They may have sold off 34 year old Cliff Moss at just the right time but I feel his offense will be missed (and be very help for the cross-town Cougars). Tom Bird has caught a lot of games and will be 33 when the season starts so he may start to see his offensive production dip. The Chiefs are a strong team and will step up if anyone ahead of them struggles but their pennant contending days are done without some retooling. The St Louis Pioneers had terrible luck last season. They are not a great team but certainly not a last place club either. If their pitching can have some better luck I can see them finish 6th as the Gothams, while somewhat improved, and Eagles will not threaten the first division at all again this season. FEDERAL ASSOCIATION PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH 1- PITTSBURGH MINERS 2- PHILADELPHIA KEYSTONES 3- DETROIT DYNAMOS 4- BOSTON MINUTEMEN 5- CHICAGO CHIEFS 6- ST LOUIS PIONEERS 7- NEW YORK GOTHAMS 8- WASHINGTON EAGLES ALL-TIME WINS LEADERS BY LETTER A few issues back we took a look at the FABL career hits leader starting with each letter of the alphabet. Today we turn our attention to the mound and compile a similar list of pitchers with the most wins. A: Allan Allen 514 1890-1909 No surprise here as the Hall of Famer is the all-time wins leader regardless of what letter the last name begins with as his 514 victories dwarf Charlie Sis's second place total of 395. The man for whom the top pitcher award is named after pitched for 20 seasons with the Chicago Cougars, Toronto and Cleveland. He also pitched in 4 WCS but was on the winning side only once, in 1898 when he didn't allow an earned run in two starts leading the Provincials (as Toronto was known back then) past the Pittsburgh Miners. Interesting to note even if you include minor league games -although Allen never pitched in the minors himself - his win total is still nearly 100 higher than the number two man on the list. That would be Johnny Ervin, who won 425 games over 21 seasons but all of those victories came in the minors. Ervin's entire big league career consisted of 1/3 of an inning for the 1885 Pittsburgh Quarries of the Border Association. He was tagged with the loss in that appearance leaving the Philadelphia native 0-1 for his major league career. The active leader in career FABL wins for a pitcher who's last name starts with A? That would be Cleveland's Dean Astle at 121-96 but not for long as Lefty Allen of the Miners is 111-64 and closing fast. B: GEORGE BURGER 236 1904-1916 A player most have never heard of but they should as Burger won at least 20 games in his first 4 seasons and 8 times overall in his 13 year career. He broke in with Washington in 1904 and won 179 games for the Eagles over 9 seasons before being traded to Brooklyn in a deal that brought Mel Hancock Sr to the Eagles. He only led his Association in strikeouts once but his 2,215 career total is 7th most all-time although Rabbit Day (2,133) could pass him this year. Ed Baker of Montreal (166-135) is the active leader among the B's with new Pittsburgh Miner Tom Barrell (137-82) next on the list. C: JIM CATHEY 267 1901-1915 Cathey is one of 4 pitchers who's last name starts with C to win 200 FABL games (Willie Couillard, Don Cannady and Ken Carpenter are the others). He had seven straight twenty-win seasons with Cleveland before finishing his career with the New York Stars. A western New Yorker he was nicknamed 'The Buffalo Bull". The active leader in the C's is Detroit's Frank Crawford (118-79) followed by the Stars Chuck Cole (95-102) D: RABBIT DAY 264 1927-present Our first active player to lead the way, Day recently passed Jim Dixon (1890-1905, 257-230) to claim top spot for his letter. No other 'D' reached 200 wins but George Davis (1916-1928) came close at 195-178. Note, if we include the minors and high school ball (Day was only 6-8 as a high schooler in Toledo) Rabbit has 299 career wins. Whether he gets to 300 strictly as a big leaguer remains to be seen but seems a pretty fair bet. E: ALEXANDER ELLIOTT 366 1886-1906 We have the aforementioned Johnny Ervin as the big gun among the E's if we count minors but among big leaguers Elliott is the runaway winner. A large number of his wins came before the formation of FABL in 1892 but he did lead the Federal Association with 33 victories for the Gothams in 1896. The only other player who's last name starts with E to top 200 wins was Sam Evans, who like Elliott began his career prior to the formation of FABL and finished with 223 big league wins . Evans also played for 8 different FABL teams as well as two other teams in the Border Association and Players League. The active leader in the E's is Washington's Jack Elder at 75-93 followed by Lou Ellertson of Montreal (63-70). F: CHARLIE FIRESTONE 210 1912-1919 Firestone had a very short but productive big league career. He was 24 when he broke in with Montreal in 1912 after a number of seasons in the Dixie League. He went 22-18 as a rookie and then followed that up with 31,28,35,35 and 28 win seasons. He led the league in wins 4 times, era twice and strikeouts 3 times while winning the pitching triple crown in 1916. His 1915 and 1916 seasons were two of the best ever seen but he did not win the Whitney Award either time (there was no Allen Award at this point). In 1915 Firestone went 35-7, 1.84 with 317 strikeouts leading the league in wins and era but was 30 k's behind Tom Guarneri of the Cougars that season. Firestone did go 2-0 in the Series that year, beating Boston 2-1 and 2-0 to claim the WCS MVP. In 1916 he claimed his triple crown with 35-7, 1.88 and 291 k's but his Saints lost the Series in 6 to Detroit. Firestone was 3-1 with a 1.29 era in 35 innings of WCS work with 19 k's and 4 walks. Midway through the 1918 season he was dealt to the Keystones and the following year, despite being just 31, his FABL career came to an end and he finished out his pitching days back in the minors. Lou Felkel (202-208) who retired in 1933 is second among the F's followed by our active leader in Milt Fritz (178-141), who is just 31 and seemingly in his prime still with the Chicago Cougars. Fritz seems to be a sure bet to eventually pass Firestone and 250 wins is not out of the question, maybe even 300 one day. G: JIM GOLDEN 269 1909-1920 Golden has come close to making the Hall of Fame each of the past two years and should get there some day despite a career that, like Firestone, ended at age 31. Jim and his older brother Rip Golden (148-158) came from Mandeville, Louisiana to the big leagues. Jim was a star almost instantly, winning 23 for the Detroit Dynamos as a 20 year old rookie in 1909 and would win 4 WCS and a pair of Whitney Awards with Detroit. In 1919 he suffered a stomach strain which, at the age of 30 was his first serious injury. Some say he tried to come back from that injury too quickly, altering his windup slightly and they blame that for the career ending back injury he suffered the following season. His 8 career WCS wins remain a FABL post-season record and only the great Woody Trease fanned more than the 49 Golden struck out in WCS play. Long-time Brooklyn great Danny Goff is second with 252 wins while the top active 'G' is Detroit's Sergio Gonzales at 85-65. H: MORRIS HARRIS 319 1892-1906 Another player who was done early as Harris did not pitch after turning 33. He had some big years before the turn of the century including a Federal Association leading 35-7 1895 campaign for the Gothams. Much travelled, like the previously mentioned Alexander Elliott, Morris Harris pitched for 8 different FABL teams in his career: Boston, Brooklyn, Chiefs, Cougars, Gothams, Stars, Sailors and Washington and was on 3 WCS winner. The active leader in H is Joe Hancock (89-61) of Toronto with Red Hampton (83-80) of the Chiefs and the Stars Boyd Harper (83-76 tied for second. I: MICHAEL IVORY 75 1919-1930 One of just 2 pitchers who's last name starts with I to win a FABL game, Ivory pitcher for Toronto, the Cougars and St Louis with his best season being a 17-4 showing for Chicago in 1922, when he also won a WCS game helping the Cougars past Washington in 5. The other I is Hal Ingram, who went 1-8 for Pittsburgh and the Gothams between 1913-15. J: BIG GEORGE JOHNSON 311 1907-1926 A recent Hall of Fame inductee and current pitching coach of the Cincinnati Cannons, Johnson was a dominant pitcher for the Boston Minutemen between 1912-1923 but started and ended his career with the Washington Eagles. He is the most recent pitcher to record his 300th win, with Johnson's coming in 1925. The active leader is one of Big George's players in Cincinnati as William Jones (187-137), who pitched primarily for the Sailors, leads the way ahead of Pittsburgh's Karl Johnson (153-142). K: SAM KING 177 1888-1898 19th century star King won nearly half of his games prior to the creation of FABL but will soon be passed by Bill Ketterman of Pittsburgh, who at 175-154 is the active leader. L: JACK LONG 339 1902-1919 Long was a star for the Chicago Cougars for well over a decade before finishing his career with the Toronto Wolves. Only Allan Allen (514), Charlie Sis (395) and Aaron Wright (341) won more games in FABL than Long, who along with Wright are the only two out of nine pitchers with 320 or more wins not to be in the Hall of Fame yet. Long led the CA in losses twice but never led in any of the pitching triple crown categories. A pair of current Chicago Cougars are 1-2 among active 'L' pitchers in Jim Lonardo (216-157) and Dick Lyons (201-145). M: MIKE MARNER 325 1907-1918 The long-time Baltimore Clippers ace, who finished his career with stops in Detroit, Brooklyn and Washington leads the way among the M's. He led the CA in wins as a 19 year old rookie with 34 and topped the loop each of his first six seasons and seven of eight. He played in 4 WCS with Baltimore, going 4-4 and being on the winning side in three of them. Marner was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1938 and is third all-time in K's trailing only Charlie Sis and Bill Temple as well as 6th in career wins. The active leader is Oscar Morse (152-140), who is now 36 and was just released by the Chiefs this week with Mike Murphy of Detroit (138-92) and Boston's Art Myers (132-112) not far behind. N: DON NOFTALL 282 1891-1903 Leads by a wide margin and is another one of those guys in the late 19th century that bounced around as Noftall suited up for 7 different FABL clubs between the league's creation in 1892 and his retirement 11 years later. He did win a pair of WCS titles for the Cougars in 1899 and 1900 and went 61-30 for the club those two seasons. Number two among the N's is current Philadelphia Sailors veteran pitcher Doc Newell (124-110). Newell also happens to be the only player in FABL history to throw three no-hitters. Only Bill Temple (who leads the T's in wins) and John Blackburn have thrown two. O: RUDY OSMOND 106 1918-1927 Spent a decade with the New York Stars highlighted by an 18-13 season in 1922 and was part of their record 3 straight WCS titles between 1924-26. If we choose to include minor league stats our all-time leader among the O's is much more impressive as Hartigan O'Carroll went 343-325 in a 20 year career that began way back in 1876 - the first year of professional baseball. Most of his wins came for New Orleans and Memphis in the Dixie League but he did go 103-103 as a major league primarily with the Chicago Chiefs. The active Major League leader is actually pitching in the Lone Star Association right now. Ken Owens was recently let go by the Eagles, for whom he went 4-8 over parts of 4 seasons before signing with Pueblo in the fall. 25 year old Don Orr is with St Louis but he has just one big league win and is 1-1 over parts of two seasons as a reliever for the Pioneers. P: JERRY PARIS 264 1884-1898 Not a guy I would have thought of, Paris led the Border Association in wins with Cincinnati in 1884 and 1885 and later pitched in FABL for Detroit, the Cougars, Cleveland, the Gothams and Washington. He won a Border Association title with the Monarchs and then claimed a WCS win as a member of the 1896 Gothams, for whom he went 2-1 that year in the WCS. Surprisingly perhaps, but no other pitcher who's last name starts with P has won even 150 FABL games. The active leader is Roger Perry (110-61), who was recently traded from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati. Q: EDDIE QUINN 121 1930-present Shares the distinction with Rabbit Day and Les Zoller as being the only active players to lead in wins by letter. Much maligned through no fault of his own because of that infamous 1925 draft day deal that Toronto traded up to take him second overall, Quinn has carved out a nice career highlighted by a pair of all-star appearances, a WCS win with Cleveland in 1934 and a 20 win season in Washington two years ago. Now 34 and a Chicago Cougar, the club is hoping he can bounce back from a serious arm injury suffered last June. Only two other 'Q' pitchers have at least one FABL victory: they are Jake Quarels, who went 14-5 for three teams between 1895 and 1898, and Elijah Queen, who was just 12-14 for his career despite pitching in 149 FABL games with all but 3 in relief between 1893-1901. We also have Ike Quinn, who made 4 appearances for the 1935 Washington Eagles including 2 starts but went 0-1 and is now retired. Be aware that Philadelphia Keystones prospect Joe Quade will almost certainly expand that list some time in the next few years. R: WILLIE RHINEHARDT 313 1887-1901 99 of his wins came with Cincinnati in the Border Association prior to the formation of FABL but he did have 8 straight 20-plus win seasons after the creation of FABL but he pitched with six different teams during that stretch. Two other R pitchers won over 200 games in Preston Royal (269-221), a turn of the century pitcher who led his league in wins twice but pitched for 6 different teams over his 13 year career, and Bill Ross, who retired 5 years ago after winning 230 games and 3 WCS titles for the Cougars and Keystones. Our active leader is Cleveland's Dave Rankin (119-164) despite a career record that is clearly slanted to the losing side of the ledger. S: CHARLIE SIS 395 1903-1921 No doubt the leader here is the Hall of Famer who pitched 3 seasons for St Louis before going on to have a dominant career in Toronto. Sis is second all-time in wins behind only Double Al. With 249 victories Mose Smith is a distant number two while the active leader is Pittsburgh's Charlie Stedman (218-197) followed by Joe Shafner (165-137) of Detroit. T: WOODY TREASE 325 1901-1912 Another of those legendary pitchers of the first two decades of this century who retired far too early. Trease broke in with Boston in 1901 and played in 5 WCS for the Minutemen before appearing in 3 more after his trade to Detroit. He owns nearly every WCS career record as he has started more games, completed more games and pitched more innings in the Series than any other player. His record in post-season baseball was a very pedestrian 7-8 and he was on the winning side only 3 of the 8 times but one of those was 1903 when he was named the Series MVP. His 325 career wins ties him with fellow Hall of Famer Mike Marner for 6th all-time. He is still active in baseball as a manager at AAA San Francisco and has won 11 minor league pennants as a skipper. A member of one of the most prominent families in the sport, Woody's father Lynwood was a former big league catcher and manager, and came out of retirement to catch Woody in a 1904 game. His uncle Frank Trease also played and managed in FABL while Woody's son Lyn Trease is a minor leaguer in the Brooklyn Kings system currently. The active leader among the T's is Cleveland's Ben Turner (99-84) with a slight lead on Chicago Chief righthander George Thomas (95-109). U: HAL UPTON 6 1932-1935 Upton went 5-5 for the Sailors as a reliever in 1934 and pitched parts of two other seasons with the club. He did win 97 more games as a minor leaguer before retiring in 1939. The are no active pitchers with FABL wins among the U's but Keystones 22 year old prospect Connie Upchurch is 29-37 over 4 seasons in the minors. And there are a pair of draft eligible U's that might get selected in June in Bob Umstead of Kit Carson University and Illinois high school senior Earl Ulrich. V: JAKE VERMILLION 125 1908-1913 Started with Toronto but spent most of his 6 year big league career with the New York Stars. Four times Vermillion was a 20 game winner including a career best 26-14 as a 24 year old in 1909 but after an 18-16 showing as a 28 year old in 1913 he never pitched in the big leagues again, retiring following the 1920 season after bouncing around the minors for half a dozen odd years. He is one of those guys I wish I could find out more about as he seemed like a very solid pitcher but just suddenly was deemed not needed despite posting a 115 ERA+ in his final big league season. Our active leader among the V's is Sam Vaughan of the Chicago Chiefs at 8-4 but Brooklyn's Sergio Vergara (2-9) deserves watching as the 25 year old was once an 11th ranked prospect. W: AARON WRIGHT 341 1899-1915 In Aaron Wright and Charlie Wilson (332-190) the W's join the A's (Allan Allen and Price Adams) as the only letter with a pair of 300 game winners. Wright is third all-time in wins trailing only Double-A and Charlie Sis but he, unlike Wilson, is not yet in the Hall of Fame. He had durability on his side, pitching at least 300 innings 17 of his 19 seasons and missing by less than 6 innings in the other two years but he never led his Association in any triple crown stat. Bill West, who pitched for Washington from 1904-1917 nearly made it 3 W pitchers with 300+ W's, but fell just short settling for 291. Our active leader is Ed Wood (130-103) of Boston with Tommy Wilcox, who is now with independent Sacramento, second among active pitchers in the W's with a 91-84 record. X: no players No one with X to as the first letter of his last name ever pitched in the minors or FABL. Y: BOB YOUNG 195 1908-1920 Young split his 13 year career almost equally between St Louis and Detroit and won 3 WCS titles with the Dynamos. He only won 20 games once, in 1919 when he went 20-19 for the Pioneers but led the Fed in losses three times and lost at least twenty six straight years which helps explain his (195-235) losing record overall. He was pretty good in the WCS, going 3-2 but posting a 1.80 era in his 5 starts. No currently active pitcher who's last name starts with 'Y' has won a FABL game but Washington's 20 year old Jackie Yates is 23-27 in Class A/B/C combined. Every pitcher with at least one major league win in his career among the Y's is named Young: Code: NAME FABL REC YEARS[/b] Bob Young 195-235 1908-1920 Alex Young 107-114 1888-1895 Henry Young 75-89 1883-1890 Sam Young 28-36 1925-1936 George Young 23-15 1884-1887 William Young 11-16 1925-1932 Jake Young 7-9 1926-1928 Jim Young 3-3 1925 Z: Les Zoller 61 1931-current Zoller has been with the Stars nearly as long as Dave Trowbridge and was on both their 1932 and 1939 World Championship winning teams and made one appearance in relief in each series. He has more big league wins than every other player who's name starts with Z combined: Ike Zuckerman (10-10), Dutch Ziegler (6-3) and Edgar Zanueta (3-8). If we include all levels than the Z leader is Zanueta, who went 3-8 for the 1920 Brooklyn Kings but was 133-131 for his career including 12-13 at Mississippi A&M and a lot of years with the Houston Bulls when they were a AAA club. Some thoughts at the midway point of Keystones camp: The big news in camp is Davey Robicheaux, who has hit everything and is currently leading the team in hits (14), RBI (10), home runs (3) and runs scored (6) through two weeks of exhibition play. Admittedly, he has gotten more playing time than some of the established players, which explains why he leads in so many categories, but he is definitely ready for the big time. Could Robicheaux's early success be causing Hank Koblenz to grip his bat a little too tight? Hard Boiled Henry is only hitting .194 with two weeks left on the schedule, while George Wright understands the urgency of what might be his last chance to hang on to the big club, going 7-for-17 with two doubles. This might be the end of the line for Carl Ames, as he has been the third-best catcher in camp behind starter Walt Potter and Charlie Gump. Ames is 1-for-8 with three strikeouts, but sources say he'll have a few extra at-bats this week to make his case for a pinch-hitting role. I have received a lot of mail about Doug Lightbody, so I will report on what I see and what I know about the Mississippi Mouth. He has the backup first-baseman's job almost locked up, going 4-for-13 so far this Spring, including 4 for his last 7. Austin Moore, a key competitor for the job, is struggling at the plate (2-for-14) and Gene Mathews, as expected, was sent to the minor leagues. Believe it or not, the challenge for Lightbody's playing time at first might come from Marshall Strickland, who is making his case for cutting into Billy Woytek's time at second base. Woytek, in those cases, would easily slide over to first to spell Hans Wright. But, as far as making the team, Lightbody has an excellent chance. You could say that Ames might face longer odds if Strickland and Lightbody keep it up. Ed Greenwood's struggles (1-for-17) has allowed Tony Pestilli to stick around for a backup outfield spot. Pestilli, whose highest level is Single A Allentown, brought his brand of defense and hustle to the club, but it is still Greenwood's job to lose. The pitching has been very good this Spring. Bud Canfield may be the odd man out of the rotation, but Henry Shaffer has not overly impressed the Keystones brass. The relief corps has been extremely good and the cuts may come down to the players with remaining minor league options, which could spell doom for Scotty Thomas and Don Fluharty. There are many more happy faces in Gothams camp this seasons. They're managing to win more often than lose and at 8-5 for tied for the best spring mark in baseball. The roster is shaping up with the move of a few players to minor league camp and those expected to lead the team are playing like it, for the most part. The rotation has looked pretty good. Gus Goulding, Rusty Petrick, Harry Carter and Fred Ratcliffe have been reliable, and Bunny Edwards, while still plagues by control issues, has manage to dance through fires of his own making. Charlie Sutton has had his troubles and will work out of the pen while Manager Ed Ziehl takes a look at other options. In the pen, several arms are looking good and will cause some headaches come cutdown day. On the offensive side the team is nearly set. The younger infielders, sans Walt Messer (.233,2,3), are hitting well. Hub Parks (.310,2,8) had a very good second week and Leon Drake continues to mash balls into the gaps. The only concerns at the moment are Mel Alvarez (.192,0,4) and Bud Jameson (.143,1,3), both vets who should be expected to be ready come opening day. Final roster battles are limited to the middle infield reserve role and outfield bench. Top hitters this spring - Leon Drake (.458-2-4), Billy Dalton (.424-4-9) and Mule Monier (.367-0-4) QUICK HITS Is there a better story this spring than what Sig Stofer has done in two weeks at Eagles camp. The Boardwalk Bopper is living up to his name with a FABL leading 6 homers and 11 rbi's in 27 at bats so far. The 24 year old, who came over from the Keystones last July, is batting .370 and also has walked 7 times. Stofer hit 11 homers in 41 games after the Eagles acquired him so his power output may be more than just a spring phase. He did not start this week but Tom Barrell had another solid outing in his only appearance for the Pittsburgh Miners this week. Count me as a card-carrying member of the Tom Barrell fan club. I can't see it happening but wouldn't it be great to see Barrell win an Allen Award in the Fed, allowing him to join Rabbit Day as the only pitchers with at least one in each association. Surprisingly, while Day is the only dual-association Allen winner there have been 3 Whitney Award winners to do the trick. Can you name them? Answer at the bottom of quick hits. The other newcomer on the mound for Pittsburgh is also having a solid start to his spring. George Phillips, who came over from the New York Stars for whom he won 14 games last season, did not allow a run in either of his two outings for the Miners. 23 year old Mal Bianco continues to impress for the St Louis Pioneers. The 1939 first rounder pitched 4 more shutout innings this week and has a 0.73 era in 3 spring starts. The Cincinnati Cannons sign Andy Carter to a minor league deal with an option. Can't see him making the big club but the Cannons hope is he decides he is happy in AAA and gives them some injury depth. Teams were certainly not beating Carter's door down as his attitude, combined with reduced production the past couple of seasons, left even independent teams unwilling to touch the 35 year old former two-time all-star. Staying with Cincinnati, last year's second overall pick Bill Sohl had a terrific second spring outing allowing just 2 singles over 4 innings of work. That earned the 22 year old a couple more starts to prove he should begin the season in Cincinnati instead of AAA Indianapolis as the Cannons brass had planned. Few minor moves made in Toronto camp but the real crunch will come next week, the waiver wire could be active with some tough decisions to be made by the Wolves brass who are expected to return virtually everyone from last October's championship club. n the Chiefs camp, there are some interesting battles going on for the last few spots on the pitching staff. One player that has opened some eyes is Ralph Kendall (who came over from the Cougars in the Cliff Moss trade). Just before camp, Kendall had upped his fastball to the 96-98 mph range. In camp, he has struck out 25% of the batters he has faced (8 IP, 8 K, 2 BB). He's increased his chances of breaking camp with the big league club. Lou Eaker--who came over in the same trade--also looked impressive this spring, but 23 year old righthander has been reassigned to class AA Memphis. Si Crocker is having a really nice spring for the Boston Minutemen. The former 4th rounder was a N.R.I and has made the most of his time. For the spring he is 9-19 (.529) with a triple, two homers and 10 RBI's. The young 22 year old has steadily moved up through the system but at 81 games in AAA Columbus last season he only hit .233 with double the strikeouts to walks. While his output this spring has been very encouraging the Minutemen do not plan to carry 6 outfielders going into opening day. So some decision will have to be made. Right now the Minutemen are down to 29 players in camp with 11 of them being pitchers. Currently, the Boston brass is having a really difficult time figuring who should be the 3 arms to go to Columbus. There is a lot of competition going into the last two weeks of camp. The Minutemen are shopping 26 year old pitcher Joe Foote, who went 1-4 with 4 saves for the club last season. Foote is out of options and likely will not make the final 24 man roster that heads north to Boston. The Stars are looking to move long-time backup catcher Mike Burkholder as he will be the odd-man out with the addition of Joe Rainbow to challenge Johnny Hopper for the starting job. The 34 year old Burkholder hit .296 last season. Trivia answer. The Whitney Award winners with at least one in each league are Max Morris, T.R. Goins and Al Wheeler. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 3/30/1941 Britain took the war to the heart of Nazi Germany, dropping 10,000 bombs and explosives on Berlin. Yugoslavia was forced to accept Axis terms and join with them but did so in a way that split the country due to the threat of a civil war so Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia will all sign separate pacts with Germany. The plan to avoid civil war failed as the Yugoslav army coup ousted pro-Nazi government officials, prompting the US to pledge aid to the uprisers. Danger of Germany-Japan pact collapsing as Hitler warns Tokio to formulate a definite Anglo-American policy or run the risk of not receiving Axis support. British and Greek forces report a major naval victory over the Italians in the biggest sea engagement of the war. Germany has extended the reach of it's patrols to Iceland in an effort to expand their blockade and prevent American shipments from reaching Britain. Several conveys of undisclosed origin were sunk this week by Nazi patrols. Britain forecasts the crux of the battle of Britain will occur in the next few months in the North Atlantic and if the British win they "will go into the home stretch." Violence in Chicago and central Pennsylvania as striking factory workers clashed with police, in yet more job action that threatens the production of military equipment and supplies. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 02-14-2022 at 02:17 PM.