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Jiggs McGee · 02-18-2022, 01:28 PM

APRIL 21, 1941

BASEBALL IS BACK!

Any concerns the Detroit Dynamos might have had about Sal Pestilli's poor spring vanished very quickly as the 25 year old outfielder homered in each of Detroit's first two games and helped the Dynamos to a 5-1 start, the best in either association. There were some rumblings after Pestilli struggled most of the spring before picking up the pace in the final few games. Still his .229 Citrus League average was worrisome especially when considering his batting average was .307 in 1938 but fell to .258 in '39 and dropped further to .249 last season. It turns out the struggles at the dish in Florida meant nothing, at least to start the season, as Pestilli hit .375 with 3 homers and 6 rbi's in Detroit's first six games.

The news was not all good for the Dynamos as newly acquired pitcher Nate Spear lasted just one inning before suffering yet another injury. This time it was back problems for the often-injured 25 year old who came over from the Gothams during the winter. Spear will be sidelined at least until the all-star break, dashing Detroit's hopes of having him fill the void in the rotation created by Frank Crawford's injury. Crawford is expected back early next month.

QUICK HITS

The Cannons are reeling after the news that All-Star catcher Adam Mullins will miss 6 weeks after hurting his leg in his second game in Cincinnati. Mullins injury leaves the Cannons catching situation with a lot of question marks. It looks like 29 year old career minor leaguer Buster Farrar gets the starting job although there is some talk the Cannons are considering bringing 20 year old Rick York up from AA if Farrar struggles.
It was not the week the 2-4 Cannons had planned as in addition to the Mullins injury, Cincinnati also saw young ace Deuce Barrell get rocked twice and all-star outfielder Moxie Pidgeon start the season by going 3-for-25 with no extra base hits.
Deuce's former teammate Gus Goulding also had a pair of terrible outings for the New York Gothams in the opening week. Gothams fans are excited with Walt Messer's start, as the young first baseman hit .318 with a pair of homers. Two other pieces of the 'Million-Dollar Infield' also fared well to start the season as Billy Dalton and Roosevelt Brewer looked very good.
Patience is wearing thin in New York with Bunny Edwards. The 25 year old has always been an OSA darling and threw a no-hitter in the minors but he struggled mightily with the Gothams each of the past two seasons. Walks have been a big reason why and judging by his first start this season nothing has changed. Edwards gave up 5 earned runs and walked 8 in just 5 innings of work against Detroit. No loss for him this time (he is 7-16 for his career) because the Gothams managed to pull out a 6-5 victory.
Boston apparently cannot field the ball. 12 errors in the first 6 games. Bright side is they are pitching well and scoring runs.
The Pioneers started the season with five consecutive complete games but due to a lack of offense went just 2-3. The bullpen didn't see action until David Abalo took the mound Sunday and was removed after seven innings and two earned runs. Meanwhile Buddy Long, demoted to AAA Oakland, tossed a complete game shutout in his debut.
Some more fancy numbers from Percy Sutherland. This time on the subject of stolen bases:
Looking at it in terms of run events, your success rate at stealing bases needs to be about 67% just to break even. There were 25 players in the FABL in 1940 who stole at least 10 bases (led by Washington's Don Miller's 34). Of those, only 4 had a success rate of at least 67%. The Miners Pablo Reyes and his 32 stolen bases (2nd to Miller) produced just 1.1 in run value. The most valuable base stealer was Chick Donnelly of Boston, whose 10 swiped bags produced a 2.3 run value. The least valuable was Brooklyn's Rats McGonigle--his 11 stolen bases and 44% success rate "produced" a -3.7 run value. Don Miller? With 34 steals and a 58.6% success rate, he cost his club over 3 runs with his larceny (-3.4).

A little redemption for Rats McGonigle. Removing the 10 stolen bases filter, you find that Boston's Pete Day was the least valuable. He stole 4 bases with a 25% success rate, which is good for a -4.7 run value.

Poor Jack Bush of Washington. He was "good" for -33.2 batting runs last season. His base running wasn't any better: -5.2. So his offensive contributions cost the Eagles 38.4 runs in 1940. Assuming 9 runs per win that's a negative 4.2 wins. No matter how good his glove is, that's hard to make up
First week for Peter the Heater: 2 W, 17 IP, 6 BB, 19 K. The Chicago Cougars also got a big week out of veteran John Lawson. Last year's Whitney Winner picked up right where he left off, taking home Player of the Week. The 38-year-old was 12-for-29 (.414) with a homer and 7 RBIs
Sal Pestilli shook off a sluggish spring and hit 375 with 3 home runs and 7 RBI's in the first week. He now stands at 144 career home runs and will likely hit his 150th before Decoration Day at the end of May. Freddie Farhat of the Detroit World suggests Pestilli probably had a real shot at 500 homers but Farhat's suspicion is the war might claim some of his seasons. Maybe he still gets there, as he will like be at 200+ at the end of the 1942 if he stays healthy and out of the draft.
With the injury to Nate Spear, Detroit's acquisition of Bobo White looms even more important. White, acquired from Washington for a late draft pick, would have started at AAA to just regain some confidence is now being thrust into the rotation in place of the Spearman. The decision was between Whetzel and White but after looking at White's spring with DC, Dynamos brass decided to let Whetzel continue to refine his pitches at Newark for now.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 4/20/1941

Nazi forces continue their advance in Greece, making gains both against Greek forces in the mountains to the north and British troops along Salonika Gulf. By the weekend the Germans had planted their flag on Mt. Olympus.
Britain is having a little more success in Libya this week, reporting several successful bombing runs on German and Italian columns in north Africa.
Trading blow for blow, R.A.F. bombers ripped into the German naval base of Kiel while Nazi raiders delivered savage aerial attacks on widely scattered English towns and then hurled their heaviest bomb concentrations at Northern Ireland, with a heavy death toll reported in Belfast. The week end with London in flames following a devastating attack.
Britain announced plans to destroy historic landmarks in Rome should the Axis powers do the same and attack Athens. British sources also say they have learned the Italians plan to destroy Vatican City with captured British bombs should an attack be carried out on Rome.
A man arrested on a $7 robbery confessed to Long Island police he was a Nazi Gestapo spy and was promised a job in 'actual sabotage work' by the German Consul's office. He had a swastika branded on his left arm which led to a long line of questioning that eventually revealed he entered the country illegally.

02-18-2022, 01:28 PM	#361
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	April 21, 1941 Regular Season begins APRIL 21, 1941 BASEBALL IS BACK! Any concerns the Detroit Dynamos might have had about Sal Pestilli's poor spring vanished very quickly as the 25 year old outfielder homered in each of Detroit's first two games and helped the Dynamos to a 5-1 start, the best in either association. There were some rumblings after Pestilli struggled most of the spring before picking up the pace in the final few games. Still his .229 Citrus League average was worrisome especially when considering his batting average was .307 in 1938 but fell to .258 in '39 and dropped further to .249 last season. It turns out the struggles at the dish in Florida meant nothing, at least to start the season, as Pestilli hit .375 with 3 homers and 6 rbi's in Detroit's first six games. The news was not all good for the Dynamos as newly acquired pitcher Nate Spear lasted just one inning before suffering yet another injury. This time it was back problems for the often-injured 25 year old who came over from the Gothams during the winter. Spear will be sidelined at least until the all-star break, dashing Detroit's hopes of having him fill the void in the rotation created by Frank Crawford's injury. Crawford is expected back early next month. QUICK HITS The Cannons are reeling after the news that All-Star catcher Adam Mullins will miss 6 weeks after hurting his leg in his second game in Cincinnati. Mullins injury leaves the Cannons catching situation with a lot of question marks. It looks like 29 year old career minor leaguer Buster Farrar gets the starting job although there is some talk the Cannons are considering bringing 20 year old Rick York up from AA if Farrar struggles. It was not the week the 2-4 Cannons had planned as in addition to the Mullins injury, Cincinnati also saw young ace Deuce Barrell get rocked twice and all-star outfielder Moxie Pidgeon start the season by going 3-for-25 with no extra base hits. Deuce's former teammate Gus Goulding also had a pair of terrible outings for the New York Gothams in the opening week. Gothams fans are excited with Walt Messer's start, as the young first baseman hit .318 with a pair of homers. Two other pieces of the 'Million-Dollar Infield' also fared well to start the season as Billy Dalton and Roosevelt Brewer looked very good. Patience is wearing thin in New York with Bunny Edwards. The 25 year old has always been an OSA darling and threw a no-hitter in the minors but he struggled mightily with the Gothams each of the past two seasons. Walks have been a big reason why and judging by his first start this season nothing has changed. Edwards gave up 5 earned runs and walked 8 in just 5 innings of work against Detroit. No loss for him this time (he is 7-16 for his career) because the Gothams managed to pull out a 6-5 victory. Boston apparently cannot field the ball. 12 errors in the first 6 games. Bright side is they are pitching well and scoring runs. The Pioneers started the season with five consecutive complete games but due to a lack of offense went just 2-3. The bullpen didn't see action until David Abalo took the mound Sunday and was removed after seven innings and two earned runs. Meanwhile Buddy Long, demoted to AAA Oakland, tossed a complete game shutout in his debut. Some more fancy numbers from Percy Sutherland. This time on the subject of stolen bases: Looking at it in terms of run events, your success rate at stealing bases needs to be about 67% just to break even. There were 25 players in the FABL in 1940 who stole at least 10 bases (led by Washington's Don Miller's 34). Of those, only 4 had a success rate of at least 67%. The Miners Pablo Reyes and his 32 stolen bases (2nd to Miller) produced just 1.1 in run value. The most valuable base stealer was Chick Donnelly of Boston, whose 10 swiped bags produced a 2.3 run value. The least valuable was Brooklyn's Rats McGonigle--his 11 stolen bases and 44% success rate "produced" a -3.7 run value. Don Miller? With 34 steals and a 58.6% success rate, he cost his club over 3 runs with his larceny (-3.4). A little redemption for Rats McGonigle. Removing the 10 stolen bases filter, you find that Boston's Pete Day was the least valuable. He stole 4 bases with a 25% success rate, which is good for a -4.7 run value. Poor Jack Bush of Washington. He was "good" for -33.2 batting runs last season. His base running wasn't any better: -5.2. So his offensive contributions cost the Eagles 38.4 runs in 1940. Assuming 9 runs per win that's a negative 4.2 wins. No matter how good his glove is, that's hard to make up First week for Peter the Heater: 2 W, 17 IP, 6 BB, 19 K. The Chicago Cougars also got a big week out of veteran John Lawson. Last year's Whitney Winner picked up right where he left off, taking home Player of the Week. The 38-year-old was 12-for-29 (.414) with a homer and 7 RBIs Sal Pestilli shook off a sluggish spring and hit 375 with 3 home runs and 7 RBI's in the first week. He now stands at 144 career home runs and will likely hit his 150th before Decoration Day at the end of May. Freddie Farhat of the Detroit World suggests Pestilli probably had a real shot at 500 homers but Farhat's suspicion is the war might claim some of his seasons. Maybe he still gets there, as he will like be at 200+ at the end of the 1942 if he stays healthy and out of the draft. With the injury to Nate Spear, Detroit's acquisition of Bobo White looms even more important. White, acquired from Washington for a late draft pick, would have started at AAA to just regain some confidence is now being thrust into the rotation in place of the Spearman. The decision was between Whetzel and White but after looking at White's spring with DC, Dynamos brass decided to let Whetzel continue to refine his pitches at Newark for now. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 4/20/1941 Nazi forces continue their advance in Greece, making gains both against Greek forces in the mountains to the north and British troops along Salonika Gulf. By the weekend the Germans had planted their flag on Mt. Olympus. Britain is having a little more success in Libya this week, reporting several successful bombing runs on German and Italian columns in north Africa. Trading blow for blow, R.A.F. bombers ripped into the German naval base of Kiel while Nazi raiders delivered savage aerial attacks on widely scattered English towns and then hurled their heaviest bomb concentrations at Northern Ireland, with a heavy death toll reported in Belfast. The week end with London in flames following a devastating attack. Britain announced plans to destroy historic landmarks in Rome should the Axis powers do the same and attack Athens. British sources also say they have learned the Italians plan to destroy Vatican City with captured British bombs should an attack be carried out on Rome. A man arrested on a $7 robbery confessed to Long Island police he was a Nazi Gestapo spy and was promised a job in 'actual sabotage work' by the German Consul's office. He had a swastika branded on his left arm which led to a long line of questioning that eventually revealed he entered the country illegally. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 02-18-2022 at 01:38 PM.