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Jiggs McGee · 02-23-2022, 12:31 PM

MAY 12, 1941

WOLVES MCCORMICK TO REPORT FOR MILITARY DUTY

The Toronto Wolves learned late last week that Whitney Award winning first baseman Fred McCormick will be lost to the team for the next 12 months as McCormick will be inducted into the Army tomorrow. The news is not a complete surprise as the Wolves had been made aware of McCormick's draft status but they had hoped an appeal for a deferment would be granted. However, on Thursday McCormick learned his request to defer on financial grounds had been declined and the club was informed that same day.

McCormick was one of a quartet of top-level FABL players who recently received a draft notice, but became the only one of the four to have his deferment request denied. McCormick left his teammates in Philadelphia immediately following Sunday's game with the Sailors. Asked about having his salary shrink from $27,500 a year to $21 a week, he replied “”I made up my mind to go when I was called. My country comes first.”

The 31 year old 7-time all-star had hoped the need to support his family would grant him the chance to finish the season and join the army in October but it was ruled his investments would provide sufficient income so his claim was not accepted. Three other all-stars: Pittsburgh's George Cleaves, Cleveland's Mel Carrol and Philadelphia Keystones slugger Bobby Barrell were all successful in their deferment requests and will not be required to report at this time. However, that could change in the future.

McCormick played for the Wolves in their weekend series against the Philadelphia Sailors but will miss today's series finale as he boarded a train to return to his home on a farm just outside of Dayton, Ohio. He will be inducted in Dayton on Tuesday morning. Ironically, Tuesday is the day the Wolves are slated to raise their World Championship banner at Dominion Stadium in advance of a game with Montreal. There was talk McCormick's draft center would allow him to arrive Thursday so that he could participate in the flag raising ceremony in Toronto but he declined, saying he did want any preferential treatment.

The 31 year old began his big league career with St Louis in 1931 before being dealt to the Wolves prior to the 1938 season. He immediately dominated Continental Association pitching, winning the CA batting title and the Whitney Award each of his first two seasons including a triple crown winning performance in 1939 when the Wolves came within 2 games of winning their first pennant since 1911. Last year they finally got that pennant and followed it up with a WCS win over the Pittsburgh Miners behind a dominant playoff performance from McCormick, who hit .500 (9-for-18) in the Series and was named WCS Most Valuable Player.

Rumor has it that McCormick will train as a tank gunner. While the United States currently remains neutral, McCormick plays his home games in Canada, which is already at war and though Wolves fans will miss McCormick's bat, they are astute enough to realize that if (or when) the U.S. joins the fray, they'll still have "The Reticent Reaper" on their side.

Fred McCormick drafted are words that will stay in the Toronto fans memory for generations. The Wolves are still trying to sort out all the fall-out from McCormick's departure but Walter Pack had been working with coach Dick Dennis at First base since Fred received his notice from the draft board. The initial plan is as pundits predicted Pack to first, Holiday on his way from Buffalo to man the hot corner.

Other options discussed were moving either Larry Vestal or Tom Frederick to first but they were dismissed in favour of the Pack/Holiday plan. Pack's shift across the diamond will be closely monitored to see if either of the other plans need to be brought forward in the future.

In a statement released this morning the Wolves organization wishes Fred well during his 12-month hitch above all to stay safe before his return to Toronto. Manager Charlie Reed held a closed door meeting with the team after McCormick left, sources say that Reed told the team that Fred is not the first and probably will not be the last player lost to a team during these unsettled times, the team has a 130 games left in the season to repeat as World Champions so everyone will have to dig a little deeper to pick up the slack left with their 1B departure.

RELIEVED MINERS FOCUSED ON RETURN TO SERIES

With concerns of losing George Cleaves to the army behind them, at least for now, the Pittsburgh Miners have returned their full attention to winning a third consecutive Federal Association pennant - and fourth in five years. There was plenty of worry the season would be lost when Cleaves number came up with the draft board in his home state of New Jersey but he was able to secure a deferment which should keep him in the Miners lineup for the rest of the season. Had they lost their all-star catcher the pennant talk would likely have left town along with the 27 year old star but instead Miners fans are celebrating both Cleaves staying put and a 7-3 start to May which gives Pittsburgh a 1.5 game cushion atop the Fed standings.

The Miners did drop a pair of games last week, falling twice to the surprising St Louis Pioneers, a club that was dead last in the Fed a year ago but now, thanks to an 11-4 stretch, is right there with Detroit in second place. St Louis was not as bad as they proved to be last year and while some might question if they are really good enough to stick around in the pennant race beyond the All-Star break long suffering fans in Missouri are enjoying the moment. The Pioneers do have limited power but they are getting on base and led the Fed in runs scored thanks to a group led by catcher Heinie Zimmer (.341,2,9) and 22 year old shortstop Luke Micheals (.367,0,19). Add in young Danny Hern (4-1, 2.04) and a motivated Buddy Long (3-0, 2.67), who has been solid since his recall from AAA Oakland, and the Pioneers do have a lot to look forward to. St Louis does have a big series coming up starting tomorrow when they have a rematch vs the Miners but this time it will be at Pittsburgh's Fitzpatrick Park.

The Continental Association remains a two-horse race with the New York Stars leading the way with the Chicago Cougars trying to keep pace. Bill Barrett (.430,11,33) continues to be a one man wrecking crew for the Stars as the 21 year old phenom hit 3 more homers this week while batting .565 to claim the CA player of the week award.

Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Toronto all continue to struggle in the Continental and the loss of Fred McCormick seems to indicate it is very unlikely the Wolves will be around in October to to defend their WCS win. One team that is making waves is the Brooklyn Kings, who have won 11 of their last 13 games and are reminding fans of the glory days from not so long ago. One has to wonder how long that feeling will last as while the Kings offense, led by a pair of Frank's in LeMieux (.395,2,13) and Lightbody (.375,1,9), has been strong their pitching has not looked very good.

CANNONS PERRY FIRES NO-HITTER

There has been little to celebrate in the early going for the Cincinnati Cannons but last week gave the club a rare positive moment as pitcher Roger Perry fired a no-hitter in an 8-0 win at Montreal. Perry's special game was the first in FABL in nearly two years and the first in franchise history since Les McCants threw one for the Baltimore Clippers, as they were known back then, in 1892. The no-hitter is the first in the CA since Doc Newell tossed one for the Sailors against Brooklyn in 1938. The only other no-hitter since then was one by Detroit's Jack Wood in 1939.

As for Perry perhaps it is a turning point in his season. It was the first victory of the year in 4 starts for the 33 year old who came over to the Cannons in an off-season deal with Pittsburgh. The 33 year old is 1-2 on the season and 111-63 for his FABL career. He had thrown four 3-hitters in his career including one against the Cannons back in 1932 when he was with Cleveland but never had he gone the distance and allowed less than three hits until last week.

COUGARS ADD ANOTHER VETERAN

The Chicago Cougars acquired veteran first baseman Dick Walker from the Philadelphia Sailors in exchange for a pair of minor league prospects. The 34 year old Walker is a 14 year veteran with over 1,900 FABL games on his resume and adds to the Cougars reputation as the oldest team in FABL. With the addition of Walker half of the Chicago active roster - 12 players in all -are at least 30 years old. The Cougars also get Ossie Grogan, a 25 year old rookie they selected from Philadelphia in the rule five draft. That move simply gives Chicago the ability to demote Grogan to the minor leagues instead of having to return him to Philadelphia if they had attempted to demote him.

Going to Philadelphia are AA infielder Jim McCarthy and Class C first baseman Vince Conforti. McCarthy, a 19 year old taken in the fifth round in 1939 by the Cougars, is ranked 293rd on OSA's prospect list while Conforti, a 20 year old 16th rounder, does not crack the OSA top 500.

JIGGS MCGEE'S TAKE - Walker isn't a flashy power hitting first baseman but he is a solid dependable hitter who draws a lot of walks and looks like an ideal number #2 hitter. He should be a great table setter for John Lawson and Cliff Moss but the only question I have is where do the Cougars plan on playing him? Ray Ford has done a very good job at first base the past few season and in 7 games this season is batting .692 (no that's not a misprint). There is a good a good chance the lefthanded hitting Walker may end up platooning with Ford at first base but he also might be primarily used as a pinch-hitter.

On the Sailors side of the ledger this move removes the final link to the Sailors 1928 WCS winning squad as Walker was a key contributor to 3 straight pennants and a pair of WCS wins for Philadelphia. Neither prospect the Sailors added looks to have much long term potential so this move feels like strictly a cost cutting measure to get Walker's $18,400 salary off the books and perhaps open the door for highly touted 23 year old prospect Johnny Zeidman. Zeidman is a natural third baseman but has some experience at first base so he and/or veteran Marion Boismenu will take over first base duties full-time. Zeidman was selected 11th overall in 1939 out of McNair University in Springfield, Mo. and was hitting .274 through 24 games with AAA San Francisco this season.

The timing of the deal seems unusual for Philadelphia. Yes, Walker is struggling in the early going this season, hitting just .228, but he is drawing walks and his on-base percentage is comparable to the previous two seasons. It feels like the Sailors have made a decision that Walker's best days are behind him.

2000 HITS FOR BOBBY BARRELL

It was good news all around for Bobby Barrell and the Philadelphia Keystones. To start with the club learned the request to defer Barrell's military service until at least the end of the season has been approved so it appears Bobby will be able to finish the season with the Keystones. The next piece of good news is the struggling Keystones managed to win 4 of 6 games this week and perhaps are showing signs of snapping out of a terrible slump, especially at the plate, to start the season.

Barrell, the 30 year old leader of the Keystones crew, had not been subjected to the slump as he was one of the few performing well at the plate, batting .317 with a pair of homers and a team leading 19 rbi's. Among Barrell's 32 hits on the season so far was a special milestone as The Georgia Jolter smacked the 2,000 hit of his career in just his 1,533rd career game. He would add 4 more hits to finish the week but the milestone marker came in a 5-4 loss to Detroit on Wednesday. It was a lead-off single to start the 4th inning of what was at that point a scoreless game with Charlie Wheeler on the hill for the Dynamos. Barrell would later hit a 2-run homer off Wheeler in the 8th inning to give the Keystones a 4-2 lead but they would eventually fall in 10 innings.

Barrell has had pretty good success against Wheeler over his career, hitting .353 (24-for-68) with a pair of homers against the 26 year old Detroit righthander. The pitcher he has had the most hits off of in his career is former Gotham and Chief hurler Jim Lonardo, who is now in the Continental Association with the Chicago Cougars. Barrell has 53 hits against Lonardo with Pittsburgh's Bill Ketterman (46 hits) and Sam Sheppard of St Louis (42 hits) number two and three on the Barrell victim list.

QUICK HITS

There is word that the army has agreed for a pair of professional golfers in their ranks to be allowed to compete in the US Open later this summer. So this brings up an interesting point. If the Toronto Wolves were in a crucial series, why wouldn't it be possible for Private Fred McCormick to come off the 'voluntary retired' list and chase up to Toronto to help the Wolves in some key contests.
From Percy Sutherland and his nephew's fancy numbers: "McCormick just missed hitting .400 in 1939, finishing at .399. If he had that same performance in 1925 when the league batting average was .300, McCormick's average would have been .426."
Cougars and Stars are crushing the CA right now. Luck? Skill? Other teams in a slump? Are they both really that good or are they due for a reality check? All of the above according to Sutherland.
Tough break for the Brooklyn Kings as they learned Rats McGonigle's injury is more serious than first thought. Doctors say the 22 year old outfielder will miss up to 3 months with a knee issue. The third year Kings outfielder was hitting .265 in 8 games this season.
The Montreal Saints are coming off a 4-3 week and at 4 games under .500 are pretty much right where management expected the team to be. There have been some surprises, both good and bad, in the early going. Count infielders Charlie Woodbury (.333,1,12) and Mark Burns (.385,1,12) as those on the positive side of the ledger which forced Spud Bent to AAA after Bent struggled in April. Catcher Ben Richardson (.257,0,6), one of the pieces in the deal that sent Adam Mullins to Cincinnati, had a rough start to the season but rebounded very nicely last week with 9 hits in 17 at bats. On the negative side we have Gary Carmichael (.176,0,3), who looks lost at the plate and forfeited his starting job at third base to Burns. The Saints also want to see more out of top prospect Bill Greene or he may have to go back to AAA Minneapolis.
By far the biggest highlight so far in Montreal has been the pitching of Wally Doyle (6-0, 1.98) as the 22 year old has taken a huge step forward in the early going.
While the Cannons could celebrate Roger Perry's no-hitter it turned out that was the only celebrating done by Cincinnati as the struggling Cannons dropped 5 of 6 games last week to fall to 10-15 on the year. At 9.5 games back of first place New York already in the CA race some in Cannonland are questioning whether the deal for Adam Mullins was worth it. Mullins is hurt and that certainly has an effect on Cincinnati's offense but in truth the club appears right now to be much further away from contention then perhaps they thought they were over the winter. Mullins is obviously a great catcher and a very talented player but would Cincinnati have been better off with Jack Flint, who is doing quite well for himself in Boston, and a boatload of prospects sent to Montreal that they could have developed or packaged for other pieces as they get closer to mounting a serious challenge.
The other school of thought in Cincinnati is this is just one of those years where a club takes a step backwards only to leap two steps forward next season. The Wolves did that with a terrible 1939 following a surprising pennant run in '38 and that experience gained paid off with a title last year. Could Cincinnati's fate be similar?
3 more weeks without Mullins for the Cannons but will he make that much of a difference? Aside from the catcher, the Cannons are the same team as a year ago but the results since the All-Star break last season have not been good…and both Deuce Barrell and William Jones, along with Moxie Pidgeon have played very poorly. But Pidgeon had a decent week this time so perhaps he is on the verge of breaking out of his funk.
More on Mullins as Cannons fans see Jack Flint enjoying success in Boston: Percy Sutherland says "I've always liked Jack Flint. Jack Flint is a really good catcher. But Jack Flint is no Adam Mullins. If I have a chance to acquire an under-28 top 5 catcher, I'm going to take that chance nearly 100% of the time. Picks and prospects are still just picks and prospects. Even if those picks turn into Hall of Famers, I'd consider it a good deal. It's like fans who criticize football teams for going for it on 4th down. If they don't make it, then it's obvious they shouldn't have tried. But that's not how you evaluate decisions."
And the New York Mirror weighs in on Flint pointing out "A top 5 catcher is probably the most valuable commodity right now. We have a ton of OK catchers. Some that can kind of hit well and are average behind the plate. Or some that are great behind the plate but can't hit. Seems to be a rare combination of both. And one that's decent behind the plate and can hit well? A GM would be crazy not to snatch him up given the chance."
While Boston is thrilled with Jack Flint, Doc Shaw explains there is plenty else wrong with the Minutemen. "Utter frustration in Boston as Mack Sutton has been completely awful to start the season. After posting a 126 OPS+ in 1940 Boston fans finally felt they had turned a corner with the young highly touted slugger from Arkansas. Unfortunately this year Sutton is currently hitting .146 and playing sub average defense at 3B.

"The decision has been made to give Art Spencer more time at 3rd as he produced well (without the power) covering for (the injured Bob) Donoghue. Also, the once productive Boston outfield finds itself struggling as well. Pete Day and Chick Donnelly who have 7 all-star appearances between them have both struggled out of the gate. Day especially. This is also prompting Boston management to give more time to rookie Les Rich.

Meanwhile, the pitching that has carried the team through the early season offensive struggles hit a bump of their own. Although it is still early in the season Boston management may feel that whatever window they had thought to fit into has sufficiently closed and maybe the club should consider dealing from their core roster and prepare for yet another rebuild. Doc Shaw here feels that maybe a little more patience is in order but does conceded that Sutton and Van Ness, the cornerstones of the '35 draft that had Boston with 2 picks in the top 6 have not developed into top flight talent."
A 4-2 week for the Keystones as they try to get up off the mat and get past an awful start. Bobby Barrell recorded his 2,000th hit with a single off Detroit's Charlie Wheeler in the top of the 4th of Wednesday's 5-4 loss to the Dynamos. With an 11-15 record, the Keystones need a couple of more weeks like this one to climb back to .500.
Percy Sutherland is starting to worry about Rabbit Day's chances of reaching 300 wins. Day is 2-5 this season (266-168 for his career) and new Chiefs scouting director Hoyt Schmidt is not sure that the 37 year old has much left in his tank.
Freddie Farhat of the Detroit World shares some thoughts on the Dynamos. "Sergio Gonzales has been pitching really well. He's 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in his 5 starts. He isn't on the ERA leader board though because he's only thrown 20 IP in those 5 starts. The club has tried to space his starts out to get him past all the day to day timelines but back spasms and now reoccurring finger blisters continue to disrupt his season. With Frank Crawford physically ready to come back, Detroit is either going to DL Gonzales and give him time off or carry 10 pitchers for a week and let Gonzales rest while traveling with the team.

The season so far besides Gonzales issues is resembling a bit of a MASH unit. 3B Frank Vance is suffering from a quad strain and at his age should get shut down (my opinion). LF Rip Curry who has been tearing the cover off the ball, is out for 8 weeks with a shoulder ailment.

The plan will be to bring Constantine Peters up and plug him at 3B for Frank Vance. He can also play in the OF if needed. SS Gil London has been decent at Newark but with the Gonzales issue he might have to wait a week to come back up.
With 6 players on the early season injury list it's been an interesting start to the season.
While the Pioneers might still be last in home runs in the Fed they are up to 11 now. Which ties them with Bill Barrett of the New York Stars.
7 errors for the Miners in a 6-5 win over Washington. Joe Owens, George Cleaves and Mahlon Strong all had one, while Pablo Reyes and Les Tucker each had 2 a piece.
Pablo Reyes has 6 errors now, which is the usual, he's normally in the low 20's range. But, his ZR is already at 7.6 in 25 games, and his efficiency is at 1.132, his previous career high is 1.074 his rookie year in just 48 games.
While Pittsburgh leads the way in the Fed their Class A club is struggling. The Gary Steelman were 1-12 entering the week but they won 4 of their last seven and are now somewhat respectable at 5-19, especially when we compare them to some of the teams in the Washington Eagles organization. The Eagles minor league clubs are a mess right now. Only Class A Trenton, at 9-15 and in 6th, is not in last place and there is no team in baseball worse than the 3-21 Pensacola Pelicans of the Class C Gulf States League. The other Eagles affiliates are giving the Pelicans .125 winning percentage a run for it's money. Class B Everett of the C-O-W League is 6-19 (.240), AAA Kansas City 6-18 (.250) while both Trenton and AA Atlanta are 9-15 (.375). The big league Eagles are 11-15 (.423) so the class of the organization.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 5/11/1941

One of Hitler's top aides responded to Churchill's address last week by stating Germany always will have superior weapons of war - regardless of American claims of aid to Britain- and the Nazi's might achieve victory "quite soon."
Churchill won an overwhelming vote of confidence in the British House of Commons by a 447-3 margin after pledging the British Empire to "fight to the death," in defense of it's strongholds in the Mediterranean and Middle East.
As fighting in the Middle East heats up, R.A.F. bombers inflict heavy damage on Bagdad and other Iraqi targets. Axis forces focus on bombing the Suez Canal. American made bombers were used by the R.A.F. in both the Middle East and Europe this week.
London newspapers, pointing a speech by Secretary of War Stimson this week, say it is just a matter of time before the United States joins Britain in the war. Stimson called for the US Navy to intervene in the war "knowing full well what that challenge to Hitler might mean."
11 American fliers, and 111 others lost their lives when a Canadian ship heading to Britain was sunk by enemy actions. There was no explanation given why the fliers, engaged to fly American made bombers to Britain, where on a ship bound for England.
More than 200 German sailors, stranded when their ships were seized, have been arrested in New York City and Miami out of fears they may act as saboteurs.
An returning American expedition reported Germany maintained an Antarctic naval repair base -only 600 miles from South America -that was blown up and abandoned just six months ago according to Chilean Naval officials.

02-23-2022, 12:31 PM	#364
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	May 12, 1941 MAY 12, 1941 WOLVES MCCORMICK TO REPORT FOR MILITARY DUTY The Toronto Wolves learned late last week that Whitney Award winning first baseman Fred McCormick will be lost to the team for the next 12 months as McCormick will be inducted into the Army tomorrow. The news is not a complete surprise as the Wolves had been made aware of McCormick's draft status but they had hoped an appeal for a deferment would be granted. However, on Thursday McCormick learned his request to defer on financial grounds had been declined and the club was informed that same day. McCormick was one of a quartet of top-level FABL players who recently received a draft notice, but became the only one of the four to have his deferment request denied. McCormick left his teammates in Philadelphia immediately following Sunday's game with the Sailors. Asked about having his salary shrink from $27,500 a year to $21 a week, he replied “”I made up my mind to go when I was called. My country comes first.” The 31 year old 7-time all-star had hoped the need to support his family would grant him the chance to finish the season and join the army in October but it was ruled his investments would provide sufficient income so his claim was not accepted. Three other all-stars: Pittsburgh's George Cleaves, Cleveland's Mel Carrol and Philadelphia Keystones slugger Bobby Barrell were all successful in their deferment requests and will not be required to report at this time. However, that could change in the future. McCormick played for the Wolves in their weekend series against the Philadelphia Sailors but will miss today's series finale as he boarded a train to return to his home on a farm just outside of Dayton, Ohio. He will be inducted in Dayton on Tuesday morning. Ironically, Tuesday is the day the Wolves are slated to raise their World Championship banner at Dominion Stadium in advance of a game with Montreal. There was talk McCormick's draft center would allow him to arrive Thursday so that he could participate in the flag raising ceremony in Toronto but he declined, saying he did want any preferential treatment. The 31 year old began his big league career with St Louis in 1931 before being dealt to the Wolves prior to the 1938 season. He immediately dominated Continental Association pitching, winning the CA batting title and the Whitney Award each of his first two seasons including a triple crown winning performance in 1939 when the Wolves came within 2 games of winning their first pennant since 1911. Last year they finally got that pennant and followed it up with a WCS win over the Pittsburgh Miners behind a dominant playoff performance from McCormick, who hit .500 (9-for-18) in the Series and was named WCS Most Valuable Player. Rumor has it that McCormick will train as a tank gunner. While the United States currently remains neutral, McCormick plays his home games in Canada, which is already at war and though Wolves fans will miss McCormick's bat, they are astute enough to realize that if (or when) the U.S. joins the fray, they'll still have "The Reticent Reaper" on their side. Fred McCormick drafted are words that will stay in the Toronto fans memory for generations. The Wolves are still trying to sort out all the fall-out from McCormick's departure but Walter Pack had been working with coach Dick Dennis at First base since Fred received his notice from the draft board. The initial plan is as pundits predicted Pack to first, Holiday on his way from Buffalo to man the hot corner. Other options discussed were moving either Larry Vestal or Tom Frederick to first but they were dismissed in favour of the Pack/Holiday plan. Pack's shift across the diamond will be closely monitored to see if either of the other plans need to be brought forward in the future. In a statement released this morning the Wolves organization wishes Fred well during his 12-month hitch above all to stay safe before his return to Toronto. Manager Charlie Reed held a closed door meeting with the team after McCormick left, sources say that Reed told the team that Fred is not the first and probably will not be the last player lost to a team during these unsettled times, the team has a 130 games left in the season to repeat as World Champions so everyone will have to dig a little deeper to pick up the slack left with their 1B departure. RELIEVED MINERS FOCUSED ON RETURN TO SERIES With concerns of losing George Cleaves to the army behind them, at least for now, the Pittsburgh Miners have returned their full attention to winning a third consecutive Federal Association pennant - and fourth in five years. There was plenty of worry the season would be lost when Cleaves number came up with the draft board in his home state of New Jersey but he was able to secure a deferment which should keep him in the Miners lineup for the rest of the season. Had they lost their all-star catcher the pennant talk would likely have left town along with the 27 year old star but instead Miners fans are celebrating both Cleaves staying put and a 7-3 start to May which gives Pittsburgh a 1.5 game cushion atop the Fed standings. The Miners did drop a pair of games last week, falling twice to the surprising St Louis Pioneers, a club that was dead last in the Fed a year ago but now, thanks to an 11-4 stretch, is right there with Detroit in second place. St Louis was not as bad as they proved to be last year and while some might question if they are really good enough to stick around in the pennant race beyond the All-Star break long suffering fans in Missouri are enjoying the moment. The Pioneers do have limited power but they are getting on base and led the Fed in runs scored thanks to a group led by catcher Heinie Zimmer (.341,2,9) and 22 year old shortstop Luke Micheals (.367,0,19). Add in young Danny Hern (4-1, 2.04) and a motivated Buddy Long (3-0, 2.67), who has been solid since his recall from AAA Oakland, and the Pioneers do have a lot to look forward to. St Louis does have a big series coming up starting tomorrow when they have a rematch vs the Miners but this time it will be at Pittsburgh's Fitzpatrick Park. The Continental Association remains a two-horse race with the New York Stars leading the way with the Chicago Cougars trying to keep pace. Bill Barrett (.430,11,33) continues to be a one man wrecking crew for the Stars as the 21 year old phenom hit 3 more homers this week while batting .565 to claim the CA player of the week award. Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Toronto all continue to struggle in the Continental and the loss of Fred McCormick seems to indicate it is very unlikely the Wolves will be around in October to to defend their WCS win. One team that is making waves is the Brooklyn Kings, who have won 11 of their last 13 games and are reminding fans of the glory days from not so long ago. One has to wonder how long that feeling will last as while the Kings offense, led by a pair of Frank's in LeMieux (.395,2,13) and Lightbody (.375,1,9), has been strong their pitching has not looked very good. CANNONS PERRY FIRES NO-HITTER There has been little to celebrate in the early going for the Cincinnati Cannons but last week gave the club a rare positive moment as pitcher Roger Perry fired a no-hitter in an 8-0 win at Montreal. Perry's special game was the first in FABL in nearly two years and the first in franchise history since Les McCants threw one for the Baltimore Clippers, as they were known back then, in 1892. The no-hitter is the first in the CA since Doc Newell tossed one for the Sailors against Brooklyn in 1938. The only other no-hitter since then was one by Detroit's Jack Wood in 1939. As for Perry perhaps it is a turning point in his season. It was the first victory of the year in 4 starts for the 33 year old who came over to the Cannons in an off-season deal with Pittsburgh. The 33 year old is 1-2 on the season and 111-63 for his FABL career. He had thrown four 3-hitters in his career including one against the Cannons back in 1932 when he was with Cleveland but never had he gone the distance and allowed less than three hits until last week. COUGARS ADD ANOTHER VETERAN The Chicago Cougars acquired veteran first baseman Dick Walker from the Philadelphia Sailors in exchange for a pair of minor league prospects. The 34 year old Walker is a 14 year veteran with over 1,900 FABL games on his resume and adds to the Cougars reputation as the oldest team in FABL. With the addition of Walker half of the Chicago active roster - 12 players in all -are at least 30 years old. The Cougars also get Ossie Grogan, a 25 year old rookie they selected from Philadelphia in the rule five draft. That move simply gives Chicago the ability to demote Grogan to the minor leagues instead of having to return him to Philadelphia if they had attempted to demote him. Going to Philadelphia are AA infielder Jim McCarthy and Class C first baseman Vince Conforti. McCarthy, a 19 year old taken in the fifth round in 1939 by the Cougars, is ranked 293rd on OSA's prospect list while Conforti, a 20 year old 16th rounder, does not crack the OSA top 500. JIGGS MCGEE'S TAKE - Walker isn't a flashy power hitting first baseman but he is a solid dependable hitter who draws a lot of walks and looks like an ideal number #2 hitter. He should be a great table setter for John Lawson and Cliff Moss but the only question I have is where do the Cougars plan on playing him? Ray Ford has done a very good job at first base the past few season and in 7 games this season is batting .692 (no that's not a misprint). There is a good a good chance the lefthanded hitting Walker may end up platooning with Ford at first base but he also might be primarily used as a pinch-hitter. On the Sailors side of the ledger this move removes the final link to the Sailors 1928 WCS winning squad as Walker was a key contributor to 3 straight pennants and a pair of WCS wins for Philadelphia. Neither prospect the Sailors added looks to have much long term potential so this move feels like strictly a cost cutting measure to get Walker's $18,400 salary off the books and perhaps open the door for highly touted 23 year old prospect Johnny Zeidman. Zeidman is a natural third baseman but has some experience at first base so he and/or veteran Marion Boismenu will take over first base duties full-time. Zeidman was selected 11th overall in 1939 out of McNair University in Springfield, Mo. and was hitting .274 through 24 games with AAA San Francisco this season. The timing of the deal seems unusual for Philadelphia. Yes, Walker is struggling in the early going this season, hitting just .228, but he is drawing walks and his on-base percentage is comparable to the previous two seasons. It feels like the Sailors have made a decision that Walker's best days are behind him. 2000 HITS FOR BOBBY BARRELL It was good news all around for Bobby Barrell and the Philadelphia Keystones. To start with the club learned the request to defer Barrell's military service until at least the end of the season has been approved so it appears Bobby will be able to finish the season with the Keystones. The next piece of good news is the struggling Keystones managed to win 4 of 6 games this week and perhaps are showing signs of snapping out of a terrible slump, especially at the plate, to start the season. Barrell, the 30 year old leader of the Keystones crew, had not been subjected to the slump as he was one of the few performing well at the plate, batting .317 with a pair of homers and a team leading 19 rbi's. Among Barrell's 32 hits on the season so far was a special milestone as The Georgia Jolter smacked the 2,000 hit of his career in just his 1,533rd career game. He would add 4 more hits to finish the week but the milestone marker came in a 5-4 loss to Detroit on Wednesday. It was a lead-off single to start the 4th inning of what was at that point a scoreless game with Charlie Wheeler on the hill for the Dynamos. Barrell would later hit a 2-run homer off Wheeler in the 8th inning to give the Keystones a 4-2 lead but they would eventually fall in 10 innings. Barrell has had pretty good success against Wheeler over his career, hitting .353 (24-for-68) with a pair of homers against the 26 year old Detroit righthander. The pitcher he has had the most hits off of in his career is former Gotham and Chief hurler Jim Lonardo, who is now in the Continental Association with the Chicago Cougars. Barrell has 53 hits against Lonardo with Pittsburgh's Bill Ketterman (46 hits) and Sam Sheppard of St Louis (42 hits) number two and three on the Barrell victim list. QUICK HITS There is word that the army has agreed for a pair of professional golfers in their ranks to be allowed to compete in the US Open later this summer. So this brings up an interesting point. If the Toronto Wolves were in a crucial series, why wouldn't it be possible for Private Fred McCormick to come off the 'voluntary retired' list and chase up to Toronto to help the Wolves in some key contests. From Percy Sutherland and his nephew's fancy numbers: "McCormick just missed hitting .400 in 1939, finishing at .399. If he had that same performance in 1925 when the league batting average was .300, McCormick's average would have been .426." Cougars and Stars are crushing the CA right now. Luck? Skill? Other teams in a slump? Are they both really that good or are they due for a reality check? All of the above according to Sutherland. Tough break for the Brooklyn Kings as they learned Rats McGonigle's injury is more serious than first thought. Doctors say the 22 year old outfielder will miss up to 3 months with a knee issue. The third year Kings outfielder was hitting .265 in 8 games this season. The Montreal Saints are coming off a 4-3 week and at 4 games under .500 are pretty much right where management expected the team to be. There have been some surprises, both good and bad, in the early going. Count infielders Charlie Woodbury (.333,1,12) and Mark Burns (.385,1,12) as those on the positive side of the ledger which forced Spud Bent to AAA after Bent struggled in April. Catcher Ben Richardson (.257,0,6), one of the pieces in the deal that sent Adam Mullins to Cincinnati, had a rough start to the season but rebounded very nicely last week with 9 hits in 17 at bats. On the negative side we have Gary Carmichael (.176,0,3), who looks lost at the plate and forfeited his starting job at third base to Burns. The Saints also want to see more out of top prospect Bill Greene or he may have to go back to AAA Minneapolis. By far the biggest highlight so far in Montreal has been the pitching of Wally Doyle (6-0, 1.98) as the 22 year old has taken a huge step forward in the early going. While the Cannons could celebrate Roger Perry's no-hitter it turned out that was the only celebrating done by Cincinnati as the struggling Cannons dropped 5 of 6 games last week to fall to 10-15 on the year. At 9.5 games back of first place New York already in the CA race some in Cannonland are questioning whether the deal for Adam Mullins was worth it. Mullins is hurt and that certainly has an effect on Cincinnati's offense but in truth the club appears right now to be much further away from contention then perhaps they thought they were over the winter. Mullins is obviously a great catcher and a very talented player but would Cincinnati have been better off with Jack Flint, who is doing quite well for himself in Boston, and a boatload of prospects sent to Montreal that they could have developed or packaged for other pieces as they get closer to mounting a serious challenge. The other school of thought in Cincinnati is this is just one of those years where a club takes a step backwards only to leap two steps forward next season. The Wolves did that with a terrible 1939 following a surprising pennant run in '38 and that experience gained paid off with a title last year. Could Cincinnati's fate be similar? 3 more weeks without Mullins for the Cannons but will he make that much of a difference? Aside from the catcher, the Cannons are the same team as a year ago but the results since the All-Star break last season have not been good…and both Deuce Barrell and William Jones, along with Moxie Pidgeon have played very poorly. But Pidgeon had a decent week this time so perhaps he is on the verge of breaking out of his funk. More on Mullins as Cannons fans see Jack Flint enjoying success in Boston: Percy Sutherland says "I've always liked Jack Flint. Jack Flint is a really good catcher. But Jack Flint is no Adam Mullins. If I have a chance to acquire an under-28 top 5 catcher, I'm going to take that chance nearly 100% of the time. Picks and prospects are still just picks and prospects. Even if those picks turn into Hall of Famers, I'd consider it a good deal. It's like fans who criticize football teams for going for it on 4th down. If they don't make it, then it's obvious they shouldn't have tried. But that's not how you evaluate decisions." And the New York Mirror weighs in on Flint pointing out "A top 5 catcher is probably the most valuable commodity right now. We have a ton of OK catchers. Some that can kind of hit well and are average behind the plate. Or some that are great behind the plate but can't hit. Seems to be a rare combination of both. And one that's decent behind the plate and can hit well? A GM would be crazy not to snatch him up given the chance." While Boston is thrilled with Jack Flint, Doc Shaw explains there is plenty else wrong with the Minutemen. "Utter frustration in Boston as Mack Sutton has been completely awful to start the season. After posting a 126 OPS+ in 1940 Boston fans finally felt they had turned a corner with the young highly touted slugger from Arkansas. Unfortunately this year Sutton is currently hitting .146 and playing sub average defense at 3B. "The decision has been made to give Art Spencer more time at 3rd as he produced well (without the power) covering for (the injured Bob) Donoghue. Also, the once productive Boston outfield finds itself struggling as well. Pete Day and Chick Donnelly who have 7 all-star appearances between them have both struggled out of the gate. Day especially. This is also prompting Boston management to give more time to rookie Les Rich. Meanwhile, the pitching that has carried the team through the early season offensive struggles hit a bump of their own. Although it is still early in the season Boston management may feel that whatever window they had thought to fit into has sufficiently closed and maybe the club should consider dealing from their core roster and prepare for yet another rebuild. Doc Shaw here feels that maybe a little more patience is in order but does conceded that Sutton and Van Ness, the cornerstones of the '35 draft that had Boston with 2 picks in the top 6 have not developed into top flight talent." A 4-2 week for the Keystones as they try to get up off the mat and get past an awful start. Bobby Barrell recorded his 2,000th hit with a single off Detroit's Charlie Wheeler in the top of the 4th of Wednesday's 5-4 loss to the Dynamos. With an 11-15 record, the Keystones need a couple of more weeks like this one to climb back to .500. Percy Sutherland is starting to worry about Rabbit Day's chances of reaching 300 wins. Day is 2-5 this season (266-168 for his career) and new Chiefs scouting director Hoyt Schmidt is not sure that the 37 year old has much left in his tank. Freddie Farhat of the Detroit World shares some thoughts on the Dynamos. "Sergio Gonzales has been pitching really well. He's 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in his 5 starts. He isn't on the ERA leader board though because he's only thrown 20 IP in those 5 starts. The club has tried to space his starts out to get him past all the day to day timelines but back spasms and now reoccurring finger blisters continue to disrupt his season. With Frank Crawford physically ready to come back, Detroit is either going to DL Gonzales and give him time off or carry 10 pitchers for a week and let Gonzales rest while traveling with the team. The season so far besides Gonzales issues is resembling a bit of a MASH unit. 3B Frank Vance is suffering from a quad strain and at his age should get shut down (my opinion). LF Rip Curry who has been tearing the cover off the ball, is out for 8 weeks with a shoulder ailment. The plan will be to bring Constantine Peters up and plug him at 3B for Frank Vance. He can also play in the OF if needed. SS Gil London has been decent at Newark but with the Gonzales issue he might have to wait a week to come back up. With 6 players on the early season injury list it's been an interesting start to the season. While the Pioneers might still be last in home runs in the Fed they are up to 11 now. Which ties them with Bill Barrett of the New York Stars. 7 errors for the Miners in a 6-5 win over Washington. Joe Owens, George Cleaves and Mahlon Strong all had one, while Pablo Reyes and Les Tucker each had 2 a piece. Pablo Reyes has 6 errors now, which is the usual, he's normally in the low 20's range. But, his ZR is already at 7.6 in 25 games, and his efficiency is at 1.132, his previous career high is 1.074 his rookie year in just 48 games. While Pittsburgh leads the way in the Fed their Class A club is struggling. The Gary Steelman were 1-12 entering the week but they won 4 of their last seven and are now somewhat respectable at 5-19, especially when we compare them to some of the teams in the Washington Eagles organization. The Eagles minor league clubs are a mess right now. Only Class A Trenton, at 9-15 and in 6th, is not in last place and there is no team in baseball worse than the 3-21 Pensacola Pelicans of the Class C Gulf States League. The other Eagles affiliates are giving the Pelicans .125 winning percentage a run for it's money. Class B Everett of the C-O-W League is 6-19 (.240), AAA Kansas City 6-18 (.250) while both Trenton and AA Atlanta are 9-15 (.375). The big league Eagles are 11-15 (.423) so the class of the organization. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 5/11/1941 One of Hitler's top aides responded to Churchill's address last week by stating Germany always will have superior weapons of war - regardless of American claims of aid to Britain- and the Nazi's might achieve victory "quite soon." Churchill won an overwhelming vote of confidence in the British House of Commons by a 447-3 margin after pledging the British Empire to "fight to the death," in defense of it's strongholds in the Mediterranean and Middle East. As fighting in the Middle East heats up, R.A.F. bombers inflict heavy damage on Bagdad and other Iraqi targets. Axis forces focus on bombing the Suez Canal. American made bombers were used by the R.A.F. in both the Middle East and Europe this week. London newspapers, pointing a speech by Secretary of War Stimson this week, say it is just a matter of time before the United States joins Britain in the war. Stimson called for the US Navy to intervene in the war "knowing full well what that challenge to Hitler might mean." 11 American fliers, and 111 others lost their lives when a Canadian ship heading to Britain was sunk by enemy actions. There was no explanation given why the fliers, engaged to fly American made bombers to Britain, where on a ship bound for England. More than 200 German sailors, stranded when their ships were seized, have been arrested in New York City and Miami out of fears they may act as saboteurs. An returning American expedition reported Germany maintained an Antarctic naval repair base -only 600 miles from South America -that was blown up and abandoned just six months ago according to Chilean Naval officials. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports