DECEMBER 15, 1941
PIONEERS "STAYING PUT"
The St. Louis Pioneers aren't going anywhere. That's been made official by an announcement from club owner Dee Rose who flew from his Los Angeles home to the Gateway city to "make it clear that this ballclub is not leaving St. Louis."
This comes in the wake of rampant speculation over the past two months that the new owner, based as he is in Southern California, would move the team. He had made a vow to build a championship-caliber club and to put it in a brand new ballpark (he termed it a "palace") to boot. He failed to say whether his baseball "palace" would be in St. Louis and his later remarks about how the advent of air travel has rendered distance moot as a barrier to placing a FABL club on the west coast fueled the speculation that he was moving the Pioneers out of St. Louis.
A new rumor has surfaced which, if true, might explain Rose's sudden promise to keep the club in Missouri. A confidential source indicated that there was a special meeting of the FABL Board of Governors in Washington, DC on the afternoon of December 8th. The board is composed of the owners of the 16 FABL clubs (or their designated representatives). At this meeting, Rose's representative called for a vote on moving the Pioneers to Los Angeles for the 1942 season.
The unnamed source claims that Rose had made a round of phone calls the previous week, targeting his fellows owners and had enough "yes" votes (12 would be needed) to approve the move. There was also an agreement in place to purchase rights to the Los Angeles area from New York Stars owner Alfred Mielke. The events in Hawaii on December 7th changed everything.
Suddenly the California coast was a potential war zone. The area was busily preparing for its first round of blackout practices as the FABL moguls gathered 3,000 miles away on the East coast. The vote was called, though everyone knew what the outcome would be, simply because it was on the agenda. Unsurprisingly it was unanimous against the move with even Rose's representative having received orders from his boss to vote nay.
Therefore it seems it was the Japanese who determined the fate of the St. Louis Pioneers.
SCHNEIDER TRIPLETS SET TO JOIN NAVY
America's most famous set of triplets have announced they are walking away from professional baseball and joining the Navy. The trio - big league infielders Buddy and Skipper as well as minor league pitcher Bart- are expected to undergo the prerequisite physical testing in their hometown of Detroit, Michigan early next week and off to basic training right after Christmas.
Buddy Schneider, a second baseman with the Boston Minutemen, and Skipper, the Chicago Cougars shortstop, recently squared off in the World Championship Series won by Buddy and his Boston mates in seven games. The duo were also named by the Chicago Sportswriters Guild as part of baseball's premier defensive lineup this past season. The 5'6" Buddy hit .336 this season and led the Federal Association with 193 base hits. Skipper batted .298 in 147 games with Chicago while Bart, a Cleveland Foresters farmhand, went 15-15 for Class A Wilmington of the Middle Atlantic League. The 21 year old trio were drafted with subsequent picks starting with 7th overall out of Detroit's Northwestern High School in 1939.
"We do everything together," said Bart "and this will be no different. Our country needs every hand available right now and we have six of them - identical perhaps - but 6 nonetheless to add."
QUICK HITS
- Fred McCormick officially rejoined the army this week as the Toronto batsman has decided to forget about baseball and return to the military. He had been released from service a few days ago because he was over 28 years of age and he had not been called back, but is returning on his own accord. "We are in trouble and the only thing to do is to return," McCormick said.
- The singing slugger Bill Moore has decided to cancel his Hollywood tryout. Moore, who was traded to the World Champion Boston Minutemen from the Cleveland Foresters at the July deadline, is an accomplished singer and had lined up a screen test with 20th Century Fox but announced this week he will spend the winter in his native Washington DC and not venture west to California. "The timing is just not right," said the 30 year old, who was a key contributor to the Boston WCS win, batting .333 in the 6 games he started in the Fall Classic.
- The New York Stars lost 4 players to the armed forces but if they want to whine about it they will have to buy their own crying towels. The towels in the headquarters hotel for the upcoming rule five draft have already been covered with the salty tears of Clyde Meyer, 62 year old skipper of the Chicago Cougars. Meyer, no doubt, has not stopped crying since receiving word that Pete Papenfus has taken the oath of allegiance and for all practical purposes he now is a Chief Petty Officer in the United States naval reserve after the 23 year old Allan Award winner chose the Navy over the Army Air Corps.
- Papenfus expects to receive preliminary training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, north of Chicago, and hopes he might be able to return home to Willow Springs, Missouri for Christmas. After that he is likely off to Norfolk (Va.) naval base to receive his assignment.
- The Continental Association not only accepted the Federal Association's invitation to play the 1942 all-star game in Pittsburgh next year, but enthusiastically agreed to double the ticket prices. "Under normal circumstances, we wouldn't agree to raise prices," said a FABL spokesman. "But this is an emergency. It is understood that all over the country and in foreign lands our soldiers are without baseball and sports equipment. Proceeds from this game will be used to buy that equipment."
WILDCATS WIN AFA TITLE ON LAST SECOND FIELD GOAL
The outcome of the 1941 American Football Association championship game hinged on the right foot of Chicago Wildcats seldom used back Eddie Andrews. As time was expiring Andrews earned himself a spot in Wildcats history with a 12 yard field goal to give the home side a 10-7 victory over the visiting New York Stars in one of the most dramatic title games in AFA history. The win gives the Wildcats their first Association title since 1934 and avenges a pair of losses since then including the 1937 game when the Stars embarrassed Chicago 34-0 in the championship contest. Chicago also lost the 1937 title game to Boston.
It was a cold day at Whitney Park but the snow, which fell heavily in the area that morning, tapered off to just flurries for most of the game. Most expected a high scoring affair as the Wildcats 395 points was far and away the most in the league this season and New York ranked third in scoring with 259. The Stars also had the league's stingiest defense and it was the defensive play that stood out for both sides in what proved to be a scoreless opening 30 minutes. Chicago's defense was much stronger than expected as they forced New York to punt on each of it's seven first half possessions and allowed just 2 New York first downs and only 58 yards of total offense before the break. The Wildcats had just slightly more success, picking up 105 yards in the first half and had an opportunity to take an early lead but Andrews missed on a 41 yard field goal attempt in the opening quarter.
Chicago finally did open the scoring nearly 10 minutes into the third quarter when Gus Brown scrambled for a 7 yard score as the culmination of a 9 play, 55 yard drive. With the extra point from Andrews the Wildcats were up 7-0 but the lead disappeared early in the fourth quarter when New York capitalized on the Wildcats first turnover of the game. The turnover could not have come at a worse moment as it was just after New York's Don Key dropped a perfect coffin-corner punt that rolled out of bounds on the Wildcats 3 yard line. It looked like Chicago might move out of the danger zone when Warren Pitts had a nice 8 yard run on second and six but it was nullified by a holding call that backed the Wildcats up to their own 2 yard line. Julius MacDonald dove on the loose ball at the Chicago 4 when Leon Stone had it jarred free and the Stars suddenly had their best field position of the entire day. It took 3 attempts but Jerry Reese eventually dove over the pile from the one yard line to tie the contest at 7.
A wild twist of emotions followed on the ensuing kick-off. Marsh Schroeder brought the crowd of nearly 33,000 at Whitney Park to it's feet as he danced his way through would-be Stars tacklers and it looked like he would go all the way with the return but he was caught at the New York 20 yard line by Barry Baker, who punched the ball loose and recovered it to save the day, at least temporarily, for the visitors.
Play suddenly got sloppy as the two sides then combined for 5 turnovers in the ensuing 10 minutes as both squads appeared to be doing their best to give the game away. With 1:44 remaining in regulation and the game still tied at 7 the Wildcats took over on their on 45 yard line. Gus Brown pushed the team forward with a pair of quick passes and six running plays later the Wildcats were perched on the Stars 5 yard line when they called a timeout with 4 seconds remaining. Enter Eddie Andrews as the unlikely hero to deliver the game winning kick which set off a raucous celebration in the park that spilled out along the banks of the Chicago River.
[list][*]Five of the six New Year's Day College Classic games will be played as scheduled after the President gave the go-ahead. However, the National East-West Classic will be moved from it's normal home in Santa Ana, California to the Bigsby Oval in New York out of caution in the event of a Japanese attack on the Pacific mainland. The January 1st contest will pit Eastern State (6-1-2) against West Coast Athletic Association champions Lane State (8-1). The one exception to the Classic schedule is the annual Hawaiian Classic as it has been called off due to the events at Pearl Harbor.
A new weekly feature added to the updates during the winter will be the AIAA college basketball report. Similar to the college football it will be a basic overview of the Figment college hoops universe and serve possibly as the feeding league for a potential future pro basketball online league joining the Figment Universe sometime after WWII is over. It is being simmed out with Fast Break College Basketball and continues the same schools that exist in college football and as the amateur school for many of the baseball players in the Figment draft pool.
GREAT PLAINS STATE TAKES OVER TOP SPOT
A very unlikely school heads up the college basketball rankings as Great Plains State improved to 9-0 on the season and is considered the top team in the nation in the latest AP polls. The Buffaloes, who have finished a season ranked in the top twenty only once in their 32 year history, are number one despite missing the year end tournament each of the past 4 seasons. The independent school out of Wichita, Kansas survived a scare to start the week, edging Lubbock State 42-41 before notching a dominating win on the road against Arkansas A&T on Saturday. The win allowed them to overtake idle West Coast Athletic Association power City College of Los Angeles for top spot in the polls. The Coyotes did not play as their games were postponed this week while the club seeks another venue further inland to resume it's season.
Code:
AIAA BASKETBALL TOP TWENTY FPV REC LW
1 Great Plains State Buffaloes (68) 9-0 2
2 CC Los Angeles Coyotes ` (4) 4-0 1
3 St. Ignatius Lancers 5-1 4
4 Liberty College Bells 7-1 7
5 Columbia Military Academy Cadets 6-0 6
6 Detroit City College Knights 4-1 5
7 North Carolina Tech Techsters 8-1 9
8 Chesapeake State Clippers 7-1 10
9 Brooklyn State Bears 4-1 8
10 Garden State Redbirds 6-1 3
11 Central Ohio Aviators 5-1 12
12 Portland Tech Magpies 6-0 13
13 Charleston Tech Admirals 7-0 18
14 St. Patrick's Shamrocks 6-1 20
15 Minnesota Tech Lakers 4-0 16
16 Dickson Maroons 6-0 23
17 Lambert College Stags 5-0 24
18 Chicago Poly Panthers 7-1 NR
19 Rainier College Majestics 3-1 NR
20 Bethlehem College Falcons 3-0 NR
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 12/14/1941
- Germany and her Axis partner Italy officially declared war on the United States Thursday. The U.S. responded quickly as the Senate and House quickly approved resolutions recognizing war with Germany and Italy. Meanwhile, several Central and South American countries joined the Americans in declaring war on the Japanese.
- In it's attack on Pearl Harbor Tokio claims to have destroyed an aircraft carrier and sank an American submarine and a destroyer, as well as 81 planes. The United States revealed that 6 warships altogether, including the battleship Arizona were lost with the known dead total at 2,729 including 91 officers.
- The northeast had it's first air raid alarm after reports of enemy planes approaching Long Island first from New England and then off the Virginia coast. Reports were confusing and defense organizations took no chances after what happened in Hawaii. In the end the reports proved to be erroneous.
- Reports also had the navy hunting Japanese aircraft off the coast of California.
- Two British warships were sank by Japanese forces in fighting off Malaya while the US is repelling attacks on the Philippines. When the American fleet arrived it's commander, Admiral Thomas Hart, revealed that the Japanese battle fleet fled to avoid a fight with the American warships.
- Russia is claiming a great victory late in the week as the Red Army says it smashed a German offensive of 51 divisions, upwards of 750,000 men, on Moscow and the Nazis are fleeing.
- US Secretary of War Stimson is urging Congress to quickly approve a change to the draft bill making the age range for inclusion from 19 to 44.
- stocks plunged early in the week in wild trading on the New York Exchange to start the week.