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Jiggs McGee · 05-02-2022, 10:40 AM

MARCH 30, 1942

BARRETT TO ENLIST NEXT YEAR

Bill Barrett, the Continental Association's leading hitter, announced today he would play "one more season" before enlisting in the army. Barrett, the 22 year old New York Stars outfielder, notified the club's general manager of his decision over the weekend.

"There's only one thing I can do and that's try to play another season," Barrett told the United Press. "As soon as I can adjust my financial situation I'll join the army."

Barrett was recently reclassified from 1-A to 3-Q in an order by President Roosevelt issued through his local draft board. Barrett had been placed in 1-A in early January. After the draft boards' action the case was appealed to the district appeal board which upheld the local board's decision despite the fact it was shown that Barrett is the sole supporter of his mother. The appeal then was taken to the President. Barrett plans to secure enough money to support his mother during his absence and vows to enlist once the baseball season has concluded in the fall.

EAGLES FLYING HIGH

Two weeks ago if someone was given 15 guesses at who would have the best spring record in baseball at the midway point in camp, odds are most would still have not picked the Washington Eagles but there the Eagles are - soaring to the top of the spring standings with a 9-3 mark. In the grand scheme of things games won in March really mean nothing but for long suffering Eagles fans perhaps it is a ray of sunshine, a hope that the Washington club- and in particular it's pitching staff - will not be as dreadful as many, including TWIFB, are forecasting. The Eagles have won 6 straight games including a 1-0 eleven inning victory over St Louis yesterday that saw 5 different Washington pitchers combine to keep the Pioneers off the scoresheet.

Leading those five pitchers was 31 year old Jack Elder, who started the week with 4 hitless innings of work vs Pittsburgh before his 4 against the Pioneers. If Washington is going to have any success this year one has to expect Elder will need to play a key role. The 31 year old was an all-star three years ago and won 20-games for the Eagles but has struggled each of the past two seasons. Jim Birdwell, who the Eagles gave up a top five pick three years ago to acquire, has also looked solid as has 26 year old Dan Everett. Del Burns, like Elder, needs to step up this season after a poor 1941 campaign, has had mixed results in his three spring starts but did pitch 4 strong innings vs Detroit this week. It is only March, and there are doubts that the Eagles rotation can have success all year, but at least for now there is hope in the Nation's Capital.

QUICK HITS

The Washington Eagles got a break from major league opponents yesterday with a day off but they sent a team of minor leaguers out on the field to face the Orlando Air Base team. Among those in the lineup for the Orlando camp was Fred McCormick. The former Toronto star, now an army sergeant, regularly plays with MacDill Field in Tampa, but Orlando borrowed him for the game.
Tough break for the Toronto Wolves as Bernie Johnson injured his finger and may not return until the all-star break. The 31 year old was 13-14, 3.55 last season and has been a key piece of the Toronto rotation for much of the past decade.
Bob Worley's return to Chicago was short-lived as the Chiefs rule 5 draft pickup blew out his knee running the bases in a game against Washington last week. Worley spent the first half of the 1938 season with the Chiefs before being dealt to Brooklyn, with whom he won a WCS. He played sparingly with the Kings the past two season and was waived with the Chicago Cougars picking him up. The Chiefs drafted him with hopes he might add some outfield depth.
Percy Sutherland wonders what might have been for veteran Chiefs infielder Bob Martin. "It's too bad Bob Martin's body has betrayed him so much in the past 3 seasons. This is only his age-35 season, but he "feels" a lot older. If his knees and back had held out, he would likely be at 2600 hits and the discussion would be around whether he could get to 3000. Now I think he'll be lucky to get to 2500."
Sutherland is well known for his appreciation of good glove work and he notes that Ron Rattigan's scouting report has him as an "elite" first baseman defensively for the Chiefs. If you want to see something interesting, look at Rattigan's career fielding history. As an 18 year old in class B he was absolutely dreadful at first. He slowly improved until at class AAA in 1933/34, he was "acceptable" defensively. Then when he got to Chicago, he became the defensive stalwart that we think of today.
Hank Barnett had a down year in 1941, but he looks like he is feeling pretty good this Spring (.412-4-14). He and Ron Rattigan are on the top of the Total Bases leaderboard, which bodes well for the Chiefs offense.
Tim Hopkins has never had a chance to play everyday in the bigs, but he is certainly making Brooklyn Kings manager Powell Slocum notice him this spring. The 6'5" first baseman known as 'Tiny Tim' is hitting .400 (10-for-25) this spring with 4 homers, which ties him with the Chiefs Hank Barnett and Sig Stofer of Washington for the spring lead. In 619 career FABL at bats, or just slightly over a full season's worth, Hopkins has 27 homers and 103 rbi's.
A spot in the Dynamos lineup has emerged for Constantine Peters with the injury to 2B Len Jones who will be out 2-3 months with hamstring injury. Peters will begin daily reps at 2B for the remainder of the spring in hopes that his successful AAA bat will translate finally to the big leagues. The backup plan will be to move Gil London to 2B to potentially for a solid defensive up the middle combo with SS George Dawson. Peters is a player to watch. There were high hopes when the New York Gothams signed him in the old lottery system that was used for top rookies for a couple of years, but the Springfield State product has been traded twice since then despite be consistently considered a top-100 prospect. He has seen a bit of action with Detroit the past couple of seasons, batting .277 in 321 trips to the plate.
A crowded middle-infield in Toronto is getting even busier as 27 year old Mike Rollinson is having himself a fine spring, batting .450 (9-for-20). Rollinson was originally a second round pick of the Chicago Chiefs in 1936 but has been stuck in the minors except for an 18 game stint with Toronto last season, during which he hit .293. The Wolves infield appears for the most part set with Walt Peck at first, Charlie Artuso at shortstop and likely Ockie Holliday once again manning the hot corner. Second base is open for the versatile (2B,3B,SS or OF) Rollinson especially if Tom Frederick again spends most of his time in centerfield. Rollinson would have to beat out veteran Frank Huddleston at second, although the 33 year old Huddleston, despite being very good with the glove, might be on his way out due to his light hitting.
The Cannons sent Jack G Thompson to their minor league camp but at the midway point of Grapefruit play they still have 13 pitchers and expect to start the season with 9 or perhaps 10 if decisions have not been made on Art Edwards, Leo Proctor and Donie Scheuermann, three players who are out of minor league options. Scheuermann has looked solid so far this spring but Edwards and Proctor have struggled. Four of the starters are set in Deuce Barrell, Butch Smith, Glenn Payne and Roger Perry along with Larry Brown who will continue to be the first choice out of the pen. That leaves 4, possibly 5 spots to fill. Rule 5 pickup George Rotondi has looked very good in two spring outings so he is almost assured to get one of the openings. 22 year old Charlie Griffith, who was 12-14 last year splitting the season between A and AA, was not expected to be in the mix but the youngster has looked good and is making it tough on management to farm him out. Jesse Bowen is another one who has had a strong spring so far and it would be quite possible the Cannons go on a youth kick and keep both of them this season. If that is the case it means veterans William Jones and Leo Proctor along with Art Edwards will all be waived.

The West Coast Athletic Association has vowed to continue intercollegiate football and other sports despite an Army ban on gatherings of more that 5,000 persons along the west coast. The expectation for the football games is they will play before smaller crowds if the army has not relaxed it's rules by that time. The January East-West Classic was moved to New York City and a number of basketball games were shifted to locations in Arizona during the first month of the year when there was a ban on all sporting events.
At the AFA owners meeting in New York last week (at least after the owners were done overruling coaches wishes for reduced rosters) some good came out of the meeting as the decision was made to play several exhibition games against Army All-Star teams and the proceeds from those games as well as all playoff encounters for the duration would be turned over to army and navy relief. The magnates also discussed the league eligibility rule, which forbids the signing of a college player before he graduates came up again but the owners refused to make any changes.

TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINALS FIELD SET

There were very few surprises as the annual AIAA basketball championship tournament continued. Three of the four first-seeds made it to the finals which will be held at the famous Bigsby Gardens in New York City. The lone exception was Whitney College, which was the #2 seed in the South Region after top seed Brooklyn State fell in the opening round to Grafton. The Scholars run ended there as Lane State from the WCAA took care of them with a 39-34 win in round two. The most exciting second round game would have been the other matchup in the South as Rocky Mathison hit from the left corner with 2 seconds remaining in regulation to lift Whitney College to a 52-51 win over North Carolina Tech. The Engineers would then go on to beat Lane State 52-49 to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 1919-1920.

Whitney College will have it's work cut out on Saturday as the Engineers next challenge will be CCLA, the top ranked team in the nation and winners of 19 straight games. CCLA has won 3 National Championships with the most recent coming in 1932-33. The Coyotes were last in the semi-finals three years ago. Whitney College won it's only National Title in 1925-26. The other semi-final features the Engineers' Great Lakes Alliance rival Detroit City College against Liberty College. The Knights have never won a National Title but did reach the championship game in 32-33, falling to CCLA. The Liberty College Bells have two titles on their resume, coming in back to back seasons beginning in 1935-36.
SEMI FINAL SCHEDULE
SATURDAY April 4
CCLA (30-2) vs Whitney College (24-8)
Detroit City College (26-6) vs Liberty College (29-4)

MONDAY APRIL 6
Championship Game

TOURNAMENT RESULTS
EAST REGION
#1 Liberty 51 #4 Annapolis Maritime 45
#2 Western Iowa 47 #6 St Pancras 41

Liberty College 49 Western Iowa 30

SOUTH REGION
#4 Lane State 39 #8 Grafton 34
#2 Whitney College 52 #3 North Carolina Tech 51

Whitney College 52 Lane State 49

MIDWEST REGION
#1 Detroit City College 49 #5 Noble Jones College 44
#7 Lambert College 65 #6 Coastal California 54

Detroit City College 78 Lambert College 53

WEST REGION
#1 CCLA 50 #4 Central Ohio 40
#2 Garden State 39 #6 Mobile Maritime 37

CCLA 58 Garden State 53

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 3/29/1942

A daring attack by British subs in the Mediterranean resulted in the sinking of 11 Axis ships.
Japanese fliers reign bombs on Bataan in prelude to an expected offensive.
The US Pacific fleet carried out a surprise attack on Japanese-owned Marcus Island, just 990 miles southeast of Tokio. The attack destroyed shore installations, sank two patrol boats and demolished three large seaplanes.
The Japanese have opened a savage attack against Chinese positions in northwest China in apparent preparation for an attack on Russia.
British paratroops landed on the German-held west coast of France, apparently as support for a spectacular attempt to block a big enemy submarine base by exploding a dynamite-filled former American destroyer against harbor installations.
Assistant US Attorney General Thurman Arnold says the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey developed plans in 1938 for an aviation gasoline plant which it said would be a 'definite contribution' to the Nazi program of German self-sufficiency. Standard Oil is a subsidiary of the German company DAPG.

05-02-2022, 10:40 AM	#418
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	March 30, 1942 MARCH 30, 1942 BARRETT TO ENLIST NEXT YEAR Bill Barrett, the Continental Association's leading hitter, announced today he would play "one more season" before enlisting in the army. Barrett, the 22 year old New York Stars outfielder, notified the club's general manager of his decision over the weekend. "There's only one thing I can do and that's try to play another season," Barrett told the United Press. "As soon as I can adjust my financial situation I'll join the army." Barrett was recently reclassified from 1-A to 3-Q in an order by President Roosevelt issued through his local draft board. Barrett had been placed in 1-A in early January. After the draft boards' action the case was appealed to the district appeal board which upheld the local board's decision despite the fact it was shown that Barrett is the sole supporter of his mother. The appeal then was taken to the President. Barrett plans to secure enough money to support his mother during his absence and vows to enlist once the baseball season has concluded in the fall. EAGLES FLYING HIGH Two weeks ago if someone was given 15 guesses at who would have the best spring record in baseball at the midway point in camp, odds are most would still have not picked the Washington Eagles but there the Eagles are - soaring to the top of the spring standings with a 9-3 mark. In the grand scheme of things games won in March really mean nothing but for long suffering Eagles fans perhaps it is a ray of sunshine, a hope that the Washington club- and in particular it's pitching staff - will not be as dreadful as many, including TWIFB, are forecasting. The Eagles have won 6 straight games including a 1-0 eleven inning victory over St Louis yesterday that saw 5 different Washington pitchers combine to keep the Pioneers off the scoresheet. Leading those five pitchers was 31 year old Jack Elder, who started the week with 4 hitless innings of work vs Pittsburgh before his 4 against the Pioneers. If Washington is going to have any success this year one has to expect Elder will need to play a key role. The 31 year old was an all-star three years ago and won 20-games for the Eagles but has struggled each of the past two seasons. Jim Birdwell, who the Eagles gave up a top five pick three years ago to acquire, has also looked solid as has 26 year old Dan Everett. Del Burns, like Elder, needs to step up this season after a poor 1941 campaign, has had mixed results in his three spring starts but did pitch 4 strong innings vs Detroit this week. It is only March, and there are doubts that the Eagles rotation can have success all year, but at least for now there is hope in the Nation's Capital. QUICK HITS The Washington Eagles got a break from major league opponents yesterday with a day off but they sent a team of minor leaguers out on the field to face the Orlando Air Base team. Among those in the lineup for the Orlando camp was Fred McCormick. The former Toronto star, now an army sergeant, regularly plays with MacDill Field in Tampa, but Orlando borrowed him for the game. Tough break for the Toronto Wolves as Bernie Johnson injured his finger and may not return until the all-star break. The 31 year old was 13-14, 3.55 last season and has been a key piece of the Toronto rotation for much of the past decade. Bob Worley's return to Chicago was short-lived as the Chiefs rule 5 draft pickup blew out his knee running the bases in a game against Washington last week. Worley spent the first half of the 1938 season with the Chiefs before being dealt to Brooklyn, with whom he won a WCS. He played sparingly with the Kings the past two season and was waived with the Chicago Cougars picking him up. The Chiefs drafted him with hopes he might add some outfield depth. Percy Sutherland wonders what might have been for veteran Chiefs infielder Bob Martin. "It's too bad Bob Martin's body has betrayed him so much in the past 3 seasons. This is only his age-35 season, but he "feels" a lot older. If his knees and back had held out, he would likely be at 2600 hits and the discussion would be around whether he could get to 3000. Now I think he'll be lucky to get to 2500." Sutherland is well known for his appreciation of good glove work and he notes that Ron Rattigan's scouting report has him as an "elite" first baseman defensively for the Chiefs. If you want to see something interesting, look at Rattigan's career fielding history. As an 18 year old in class B he was absolutely dreadful at first. He slowly improved until at class AAA in 1933/34, he was "acceptable" defensively. Then when he got to Chicago, he became the defensive stalwart that we think of today. Hank Barnett had a down year in 1941, but he looks like he is feeling pretty good this Spring (.412-4-14). He and Ron Rattigan are on the top of the Total Bases leaderboard, which bodes well for the Chiefs offense. Tim Hopkins has never had a chance to play everyday in the bigs, but he is certainly making Brooklyn Kings manager Powell Slocum notice him this spring. The 6'5" first baseman known as 'Tiny Tim' is hitting .400 (10-for-25) this spring with 4 homers, which ties him with the Chiefs Hank Barnett and Sig Stofer of Washington for the spring lead. In 619 career FABL at bats, or just slightly over a full season's worth, Hopkins has 27 homers and 103 rbi's. A spot in the Dynamos lineup has emerged for Constantine Peters with the injury to 2B Len Jones who will be out 2-3 months with hamstring injury. Peters will begin daily reps at 2B for the remainder of the spring in hopes that his successful AAA bat will translate finally to the big leagues. The backup plan will be to move Gil London to 2B to potentially for a solid defensive up the middle combo with SS George Dawson. Peters is a player to watch. There were high hopes when the New York Gothams signed him in the old lottery system that was used for top rookies for a couple of years, but the Springfield State product has been traded twice since then despite be consistently considered a top-100 prospect. He has seen a bit of action with Detroit the past couple of seasons, batting .277 in 321 trips to the plate. A crowded middle-infield in Toronto is getting even busier as 27 year old Mike Rollinson is having himself a fine spring, batting .450 (9-for-20). Rollinson was originally a second round pick of the Chicago Chiefs in 1936 but has been stuck in the minors except for an 18 game stint with Toronto last season, during which he hit .293. The Wolves infield appears for the most part set with Walt Peck at first, Charlie Artuso at shortstop and likely Ockie Holliday once again manning the hot corner. Second base is open for the versatile (2B,3B,SS or OF) Rollinson especially if Tom Frederick again spends most of his time in centerfield. Rollinson would have to beat out veteran Frank Huddleston at second, although the 33 year old Huddleston, despite being very good with the glove, might be on his way out due to his light hitting. The Cannons sent Jack G Thompson to their minor league camp but at the midway point of Grapefruit play they still have 13 pitchers and expect to start the season with 9 or perhaps 10 if decisions have not been made on Art Edwards, Leo Proctor and Donie Scheuermann, three players who are out of minor league options. Scheuermann has looked solid so far this spring but Edwards and Proctor have struggled. Four of the starters are set in Deuce Barrell, Butch Smith, Glenn Payne and Roger Perry along with Larry Brown who will continue to be the first choice out of the pen. That leaves 4, possibly 5 spots to fill. Rule 5 pickup George Rotondi has looked very good in two spring outings so he is almost assured to get one of the openings. 22 year old Charlie Griffith, who was 12-14 last year splitting the season between A and AA, was not expected to be in the mix but the youngster has looked good and is making it tough on management to farm him out. Jesse Bowen is another one who has had a strong spring so far and it would be quite possible the Cannons go on a youth kick and keep both of them this season. If that is the case it means veterans William Jones and Leo Proctor along with Art Edwards will all be waived. The West Coast Athletic Association has vowed to continue intercollegiate football and other sports despite an Army ban on gatherings of more that 5,000 persons along the west coast. The expectation for the football games is they will play before smaller crowds if the army has not relaxed it's rules by that time. The January East-West Classic was moved to New York City and a number of basketball games were shifted to locations in Arizona during the first month of the year when there was a ban on all sporting events. At the AFA owners meeting in New York last week (at least after the owners were done overruling coaches wishes for reduced rosters) some good came out of the meeting as the decision was made to play several exhibition games against Army All-Star teams and the proceeds from those games as well as all playoff encounters for the duration would be turned over to army and navy relief. The magnates also discussed the league eligibility rule, which forbids the signing of a college player before he graduates came up again but the owners refused to make any changes. TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINALS FIELD SET There were very few surprises as the annual AIAA basketball championship tournament continued. Three of the four first-seeds made it to the finals which will be held at the famous Bigsby Gardens in New York City. The lone exception was Whitney College, which was the #2 seed in the South Region after top seed Brooklyn State fell in the opening round to Grafton. The Scholars run ended there as Lane State from the WCAA took care of them with a 39-34 win in round two. The most exciting second round game would have been the other matchup in the South as Rocky Mathison hit from the left corner with 2 seconds remaining in regulation to lift Whitney College to a 52-51 win over North Carolina Tech. The Engineers would then go on to beat Lane State 52-49 to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 1919-1920. Whitney College will have it's work cut out on Saturday as the Engineers next challenge will be CCLA, the top ranked team in the nation and winners of 19 straight games. CCLA has won 3 National Championships with the most recent coming in 1932-33. The Coyotes were last in the semi-finals three years ago. Whitney College won it's only National Title in 1925-26. The other semi-final features the Engineers' Great Lakes Alliance rival Detroit City College against Liberty College. The Knights have never won a National Title but did reach the championship game in 32-33, falling to CCLA. The Liberty College Bells have two titles on their resume, coming in back to back seasons beginning in 1935-36. SEMI FINAL SCHEDULE SATURDAY April 4 CCLA (30-2) vs Whitney College (24-8) Detroit City College (26-6) vs Liberty College (29-4) MONDAY APRIL 6 Championship Game TOURNAMENT RESULTS EAST REGION #1 Liberty 51 #4 Annapolis Maritime 45 #2 Western Iowa 47 #6 St Pancras 41 Liberty College 49 Western Iowa 30 SOUTH REGION #4 Lane State 39 #8 Grafton 34 #2 Whitney College 52 #3 North Carolina Tech 51 Whitney College 52 Lane State 49 MIDWEST REGION #1 Detroit City College 49 #5 Noble Jones College 44 #7 Lambert College 65 #6 Coastal California 54 Detroit City College 78 Lambert College 53 WEST REGION #1 CCLA 50 #4 Central Ohio 40 #2 Garden State 39 #6 Mobile Maritime 37 CCLA 58 Garden State 53 The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 3/29/1942 A daring attack by British subs in the Mediterranean resulted in the sinking of 11 Axis ships. Japanese fliers reign bombs on Bataan in prelude to an expected offensive. The US Pacific fleet carried out a surprise attack on Japanese-owned Marcus Island, just 990 miles southeast of Tokio. The attack destroyed shore installations, sank two patrol boats and demolished three large seaplanes. The Japanese have opened a savage attack against Chinese positions in northwest China in apparent preparation for an attack on Russia. British paratroops landed on the German-held west coast of France, apparently as support for a spectacular attempt to block a big enemy submarine base by exploding a dynamite-filled former American destroyer against harbor installations. Assistant US Attorney General Thurman Arnold says the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey developed plans in 1938 for an aviation gasoline plant which it said would be a 'definite contribution' to the Nazi program of German self-sufficiency. Standard Oil is a subsidiary of the German company DAPG. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports