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Jiggs McGee · 05-06-2022, 02:45 PM

April 20, 1942

MUCH THE SAME, BUT OPENING WEEK ALSO HINTS JUST HOW MUCH HAS PERHAPS CHANGED

Maybe the baseball players, after tramping the woods all fall and winter with their dogs at their sides and shotguns under their arms, never got around to fully realizing that these are unusual times and anything is likely to happen. For months the club owners and FABL President Sam Belton have been delivering spiels to the effect that, due to the draft and one thing or another, the 16 big-time teams more or less were on equal footing and that exciting races with spectacular twists were not to be unexpected.

The theorists, apparently, did not take everything into account. Why, for the opening day it was just like the opening day of the season a year ago! What with fresh accent on his Good Neighbor Policy and with Vichy water running hot, President Roosevelt couldn't keep the traditional date at Columbia Stadium in Washington on Opening Day. But the Philadelphia Keystones were there and handed the hometown Eagles a loss, much as had been expected. In Boston, the defending champs were engaged in a pitching duel with Pittsburgh ace Lefty Allen. Over in Chicago the Chiefs were beating St Louis while in Canada the reigning CA champion Cougars were pounding Montreal. Everything seemed the same, until it didn't.

The opening week of the Federal Association slate seemed to confirm this will indeed not be just any old ordinary season. It was almost as if the world had been turned upside down, as if the standings had been inverted as a glance at the top of the Fed table somehow showed the New York Gothams leading the way at 6-1 -when is the last time the Gothams were ever 6-1 - while at the other end we had the World Champs and the Detroit Dynmoas with just 1 victory each. The CA seemed a little more in line with reality, although it too had some surprises of it's own as the Cleveland Foresters were an unexpected 3-3 and tossed right in the middle of the mixed salad that was a palatable but bland plate of mediocrity with six of the 8 Continental clubs sporting .500 marks and only two outliers in 4-2 Brooklyn and 2-4 Montreal.

So after what felt like perhaps the longest winter on record, one in which only 2 very minor trades were consummated yet gave us more player movement than any other off-season in history, baseball is back and in many ways feels much the same. But perhaps the opening week is also rife with foreshadowing as to just how different things in the game, like in the world around us, have become.

Gothams Notes: 6-1 to open the season! Week 1, the very definition if "It's early", but still, 6-1
--- Harry Carter, the #3 starter in Ed Ziehl's suddenly formidable looking rotation pitched a 1 hit shutout against Detroit. Carter needed only 104 pitches as he walked 1 and struck out 7 Dynamos.
--- Bud Jameson wins FA player of the week. For the first time in almost a decade the 38 year old first sacker is FA Player of the Week, going 11-21 (.524) with a homer and 6 RBI. His last POW was June of 1932.
--- Ed Bowman still to make his debut. Coming off his spring injury, manager Ziehl showed an excess of caution when the morning temps in St. Louis hovered in the 30s with a chance of rain in the forecast. Despite is warming to 56, Ziehl gave the ball to Bob Adams, leading to a 10th inning loss. Yes, their "worst" game of the week was an extra innings loss. Ziehl says that Bowman will start in Chicago.
--- Goulding and Petrick. Though 1941 was a year of mixed results, the two rotation stalwarts have both gotten off to 2-0 starts. The whole staff has looked good.
--- Offense too. Other than Roosevelt Brewer all the position players are hitting and playing solid defense. The ingredients for winning baseball. Now we'll see what the rest of the season brings.

QUICK HITS

Al Wheeler hit his 399th career homerun on Saturday off of Wally Doyle in the Brooklyn Kings 7-2 loss to the Saints. Only Hall of Famers Max Morris and Rankin Kellogg have hit more homers than the Wonder Wheel. Despite the Kings 4-2 start it was a rough week for the 5 time Whitney Award winner as Wheeler's homer was his only hit in 19 at bats. That hit, #2493 of his 15 year career, moved Wheeler within 7 of becoming just the 27th player in FABL history to reach the 2,500 hit plateau.
Anyone who might think baseball won't go right on through the season should take note that FABL President Sam Belton already has been dickering on a contract with radio folks for the broadcast of the World Championship Series this October. Word is they are closing in on an agreement.
Some minor renovation work had been done at Sailors Memorial Stadium over the winter and one local scribe wondered if, when the Sailors opened the season, they would find that the home plate had been moved. "Didn't they have enough trouble," wondered the scribe, "last season crossing the platter without their bosses putting the darned thing in an unfamiliar spot?"

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Jiggs McGee takes a look around FABL with a quick comment or two on each of the 16 clubs after the opening week of play.

BOSTON- Worries of a championship hangover in Boston as the Minutemen drop 5 of their first six games. 1940 champ Toronto certainly suffered through a bad season after winning it all but before Boston fans starting thinking they will succumb to the same fate it's important to note the Minutemen had a tough series to open defense of their title with the Pittsburgh Miners coming to Cunningham Field and then it was off to Philadelphia where they could have just as easily went 3-0 instead of their 0-3 mark with each loss coming by a single run including the first two games in extra innings. Get swept in a 5 game series in the nation's capital starting with a twin bill today and the tune might change, but for now there is no reason to panic in Beantown.

BROOKLYN- Harry Barrell followed up a fine spring with a 5-hit game against the New York Stars on Thursday. There was worry about Brooklyn's pitching depth after Jack Goff joined the Navy but if Bob Cummings and Stumpy Beamon can pitch like they did last week there will no cause for concern. Cummings went 7 innings while allowing 4 hits and just an unearned run in a 4-1 win over the Stars while Beamon was nearly as impressive in a 4-2 win over Montreal a couple of days later. But veteran Art White was the ace last week pitching in a pair of 1-0 games. He went 1-1 in those two contests but looks ready to have perhaps the best season of his career.

CHIEFS- Rabbit Day needs 20 more wins to become just the 12th 300-game winner in FABL history. He had a decent debut outing against St Louis but came out on the short-end of a 4-3 score. Bob Martin is hoping for a healthy season, but he's had a slow start: just 5 for 28 (.192). However of those 5 hits, 3 have been for extra bases (2 doubles and 1 triple)

COUGARS- No worries about age catching up with 37 year old Jim Lonardo if the opening week is any indication. He opened the week with a 3-hitter in a 6-1 win over Montreal and closed it by blanking the New York Stars 4-0 while allowing 4 hits. The effort made the 4-time Allen Award winner the CA player of week...surprisingly just the second time in his career he has been honoured as the week's top performer. The first time was in August of 1933.

CINCINNATI- Moxie Pidgeon looks like he is off to another slow start. Last year the veteran outfielder hit just .167 and was homerless in April. He is hitting .154 without an extra base hit after the opening week this time around. A year ago he rebounded and made his 6th all-star appearance so the Cannons hope he gets going soon. Meanwhile, the experiment with Jim Hensley shifting to second base and letting Charlie Rivera play his natural shortstop as the club looks to replace Army draftee and all-star second sacker Charley McCullough may be short-lived. Hensley committed 4 errors in his first week at second base despite playing the position a lot in the minors. Manager Ad Doria is giving it one more week and if results don't improve he will have to switch Hensley back to shortstop although Rivera is considered the more dynamic defender.

CLEVELAND- A tough blow for the Foresters as 28 year old Jack Hale blew out his arm and is done for the year. Hale went 8-14 as a rookie last year. Dan Fowler homered, the 241st of his career as the 33 year old bids to become just the 12th player in history to launch 250 longballs. There is positive news with the play of Cal Howe as the 26 year old outfielder leads the CA with a .455 batting average. Quite a departure from his .220 mark in 73 career FABL games entering the season.

DETROIT- Swept in New York and then they dropped 2 of 3 at home to Chicago, there is already worry coming from the always nervous Dynamos front-office. Every game is magnified, even those in the April cold, for the club that has come close so often the past few years but never made it over the hump. Two of the key mound pieces did not debut well as Joe Shaffner (0-2, 9.53) and Frank Crawford (0-1, 9.00) both served as punching bags while the bullpen was not much better. Frank Vance and Sal Pestilli had decent starts but two-time reigning Whitney Award winner Red Johnson went 1-for-20. Still, with all that talent Detroit should be just fine. No guarantee they win the pennant of course, but hard not to see this group in contention come September.

MONTREAL- The Saints scored 7 times in a win over Brooklyn on Saturday but managed just 8 runs in their other 5 games combined as offense was certainly in short supply. Fortunately one of those 5 games saw Bill Ross come up with a very impressive pitching performance against the team that originally drafted him, beating the Chicago Cougars 2-1.

NY STARS- A 3-3 start for the Stars in a week that saw much of their offense sputter. Bill Barrett (.333,1,2),thanks to an assist from FDR, is hitting as usual and Father Time Dave Trowbridge (.318,2,4) continues to defy science by looking just as effective at age 43 as he was nearly two decades ago but the rest of the offense is sputtering. Chink Stickels, Cliff Ray and Ray Cochran are all hitting below .200 but each looks like a batting champ when compared to Lew Seals almost inexplicable 1-for-25 start.

NY GOTHAMS- You need to go back to 1934 for the last time the Gothams started the season 5-1. They actually began 6-1 after a season opening sweep of the Chicago Chiefs before losing to Detroit, but then rebounded with 3 straight victories. The Gothams won the Federal Pennant that year. 38 year old Bud Jameson reminded fans of old times as he went 11-for-21 to help pace the Gothams quick start and was rewarded with a Fed player of the week selection. While the Gothams are talking about early pitching success don't discount how much scoring 41 runs in 7 games has contributed to their run differential of +24, far and away the best in either Association.

KEYSTONES- Timely hitting has made the Keystones start a very successful one with 3 of their 5 victories last week coming in extra innings and a fourth by just a single run. Second baseman Marshall Stickland was the hero of the opener with a 10th inning rbi double. Friday afternoon it was Bobby Barrell who delivered a game win single to give the Keystones a 3-2 win over Boston, rallying for 2 in the bottom of the 12th after the Minutemen scored in the top half and a day later they once again dashed Boston's hopes as the Minutemen tied it in the ninth only to see Bobby McHenry end the game in the 10th with a sac fly that made the final once again 3-2 for the Keystones. Yesterday it was an even bigger rally as Philadelphia came back for a 7-6 win after trailing the Minutemen 6-2 entering the bottom of the 8th inning.

SAILORS- Lou Williams celebrated the start of his 10th season in the Sailors outfield in fine style as the 33 year old went 3-for-6 with 2 rbi's and a pair of runs in a 12-9 11-inning win over Cleveland in the opener. That outburst was the key reason the Sailors lead the CA in runs scored after the opening week.

PITTSBURGH- Pablo Reyes is up to his old tricks with 1 successful stolen base in 4 attempts. Reyes has been over .500 in theft attempts the past couple of years but he has been caught 158 times to go with his 175 successful steals. Only Dick Walker of the Cougars has been caught stealing more often than Reyes among active players and only Johnny McDowell and Jake Shadoan have a lower success rate than Reyes' 52.6% among active players with at least 100 career thefts.

ST LOUIS- While Danny Hern picked up right where he left off last season with a complete game 3-2 win over the Chicago Chiefs in his season debut there is concern that Cal Roe and Harry Sharp, who both struggled a year ago, are also on that trajectory once again. Roe, who posted a 2-4 record and a 6.55 era in 6 appearances last year, got shelled in a 14-1 loss to the Gothams last week. Sharp, a 24 year old local kid who is 20-32 for his career including 9-9, 5.52 a year ago, did not fare quite as poorly against the Gothams in allowing 5 runs on 12 hits. He did not get the decision as the Pioneers rallied and won in extra innings, to hand New York it's only loss on the week.

TORONTO- The Wolves are satisfied with a 3-3 start, two wins were shutouts by George Garrison and Juan Pomales. Surprisingly Joe Hancock was saddled with 2 of the 3 losses although he did not pitch poorly in either of his outings. None of the infielders are hitting their weight with the exception of Mike Rollinson. Gus Hull and Reginald Westfall have gotten off to hot early starts in the OF, however Larry Vestal got the dreaded Recovery Unclear word from the trainers with his hamstring injury. Wolves management is hoping this is not a sign of things to come from the soon to be 33 year old LF. Playing time will be monitored closely when Vestal comes off the DL.

WASHINGTON- Eagles fans have to be thrilled with a split of their 4 game set on the road in Pittsburgh and it could easily have been a winning week as they staged a nice comeback on opening day against Philadelphia, scoring three times in the ninth inning before ultimately falling 5-4 in 10. The bats were working but there is concern already about the rotation. Everyone knew going in the Eagles might be in trouble on the mound with Jim Douglass and top prospect Juan Tostado both in the Army. That meant more pressure on Del Burns and Jack Elder to rebound from subpar 1941 seasons. Burns (1-0, 5.40) got a win in his two starts but actually pitched better in his no decision in the season opener against the Keystones. Elder (0-2, 6.32) lost both of his starts and is now 16-36 since his twenty win campaign in 1939.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 4/19/1942

13 American bombers, including 3 Flying Fortresses, brought "dismay and destruction" to Japanese bases - including an airfield near Manila- on three Philippine Islands.
As the week came to a close Allied planes turned their aim on Japan for the first time in the war, bombing the city of Tokio as well as industrial and naval base cities of Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya.
Chinese forces are reported to have inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese in Burma.
U.S. plans to send American food and clothing to France and French North Africa have been cancelled because of a government shakeup in Vichy that returned Pierre Laval to power.
With the pro-Nazi Laval back in power, a fresh wave of terrorism broke out in German-held France.
Along the Eastern Front, Russian troops won the first major battle this spring, having repulsed 30 powerful German counter attacks along the front.

05-06-2022, 02:45 PM	#422
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	April 20, 1942 The Season Begins April 20, 1942 MUCH THE SAME, BUT OPENING WEEK ALSO HINTS JUST HOW MUCH HAS PERHAPS CHANGED Maybe the baseball players, after tramping the woods all fall and winter with their dogs at their sides and shotguns under their arms, never got around to fully realizing that these are unusual times and anything is likely to happen. For months the club owners and FABL President Sam Belton have been delivering spiels to the effect that, due to the draft and one thing or another, the 16 big-time teams more or less were on equal footing and that exciting races with spectacular twists were not to be unexpected. The theorists, apparently, did not take everything into account. Why, for the opening day it was just like the opening day of the season a year ago! What with fresh accent on his Good Neighbor Policy and with Vichy water running hot, President Roosevelt couldn't keep the traditional date at Columbia Stadium in Washington on Opening Day. But the Philadelphia Keystones were there and handed the hometown Eagles a loss, much as had been expected. In Boston, the defending champs were engaged in a pitching duel with Pittsburgh ace Lefty Allen. Over in Chicago the Chiefs were beating St Louis while in Canada the reigning CA champion Cougars were pounding Montreal. Everything seemed the same, until it didn't. The opening week of the Federal Association slate seemed to confirm this will indeed not be just any old ordinary season. It was almost as if the world had been turned upside down, as if the standings had been inverted as a glance at the top of the Fed table somehow showed the New York Gothams leading the way at 6-1 -when is the last time the Gothams were ever 6-1 - while at the other end we had the World Champs and the Detroit Dynmoas with just 1 victory each. The CA seemed a little more in line with reality, although it too had some surprises of it's own as the Cleveland Foresters were an unexpected 3-3 and tossed right in the middle of the mixed salad that was a palatable but bland plate of mediocrity with six of the 8 Continental clubs sporting .500 marks and only two outliers in 4-2 Brooklyn and 2-4 Montreal. So after what felt like perhaps the longest winter on record, one in which only 2 very minor trades were consummated yet gave us more player movement than any other off-season in history, baseball is back and in many ways feels much the same. But perhaps the opening week is also rife with foreshadowing as to just how different things in the game, like in the world around us, have become. Gothams Notes: 6-1 to open the season! Week 1, the very definition if "It's early", but still, 6-1 --- Harry Carter, the #3 starter in Ed Ziehl's suddenly formidable looking rotation pitched a 1 hit shutout against Detroit. Carter needed only 104 pitches as he walked 1 and struck out 7 Dynamos. --- Bud Jameson wins FA player of the week. For the first time in almost a decade the 38 year old first sacker is FA Player of the Week, going 11-21 (.524) with a homer and 6 RBI. His last POW was June of 1932. --- Ed Bowman still to make his debut. Coming off his spring injury, manager Ziehl showed an excess of caution when the morning temps in St. Louis hovered in the 30s with a chance of rain in the forecast. Despite is warming to 56, Ziehl gave the ball to Bob Adams, leading to a 10th inning loss. Yes, their "worst" game of the week was an extra innings loss. Ziehl says that Bowman will start in Chicago. --- Goulding and Petrick. Though 1941 was a year of mixed results, the two rotation stalwarts have both gotten off to 2-0 starts. The whole staff has looked good. --- Offense too. Other than Roosevelt Brewer all the position players are hitting and playing solid defense. The ingredients for winning baseball. Now we'll see what the rest of the season brings. QUICK HITS Al Wheeler hit his 399th career homerun on Saturday off of Wally Doyle in the Brooklyn Kings 7-2 loss to the Saints. Only Hall of Famers Max Morris and Rankin Kellogg have hit more homers than the Wonder Wheel. Despite the Kings 4-2 start it was a rough week for the 5 time Whitney Award winner as Wheeler's homer was his only hit in 19 at bats. That hit, #2493 of his 15 year career, moved Wheeler within 7 of becoming just the 27th player in FABL history to reach the 2,500 hit plateau. Anyone who might think baseball won't go right on through the season should take note that FABL President Sam Belton already has been dickering on a contract with radio folks for the broadcast of the World Championship Series this October. Word is they are closing in on an agreement. Some minor renovation work had been done at Sailors Memorial Stadium over the winter and one local scribe wondered if, when the Sailors opened the season, they would find that the home plate had been moved. "Didn't they have enough trouble," wondered the scribe, "last season crossing the platter without their bosses putting the darned thing in an unfamiliar spot?" AROUND THE LEAGUE Jiggs McGee takes a look around FABL with a quick comment or two on each of the 16 clubs after the opening week of play. BOSTON- Worries of a championship hangover in Boston as the Minutemen drop 5 of their first six games. 1940 champ Toronto certainly suffered through a bad season after winning it all but before Boston fans starting thinking they will succumb to the same fate it's important to note the Minutemen had a tough series to open defense of their title with the Pittsburgh Miners coming to Cunningham Field and then it was off to Philadelphia where they could have just as easily went 3-0 instead of their 0-3 mark with each loss coming by a single run including the first two games in extra innings. Get swept in a 5 game series in the nation's capital starting with a twin bill today and the tune might change, but for now there is no reason to panic in Beantown. BROOKLYN- Harry Barrell followed up a fine spring with a 5-hit game against the New York Stars on Thursday. There was worry about Brooklyn's pitching depth after Jack Goff joined the Navy but if Bob Cummings and Stumpy Beamon can pitch like they did last week there will no cause for concern. Cummings went 7 innings while allowing 4 hits and just an unearned run in a 4-1 win over the Stars while Beamon was nearly as impressive in a 4-2 win over Montreal a couple of days later. But veteran Art White was the ace last week pitching in a pair of 1-0 games. He went 1-1 in those two contests but looks ready to have perhaps the best season of his career. CHIEFS- Rabbit Day needs 20 more wins to become just the 12th 300-game winner in FABL history. He had a decent debut outing against St Louis but came out on the short-end of a 4-3 score. Bob Martin is hoping for a healthy season, but he's had a slow start: just 5 for 28 (.192). However of those 5 hits, 3 have been for extra bases (2 doubles and 1 triple) COUGARS- No worries about age catching up with 37 year old Jim Lonardo if the opening week is any indication. He opened the week with a 3-hitter in a 6-1 win over Montreal and closed it by blanking the New York Stars 4-0 while allowing 4 hits. The effort made the 4-time Allen Award winner the CA player of week...surprisingly just the second time in his career he has been honoured as the week's top performer. The first time was in August of 1933. CINCINNATI- Moxie Pidgeon looks like he is off to another slow start. Last year the veteran outfielder hit just .167 and was homerless in April. He is hitting .154 without an extra base hit after the opening week this time around. A year ago he rebounded and made his 6th all-star appearance so the Cannons hope he gets going soon. Meanwhile, the experiment with Jim Hensley shifting to second base and letting Charlie Rivera play his natural shortstop as the club looks to replace Army draftee and all-star second sacker Charley McCullough may be short-lived. Hensley committed 4 errors in his first week at second base despite playing the position a lot in the minors. Manager Ad Doria is giving it one more week and if results don't improve he will have to switch Hensley back to shortstop although Rivera is considered the more dynamic defender. CLEVELAND- A tough blow for the Foresters as 28 year old Jack Hale blew out his arm and is done for the year. Hale went 8-14 as a rookie last year. Dan Fowler homered, the 241st of his career as the 33 year old bids to become just the 12th player in history to launch 250 longballs. There is positive news with the play of Cal Howe as the 26 year old outfielder leads the CA with a .455 batting average. Quite a departure from his .220 mark in 73 career FABL games entering the season. DETROIT- Swept in New York and then they dropped 2 of 3 at home to Chicago, there is already worry coming from the always nervous Dynamos front-office. Every game is magnified, even those in the April cold, for the club that has come close so often the past few years but never made it over the hump. Two of the key mound pieces did not debut well as Joe Shaffner (0-2, 9.53) and Frank Crawford (0-1, 9.00) both served as punching bags while the bullpen was not much better. Frank Vance and Sal Pestilli had decent starts but two-time reigning Whitney Award winner Red Johnson went 1-for-20. Still, with all that talent Detroit should be just fine. No guarantee they win the pennant of course, but hard not to see this group in contention come September. MONTREAL- The Saints scored 7 times in a win over Brooklyn on Saturday but managed just 8 runs in their other 5 games combined as offense was certainly in short supply. Fortunately one of those 5 games saw Bill Ross come up with a very impressive pitching performance against the team that originally drafted him, beating the Chicago Cougars 2-1. NY STARS- A 3-3 start for the Stars in a week that saw much of their offense sputter. Bill Barrett (.333,1,2),thanks to an assist from FDR, is hitting as usual and Father Time Dave Trowbridge (.318,2,4) continues to defy science by looking just as effective at age 43 as he was nearly two decades ago but the rest of the offense is sputtering. Chink Stickels, Cliff Ray and Ray Cochran are all hitting below .200 but each looks like a batting champ when compared to Lew Seals almost inexplicable 1-for-25 start. NY GOTHAMS- You need to go back to 1934 for the last time the Gothams started the season 5-1. They actually began 6-1 after a season opening sweep of the Chicago Chiefs before losing to Detroit, but then rebounded with 3 straight victories. The Gothams won the Federal Pennant that year. 38 year old Bud Jameson reminded fans of old times as he went 11-for-21 to help pace the Gothams quick start and was rewarded with a Fed player of the week selection. While the Gothams are talking about early pitching success don't discount how much scoring 41 runs in 7 games has contributed to their run differential of +24, far and away the best in either Association. KEYSTONES- Timely hitting has made the Keystones start a very successful one with 3 of their 5 victories last week coming in extra innings and a fourth by just a single run. Second baseman Marshall Stickland was the hero of the opener with a 10th inning rbi double. Friday afternoon it was Bobby Barrell who delivered a game win single to give the Keystones a 3-2 win over Boston, rallying for 2 in the bottom of the 12th after the Minutemen scored in the top half and a day later they once again dashed Boston's hopes as the Minutemen tied it in the ninth only to see Bobby McHenry end the game in the 10th with a sac fly that made the final once again 3-2 for the Keystones. Yesterday it was an even bigger rally as Philadelphia came back for a 7-6 win after trailing the Minutemen 6-2 entering the bottom of the 8th inning. SAILORS- Lou Williams celebrated the start of his 10th season in the Sailors outfield in fine style as the 33 year old went 3-for-6 with 2 rbi's and a pair of runs in a 12-9 11-inning win over Cleveland in the opener. That outburst was the key reason the Sailors lead the CA in runs scored after the opening week. PITTSBURGH- Pablo Reyes is up to his old tricks with 1 successful stolen base in 4 attempts. Reyes has been over .500 in theft attempts the past couple of years but he has been caught 158 times to go with his 175 successful steals. Only Dick Walker of the Cougars has been caught stealing more often than Reyes among active players and only Johnny McDowell and Jake Shadoan have a lower success rate than Reyes' 52.6% among active players with at least 100 career thefts. ST LOUIS- While Danny Hern picked up right where he left off last season with a complete game 3-2 win over the Chicago Chiefs in his season debut there is concern that Cal Roe and Harry Sharp, who both struggled a year ago, are also on that trajectory once again. Roe, who posted a 2-4 record and a 6.55 era in 6 appearances last year, got shelled in a 14-1 loss to the Gothams last week. Sharp, a 24 year old local kid who is 20-32 for his career including 9-9, 5.52 a year ago, did not fare quite as poorly against the Gothams in allowing 5 runs on 12 hits. He did not get the decision as the Pioneers rallied and won in extra innings, to hand New York it's only loss on the week. TORONTO- The Wolves are satisfied with a 3-3 start, two wins were shutouts by George Garrison and Juan Pomales. Surprisingly Joe Hancock was saddled with 2 of the 3 losses although he did not pitch poorly in either of his outings. None of the infielders are hitting their weight with the exception of Mike Rollinson. Gus Hull and Reginald Westfall have gotten off to hot early starts in the OF, however Larry Vestal got the dreaded Recovery Unclear word from the trainers with his hamstring injury. Wolves management is hoping this is not a sign of things to come from the soon to be 33 year old LF. Playing time will be monitored closely when Vestal comes off the DL. WASHINGTON- Eagles fans have to be thrilled with a split of their 4 game set on the road in Pittsburgh and it could easily have been a winning week as they staged a nice comeback on opening day against Philadelphia, scoring three times in the ninth inning before ultimately falling 5-4 in 10. The bats were working but there is concern already about the rotation. Everyone knew going in the Eagles might be in trouble on the mound with Jim Douglass and top prospect Juan Tostado both in the Army. That meant more pressure on Del Burns and Jack Elder to rebound from subpar 1941 seasons. Burns (1-0, 5.40) got a win in his two starts but actually pitched better in his no decision in the season opener against the Keystones. Elder (0-2, 6.32) lost both of his starts and is now 16-36 since his twenty win campaign in 1939. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 4/19/1942 13 American bombers, including 3 Flying Fortresses, brought "dismay and destruction" to Japanese bases - including an airfield near Manila- on three Philippine Islands. As the week came to a close Allied planes turned their aim on Japan for the first time in the war, bombing the city of Tokio as well as industrial and naval base cities of Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya. Chinese forces are reported to have inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese in Burma. U.S. plans to send American food and clothing to France and French North Africa have been cancelled because of a government shakeup in Vichy that returned Pierre Laval to power. With the pro-Nazi Laval back in power, a fresh wave of terrorism broke out in German-held France. Along the Eastern Front, Russian troops won the first major battle this spring, having repulsed 30 powerful German counter attacks along the front. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 05-06-2022 at 03:25 PM.