MAY 18, 1942
KEYSTONES TAKE OVER TOP SPOT IN THE FED
The Philadelphia Keystones are doing their best to prove that last season's slide was just a fluke and the club does indeed belong in the discussion for best team in the always competitive Federal Association. Two years ago the Keystones made a statement with an 87-67 season - an improvement of 24 games over the previous year - but they gave much of that gain back last season when they struggled and finished below .500. Philadelphia is a good young team with plenty of talent and the Keystones now find themselves at the top of the Fed table following a week that saw them win 6 of 7 games to start a two week long road swing.
The key so far this season has been pitching as while the Keystones are last in the Fed in runs scored, no club has allowed less than the 103 runs Philadelphia has surrendered thus far in the season. The Keystones will face a tough test this week when they visit Chicago in a showdown between the top two teams in the Fed at the moment and a battle of the league's most productive offense against that top pitching staff from Philadelphia.
In the Continental Association the New York Stars had their winning streak snapped at 11 with back to back losses to start the week. However, the responded by starting a new one and have stretched that current run to 6 games after taking both ends of a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Sailors yesterday.
CANNONS COLLAPSE CONTINUES
I just can't believe how badly I missed in my assessment of the Cannons for this season. And Detroit for that matter too as we both have fallen off a cliff. I never expected Cincinnati to contend for a pennant this year but they should have been at least a .500 team and in the mix for third or fourth place.
It was clear the loss of Mike T. Taylor would hurt as he was quickly becoming one of the best young outfielders in the game - not a Bill Barrett level of course but a 129 or so WRC+ average over the past couple of years. But I figured with Bob Griffith they should be ok as Cincinnati still had Galloway and Pidgeon to provide offense from the outfield. Well, Pidgeon's hitting skills flew the coop (at least so far) and Griffith has been so incredibly injury prone you would think he was a Cannons pitcher. The team is now forced to rely on the likes of Ruben Sanchez and Doc Love to hold them over until Dick Blaszak is ready - and that does not appear to be anytime soon as the 19 year old is hitting .148 in Class B and getting set to be demoted back to C ball.
Cannons brass also thought Charlie Rivera, who hit .291 a year ago and provides plus defense could have filled in for McCullough in the infield but the issue has been he can't hit this year and neither can SS Jim Hensley so while they have two solid defenders in the middle of the infield but the Cannons are starved for offense because Pidgeon isn't producing and the corner infield combination of Denny Andrews, Frank Covarrubias and Chuck Adams can't get going either.
Finally the pitching has been a mess. Deuce has been great of course and fans can't really complain about Larry Brown out of the pen, although Cincinnati is somehow 1-7 in 1-run games. The rest of the staff has been awful and their -60 run differential won't win us many ballgames. One can perhaps look to manager Ad Doria as a scapegoat for the one run losses but Ad can't go out there and pitch or hit for the team. Still, one has to wonder if things might be different if Doria's mentor George Theobald was still sitting in the dugout instead of the owner's box at Tice Memorial Stadium.
As for the pitching look no further than Butch Smith for a scapegoat. Smith is 30 and suddenly fell off a cliff. He was a consistent 116-138 ERA+ guy in the three previous season but has a 73 now and an 0-7, 4.76 mark and that is only because his last two outings have been a little better. He went from a 2-time all-star and getting some Allan votes a year ago to not being good enough to start. With the devastating injury to Vic Carroll and the injury/enlistment of Bill Sohl it sent Smith from being what was expected to be perhaps the best 4th starter in the league to the worst #2. Roger Perry has been what most expected when he came over from Pittsburgh a year ago: a back of the rotation guy, but now forced to being the #2 because of Smith. Charlie Griffith had a very good spring but is young and probably needs a year to develop although now he can do so in Cincinnati with no pressure as this year is now meaningless for the Cannons.
I think it will ultimately prove to be the Adam Mullins deal that, as good as it felt at the time, was what started the Cannons undoing. That's not to say the trade should not have been made, as it made sense at the time for the Cannons. However, given the current mess of things one can easily point to that move as the point things started to unravel. The Cannons had a great 1940 and seemed just a piece or two short for '41 so they pulled the trigger on Mullins. It was considered a great move at the time and one that immediately made them a contender but everything has gone wrong since. Mullins immediately got hurt, missed the first two months of last season and the Cannons downfall began. Mullins was as good as advertised when he returned but the pitching injuries happened immediately after that. Vic Carroll will be back in Cincinnati this week but Rufus Barrell is not very confident he can be a starter anymore, let alone the top of the rotation guy he was projected to be when they drafted him first overall out of Richmond State. Cincinnati dealt Gus Goulding and Rusty Petrick to the Gothams because they had these 3 young arms (Bill Sohl came from the pick I got in the Goulding deal) and Butch Smith as well as several other solid prospects but now, and so quickly, the Cannons have little pitching left beyond Deuce Barrell.
Yes you can say it is just bad luck I guess. On the injury front for sure and perhaps with their record in 1-run games this season but even then I am not sure as Cincinnati's pythagorean record is right on point with where they actually are. Let's call 1941 just bad luck but for this season...I don't know. Perhaps the Cannons brass grossly overestimated the capabilities of this group for the 1942 season but then every prediction including yours truly had the club right in the middle of the pack - 3rd or 4th place. Right now we look like we should be sending this mess back to Baltimore, as their play is certainly in line with what that city was 'treated' to over it's final decade on the eastern shore. Makes a fan long for the days of the Cincinnati Steamers. Give us the Steamers back instead of this steaming pile of...well, you get the picture.
A 5-2 week in Montreal put a smile on the faces of Saints fans this morning. Two games below the .500 record is way better than we were last season at the same stage. LF Bert Lass keeping the pace of leading the offense. 1B Bond and CF Greene found finally their bat to help the offense a little. Overall the starter pitching squad not doing bad, but the lack of offense in the first few weeks of the season made Montreal losing some games.
Last week, 3B Bent was called back from AAA while 1B/3B Belair was sent down. Bent respond with a .375 average in the two games he started. The last week could have turned out even better if the offense would have made run support in a 1-0 loss against Cleveland. Pitcher DeYoung threw a scoreless nine innings before being relieved in the 10th. He was not involved in the decision. Despite a 2-4 record, veteran pitcher DeYoung, a leader among the pitching squad is getting a 3.8 K/BB ratio with a 126 ERA+. Sounds like this year, he was able to lower the quantity of homeruns surrendered. Is that coming from the new manager using a 5 pitchers rotation this year compared to the 4 pitcher rotation in the last 2 year?
The Saints schedule toward the end of the month will be harder, with two double header in two days, not in the same city. Thanks to the 1942 rapid transportation new device called TGV, the Saints will play a double header in Chicago on May 30th, followed by a double header in Montreal against New York on May 31st. Fortunately, there is a day off on June 1st!
- Mule Monier is slumping for the first time this season and is barely holding on to the FABL lead in Avg.
- Walt Messer has moved into a tied for the HR lead and sits 3rd in RBI
- Rusty Petrick is leading FA in strikeouts
- Gus Goulding continues to struggle now having surrendered 18 ER over 3 starts and 17 1/3 innings
- On the farm: Rock Island's Johnny Waits followed up his no-hit performance with a complete game 2 hit shutout. The 6-2 righty has earned a promotion to Class B Fresno.
- Albany's Noah Anderson, a 7th round selection in 1938 was named MAL Player of the Week going 10 for 21 with 9 RBI
Toronto starts the week by ending the Stars 11 game winning streak but then fall into their all to common funk by finishing the week 2-4 including two more one-run losses. Wolves are now a terrible 3-9 in games decided by one, this is the same issue that plagued the team in 1941, close but no cigar.
Ockie Holliday's continues to be mired in a season long slump .163/.207/.163. Many different options are being discussed in the Wolves Lair including some time back in Buffalo when Vestal comes back across Lake Ontario. This sophomore slump also is having an effect on Holliday in the field, an area that the Wolves are focused on improving overall as a team.
The team's run differential (+25) is in contrast to the W-L record (16-18). Bob Walls has started to contribute more to the pitching staff, another discussion is how much two-way player Juan Pomales should play in OF. Pitching coach Art Nichols is of the opinion that his position playing days are having an affect on his SP role. Decisions will have to be made over the next week when Larry Vestal's extended spring training time ends in Buffalo.
- It's an idea first proposed late in the past century, but Percy Sutherland wonders if the idea of a designated hitter should rise again? No fan is paying to see this performance that the plate from the Chiefs pitchers:
- The St Louis Pioneers had a tough week, dropping the first four games by a combined total 5 runs. The Pioneers are 13-7 on the road but still struggling at home with a 4-12 mark.
- The Fed is going to remain pretty tightly bunched up all season. Will the pennant winner even reach 90 wins? The expectation from many is Detroit has to get going soon - the club is just too talented to be in last place but Detroit's pitching is an unexpected disaster this season. Murphy has been great, Shaffner decent, but Wheeler, Gonzales, and Crawford have been pretty bad.
- De Soto College is planning a Rankin Kellogg celebration this week when they take on Cumberland in AIAA action. Kellogg never played for the Memphis school, in fact the former Keystones great never played college ball at all in going straight from his hometown Memphis High School to professional baseball. It is unknown if Kellogg will attend the event. He has rarely been seen in public since health issues forced him to retire from the game in 1938 at the age of 35.
- The War Department reports that of the baseball transcriptions made for short-wave radio to American soldiers abroad the New York Stars are the most popular club.
- New York Mayor LaGuardia said on his weekly radio broadcast that a final decision on night games for the Stars will be made tomorrow. Currently the Stars are planning for an 8:05 pm start this Friday against Brooklyn as their first evening contest of the season.
- It's quite something to think that just 6 short years ago it was 'On to Berlin - to win the Olympics!' and this year 'It's on to Berlin' again, but for a grimmer purpose. Among the dozens of track and field starts serving in the armed forces, four were members of the last U.S. Olympic team.
- There's been a great deal of discussion in Washington as to what sports could be encouraged during the war and which would have to shelved in view of the shortage of rubber....according to the latest dope, two classes have been set up for athletics. One contains the 'mass' or 'contact' type sports and the second group is those of an individual nature. Games such as football and basketball are sure to survive, but others, such as tennis, seem certain to go.
- Annapolis Maritime is admitting civilians to the three games schedule to take place on the naval campus next season. Existing regulations bar the general public from the academy grounds but special arrangements have been so that football fans can witness the games. The vast majority of the Navigators schedule is played off-campus but that has changed for next season.
- Great Lakes Alliance athletic directors voted this week to donate all profits from the 1942 conference schedule of games to the Army and Navy Relief Funds. Staying with the Great Lakes Alliance, word is the Minnesota Tech program, which went 6-2 a year ago, is looking very strong in spring practice and poised for a big run in '42. A 27-10 loss to Detroit City College cost the Lakers a shot at the GLA title a year ago.
- The Deep South Conference reaffirmed it's decision to continue to ban freshman students from participating on fall varsity sports including football. Football coaches in the conference had hoped they would be allowed to dress freshman players in line with a new AIAA mandate to help combat player losses to the war effort but the Deep South is the only conference so far that has stated the long standing tradition of restricting freshman from intercollegiate sports in their first semester of school will continue to be recognized.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 5/17/1942
- Japanese troops were said to caught in a trap and attempting to flee on the Burma-China front following an Allied attack.
- The Tokio fleet is said to be massing near Australia and awaiting reinforcements for a new offensive thrust.
- In full view of several hundred beach goers in Palm Beach, Florida a daytime raid saw an Axis submarine torpedo and sink a British merchant ship and then witnessed the rescue of the vessel's crew. The torpedoing was the ninth announced by the Navy since May 4 from which survivors have been landed at Florida ports.
- French warships at Martinique are being immobilized as one of the results of talks there, as Martinique officials wanted to emphasize that the United States is not dealing with the Vichy Government on Martinique issues.
- Terrorists have bombed six Paris hotels and restaurants requisitioned by the Germans. In response the Nazi have shut down the principal downtown district and eastern railroad station in an effort to trap those responsible.
- Unconfirmed reports claim that the Nazi's are using non-poisonous 'nerve gas' in fighting on the Kerch Peninsula but a Nazi official statement denies this. U.S. sources do not believe the report is accurate.
- Gasoline ration cards proved useless in much of the east coast on the weekend as many service stations ran out of gasoline.