JUNE 1, 1942
1942 FABL DRAFT NEARS COMPLETION
The Human General Manager portion of the 1942 FABL draft came to a conclusion over the weekend as selections were made for rounds 4 thru 10. The initial 3 rounds including the regional round (round 3) are conducted in January and the remaining 15 rounds will be completed in the next couple of weeks but done primarily by scouting director lists.
The final two draft eligible AIAA All-Americans were selected as Boston grabbed second baseman Al Wright from Mississippi Tech in the 6th round and Grange College first baseman Jack Blake was taken by Washington in the 8th round. Each was named as second team All-Americans last week.
One of the High School All-Americans - Trevorton (PA) catcher Mel Campbell - has yet to hear his name called. The remaining seniors to earn national honours have all been selected including Billy Biggar, a Canadian born player who attends York Springs High School in Pennsylvania, have been selected. Biggar cut it close as he was the 160th and final human GM selection of the draft, going to the Chicago Cougars.
Here are the results of round 4:
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1942 FABL DRAFT ROUND 4
PK TEAM POS PLAYER AGE SCHOOL HOMETOWN
1 Boston RF Jim Pauly 21 Bay State (FL) Midway, GA
2 Montreal SP Pete Ford 21 Gates University San Francisco, CA
3 St. Louis SP Ben Fiskars 20 Sumter College Lynchburg, VA
4 Cleveland SP Ducky Davis 21 Grange College Lizella, GA
5 NY Gothams C Ray Miller 17 Saginaw (MI) HS Saginaw, MI
6 Sailors SP Win Lewis 21 West Goshen State Brooklyn, NY
7 Keystones 3B Bill Bartlesby 21 Carolina Poly Ogden, NC
8 Toronto C Randy Hendrix 22 Northern Miss. Norfolk, VA
9 Chiefs SS Frank Kirchner 17 Lawrenceburg (TN)HS Nashville, TN
10 Washington RF Ralph McMullen 21 Brooklyn Catholic New Castle, PA
11 Detroit 3B Ken Porter 22 Calloway State Chicago, IL
12 Brooklyn CF Elmer Wands 20 Ohio Poly Spring Hill, TN
13 Pittsburgh SP Roland Stewart 18 Walton HS, Bronx New York, NY
14 Cougars SS Dick Hamilton 21 Maryland State Buffalo, NY
15 Sailors RF Don Richmond 18 Providence(RI) HS Providence, RI
16 Cougars SP Babe Stinson 17 Louisville (CO) HS Denver, CO
BOSTON TAKES IT'S TURN AT THE TOP OF THE FED
A 6-3 week has the Boston Minutemen sitting atop the very competitive Federal Association as the calendar turns to June and after both the Philadelphia Keystones and Chicago Chiefs endured a rough seven days. The Keystones managed a split of their two games with Boston to start the week but went 2-5 the rest of the way while the Chiefs won just two of their 8 games including suffering a 3-game sweep over the weekend at home to the New York Gothams.
Things continue to look up for the Gothams. Not only did they go 6-2 this week and are now in fourth place, just 2.5 games back of Boston and 3 games over the .500 mark but they are also thrilled to have Ed Bowman surpass even their wildest expectations. Bowman, the 22 year old former third round pick who has been the top prospect according to OSA for a couple of years now, made his big league debut April 21st. He struggled in that game and his following start against St Louis but has been outstanding ever since. Bowman beat Detroit 5-3 last week to run his record to 6-1 with a 3.38 era, numbers good enough to earn him both rookie of the month and pitcher of the month for May in the Fed.
In the Continental Association the Chicago Cougars gained a game on the front-running New York Stars despite losing 12-5 to the Stars last Monday. Chicago is now just 6.5 back of New York and the CA race is starting to look eerily similar to last season when the Stars were red-hot until the all-star break and then cooled off allowing the Cougars to take the pennant.
EAGLES YOUNGSTER COON LATEST IN LONG LINE OF WASHINGTON BATSMAN
It likely comes as quite a surprise to most FABL observes seeing the name Bob Coon atop the Federal Association batting race. The 24 year old is leading the way with a .354 batting average despite entering the season with only 57 games of big league experience and a .277 career average. Whether the 1939 second round pick out of St Magnus can maintain his heady pace remains to be seen, but it shouldn't come as a shock to see a young Washington Eagles player enjoying success at the plate, as that as been a frequent occurrence over the past decade or two.
Mel Carrol's incredible 1937 campaign when he hit .409 immediately springs to mind and of course T.R. Goins had several big years in the 1920's while Andy Carter also put up some big hit totals when he wasn't antagonizing everyone in the clubhouse. Then there was Glenn Morrison, who had a .350 career average as a 28 year old before being inexplicably released and forced to finish out his illustrious career in the Great Western League. All had sustained excellence at the plate. The question is will the youngster Coon develop into a consistent hitter like those four or will this be just a brief moment in the spotlight for the youngster similar to many other Washington hitters of the past couple of decades.
Names like Jim Beard immediately come to mind when thinking of Coon. Beard hit .360 and was an all-star in 1937 at 24, the same age Coon is today, but now is toiling as a backup infielder hitting .249 for the Sailors. Or Harry Shumate, a first baseman who hit .360 in his second year in Washington as a 26 year old but is now struggling for playing time with the other Philadelphia nine, the Keystones. Or Karl O'Reilly, who hit .310 in his first full season but batted .274 a year ago and is now in the Army. Or Sam Brown, an outfielder who showed a lot of promise in batting .332 as a 24 year old in 1935 and .345 the following season but has struggled to duplicate that performance although he is hitting .304 as a 31 year old so far this season. Jim Hanshaw also showed some promise for the Eagles in his age 24 season in 1938 but is now a regular in the Western Baseball League with Denver. Roy Bradley, Wally Flowers, Babe Walsh, Bert Barth even Jack Winston had a little stretch of success early in their careers with the Eagles. The problem is very few of them were able to sustain it.
So the big question is what will happen to Bob Coon? Will he become the next Mel Carrol, the next Jim Beard or the next big thing in the Western League like Jim Hanshaw? Only time will tell but long suffering Eagles fans have had some hot young hitters to get excited about in the past only to see most of them not sustain that performance in the nation's capital or in most cases fail to even stick around D.C.
FLINN WINS CHRISTIAN TROPHY
In the closest vote ever to determine the winner of the Frank Christian Trophy as college baseball's player of the year Darnell State outfielder Nelson Flinn emerged as the winner, narrowly outpointing Davidson University catcher Mark Smith for the award. Flinn and Smith each received 3 first and 3 second place votes but the difference was Flinn claimed third place on the 7th and final ballot while Smith was omitted entirely from one of the ballots giving Flinn a 1 point victory.
Smith led the AIAA in batting average two seasons in a row but the knock on him was he did so while playing against weak competition on a small school based in Oregon. Flinn, on the other hand, was competing against many of the top names in the nation while playing for Darnell State and he and his Legislators teammates finished 17th in the final national rankings.
It was quite a year for the 21 year old Flinn who, in addition to his prowess on the diamond, was also a member of Darnell States unbeaten National Champion winning football team. It was his one and only year of college baseball, one in which the outfielder hit .312 with 11 homers and 50 rbi's in 57 games. Numbers good enough to get him drafted 9th overall by the Chicago Chiefs in January. Perhaps ironically, but the Chiefs went on record at the time saying Smith, who was nabbed 6th overall by the Philadelphia Sailors, was their target and Flinn was a consolation prize. The other two juniors who were finalists for the Christian Trophy were also drafted in the first round with Boston taking Bob Arman first overall and Toronto selecting Jerry York with the 8th pick. Ellery's Jim Carter is a sophomore and will be back with the Bruins next season.
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1942 FRANK CHRISTIAN TROPHY VOTING RESULTS
NAME SCHOOL 1st 2nd 3rd TOTAL PTS
Nelson Flinn Darnell St 3 3 1 25
Mark Smith Davidson 3 3 0 24
Bob Arman Bluegrass St 0 1 3 6
Jim Carter Ellery 1 0 1 6
Jerry York Noble Jones 0 0 2 2
HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICANS ANNOUNCED
A changing of the guard of sorts in the high school ranks as for the first time since the original Prep All-American team was announced in 1934 we do not have a repeat member of the team. 10 of the 18 players selected were seniors but none of the members on this year's team had ever been named All-Americans in the past. The closest we can was Art Goins, the Texas outfielder and son of former FABL star T.R. Goins, who earned honorable mention this season after making the team as a junior a year ago.
Pennsylvania was well represented as the Keystone State placed 6 players on the team including Adwell Award nominee Jim Hawkins, a junior pitcher from Oakmont. The other Pennsylvania High Schoolers named to the team were catchers Jack Spahr and Mel Campbell, infielders Billy Biggar and Dick Gill as well as pitcher Paul Baker - each of whom are seniors.
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1942 HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICAN TEAM
NAME/CLASS SCHOOL FABL DRAFT
C Jack Spahr -Sr Mayfield (PA) HS Rd 2 Montreal
C Mel Campbell – Sr Trevorton (PA) HS still available
1b-3b Clyde Fleenor – Sr Clear Creek (MO) HS 14th overall NYS
1b-3b Joe Davis – Jr Copley HS (Boston MA) --
1b-3b Billy Biggar – Sr York Springs (PA) HS rd 10 Cougars
2b-SS Dick Gill – Sr Bangor (PA) HS Rd 3 Sailors
2b-SS Mario Schilchegger- Jr Millville (NJ) HS --
2b-SS Al Clement – Jr De Pere (WI) HS --
OF Ben Thompson -So Yazoo City (MS) HS --
OF Billy Black -Sr Nashville Bible HS 7th overall Keystones
OF Billy Bob Nelson- Sr Porterdale (GA) HS rd 6 Stars
OF Fritz Williams – Fr Watertown (WI) HS --
OF Andy Moyer- So Richmond (CA) HS --
P Joe Lute- Sr Algona (IA) HS 3rd overall StL
P Frank Pershing -Sr New Mexico Military Institute Rd 2 Keystones
P Jim Hawkins – Jr Oakmont (PA) HS --
P Lefty Jones – Jr Wilsonville (OR) HS --
P Paul Baker- Sr Media (PA) HS Rd 2 Brooklyn
HONOURABLE MENTION
P Willie Hill – Sr Eau Claire (WI) HS Rd 3 Chiefs
P Jake Bailey – Sr Syracuse (NY) HS Rd 5 Pittsburgh
P John Jackson -Sr Salem (NJ) HS 4th overall Cle
C Red Rogers – So Lewiston (NY) HS --
INF Ray Taylor – So East HS (Nashville TN) --
INF Tom Jeffries – Sr Dibboll (TX) HS Rd 5 Gothams
INF Joe Joyce – So Newberry (SC) HS --
OF Art Goins- Sr Arlington (TX) HS Rd 2 NY Stars
OF Harry Patterson – So Easton (PA) HS --
ADWELL AWARD NOMINEES
Here are the five finalists for the Adwell Award, presented annually to the top High School baseball player in the nation.
CLYDE FLEENOR - Senior 3B Clear Creek (MO) HS: (.530,2,38) He has committed to Utah A&M but was a first round pick of the New York Stars so will likely turn pro. His batting average ranked second among all infielders and no infielder had a higher OPS or WAR than the 17 year old Kansas City native. Joins Gothams pitcher Bunny Edwards and former Pittsburgh and Cleveland infielder Ben Abaghian as the only Kansas City born players ever selected in the first round of the draft.
JIM HAWKINS - Junior P Oakmont (PA) HS: (11-0, 0.75, 166 K's) Tied for the HS lead with an 11 win season, while his 0.75 ERA was second best in the country. He finished 5th in FIP and K/9
JOE LUTE - Senior P Algona (IA) HS: (11-0, 0.90, 171 K's) Selected third overall by St Louis in the January portion of the draft, the Iowa native had committed to Great Lakes Alliance power Western Iowa University. 7th in the nation in ERA but his 0.68 FIP was surpassed only by Frank Porter (who pitched half as many innings as the 110 Lute threw). His 7.6 pitching WAR was tied for number one.
BILLY BOB NELSON - Senior OF Porterdale (GA) HS: (.554,3,35) His first season of high school ball say Nelson finish second in the nation in batting average. Likely because of his late start in organized ball Nelson has yet to commit to a college team and he has not been selected in the FABL draft at the time of this writing.
BEN THOMPSON - Sophomore OF Yazoo City (MS) HS: (.564,4,33) Followed up a strong freshman season by leading the nation in batting average and OPS this time around, and by a fairly wide margin in each category. Has a bit of power with 4 homeruns (no one hit more than 6) and looks like a potential first round pick in two years.
TALES FROM THE WOLVES DEN
The Toronto Wolves struggled through a 2-6 week as the team continues to be an enigma in 1942. Being swept by Cincinnati on Sunday was particularly galling to the faithful in Toronto. The team seems to invent new ways to lose games on an almost daily basis, if they pitch well the hitters take the day off and when the bats are hot the pitching cannot hang on to a lead.
Ockie Holliday's performance at the plate, .185/.239/.202 is now a daily topic of concern, nothing seems to be working for the once promising third sacker. Holliday's struggles are the highlight but none of the infield starters are above league average in OPS+, Pack-91, Rollinson-89, Artuso-83, Holliday-22 show how light hitting the Wolves have been in the first two months.
With the exception of Juan Pomales, who cannot seem to find the strike zone, the pitching is holding its own but coughing up too many games late in the contest. Giordano in Buffalo seems to ready for the next step in his progression, but the question is where??? Look for the Wolves to be active in the trade market in an attempt turn the season around, Bernie Millard is constantly seen in the offices holding closed door meetings. The system is in chaos so recent draftees will get an opportunity to prove themselves right after they sign with the team. Most minor league teams are well under roster limits.
Second year skipper Charlie Reed's job is rumoured to on the line after an 11-21 May. The team only won two games in a row twice in May.
- A 4-3 week and the sky is falling in according to New York press with reporters wondering if this is the start of the Stars post-draft cool off? 4-3 week but all 3 losses were 1 run decisions so I am not sure you can say the second half collapse, which they certainly suffered last season, is back. Top 3 weekly players are over 1.200 OPS each with T-Money Trowbridge leading the team with a 1.445 OPS, 3 HR, 7 RBI and a .483 AVG which was the lowest average of the top 3.
Ace reliever Andy Boyer out for 3 weeks with a concussion. Which means management finally has an excuse to bring up hot prospect 24 year old Jim Baker to showcase his talent.
- What a difference a year makes for Ray Dalpman. He couldn't lose a year ago in going 19-6 and winning the rookie of the year award. This season Dalpman is off to a 1-6 start following a 7-5 loss in Pittsburgh on Friday.
- Charlie Stedman is off to a 7-4, 3.40 start and recently notched his 241st career win. Time for the annual debate on Stedman's worthiness for the Hall of Fame. Percy Sutherland does point out an interesting fact about the 40 year old Pittsburgh hurler: Stedman has pitched in 539 games and has made 539 starts.
- The Cannons had their first winning week of the season, going 6-3 and much of the credit goes to a pair of waiver wire pickups in Jake Smith and Terry Cox. Smith, claimed from St Louis, got win and allowed just 1 earned run in 11 and a third innings of work while Cox, who is the latest player attempting to fill the void at second base in Cincinnati with the enlistment of all-star Charley McCullough, had a big debut week after being waived by Brooklyn. The 26 year old hit .308 on the week and smacked his first career FABL homerun.
- A forgettable month of May for Ron Rattigan. He was by far the worst regular batter in the Chiefs lineup: .185/.276/.274 (wRC+ 66). As the leadoff hitter--and the engine that drives the Chiefs offense--that's less than ideal.
- A great rivalry that first flared 25 years ago along with World War I resumes this month when the T.R. Goins led Great Lakes Academy squad meets Camp Grant in the first game of a doubleheader on June 20th. The second half will be the Chicago Cougars military benefit game against the Toronto Wolves at Cougars Park. Camp Grant won all 3 contests played against the sailors in their first meetings a quarter of a century ago but rumours are that Pete Papenfus will make a return to Chicago and be on the hill for Great Lakes. Cougars fans will love to see him but I am sure they would have preferred he start the second game of the twin bill instead. There is also some speculation that, despite presently being stationed in the south, Camp Grant might pick up former Wolves star Fred McCormick for the contest. The two posts have very strong clubs even without the two FABL stars. Great Lakes has won 16 of 20 games this season, including their last 13 in a row. Camp Grant has 11 victories in 13 starts including a recent 20-0 walloping of the Madison Builders, a semi-pro outfit.
- While on the topic of Papenfus, it appears the former Cougars pitching star will be seeing more active duty as a navy athletic instructor and less as a baseball attraction. The new orders, brought on it is believed as one of a series of moves by the navy to refute charges that 'name' athletes received favoured treatment in the armed forces, potentially might impact Papenfus' availability for the June 20th charity game at Cougars Park.
- Former Washington Times & Herald editor Bob Stewart feels Jack Elder is going to catch fire soon. Despite being 3-7 with a 4.45 era Stewart is calling for the 31 year old to have a career resurgence and post a winning record this year and an era that starts with a 3. Be quite an accomplishment if it happens as Elder's only winning season was when he went 13-8 for the WCS winning Gothams in 1935.
- When the Gothams hosted Detroit last Friday there were about 500 spectators who travelled thousands of miles before they could see their first baseball game. They are sailors of the British navy, just arrived here from North Africa and through the co-operation of the Gothams staff they were introduced to the American national pastime.
- Speaking of the Gothams, they are the only club in FABL supplying it's outfielders with sunglasses as part of the player's equipment.
- The Washington Eagles players have followed the Brooklyn Kings lead, as all Eagles players, as well as officers and salaried employees of the club, have instructed the team secretary to deduct 10% of their 1942 salary for the purchase of War bonds.
BEHIND THE NUMBERS - A LOOK AT DRAFT HISTORY
The 1942 FABL amateur player draft has wrapped up with the completion of rounds four thru twenty-five. (The first three rounds are conducted in January). Most players selected after those first three rounds likely have little shot of ever playing big league baseball, but there is a chance. To see just how much of a chance, TWIFB decided to take a look at a dozen drafts (1925-36) and see just how many players selected in the later rounds made it to the show.
According to our findings players selected in rounds 1-4 have a 57% chance of playing at least one FABL game, players selected in rounds 5-10 have a 26% chance of playing in a big league game and those selected in the cpu rounds (11-25) have just a 9% chance of playing in a FABL game. Keep in mind that is just 1 game and there are a lot of late round picks through the years who played in only a handful so even getting there does not necessarily lead to a productive big league career. Those numbers are from the dozen drafts that began the human GM era starting in 1925.
Interesting to note the 1932 draft really bumps up the the totals as 61 (or 63.5%) of the 1932 Round 5-10 picks played in a game and amazingly 79 players (32.9%) selected by the AI in round 11 or later made it to FABL. In comparison both the 1930 and 1933 draft only had 3 players selected in round 11 or later to make it to FABL, as did 1936. It is just another indicator of exactly how deep the 1932 draft class was.
Who played a meaningful number of games is a different topic we will look at below but here are the numbers for players with at least 1 big league game. The totals row at the bottom ignores 1937 & 1938 as it is too recent to be properly accounted for.
A very select group of players drafted in Round 11 or later reached at least 500 career FABL hits or 50 wins in their careers.
It is a little longer list when looking at round 5-10 draftees but still only 24 players with 500 career hits and 17 pitchers with 50 wins. In comparison for those drafted in '25 or later in rounds 1-4 there are 90 hitters and 37 pitchers that meet the criteria.
A final note lets look exclusively at first rounders. Out of the 192 chosen between 1925 and 1936, 66 of them have reached the 500 hit/50 win mark. 31 of the 60 top 5 picks in that time frame have made the list including 22 of the 36 players selected in the top 3 overall. And 9 of the 12 first overall picks - The exceptions are Karl Stevens, Curly Jones and Bobo White. Although Curly Jones may yet get there as he has a 39-39 record. White has 43 wins and is still just 28 but might be a long shot to get 7 more. Finally we have Karl Stevens, and well I think the former Cleveland GM (now in Detroit) has suffered enough in hearing about him and his 7 career FABL hits.
So if you were lucky enough to be drafted, even with the 160th and final pick of the human GM portion (rounds 1-10) like Billy Biggar, a Canadian born 17 year old playing high school ball in Pennsylvania, was over the weekend, you still have a chance, as slight as it might be, of making the big leagues. And there is hope for Biggar as 3 players taken with the final human GM selection of a draft made it to the big leagues. They are:
- Rip Crandall, an infielder taken in 1925 by the Stars who appeared in 291 games over 7 seasons with the New Yorkers and is still active with Tulsa in the independent Western Baseball League.
- Jack Richardson, a pitcher taken in 1926 by the New York Gothams with the 160th pick. He is still pitching in the big leagues with Detroit at the age of 34 and has a 28-38 career record with 50 saves while being used almost exclusively in relief. Richardson even made the all-star team in 1939. Interesting to note is that both Richardson and Crandall where teammates at Cleveland High School prior to be selected by FABL clubs.
- Bobby McHenry, a 31 year old outfielder with the Keystones was selected with the final pick of the 10th round by the New York Stars in 1932. The Keystones picked him up in the 1937 rule five draft and he has spent time in the big leagues each year since then, but plays sparingly. In 264 big league games McHenry is batting .232 with 7 homeruns.
- The war is not just taking it's toll on players for college squads. Word out of Brooklyn State is 4 coaches of Bears programs are set to accept commissions in the Army. If so, the Bears would be searching for replacements to run their football, basketball and baseball programs as well as their jayvee overseer. The Brooklyn State hardwood club was National Champions two years ago and finished 24-6 this past season but was upset by Grafton in the opening round of the AIAA hoops tournament. The football team went 6-0-2 last season while the Bears diamond squad just completed a 26-36 campaign.
- St Patrick's University is the latest to feel the pinch of enlistments. Between that and graduation the Shamrocks have lost 4 starters and two key subs from their basketball team and 13 members of the football squad.
- Maryland State, a college baseball power but not so much on the gridiron where they were 1-8 a year ago, is revamping it's football offense. The Bengals staff has been visiting the campus of St Blane and learning the finer points of the 'T' system. That offensive alignment has worked very well for the Fighting Saints and several AFA clubs, but the difference for the Bengals is they won't have the St Blane players to run the offense with so it remains to be seen if much will change next year for the struggling Maryland State program. St Blane, by the way, has opted not to employ freshman on it's varsity football next fall.
- The AFA's Detroit Maroons have finalized Charlevoix, Michigan as their training site starting August 5th. Most of the players plan to take their families up for several week's vacation before practice starts...That's about the only kind of pro footballers we will have this fall - those with families....same goes for hockey.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 5/31/1942
- Russian forces continue to advance in and around Kharkov, conducting what dispatches report as a "ruthless extermination" of German tanks and troops. As the Nazis continue to struggle Hitler decides late in the week to take personal direction of strategic operations on the Kharkov Front.
- Italy is said to be massing 300,000 men on the French border in a demand for Corsica and Nice, apparently with Hitler's okay in order to squeeze more co-operation out of the Vichy government.
- A mighty air armada from the assembly lines of America is ready to strike directly at the Axis as two high ranking United States aerial commanders joined British strategists in framing plans for an offensive in Western Europe.
- Secretary of War Stimson says it is "almost inevitable" that the Japanese will attempt to make "face-saving" raids on the United States in retaliation for the smashing blow delivered by Army fliers against Tokio.
- The National Selective Service Director said that the drafting of youths 18 and 19 years old for military is service is "probably an inevitable step." as Congress renews consideration of lowering the draft age minimum from 20 years to 19 or 18.
- Thousands marched across the country as the first war-time Memorial Day parades were held since 1918.
- Legendary film star John Barrymore died following a brief illness at age 60.