[ayaghmour2]

The Stars and Gothams are tied at one in the World Championship Series, but we won't find out who wins until some time next week. We did reach October, so we now know the winners of the Monthly Awards, and 2/3rds of them were given to Donnie Jones. The best rookie in the Continental Association finished the month 4-1 with a 1.65 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 20 walks, and 23 strikeouts in 43.2 innings pitched. It was the first Pitcher of the Month in hopefully many for the 22-year-old star, and he took home half of the Rookie of the Month awards this season. If it wasn't for Ed Bowman, he'd have won Rookie of the Year, but Jones did what it seems like a Cougar pitcher does every season, and led the league in BABIP (.235).

Now, focusing on our minor league system, just Mobile (85-55), who tends to be our worst affiliate, one their league, but the other four affiliates won 75 or more games and finished in 2nd place. Our minor league system still ranks 5th, but I know that will drop very soon. We have graduated and traded a lot of our top 100 prospects, and with no 1st Rounder this year, we weren't able to add enough value to balance it out. There are also rumblings in Chicago that a blockbuster in the works, which would thin the system even more. Despite all that, our system is very deep and we have a lot of future big leaguers waiting for a chance to debut, and a lot of those youngsters are producing at each level.

AAA Milwaukee Blues (Century League): 77-63, 2nd, 1 GB: The only team in our organization who couldn't crack 80 wins, they finished a game behind the Minneapolis Lumberjacks, and the call up of some of our prospects there might have cost them a championship. The Blues had a lot of highly touted prospects who ended up playing in the big leagues, with Johnnie Jones (8-6, 3.90, 54), Ossie Grogan (.322, 6, 75, 13), Eddie Curtis (.313, 3, 55, 18), Jocko Pollard (.272, 11, 82), Bunny Hufford (.310, 8, 78, 9), Chick Browning (.299, 6, 50), Ed Wilkinson (16-6, 3.14, 103), and Ken Matson (4-3, 3.31, 46) all finishing their season in Chicago. Most of those guys will return next season as Milwaukee will have a deep lineup and rotation next season. Last year's 4th Rounder Huck Hanes (.303, 2, 31) came up midseason and hit really well, and will get a full season with the Blues if he doesn't end up debuting before callups. Ira Hawker (2-1, 3.16, 14) made a few starts and will anchor a rotation that includes decent big league options in King Price (4-2, 3.90, 39), John Little (8-10, 3.68, 48), and some mix of Jones, Wilkinson, and Matson. The lineup, however, will see more veterans taking up roster space as depth in case we run into injuries during the season.

AA Mobile Commodores (Dixie League): 85-55, 1st, 9 GA: The Commodores were are lone champion this year, now winners in back-to-back seasons with their highest win total since 1933. When healthy, Fred Thaxton dominated Dixie League hitters, going 13-5 with a 3.10 ERA (142 ERA+), 1.27 WHIP, 55 walks, and 47 strikeouts in 19 starts. Thaxton, Price (10-4, 3.78, 78), Matson (7-4, 3.48, 62), and Danny Goff Jr. (15-4, 3.79, 61; .353, 5, 41, 5) all gave the Commodores reliable outings, but Thaxton was the only one to finish in Mobile, and he might move to Milwaukee depending on how hard our upper minors is hit with enlistments. Bill Tuttle (2-2, 2.75, 1.42) and Mel Haynes (1-1, 6.60, 6; .217, 3) made a few starts in September and will be back for a full season next year, although they're more likely to end up in Milwaukee then finish out the season there. The lineup lost their strongest bat Solly Skidmore (.323, 11, 86), who debuted in Chicago this season, and even if he returns to the minors, he knows he may need to find a new home. Him and Hod Seagroves (.307, 86) were the most reliable bats in the lineup, and Hod could be on his way to Milwaukee. Bill Rich (.349, 5, 43, 5) raked after a callup from Lincoln and looks likely to return to the Commodores lineup, but Jimmie James (.248, 3, 42) had his struggles and Bill Graham (.249, 4, 63) didn't do much better. There is some uncertainty here, but I probably have too many guys set for AAA, giving the Commodores some decent veteran players who can help them compete for a third straight title.

A Lincoln Legislators (Heartland League): 94-46, 2nd, 2 GB: It was a great season for the Legislators, but unfortunately the Peoria Pastimers were just a little better. Mel Haynes (17-3, 2.31, 74; .301, 6, 42) dominated the circuit on the mound and at the plate, but him and Tuttle (7-4, 2.96, 78) spent their last month in Mobile. That duo and last year's 5th Rounder Jack Huston (8-1, 2.44, 53) were a deadly 1-2-3, and a huge reason the Legislators allowed the fewest runs in the league. Huston, George Sacchetti (5-8, 3.74, 46), and Ron Sexton (6-6, 4.37, 30), should all be back next year, as will stopper Art Gilbert (9-1, 9, 1.59, 47), so the Legislators should maintain one of the stronger staffs. The offense was pretty solid too, and the 2-3-4 of Don Lee (.313, 1, 17, 3), Dan Collins (.302, 15, 86), and Adolph Jacobson (.297, 9, 76, 6) caused huge problems for pitcher's who knew they couldn't allow many runs, but I can't see any of them finishing next season down here. They got the first half of Bill Rich's (.343, 12, 70) offensive explosion, but they didn't get good showings from Johnny Bunce (.241, 3, 42), Jim Dickinson (.245, 2, 48), and Joe Dackett (.269, 22). The lineup next year will look pretty similar to how it did towards the end of the season, but they'll have some reinforcements with Eddie Howard (.261, 1), who played in 7 games and missed the end of the season.

B San Jose Cougars (California-Oregon-Washington League): 82-58, 2nd, 15 GB: Just like the Cougars in Chicago, the Cougars in San Jose had a really good season, but didn't finish anywhere near first place. The Bakersfield Bears walked away with the C-O-W league, finishing 97-43 and double digit games clear of San Jose. The Cougars featured a ton of exciting pitching prospects, and with all the movement, a pair of relievers Charlie Kelsey (10-6, 18, 2.78, 39) and Pup White (9-7, 13, 1.94, 52) ranked 1 and 2 in wins. Technically White tied with Roscoe Brown (9-8, 3.26, 67), who got the terrible news in his final start that he'd need elbow ligament reconstruction surgery, and may not pitch at all next season. Even if he isn't healthy, George Oddo (3-2, 2.71, 32), Pinch Lenhart (5-0, 1.49, 21), Harry MacRae (4-0, 0.83, 8), Jimmy Maness (1-2, 1.16, 9), and Sam Hess (3-5, 2.85, 13) will all return and will form a very formidable rotation. Class B always gets a handful of draftees midseason, with this year getting the 7th Rounder MacRae, 10th Rounder Hess, 11th Rounder Maness, 2nd Rounder Henry DeVeaux (.224, 17, 1), and the 4th Rounder Dick Hamilton (.200, 2). DeVeaux was the only one who didn't play at all in La Crosse, but their promotions pushed guys like Eddie Howard (.302, 56) and Don Lee (.275, 1, 34, 12) up. Another late season promotion was slugger Otto Christian (.254, 3, 33), but the teen had some struggles and will look to run it back next year. Improvements from him, DeVeaux, and Hamilton should help the offense, which finished just 6th in runs scored.

C La Crosse Lions (Upper Mississippi Valley Association): 95-45, 2nd, 2 GB: At one point this season, it looked like the Lions would run away with things, but they slumped to 13-13 in July, and that's all it took for the Burlington Bears to escape with their first ever pennant. Christian (.307, 14, 84) mashed in his time here, as did Alex Horning (.302, 8, 79, 10), Dick Hamilton (.370, 6, 43), and Lew Lord (.292, 2, 37), but they all finished the year in San Jose. Injuries, enlistments, and promotions gave time to a lot of guys who I didn't expect to get serious time like Bob Griffen (.335, 4, 61, 4), Tom Mills (.342, 1, 28, 4), Billy Ray Williams (.336, 1, 20), Pat Brown Jr. (.295, 2, 72), and Israel Holmes (.311, 1, 14), who all more then took advantage of their opportunities. We cycled through a lot of pitchers as well, and the only ERA qualifier was Joe Swank (13-3, 3.88, 37) who was a reliable arm at the top. Oddo (9-5, 4.07, 61) and Lenhart (7-2, 4.11, 56) were above average in their time here, but both finished in San Jose, and new draftees Bill Chapman (5-2, 3.96, 37) and Babe Stinson (3-4, 3.53, 18) looked really good. Bill Ballantine (6-0, 3, 2.43, 32), Stan Flanders (15-4, 2, 3.59, 31), John Lash (5-2, 5, 2.85, 62), and Russ Cushing (8-4, 2, 4.33, 64) all split time between the pen and rotation, and put together strong seasons. As always, the Lions see a lot of different faces, but it seems like most of the guys we put in produced.