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Jiggs McGee · 08-26-2022, 11:15 AM

SEPTEMBER 13, 1943

WOLVES TAKE 3 OF 4 FROM CANNONS

The Toronto Wolves kept both themselves and the Chicago Cougars alive in the Continental Association pennant chase thanks to 3 straight shutout victories over the front-running Cannons. The Cannons, who lead both Chicago and Toronto by 7 games with three weeks remaining in the season, rebounded to take the final game of their 4-game set at Tice Memorial Stadium from Toronto but face one more crucial test next weekend. Neither the Wolves nor Cannons play again until Friday when the two meet again -this time at Dominion Stadium- for four more contests. It will take nothing short of a Toronto sweep to make things very interesting down the stretch. The Cougars, winners of 6 of their last 7 and suddenly back on track, will also be pinning their hopes on a Wolves sweep. If that happens the last two weeks of the season will be very interesting in the Continental Association.

The St Louis Pioneers finally lost -ending their winning streak at 14 games. The Pioneers went just 3-3 on the week, splitting a 4-game weekend series with Chicago which dropped them a little further behind Boston, which went 4-2 last week and leads the Pioneers by 4 games. If St Louis can stay close they will have a chance to control their own destiny with 3 games in the final week of the season in Boston.

The bookies are calling both Cincinnati and Boston near locks to meet in the World Championship Series for the first time. The Cannons, up by 7 games with 3 weeks remaining, are said to have a 98% chance of claiming their first pennant since 1914 while in the Fed the punters say Boston is close to a 90% shoo-in to reach the Series for the second time in three years.

1944 DRAFT PREVIEW

A LOOK BACK AT THE 1933 DRAFT

More than any other year, the 1933 FABL Draft was the year of the pitcher. That was the season that 12 of the first 16 picks were hurlers and a couple of standout infielders in Joe Angevine and Tommy Wilson slipped into round two. Angevine went to Boston with the second pick of round two but was quickly dealt to the New York Stars for veteran pitcher Charlie Stedman. Wilson was also moved while still a minor leaguer, going from the Cougars -who drafted him 31st overall- to the St Louis Pioneers as part of the package that brought Freddie Jones to the Windy City. As it would turn out there was very little in the way of quality position players to come out of the '34 draft class aside from Angevine and Wilson. The group of pitchers did prove to be more successful and included some big names taken in the first round but also some later selections such as Lou Jayson (rd 4, Toronto) and Pepper Tuttle (rd 4,Brooklyn) who have turned into serviceable big league arms. All 12 pitchers selected in the first round made it to the big leagues for at least one start as did the three pitchers chosen in round 2 and two of the four selected in the third round.

1933 was also special because it was the final draft that exclusively featured feeder league players as that system would be abandoned the following season.

Before we take a look at each of the 16 players selected in the opening round of the 1933 FABL draft, here are a couple of draft lists for that season. The first is the mock created by OSA on the day the draft commenced and the second has been shared with us by current Brooklyn Kings Scouting Director John Spears and was his team's opening round draft board that season.

Here is a look at how each of the first round draftees have fared in their pro careers so far:

1- JOE HANCOCK Pitcher: Toronto Wolves - Toronto got it right, selecting the Christian Trophy winner out of Henry Hudson University first overall although the same could have been said had they opted for Al Miller instead. OSA had Hancock fourth among pitchers (7th overall) behind Dick Higgins, John Edwards and Al Miller and John Spears had all 4 of those arms at the top of his board but Hancock was 3rd, although picking 5th and 7th overall Spears stated the Kings knew there was no way more than one of those four would be available and correctly doubted any would. Either Hancock or Miller would have been an outstanding choice with Hancock winning an Allen Award, leading Toronto to it's first WCS title in three decades and making the all-star team five times so far. He is now 30 years old and has a 134-96 record, leading his entire draft class in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts.

2- DICK HIGGINS Pitcher: Boston Minutemen - Both OSA and Spears had Higgins as the top pitcher on the board and the Dickson University righthander has turned out to be a solid choice, but a step below both Hancock and 4th selection Al Miller. That might not have been the case had he not missed over a year of development when he blew out his elbow as a 23 year old second year pro. He is 81-80 for his career, but now at age 30 appears restricted to being a back of the rotation arm or a swingman on a deep team like Boston. You can't fault this pick as Higgins might have been every bit the pitcher Hancock and Miller are had he stayed healthy.

3- JOHN EDWARDS Pitcher: Baltimore Cannons - How different might things have been had the Cannons elected to take Al Miller here instead of Miller's Hartford High teammate John Edwards? Although, who knows...maybe it was the mess that was the Baltimore Cannons in the mid-to-late 1930s that ruined Edwards. If their draft spots were reversed would Edwards have been the one to partner with Rabbit Day and lead the Chiefs to WCS wins in 1936 and 1938? Would Miller have sputtered in Baltimore? OSA had Edwards and Miller nearly in a dead heat, but did slot Edwards one spot ahead of his teammate. Stats-wise, perhaps a case could have been made for either coming out of high school.

Edwards struggled in Baltimore - like nearly everyone did at that point in time- before being dealt to Boston for Ken Mayhugh and Danny Andrews. He has had some success with the Minutemen and is still young enough (27) that he could still have a pretty good big league career, but certainly not one to rival his old high school buddy. Edwards is, as of this writing, 70-78 for his career and presently working out of the Boston bullpen.

4- AL MILLER Pitcher: Chicago Chiefs - Not much to discuss here. A great choice, rivaled only by top pick Hancock. Miller, like the Wolves number one choice, has an Allan Award and 5 all-star appearances. He went one better than Joe so far with 2 WCS rings and considering he is nearly 3 years younger than Hancock he may end up with a better career record than the Wolves ace. Miller is 128-93 already for his career.

5- EARLE ROBINSON Pitcher: Brooklyn Kings - Is this where the reaching for pitchers began? I don't think anyone in the league would have deviated from the top four selections in the draft but this is likely where Brooklyn should have looked at Tommy Wilson or Joe Angevine. Both were shortstops at the time and the Kings had just witnessed an outstanding rookie debut year by a 19 year old named Harry Barrell while their pitching staff clearly had some holes at this point so it is easy to see why they went with an arm here. (and again at 7th when they opted for Bob Cummings) Spears' own draft board had Johnnie Sundberg in this slot and Rusty Petrick ahead of Robinson as well but, perhaps mesmerized by Robinson's perfect game as a junior and perfect record as a senior, they drafted him. In the end it might have just been bad luck but, much like Boston with Dick Higgins, the Kings found first-hand that drafting young pitchers is a risk. By all accounts Robinson had loads of talent, but he also had a lot of injuries in his career and now, at age 27, is really just a below average reliever with Cleveland who owns a 12-19 career mark. He will have the claim to fame of being traded twice involving a pair of the greatest sluggers in the game. The Kings packaged him to Detroit with a boatload of picks and prospects in the famous deal that brought Al Wheeler and Frank Vance (and 3 pennants) to Brooklyn. It is fun to note that in his first start in the Dynamos organization Robinson threw a perfect game for his Class B club and it was against his former Tampa Kings teammates. A little over a year later the Dynamos sent him to Cleveland as the prize prospect in the trade that brought Max Morris to the Motor City where he could finish out his playing career and be a manager in Detroit.

6- JOHNNIE SUNDBERG Shortstop: Washington Eagles - In it's final mock, OSA had Johnnie Sundberg rated #2 -ahead of those four pitchers and also ahead of Joe Angevine and Tommy Wilson- and second only to Hal Carter, who was the first team All-American shortstop that year. Sundberg, who has been in the Army since the week after the attack on Pearl Harbor, has currently played more big league games than anyone in his draft class except for Tommy Wilson, is a solid defensive utility infielder but has hit just .245. Still those numbers are good enough to make him the third or fourth best non-pitcher in this draft class.

7- BOB CUMMINGS Pitcher: Brooklyn Kings - The Kings send us right back to drafting pitchers and take Cummings, who was coming off a pretty solid AIAA feeder league career with College of San Diego. He is clearly a step below Hancock and Miller, but has been a 2-time all-star and contributed to 3 straight pennants with Brooklyn. His career mark is 83-77 but the 30 year old, traded a couple months ago to the Chiefs where he is now a teammate of Miller's, has really struggled this season.

8- NATE SPEAR Pitcher: Pittsburgh Miners - Injuries put an end to the promise Spear once had. Drafted by Pittsburgh but traded while still in the minors to the Gothams in the deal that brought Mahlon Strong to Pittsburgh, Spear had four seasons in New York but was hurt pretty much each one of them including 1939 when repeated shoulder problems wrecked a terrific 6-0, 2.21 start. Sick of seeing him on the IL all the time, the Gothams moved him to Detroit in the fall of 1940 and he immediately got hurt again and spent most of his time in the Dynamos organization on the injured list or in the minors. Detroit waived him this year, so did the Chiefs and Washington before Spear finally landed with independent San Antonio of the Lone Star Association. He has been healthy -finally- this season and has found a spot in the Gunslingers bullpen. His FABL record is 18-23 and it is unlikely he returns to the big leagues.

9- HAL CARTER - Second Base: Philadelphia Sailors - Carter was an All-American shortstop at Cumberland and ranked #1 by OSA in the final mock. By 1935 he was in the big leagues with the Sailors and has hit .294 in 470 career games with Philadelphia but just can't quite shake the label of reserve infielder. The Sailors do have the righthanded hitting Carter platooning with Bob Smith at second base, which is where he has played the bulk of his big league games.

10- RUSTY PETRICK Pitcher: New York Gothams - Just months after he was drafted, Petrick part of the famous trade that sent a bunch of prospects and picks from the Gothams to Baltimore in exchange for Rabbit Day. He threw a no-hitter very early in his minor league career and was loved as a top prospect by OSA despite struggling for much of his 3 seasons with the Cannons. A year after the franchise relocated to Cincinnati, the Cannons sent Petrick back to New York for a first round draft pick that was used to help bring Adam Mullins to the Queen City. Petrick did win a WCS a year ago in New York -and went 20-12 for the only winning season of his career- but is back to being inconsistent again this year with a 69-101 career FABL record.

11- CHRIS CLARKE Pitcher: New York Stars - Out of Wisconsin State, it took Clarke until 1938 before he established himself as a regular with the Stars but he helped them to a WCS win in 1939 and a pennant two years later. Most seasons he has bounced back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen and was recently traded to the Cannons, where he has started regularly. He is 51-46 in 160 career FABL appearances, 116 of them as a starter.

12- DON MILLER Pitcher: St Louis Pioneers - The first pitcher selected that we can truly call a bust. Miller came out of the high school ranks and never established himself as a big league pitcher - at least not yet as he is still just 27 years old. He had a couple of injuries but unlike Spear or Robinson, who were both highly ranked by OSA, Miller never really was considered a top prospect. Pittsburgh claimed him on waivers last year and he had 13 saves in his big league debut season but missed much of this year with shoulder troubles suffered in spring training. Perhaps he salvages his career with a string of decent years in the Pittsburgh pen.

13- TOMMY TROTT Pitcher: Washington Eagles - Like Don Miller, Trott was a high school arm out of Texas. He was a top 100 prospect but suffered a major injury early in his career that seemed to slow his development. He finally made his big league debut as a 26 year old last season and pitched fairly well out of the Eagles bullpen, well enough he might have claimed a spot in the war-ravaged rotation this season had Trott not elected to enlist in the Navy. When he returns he might see some time in the pen but likely will never develop into a trusted big league starter.

14- DOC LEACH Second Base: Detroit Dynamos - Another of what was thought to be a deep class of middle infielders but Leach never made the majors and retired in 1940. He seemed like a forgotten man in the Detroit system as right from his rookie pro year he was never given a chance to play regularly in the minors with 73 starts between three levels in 1935 being his high point. Now whether he did not develop because he didn't get the chance to play, or Detroit did not think he was good enough to warrant playing time is debatable but the result was the same. Leach seemed to hit okay in limited stints throughout his days in the low minors and his infield defense looked solid but by 1938 he was released and spent a little time in the Lone Star loop before hanging it up for good in 1940.

15- JOHN BARNARD Shortstop: Chicago Cougars -The Cougars admitted, in their weekly team report, that Barnard was not a player they were really high on. Truth be told, Chicago management did not care for much of the talent available beyond the first few picks. In hindsight they -and everyone else- should have looked closer at Joe Angevine, but the Portland High School shortstop lasted three more picks and went to Boston in round two. As for Barnard, he would be dealt to the Cannons two years later in a package to bring veteran outfielder Lou Kelly to Chicago. Barnard accomplished little in Baltimore, playing in just 64 big league games over parts of 3 seasons before being waived in 1940. The Cougars picked Barnard back up at that point but he played just 1 game for Chicago before being waived again. He is now 31 years old and in the Army having last played for Los Angeles of the Great Western loop in 1941. Career stats in FABL for Barnard are nothing to write home about. 65 games with a .216 career batting average.

16- JIM WHITELY Pitcher: Philadelphia Keystones - It might be hard to label a guy who made his big league debut at the age of 21 a 'late bloomer' but Whitely seems to have struggled a few years with the Keystones before finally hitting his stride in his 5th season (1941). He was an all-star in '41 and again last year and is now 69-90 for his big league career but has had a winning season each of the past three years including 12-8 so far this season. He has also stayed pretty healthy and his stock seems to have risen a fair bit with OSA over the years, to the point where he seems a much better option than most of the other pitchers selected ahead of him. He is not Joe Hancock or Al Miller but is possibly at a level just below those two and likely destined to be a better player than any other pitcher selected this draft beyond the big two.

SUMMARY -It is easy to simply state FABL General Managers went pitcher-crazy this year and made some choices that they shouldn't have but in reality only the two infielders (Tommy Wilson and Joe Angevine) were overlooked and most of those pitchers appeared to be solid choices, with injuries responsible for the majority of the failures. As it turned out, the 1933 class was not a great draft crop overall, but it certainly had 4 elite players (Wilson, Angevine, Al Miller, Joe Hancock) and some decent arms just below those four. Later rounds did not give us much. There was Chuck Hood, who is now starting in the Keystones outfield, taken in round 4 as where the previously mentioned Pepper Tuttle and Lou Jayson with Willie Montgomery being a late round 3 selection and Art Edwards going in the 10th round. Beyond that there was not a lot of talent. The lowest selected pitcher to have made his big league debut is Henry Shaffer- the Keystones 14th rounder, 223rd overall- who is 12-16 over a season and a half with Philadelphia but currently in the Navy. Among hitters we have 16th round selection Bruce Lucas - a middle infielder born in Alaska who is now in the Air Corps but has played 55 games over parts of 3 season with Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia Sailors.

Bobby Barrell of the Keystones hit his FABL-leading 21st homerun of the season yesterday in a 14-3 pounding of Boston. Barrell now has 340 for his career and is bidding to lead both leagues in homers for the second straight season and third time overall.
Another milestone for Dave Trowbridge as the veteran first baseman recently notched his 2900th career hit. Trowbridge, who is retiring at the end of the season, now sits at 2904 - leaving him 2 behind former Stars legend Bill Craigen for 12th all-time. Trowbridge is also now just 1 total base shy of becoming just the second Stars player to record 4,000 total bases with the team. John Waggoner, with 4149, tops the Stars career list in that category. One more Trowbridge note- He remains 1 double shy of becoming the first player in FABL history to hit 600 two-baggers in his career.
Attendance numbers are inflated because of the promotion to give tickets away to military men and service workers but FABL can still brag about record-setting numbers: So far two teams (both done with home games) have pulled 2 million or more fans; the 77-57 Cougars (2,215,186) and the 49-86 Gothams (2,124,783). The two closest teams are the likely pennant winners in Boston (1,887,491) and Cincinnati (1,641,283), and both have home games remaining.
Fighting men all over the world are going to see baseball's World Championship Series this year. They will see it in a two-reel 22-minute sound film that will be distributed to all foreign bases. FABL, in co-operation with the War and Navy Departments will fund the project and plans are as soon as it is completed to send 100 prints for immediate distribution to foreign bases in all parts of the world. Well known radio broadcasters Wally Lanier and Happy McDonald will team up to provide the narration. Lanier is the long-time Brooklyn Kings radio man while McDonald holds the same role with the New York Gothams.

AFA DOWN TO EIGHT TEAMS AS WASPS SUSPEND OPERATIONS

The American Football Association finds itself in a tough position less than two weeks before the regular season is set to start after news that the league will be forced to drop from 10 to 8 teams this season. Faced with a roster shortage in training camp to begin with, injuries during preseason exhibitions left the Washington Wasps with insufficient healthy bodies in order to field a team. There had been talk of loaning extra players from other clubs but the Wasps instead elected to suspend operations for the duration of the war.

"We just don't have enough players to safely field a team," explained club owner Homer Bentley. "Other teams did offer to help out and provide us with some of their cast-offs but we don't feel it makes sense to try and run a second rate team in a big league setting. I spoke to (AFA President) Jack Kristich and it was agreed we close the team down until at least next season."

The move made sense as it left the league with an even number of teams rather than nine, which is what they would have been forced to operate with should Washington have attempted to stick it out after the owners of the Philadelphia Frigates and St Louis Ramblers agreed to partner up and merge their two clubs for the duration of the war. Neither club felt particularly confident in surviving the season with enough players so it seemed a "perfect compromise to merge" according to Kristich.

The AFA President added that he felt the merger of the St Louis and Philadelphia franchises made losing Washington a little easier to take. "Certainly a 10 team loop was our goal, but I would say 8 is preferable to running with an odd number so when the Wasps felt it would be tough to make a go of it, we all decided the best course was to temporarily suspend the Washington franchise. This gives us 8 strong teams which is a far better situation than having 10 start the season but perhaps not see all of them being able to complete the year."

The league schedule is quickly being revised to account for the restructuring and no word yet on whether the combined Frigates-Ramblers franchise (Friglers??) will play out of Philadelphia, St Louis or split their home games between the two cities. The season had been expected to begin on September 19th and it is believed that will still be the case.

PLENTY OF BIG NAME SCHOOLS MISSING, BUT COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS BACK

There are certainly some notable absences, with over 200 schools including 54 that would be consider 'major' college football programs, but after all of the uncertainty the sport has returned. It might not be as strong as it was before the war began and some conferences -such as the Deep South which lost eight of it's 12 schools- are a little worse for wear but the 1943 season kicked off last Wednesday with Carolina Poly beating the boys from Camp Lejeune 21-7.

Three other games were contested over the weekend as the season begins to pick up. Schools that will not play at all this year include independent Commonwealth Catholic (7-2-1 a year ago) and Dickson (3-5-1) from the northeast; Out west the entire West Coast Athletic Association aside from the two Los Angeles schools in Coastal California and CCLA as well as Northern California are out; the south is especially hard hit as the Deep South Conference loses Alabama Baptist (7-3-1), Opelika State (5-6), Western Florida (2-6-2), Central Kentucky (5-4-1), Bluegrass State (7-3), Cumberland (10-1), Northern Mississippi (7-2-1) and Mississippi A&M (2-7) along with independent Miami State (8-0-1) and seven members of the South Atlantic Conference including Richmond State.

It certainly makes for a slimmed down conference slate for most schools as this chart below shows who is remaining from each of the major sections as well as the top independent clubs.

Enough about those schools that are not participating. Even with the Army continuing to prohibit it's soldier-students from participating in intercollegiate sports there is still plenty of talent left in the college ranks. Noble Jones College, which was a perfect 12-0 last season including a New Year Day classic win over CC Los Angeles to claim the national title, gets back into action this weekend with a tune-up contest against Charleston(IL) College. The Colonels will be without most of their starters from a year ago including Christian Trophy winning halfback Billy Bockhorst, who graduated and was selected 1st overall in the AFA draft by the Pittsburgh Paladins, but they feel they can still field a competitive team. Bockhorst had intended to join the Marines but was rejected due to a lingering football injury -one that the back says is now sufficiently healed and he plans on suiting up for the Paladins.

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
Carolina Poly 21 Camp Lejeune 7
Lincoln 6 Camp Grant 0
George Fox 31 Trescott College 13
Great Lakes Navy 17 Fort Riley 3

While the war has certainly forced a lot of changes on pro football, many have big plans for the sport in the future. Certainly it doesn't feel like that right now - certainly not in Washington after news the Wasps are shutting down for the duration and with the merger between the Philadelphia and St Louis franchises but there are positives to look at when the war is finally won. Certainly Washington will be back and no one sees any reason why the Frigates and Ramblers will not go back to business as usual then as well. But there is much more that might happen with the state of football when life returns to a sense of normalcy.

There are already a couple of bids interested in expanding the American Football Association to perhaps a twelve team loop - one in Baltimore and another believed planned to add an additional team to New York. California is also a possible expansion destination as well. Now there is no guarantee the AFA will expand just as there is no guarantee their will be another professional loop but don't tell that to Linwood Jones. The business manager of a Richmond, Va., Athletic Club says he and his group have post-war plans for a six-team pro-football league based in the south. Dubbed the Dixie Professional Football League, Jones says Norfolk, Richmond, Charlotte and Greensboro are already set as four the six candidates to host clubs.

*** ST BLANE LOOKS LOADED ON COLLEGE SIDE ***

College football returned this week and if I have to pick a team to beat this season it will most certainly be St Blane. Late additions from the Navy training program mean the Fighting Saints look loaded with a pair of seniors in quarterback Mike O'Rourke and halfback George Steinbrecht to lead the way. All-American end Mark Richardson is gone, but junior Steve Terrio looks ready to fill the void. The Saints finished strong a year ago after a slow start to the season and if they can avoid early struggles this time around they may just be the team to beat. That might be easier said than done however as St Blane faces a stern test in their opener. That will be September 25 against Pittsburgh State, which is another squad that has very high expectations this season.

Others that should be strong this season include George Baptist, Maryland State, Northern California and a host of midwestern schools including as Minnesota Tech, Wisconsin Catholic and Detroit City College.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 9/12/1943

The Italians surrender unconditionally. However, the country is still subject to heavy fighting as Allied forces clash with Nazi troops still occupying Italy as both Roosevelt and Churchill urge the Italians to join the Allies and held rid the country of Hitler's men.
The "unconditional surrender" gives up 22 Italian warships to the Allies and full control to the United Nations over both the Italian people and possessions, including making all Italian merchant ships available for whatever the Allies might wish to use them for.
The first picture of allied troops on the continent in Euopre
Tokio radio says that Japan had delivered a vigorous to protest to the Italian representative against Italy's breach of the Rome-Berlin-Tokio Axis pact by surrendering to the Allies.
It truly is a world-wide effort for American troops as this image indicates where US forces are deployed.
A post-war reconstruction program pledging "full employment through full production" with "minimum control" of citizens by the Federal Government was recommended to the Republican party's council by it's committee on domestic problems.
Vice-President Wallace advanced seven new freedoms, all a part of a freedom from want, and advised the American public to begin now to prevent postwar enslavement by international monopolists. "We shall soon know whether the common man shall have 'democracy first,' or whether under the smooth phrase 'America first,' the common man shall be robbed," Mr. Wallace told a United Nations Committee "Win the Peace" meeting.

08-26-2022, 11:15 AM	#505
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	September 13, 1943 - Football returns SEPTEMBER 13, 1943 WOLVES TAKE 3 OF 4 FROM CANNONS The Toronto Wolves kept both themselves and the Chicago Cougars alive in the Continental Association pennant chase thanks to 3 straight shutout victories over the front-running Cannons. The Cannons, who lead both Chicago and Toronto by 7 games with three weeks remaining in the season, rebounded to take the final game of their 4-game set at Tice Memorial Stadium from Toronto but face one more crucial test next weekend. Neither the Wolves nor Cannons play again until Friday when the two meet again -this time at Dominion Stadium- for four more contests. It will take nothing short of a Toronto sweep to make things very interesting down the stretch. The Cougars, winners of 6 of their last 7 and suddenly back on track, will also be pinning their hopes on a Wolves sweep. If that happens the last two weeks of the season will be very interesting in the Continental Association. The St Louis Pioneers finally lost -ending their winning streak at 14 games. The Pioneers went just 3-3 on the week, splitting a 4-game weekend series with Chicago which dropped them a little further behind Boston, which went 4-2 last week and leads the Pioneers by 4 games. If St Louis can stay close they will have a chance to control their own destiny with 3 games in the final week of the season in Boston. The bookies are calling both Cincinnati and Boston near locks to meet in the World Championship Series for the first time. The Cannons, up by 7 games with 3 weeks remaining, are said to have a 98% chance of claiming their first pennant since 1914 while in the Fed the punters say Boston is close to a 90% shoo-in to reach the Series for the second time in three years. 1944 DRAFT PREVIEW A LOOK BACK AT THE 1933 DRAFT More than any other year, the 1933 FABL Draft was the year of the pitcher. That was the season that 12 of the first 16 picks were hurlers and a couple of standout infielders in Joe Angevine and Tommy Wilson slipped into round two. Angevine went to Boston with the second pick of round two but was quickly dealt to the New York Stars for veteran pitcher Charlie Stedman. Wilson was also moved while still a minor leaguer, going from the Cougars -who drafted him 31st overall- to the St Louis Pioneers as part of the package that brought Freddie Jones to the Windy City. As it would turn out there was very little in the way of quality position players to come out of the '34 draft class aside from Angevine and Wilson. The group of pitchers did prove to be more successful and included some big names taken in the first round but also some later selections such as Lou Jayson (rd 4, Toronto) and Pepper Tuttle (rd 4,Brooklyn) who have turned into serviceable big league arms. All 12 pitchers selected in the first round made it to the big leagues for at least one start as did the three pitchers chosen in round 2 and two of the four selected in the third round. 1933 was also special because it was the final draft that exclusively featured feeder league players as that system would be abandoned the following season. Before we take a look at each of the 16 players selected in the opening round of the 1933 FABL draft, here are a couple of draft lists for that season. The first is the mock created by OSA on the day the draft commenced and the second has been shared with us by current Brooklyn Kings Scouting Director John Spears and was his team's opening round draft board that season. Here is a look at how each of the first round draftees have fared in their pro careers so far: 1- JOE HANCOCK Pitcher: Toronto Wolves - Toronto got it right, selecting the Christian Trophy winner out of Henry Hudson University first overall although the same could have been said had they opted for Al Miller instead. OSA had Hancock fourth among pitchers (7th overall) behind Dick Higgins, John Edwards and Al Miller and John Spears had all 4 of those arms at the top of his board but Hancock was 3rd, although picking 5th and 7th overall Spears stated the Kings knew there was no way more than one of those four would be available and correctly doubted any would. Either Hancock or Miller would have been an outstanding choice with Hancock winning an Allen Award, leading Toronto to it's first WCS title in three decades and making the all-star team five times so far. He is now 30 years old and has a 134-96 record, leading his entire draft class in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts. 2- DICK HIGGINS Pitcher: Boston Minutemen - Both OSA and Spears had Higgins as the top pitcher on the board and the Dickson University righthander has turned out to be a solid choice, but a step below both Hancock and 4th selection Al Miller. That might not have been the case had he not missed over a year of development when he blew out his elbow as a 23 year old second year pro. He is 81-80 for his career, but now at age 30 appears restricted to being a back of the rotation arm or a swingman on a deep team like Boston. You can't fault this pick as Higgins might have been every bit the pitcher Hancock and Miller are had he stayed healthy. 3- JOHN EDWARDS Pitcher: Baltimore Cannons - How different might things have been had the Cannons elected to take Al Miller here instead of Miller's Hartford High teammate John Edwards? Although, who knows...maybe it was the mess that was the Baltimore Cannons in the mid-to-late 1930s that ruined Edwards. If their draft spots were reversed would Edwards have been the one to partner with Rabbit Day and lead the Chiefs to WCS wins in 1936 and 1938? Would Miller have sputtered in Baltimore? OSA had Edwards and Miller nearly in a dead heat, but did slot Edwards one spot ahead of his teammate. Stats-wise, perhaps a case could have been made for either coming out of high school. Edwards struggled in Baltimore - like nearly everyone did at that point in time- before being dealt to Boston for Ken Mayhugh and Danny Andrews. He has had some success with the Minutemen and is still young enough (27) that he could still have a pretty good big league career, but certainly not one to rival his old high school buddy. Edwards is, as of this writing, 70-78 for his career and presently working out of the Boston bullpen. 4- AL MILLER Pitcher: Chicago Chiefs - Not much to discuss here. A great choice, rivaled only by top pick Hancock. Miller, like the Wolves number one choice, has an Allan Award and 5 all-star appearances. He went one better than Joe so far with 2 WCS rings and considering he is nearly 3 years younger than Hancock he may end up with a better career record than the Wolves ace. Miller is 128-93 already for his career. 5- EARLE ROBINSON Pitcher: Brooklyn Kings - Is this where the reaching for pitchers began? I don't think anyone in the league would have deviated from the top four selections in the draft but this is likely where Brooklyn should have looked at Tommy Wilson or Joe Angevine. Both were shortstops at the time and the Kings had just witnessed an outstanding rookie debut year by a 19 year old named Harry Barrell while their pitching staff clearly had some holes at this point so it is easy to see why they went with an arm here. (and again at 7th when they opted for Bob Cummings) Spears' own draft board had Johnnie Sundberg in this slot and Rusty Petrick ahead of Robinson as well but, perhaps mesmerized by Robinson's perfect game as a junior and perfect record as a senior, they drafted him. In the end it might have just been bad luck but, much like Boston with Dick Higgins, the Kings found first-hand that drafting young pitchers is a risk. By all accounts Robinson had loads of talent, but he also had a lot of injuries in his career and now, at age 27, is really just a below average reliever with Cleveland who owns a 12-19 career mark. He will have the claim to fame of being traded twice involving a pair of the greatest sluggers in the game. The Kings packaged him to Detroit with a boatload of picks and prospects in the famous deal that brought Al Wheeler and Frank Vance (and 3 pennants) to Brooklyn. It is fun to note that in his first start in the Dynamos organization Robinson threw a perfect game for his Class B club and it was against his former Tampa Kings teammates. A little over a year later the Dynamos sent him to Cleveland as the prize prospect in the trade that brought Max Morris to the Motor City where he could finish out his playing career and be a manager in Detroit. 6- JOHNNIE SUNDBERG Shortstop: Washington Eagles - In it's final mock, OSA had Johnnie Sundberg rated #2 -ahead of those four pitchers and also ahead of Joe Angevine and Tommy Wilson- and second only to Hal Carter, who was the first team All-American shortstop that year. Sundberg, who has been in the Army since the week after the attack on Pearl Harbor, has currently played more big league games than anyone in his draft class except for Tommy Wilson, is a solid defensive utility infielder but has hit just .245. Still those numbers are good enough to make him the third or fourth best non-pitcher in this draft class. 7- BOB CUMMINGS Pitcher: Brooklyn Kings - The Kings send us right back to drafting pitchers and take Cummings, who was coming off a pretty solid AIAA feeder league career with College of San Diego. He is clearly a step below Hancock and Miller, but has been a 2-time all-star and contributed to 3 straight pennants with Brooklyn. His career mark is 83-77 but the 30 year old, traded a couple months ago to the Chiefs where he is now a teammate of Miller's, has really struggled this season. 8- NATE SPEAR Pitcher: Pittsburgh Miners - Injuries put an end to the promise Spear once had. Drafted by Pittsburgh but traded while still in the minors to the Gothams in the deal that brought Mahlon Strong to Pittsburgh, Spear had four seasons in New York but was hurt pretty much each one of them including 1939 when repeated shoulder problems wrecked a terrific 6-0, 2.21 start. Sick of seeing him on the IL all the time, the Gothams moved him to Detroit in the fall of 1940 and he immediately got hurt again and spent most of his time in the Dynamos organization on the injured list or in the minors. Detroit waived him this year, so did the Chiefs and Washington before Spear finally landed with independent San Antonio of the Lone Star Association. He has been healthy -finally- this season and has found a spot in the Gunslingers bullpen. His FABL record is 18-23 and it is unlikely he returns to the big leagues. 9- HAL CARTER - Second Base: Philadelphia Sailors - Carter was an All-American shortstop at Cumberland and ranked #1 by OSA in the final mock. By 1935 he was in the big leagues with the Sailors and has hit .294 in 470 career games with Philadelphia but just can't quite shake the label of reserve infielder. The Sailors do have the righthanded hitting Carter platooning with Bob Smith at second base, which is where he has played the bulk of his big league games. 10- RUSTY PETRICK Pitcher: New York Gothams - Just months after he was drafted, Petrick part of the famous trade that sent a bunch of prospects and picks from the Gothams to Baltimore in exchange for Rabbit Day. He threw a no-hitter very early in his minor league career and was loved as a top prospect by OSA despite struggling for much of his 3 seasons with the Cannons. A year after the franchise relocated to Cincinnati, the Cannons sent Petrick back to New York for a first round draft pick that was used to help bring Adam Mullins to the Queen City. Petrick did win a WCS a year ago in New York -and went 20-12 for the only winning season of his career- but is back to being inconsistent again this year with a 69-101 career FABL record. 11- CHRIS CLARKE Pitcher: New York Stars - Out of Wisconsin State, it took Clarke until 1938 before he established himself as a regular with the Stars but he helped them to a WCS win in 1939 and a pennant two years later. Most seasons he has bounced back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen and was recently traded to the Cannons, where he has started regularly. He is 51-46 in 160 career FABL appearances, 116 of them as a starter. 12- DON MILLER Pitcher: St Louis Pioneers - The first pitcher selected that we can truly call a bust. Miller came out of the high school ranks and never established himself as a big league pitcher - at least not yet as he is still just 27 years old. He had a couple of injuries but unlike Spear or Robinson, who were both highly ranked by OSA, Miller never really was considered a top prospect. Pittsburgh claimed him on waivers last year and he had 13 saves in his big league debut season but missed much of this year with shoulder troubles suffered in spring training. Perhaps he salvages his career with a string of decent years in the Pittsburgh pen. 13- TOMMY TROTT Pitcher: Washington Eagles - Like Don Miller, Trott was a high school arm out of Texas. He was a top 100 prospect but suffered a major injury early in his career that seemed to slow his development. He finally made his big league debut as a 26 year old last season and pitched fairly well out of the Eagles bullpen, well enough he might have claimed a spot in the war-ravaged rotation this season had Trott not elected to enlist in the Navy. When he returns he might see some time in the pen but likely will never develop into a trusted big league starter. 14- DOC LEACH Second Base: Detroit Dynamos - Another of what was thought to be a deep class of middle infielders but Leach never made the majors and retired in 1940. He seemed like a forgotten man in the Detroit system as right from his rookie pro year he was never given a chance to play regularly in the minors with 73 starts between three levels in 1935 being his high point. Now whether he did not develop because he didn't get the chance to play, or Detroit did not think he was good enough to warrant playing time is debatable but the result was the same. Leach seemed to hit okay in limited stints throughout his days in the low minors and his infield defense looked solid but by 1938 he was released and spent a little time in the Lone Star loop before hanging it up for good in 1940. 15- JOHN BARNARD Shortstop: Chicago Cougars -The Cougars admitted, in their weekly team report, that Barnard was not a player they were really high on. Truth be told, Chicago management did not care for much of the talent available beyond the first few picks. In hindsight they -and everyone else- should have looked closer at Joe Angevine, but the Portland High School shortstop lasted three more picks and went to Boston in round two. As for Barnard, he would be dealt to the Cannons two years later in a package to bring veteran outfielder Lou Kelly to Chicago. Barnard accomplished little in Baltimore, playing in just 64 big league games over parts of 3 seasons before being waived in 1940. The Cougars picked Barnard back up at that point but he played just 1 game for Chicago before being waived again. He is now 31 years old and in the Army having last played for Los Angeles of the Great Western loop in 1941. Career stats in FABL for Barnard are nothing to write home about. 65 games with a .216 career batting average. 16- JIM WHITELY Pitcher: Philadelphia Keystones - It might be hard to label a guy who made his big league debut at the age of 21 a 'late bloomer' but Whitely seems to have struggled a few years with the Keystones before finally hitting his stride in his 5th season (1941). He was an all-star in '41 and again last year and is now 69-90 for his big league career but has had a winning season each of the past three years including 12-8 so far this season. He has also stayed pretty healthy and his stock seems to have risen a fair bit with OSA over the years, to the point where he seems a much better option than most of the other pitchers selected ahead of him. He is not Joe Hancock or Al Miller but is possibly at a level just below those two and likely destined to be a better player than any other pitcher selected this draft beyond the big two. SUMMARY -It is easy to simply state FABL General Managers went pitcher-crazy this year and made some choices that they shouldn't have but in reality only the two infielders (Tommy Wilson and Joe Angevine) were overlooked and most of those pitchers appeared to be solid choices, with injuries responsible for the majority of the failures. As it turned out, the 1933 class was not a great draft crop overall, but it certainly had 4 elite players (Wilson, Angevine, Al Miller, Joe Hancock) and some decent arms just below those four. Later rounds did not give us much. There was Chuck Hood, who is now starting in the Keystones outfield, taken in round 4 as where the previously mentioned Pepper Tuttle and Lou Jayson with Willie Montgomery being a late round 3 selection and Art Edwards going in the 10th round. Beyond that there was not a lot of talent. The lowest selected pitcher to have made his big league debut is Henry Shaffer- the Keystones 14th rounder, 223rd overall- who is 12-16 over a season and a half with Philadelphia but currently in the Navy. Among hitters we have 16th round selection Bruce Lucas - a middle infielder born in Alaska who is now in the Air Corps but has played 55 games over parts of 3 season with Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia Sailors. Bobby Barrell of the Keystones hit his FABL-leading 21st homerun of the season yesterday in a 14-3 pounding of Boston. Barrell now has 340 for his career and is bidding to lead both leagues in homers for the second straight season and third time overall. Another milestone for Dave Trowbridge as the veteran first baseman recently notched his 2900th career hit. Trowbridge, who is retiring at the end of the season, now sits at 2904 - leaving him 2 behind former Stars legend Bill Craigen for 12th all-time. Trowbridge is also now just 1 total base shy of becoming just the second Stars player to record 4,000 total bases with the team. John Waggoner, with 4149, tops the Stars career list in that category. One more Trowbridge note- He remains 1 double shy of becoming the first player in FABL history to hit 600 two-baggers in his career. Attendance numbers are inflated because of the promotion to give tickets away to military men and service workers but FABL can still brag about record-setting numbers: So far two teams (both done with home games) have pulled 2 million or more fans; the 77-57 Cougars (2,215,186) and the 49-86 Gothams (2,124,783). The two closest teams are the likely pennant winners in Boston (1,887,491) and Cincinnati (1,641,283), and both have home games remaining. Fighting men all over the world are going to see baseball's World Championship Series this year. They will see it in a two-reel 22-minute sound film that will be distributed to all foreign bases. FABL, in co-operation with the War and Navy Departments will fund the project and plans are as soon as it is completed to send 100 prints for immediate distribution to foreign bases in all parts of the world. Well known radio broadcasters Wally Lanier and Happy McDonald will team up to provide the narration. Lanier is the long-time Brooklyn Kings radio man while McDonald holds the same role with the New York Gothams. AFA DOWN TO EIGHT TEAMS AS WASPS SUSPEND OPERATIONS The American Football Association finds itself in a tough position less than two weeks before the regular season is set to start after news that the league will be forced to drop from 10 to 8 teams this season. Faced with a roster shortage in training camp to begin with, injuries during preseason exhibitions left the Washington Wasps with insufficient healthy bodies in order to field a team. There had been talk of loaning extra players from other clubs but the Wasps instead elected to suspend operations for the duration of the war. "We just don't have enough players to safely field a team," explained club owner Homer Bentley. "Other teams did offer to help out and provide us with some of their cast-offs but we don't feel it makes sense to try and run a second rate team in a big league setting. I spoke to (AFA President) Jack Kristich and it was agreed we close the team down until at least next season." The move made sense as it left the league with an even number of teams rather than nine, which is what they would have been forced to operate with should Washington have attempted to stick it out after the owners of the Philadelphia Frigates and St Louis Ramblers agreed to partner up and merge their two clubs for the duration of the war. Neither club felt particularly confident in surviving the season with enough players so it seemed a "perfect compromise to merge" according to Kristich. The AFA President added that he felt the merger of the St Louis and Philadelphia franchises made losing Washington a little easier to take. "Certainly a 10 team loop was our goal, but I would say 8 is preferable to running with an odd number so when the Wasps felt it would be tough to make a go of it, we all decided the best course was to temporarily suspend the Washington franchise. This gives us 8 strong teams which is a far better situation than having 10 start the season but perhaps not see all of them being able to complete the year." The league schedule is quickly being revised to account for the restructuring and no word yet on whether the combined Frigates-Ramblers franchise (Friglers??) will play out of Philadelphia, St Louis or split their home games between the two cities. The season had been expected to begin on September 19th and it is believed that will still be the case. PLENTY OF BIG NAME SCHOOLS MISSING, BUT COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS BACK There are certainly some notable absences, with over 200 schools including 54 that would be consider 'major' college football programs, but after all of the uncertainty the sport has returned. It might not be as strong as it was before the war began and some conferences -such as the Deep South which lost eight of it's 12 schools- are a little worse for wear but the 1943 season kicked off last Wednesday with Carolina Poly beating the boys from Camp Lejeune 21-7. Three other games were contested over the weekend as the season begins to pick up. Schools that will not play at all this year include independent Commonwealth Catholic (7-2-1 a year ago) and Dickson (3-5-1) from the northeast; Out west the entire West Coast Athletic Association aside from the two Los Angeles schools in Coastal California and CCLA as well as Northern California are out; the south is especially hard hit as the Deep South Conference loses Alabama Baptist (7-3-1), Opelika State (5-6), Western Florida (2-6-2), Central Kentucky (5-4-1), Bluegrass State (7-3), Cumberland (10-1), Northern Mississippi (7-2-1) and Mississippi A&M (2-7) along with independent Miami State (8-0-1) and seven members of the South Atlantic Conference including Richmond State. It certainly makes for a slimmed down conference slate for most schools as this chart below shows who is remaining from each of the major sections as well as the top independent clubs. Enough about those schools that are not participating. Even with the Army continuing to prohibit it's soldier-students from participating in intercollegiate sports there is still plenty of talent left in the college ranks. Noble Jones College, which was a perfect 12-0 last season including a New Year Day classic win over CC Los Angeles to claim the national title, gets back into action this weekend with a tune-up contest against Charleston(IL) College. The Colonels will be without most of their starters from a year ago including Christian Trophy winning halfback Billy Bockhorst, who graduated and was selected 1st overall in the AFA draft by the Pittsburgh Paladins, but they feel they can still field a competitive team. Bockhorst had intended to join the Marines but was rejected due to a lingering football injury -one that the back says is now sufficiently healed and he plans on suiting up for the Paladins. LAST WEEK'S RESULTS Carolina Poly 21 Camp Lejeune 7 Lincoln 6 Camp Grant 0 George Fox 31 Trescott College 13 Great Lakes Navy 17 Fort Riley 3 While the war has certainly forced a lot of changes on pro football, many have big plans for the sport in the future. Certainly it doesn't feel like that right now - certainly not in Washington after news the Wasps are shutting down for the duration and with the merger between the Philadelphia and St Louis franchises but there are positives to look at when the war is finally won. Certainly Washington will be back and no one sees any reason why the Frigates and Ramblers will not go back to business as usual then as well. But there is much more that might happen with the state of football when life returns to a sense of normalcy. There are already a couple of bids interested in expanding the American Football Association to perhaps a twelve team loop - one in Baltimore and another believed planned to add an additional team to New York. California is also a possible expansion destination as well. Now there is no guarantee the AFA will expand just as there is no guarantee their will be another professional loop but don't tell that to Linwood Jones. The business manager of a Richmond, Va., Athletic Club says he and his group have post-war plans for a six-team pro-football league based in the south. Dubbed the Dixie Professional Football League, Jones says Norfolk, Richmond, Charlotte and Greensboro are already set as four the six candidates to host clubs. * ST BLANE LOOKS LOADED ON COLLEGE SIDE * College football returned this week and if I have to pick a team to beat this season it will most certainly be St Blane. Late additions from the Navy training program mean the Fighting Saints look loaded with a pair of seniors in quarterback Mike O'Rourke and halfback George Steinbrecht to lead the way. All-American end Mark Richardson is gone, but junior Steve Terrio looks ready to fill the void. The Saints finished strong a year ago after a slow start to the season and if they can avoid early struggles this time around they may just be the team to beat. That might be easier said than done however as St Blane faces a stern test in their opener. That will be September 25 against Pittsburgh State, which is another squad that has very high expectations this season. Others that should be strong this season include George Baptist, Maryland State, Northern California and a host of midwestern schools including as Minnesota Tech, Wisconsin Catholic and Detroit City College. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 9/12/1943 The Italians surrender unconditionally. However, the country is still subject to heavy fighting as Allied forces clash with Nazi troops still occupying Italy as both Roosevelt and Churchill urge the Italians to join the Allies and held rid the country of Hitler's men. The "unconditional surrender" gives up 22 Italian warships to the Allies and full control to the United Nations over both the Italian people and possessions, including making all Italian merchant ships available for whatever the Allies might wish to use them for. The first picture of allied troops on the continent in Euopre Tokio radio says that Japan had delivered a vigorous to protest to the Italian representative against Italy's breach of the Rome-Berlin-Tokio Axis pact by surrendering to the Allies. It truly is a world-wide effort for American troops as this image indicates where US forces are deployed. A post-war reconstruction program pledging "full employment through full production" with "minimum control" of citizens by the Federal Government was recommended to the Republican party's council by it's committee on domestic problems. Vice-President Wallace advanced seven new freedoms, all a part of a freedom from want, and advised the American public to begin now to prevent postwar enslavement by international monopolists. "We shall soon know whether the common man shall have 'democracy first,' or whether under the smooth phrase 'America first,' the common man shall be robbed," Mr. Wallace told a United Nations Committee "Win the Peace" meeting. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 08-26-2022 at 01:22 PM.