AUGUST 14, 1944
COUGARS FINALLY HAVE WINNING WEEK
For the first time since June 19-25 when they went 5-3 the Chicago Cougars won more games then they lost in a week. And it could not have come at a better time. After suffering through a 11-25 record over the past month and a half, Chicago went 4-2 last week and increased their lead atop the Continental Association to 2.5 games on both Cincinnati and Toronto. It was visits to each of those cities that was on the docket last week and after splitting a 4-game set in the Queen City, the Cougars headed north to Canada and swept a double-header with Toronto to open a four game -one which continues today and tomorrow.
After two days to prepare for and then begin their three-week road trip the Cougars got the trek started the right way with a come from behind 4-3 win over what was a red-hot Cincinnati team -halting the Cannons 11 game winning streak in the process. Cincinnati rebounded the next day with a 5-2 win and after trading victories Friday and Saturday it was off to Toronto for the Cougars. Chicago's offense was firing on all cylinders with a pair of 7-run outings to hand the Wolves two more losses in a rough week that saw them start by dropping 3 of 4 to the New York Stars.
In the Federal Association the Philadelphia Keystones finished the week 3-3 and now are up by 7 games atop the Federal Association. Detroit is no longer in second place. The honour goes to Pittsburgh as the Miners, after splitting a 4-game set to open the week against the Dynamos, finished off with a doubleheader sweep of the last place Gothams on Sunday while Detroit was losing twice in Washington.
1945 DRAFT PREVIEW
PART 4: MOCK FIRST ROUND
There are four players in the current draft class that OSA feels are capable of playing in multiple all-star games. Big Riggins, the Christian Trophy winner and All-American outfielder out of Grange College leads the way and is joined by three high school seniors: third baseman Dan Finch, first baseman Harry McCue and outfielder Paul Williams. It does look like another deep crop for position players but, while there are some very good pitching candidates, this draft class appeaars to lack that elite dominant pitcher. One must keep in mind that as of this writing the class was not yet complete with 64 still needed to be added some time before the January draft. Here is our mock first round based on the current scouting assessments provided by Dan Barrell and his staff at the OSA.
Code:
1945 MOCK FIRST ROUND DRAFT
RK NAME POS AGE SCHOOL HOMETOWN OSA ASSESSMENT
1 BOB RIGGINS CF 20 Grange College Detroit, MI multiple trips to allstar game
2 DAN FINCH 3B 17 Bowman (SC) HS Darlington, SC multiple trips to all-star game
3 PAUL WILLIAMS LF 17 Clayton HS StL St Louis, MO multiple trips to all-star game
4 HARRY McCUE 1B 17 Branford (CT) HS New York, NY multiple trips to all-star game
5 STEVE DAVIS P 18 Brownwood (TX) HS Brownwood, TX front line starter potential
6 HARRY FINNEY SS 20 Bluegrass State Tulsa, OK all star caliber SS
7 JOHNNY PETERS CF 20 Liberty College Lawrencivlle,TN elite CF on contender
8 IKE PERRY C 17 Navasota (TX) HS Hearne, TX elite starting C
9 OTIS POWER P 20 Grange College Augusta, GA near top of any rotation
10 CARL CLARK CF 17 Springfield(MO)HS Springfield, MO elite starting CF
11 JOE HORVATH P 17 Oshkosh(WI) HS Antigo, WI potential impact starter
12 IVEY HENLEY 1B 20 Jersey City Tech Brooklyn, NY potential to unleash obvious talent
13 GEORGE PENZA SS 20 Yellowhammer St. Waco,TC elite big league SS
14 HERB KELLER SS 17 Bakersfield(CA)HS Bakersfield, CA elite big league SS
15 MICKEY McCLURE RF 17 Seymour(CT) HS Middlesex, NJ elite starting RF
16 TED BEAVAN P 17 East HS, Buffalo Buffalo, NY mid rotation piece
HONOURABLE MENTION
NAME POS AGE SCHOOL
PHIL BILLMAN LF 17 Dickson City (PA) HS
PETE BUTLER P 21 Oklahoma City State
HOWDY CALDERONE RF 17 Union Bridge (MD) HS
CLAUDE CLEMONS CF 20 San Francisco Tech
MIKE COCHRANE 2B 17 Pelton HS, San Francisco, CA
LEN HARRINGTON CF 20 Eastern State
PAT KISIEL SS 17 St Aloysius HS, New Orleans, LA
HARRY LINKER P 17 Clifton (TX) HS
RUSS McLEAN P 17 Shady Side Academy, Pittsburgh, PA
BOB RUSSO C 18 Hatboro (PA) HS
HANK SMITH 1B 20 Talmadge State
Our fifth and final part of our annual draft preview series will be a way to early look at the top prospects eligible for the 1946 FABL Draft.
UPDATED DRAFT LOTTERY ODDS
FORESTERS, STARS IN DRIVERS SEAT FOR #1
Under the new system the draft order for rounds 1 and 2 will be determined by a lottery. The Associations will still alternate picks and the the Continental Association will claim the first selection this year. The two pennant winners will automatically pick 15th and 16th but the other 14 teams will enter a lottery to determine the draft order in the opening two rounds. Improvement (or regression) on last years win total determines you chances with the two non-pennant winners to have the largest increase each getting 3 balls in the lottery, the next 2 getting 2, and the final 3 clubs getting just 1 ball in the lottery.
As it stands right now the Keystones and Cougars would be the pennant winners so the best chance of earning the first overall selection goes to the Cleveland Foresters and Philadelphia Sailors. As result there are a couple of interesting battles outside of the pennant races. Pittsburgh is very close to increasing it's odds on picking second overal (the Fed clubs get the even picks this year) while Toronto and Cincinnati, both still very focused on chasing the front-running Chicago Cougars in the Continental Association, could double their odds at picking first if they fail in the pennant pursuit but overtake the Sailors improvement number from last year.
Here are the draft lottery odds if the season were to have ended today. The 1944 win total is a projection based on current winning percentage.
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CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION (picks 1,3,5,7,9,11 &13)
TEAM 44Pro 43W +- Odds to Win CA Lottery
Cougars 91 86 5 Draft 15th
Cleveland 64 55 9 23.1%
Stars 75 68 7 23.1%
Sailors 83 82 1 15.3%
Brooklyn 67 69 -2 15.3%
Toronto 86 90 -4 7.7%
Cincinnati 88 94 -6 7.7%
Montreal 63 72 -9 7.7%
FEDERAL ASSOCIATION (picks 2,4,6,8,10,12 & 14)
TEAM 44PRO 43W +- Odds to Win FA Lottery
Keystones 92 81 11 draft 16th
Detroit 80 69 11 23.1%
Gothams 67 58 9 23.1%
Pittsburgh 82 74 8 15.3%
Chiefs 75 79 -4 15.3%
Washington 71 81 -10 7.7%
*-Boston 78 90 -12 7.7%
St Louis 69 84 -15 7.7%
*Boston pick in round one owned by Cincinnati
- It took nearly two weeks for word to trickle to Dick Blaszak somewhere in the Pacific that he was now a Chicago Chief prospect instead of still with the Cannons. Blaszak was on cloud nine after hearing he was traded for not one, but two future Hall of Famers in Tom Bird and Rabbit Day.
- A 4-2 week for the New York Stars once more. They have won 4 games every full week since the All-Star break but this one was full of nailbiters with all 6 of their games being decided by no more than 2 runs. Rookie sensation Eli Panneton continues to prosper - notching his first big league save and then 2 days later picking up wn #6. Another rookie -1941 9th overall pick Larry Gregory- also earned his first big league win this week.
- The Stars continued their dominance of Toronto this season, taking 3 of 4 at Dominion Park. New York is 13-6 against Toronto this season. The only other CA matchup as one-sided also involves the Stars, but they are just 6-13 against Chicago.
- Tom Bird is hitting .378 thru 10 games with Cannons. Rabbit Day is 1-1 and pitching well despite a loss to Chicago this week. Then there is Al Wheeler, hitting .192 with 2 homers in Cincinnati and living on past reputation alone. OSA chief Dan Barrell is incredulous, but Wheeler has simply lost the ability to make consistent contact.
- Wheeler had 9 homers between opening day and June 1. After June 2, a span of 227 at bats, he has hit just 3 homeruns and 500 is looking very much out of reach for Wheeler, who has 452 career round-trippers.
- There is some worry creeping in for the Foresters after Lou Balk suffered yet another setback with his sprained knee. This is the third time the 32 year old outfielders return from the late July injury has been pushed back. An All-Star this season Balk is hitting .294 with 7 homers 46 rbi's thru 90 games with Cleveland this season.
- Biggest news in Fed is Bobby Barrell did not win 4th straight player of the week. Barrell hit just .375 with only 2 homers last week so teammate Harry Shumate took the honors to keep the Keystones award streak alive.
- Barrell is now in a virtual tie with Washington's Mel Carrol for the Fed batting lead at .347. With 36 homers and 120 rbi's he has two-thirds of the triple crown pretty much sewn up and has batting average is quickly rising thanks to hitting at a .467 clip this month.
- A 4-2 week for St Louis moved the Pioneers out of the Federal Association cellar as the Gothams once again own the low berth.
WORLD MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT CONFIRMED FOR SEPTEMBER
Reigning World Middleweight Boxing Champion Archie Rees will face former champ Jorge Cuellar in Liverpool on September 16th in what will be the first sanctioned World Title Fight since 1941. It had been previously announced that Rees would fight in a bout sanctioned by the ABF but his opponent only this week was confirmed to be Cuellar. The former champ until he retired and was stripped of his title in 1939 is now 36 years old and boasts a 42-1-2 career record but has not fight at all since 1939.
Rees is 35 and 33-4-1 for his career. He has not fought an official ABF recognized bout since winning the then-vacant title with a second round knockout of Nathan Sears in September of 1941 but has been very active fighting a large number of military bouts and holds the rank of Lt. in the British Army. It will be a long overdue first meeting between the two, who were expected to fight for the title when Cuellar held the belt in the late 1930s but an agreement between the two camps never could be reach.
WEEKEND BOUT -Despite the fact that the vast majority of professional boxer are serving in various branches of the military there still are occasional sanctioned fights involving recognized fighters. One such event was held in Youngstown, Ohio over the weekend in which Youngstown native Ed MacKinley (12-5-2) fought to a majority draw in an 8 round tilt against Richard Dunn. The 29 year old Dunn, who calls Eugene, Oregon home, is 23-8-2 and was once considered one of the rising young stars of the sport until falling on hard times with several successive losses in 1940 and 1941.
POSTWAR BOOM TO BRING SHIFTS IN PRO CLUBS
After the war there is certain to be a shift in more than a few cities so far as baseball and football are concerned along major lines. There will be a new tidal wave of sport, a greater boom than after the first World War in 1919-20. It is almost certain that Los Angeles, on it's way to 6,000,000 population, will be one of the new main centers in both baseball and football. With transportation so far advanced and new improvements coming Los Angeles will be only a few hours away from New York, much less from the Midwest.
Los Angeles for some time has been one of the big sporting centers. On the same afternoon I have seen 93,000 at a East-West Classic game in Santa Anna with more than 65,000 headed for the big horse race only a few miles beyond. Los Angeles has known football crowds, plus track and field throngs at the Olympic games above 100,000. How many other cities can match this? As a FABL city I doubt that any two other towns could outdraw this fast-growing metropolis. Los Angeles isn't the only present minor-league city now out to break into the big-league show. Milwaukee is another. So is Houston.
Baltimore just might deserve another chance in baseball and certainly one for football. The Cannons failures in that city might lie in mismanagement as the Maryland city goes crazy over football every year with crowds of 40,000 to 50,000 coming out to see St Blane or Rome State tussle with Annapolis Maritime.
***Philadelphia Will Lose One of Teams***
Philadelphia almost is sure to lose one of it's FABL teams. The Sailors are a solid team, and in a pennant race but even the lowly Washington Eagles are outdrawing them this season. San Francisco seems to be a likely location and perfect travel parter if, or when, Los Angeles arrives in the big leagues. Football will likely be first as the rush to expand the American Football Association, and put down all of the would be challenger leagues that are making plenty of noise right now, will be at the top of the football magnates list of things to do when the war is finally over. In addition to the cities that make up the present major grid league those under consideration include Los Angeles, Baltimore, Buffalo, Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta and New Orleans.
One point to think about is not all members of the present big league make any financial killing. New York and the Chicago Wildcats head the pack. And the Detroit Maroons have done well. But Brooklyn has lost good money and Cleveland has had a hard go of things which is part of the reason the Finches agreed to merge with St Louis this year.
***Coast Leans Heavily to College Football***
Pro football has never been any too hot on the coast for two reasons. It hasn't been any too well handled and California is all out for college football and it's varies rivalries, leading to the East-West Classic show. I have seen a few all-star pro teams, even in Los Angeles, that never come close to a sellout.
It will be interesting to watch this rush to pro football when the fighting ends. It at least will be a big break for the players who can sit back and take the top offer. But first they will have to be sure they will collect. There should be enough room for two major leagues in football, just as there is in baseball with the same World Championships Series arrangement for the windup. But the battle to establish the second league easily may be a wild and woolly affiar, with no help coming from Jack Kristich and the AFA boys.
I don't believe any one can doubt there will be a large and active postwar boom in every form of sport. There are too many reasons for this to happen, with some 10 million soldiers and sailors looking for new excitement. Whether or not this boom can match the quality of the previous conflict that gave us the emergence of Max Morris, Urban Dane and a 20 team AFA as well as many others in those high altitudes is something only the next few years can determine.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 8/13/1944
- President Roosevelt spent three days in Hawaii confering with General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz on war plans to crush the Japanese with new offensives, and personally renewed his pledge that MacArthur would return to the Philippines with triumphant U.S. forces.
- American and British troops continue a slow push toward Paris while on the Eastern Front the Russians close in on East Prussia.
- Florence, ancient treasure house of Italian renaissance art, fell into Allied hands as the Germans withdrew most of their troops from the city to new positions northward, ending a two week long siege.
- In a national address FDR called for a virtual quarantine of Japan and said he was sure other United Nations would agree to a vast plan providing the United States with distant bases protecting all the Amiercas against future aggression.
