AUGUST 21, 1944
BARRELL KEEPS ROLLING
Bobby Barrell is clearly playing at a level others can only dream about. The Philadelphia Keystones outfielder was named Federal Association player of the week for the fourth time in the last five weeks. Over that stretch Barrell has hit .428 (65-for-152) with 16 homers and 47 rbi's. His 39 homeruns lead both Associations by 17 over the next highest total-which is the 22 belonging to Red Johnson. Interestingly, third in homers is a tie between Washington's Sig Stofer and Continental Associaiton leader Chuck Adams of Cincinnati. Each slugger has socked 16 homers this season, which coincidentally is the same amount Barrell has hit in the past five weeks alone. With 39 homers, Barrell has hit more longballs than 3 teams this season -the Sailors, Cleveland and Montreal.
The RBI dominance is much the same as The Georgia Jolter is already at 129 in that category, which is exactly 50 more than CA leader Adams has and 55 more than the second highest total in the Fed, which belongs to Whit Williams of the Pittsburgh Miners. Barrell's big 5-week run has also vaulted him to the top of the Fed batting race and a triple crown looks very much to be a possibility. Barrell is batting .355, giving him a slim lead over Washington's Don Miller at .351.
As for the Keystones, they stumbled against Detroit this week in dropping 3 of four to the Dynamos -a team that continues to surprise- but still finished 5-3 on the week and gained a half game on the second place Pittsburgh Miners. Detroit is 8.5 back -miles ahead of where many expected they would end up- but did themselves no favours with a 6-game losing streak that continued early in the week and included 4 straight losses in Washington before rebounding with 5 consecutive wins over Philadelphia and Boston to end the week.
*** CANNONS & WOLVES OVERTAKE COUGARS ***
You have to go back to April to find the last time the Chicago Cougars did not finish a week in first place in the Continental Association (although there was one week they still lead in GB but were less than a percentage point behind Toronto) but that changed this week as the Cougars followed up their first winning week in nearly two months with a disappointing 2-6 showing over the past 7 days. Meanwhile Toronto went 7-1 and Cincinnati posted a 6-2 week to put the pair of them atop the Continental with identical 67-48 records and a game and a half lead on the suddenly third place Cougars.
The Wolves ended last week by dropping both ends of a twin bill at home to the Cougars, but Toronto clawed back when Bob Walls spun a 4-0 shutout of Chicago Monday and Jimmy Gibbs and Billy Crosby combined to stop the struggling Chicago offense in a 2-1 Toronto win Tuesday. That was followed by 3 wins in 4 games against Montreal before a doubleheader sweep of Brooklyn yesterday. The Cougars limped out of Toronto and off to Cleveland, where they salvaged a split of 4 games with the Foresters -which doesn't sound like much but is an improvement as Cleveland has had Chicago's number all season. On Sunday the Philadelphia Sailors, another team that has given Chicago fits this campaign, took both ends of a doubleheader to prolong the Chicago agony that began shortly before the all-star break.
How bad has it been for the Cougars? Here is the record of each CA team before and after Chicago's slide began with a doubleheader loss to the Stars on June 25th.
Code:
STANDINGS JUNE 25-TODAY JUN24 REC PCT
TEAM W L PCT W L PCT CHANGE
Cincinnati 40 14 .741 27 34 .443 +.298
NY Stars 31 23 .574 27 38 .415 +.159
Sailors 31 23 .574 33 31 .516 +.058
Toronto 30 23 .566 37 25 .597 -.031
Brooklyn 23 30 .434 27 39 .409 +.025
Montreal 23 31 .426 26 40 .394 +.032
Cougars 18 34 .347 50 18 .735 -.388
Cleveland 17 35 .327 32 34 .485 -.158
You have to think at some point the Cougars bad luck -and the Cincinnati Cannons incredible run of late- will both have to somewhat even out but the Cannons just continue to roll along despite numerous injuries -with second sacker Tony White the latest to go down and another middle infielder Jack Cleaves still battling a nagging back problem. The good news for Cincinnati -outside of winning 6 of 8 last week against the Stars, Kings and Saints- is that shortstop Jim Hensley and outfielder/third baseman Denny Andrews are both expected back sometime this week.
The other big news as far as Cannons fans are concerned, and could be terrible news for the rest of the Continental Association, is that Al Wheeler finally broke out of what feels like a two year slumber with his lumber. The 36 year old 5-time Whitney Award winner and last hitter to claim the Triple Crown -doubled his Cincinnati total with 2 homers last week to go along with 8 rbi's and a .433 batting average which raised his season total to .229. If Wheeler can keep going it may make the Cannons unstoppable. Cincinnati has allowed the fewest runs against in either association and after scoring 50 last week the Cannons now top the CA in runs with 501 and their run differential of +106 is the best in the sport.
300 FOR MOXIE
Few players with more than 2000 career games played have travelled as much as 37 year old Moxie Pidgeon has over his career but Pidgeon has accomplished something only 4 other players in FABL history have done. The 6-time all-star and 4-time World Champion is now a member of the 300 home run club joining only Max Morris, Rankin Kellogg, Al Wheeler and Bobby Barrell in that exlusive group.
Pidgeon has hit 10 homers so far this season in his first year in Pittsburgh -his 6th FABL team- after previous stops in Cleveland, Washington, Cincinnati and with both New York teams. His milestone 300th came yesterday at Fitzpatrick Park off Danny Hern in a 6-1 Miners win over visiting St Louis. It was the first time in 10 at bats that he had ever homered off of Hern and despite being counted out after an awful year in Cincinnati last season, the outfielder says he has more in mind.
"I was swinging for the fences and the pitch looked like a giant grapefruit," Pidgeon said. "This is another check off my bucket list. I'll now be setting my sights on the next milestone."
That next milestone will be his 2,500th career hit as for his career Pidgeon has hit .311 with 2,495 hits, 300 Homers, 1,374 RBI's and scored 1,232 runs. Pidgeon is also the only FABL player to hit at least 20 homers in a season for five different teams.
DRAFT PREVIEW
PART 5 - WAY TOO EARLY LOOK AT TOP PROSPECTS FOR THE 1946 DRAFT
Projecting a draft class a year and a half away, especially when it is barely half full at the time is about as close to just random guesswork as one can get. For example in August of 1942 we thought there were some elite pitchers to dominate the 1944 class. Our top three in the mock at that time were Lee Ahlstrom, Jack Entringer and Carl Fritz. No mention of actual number one Roy Schaub or Eli Panneton -who went 4th and is now a big league phenom with the New York Stars. The truth is those two, and many others from the '44 class were on no one's radar at that time. Not even the most meticulous scout had heard of Panneton as he was pitching amateur ball in western Canada while Schaub was coming off a very strong 11-2 sophomore season at his Philadelphia high school, but at the time OSA called his ceiling that of a spot starter or a long reliever. In fact the only two players that were on that "Way too Early" mock draft and were selected in the first round were outfielder Ben Thompson (11th Keystones) and shortstop Dave McCraw (13th Pioneers). Now we did fare an awful lot better last August when we did our actual 1944 mock draft six months in advance of draft fay and at that time the Mock did correctly place Schaub and catcher Joe Robinson 1-2 on our list. In all we nailed 7 of the 16 first rounders plus 3 others from our list were the top 3 picks of round two. Considering 7 others selected in round one all were late additions and did not appear in the draft pool until just prior to the January draft, the OSA mock did very well - identifying 10 of the first 12 correctly when omitting the late additions.
The whole point of the above was to illustrate just how tough it is to project players 18 months before their draft. But that won't stop us from trying so here is the Way Too Early Mock First Round of the 1946 FABL Draft.
Code:
1946 WAY TOO EARLY MOCK FIRST ROUND DRAFT
RK NAME POS AGE SCHOOL HOMETOWN OSA ASSESSMENT
1 ANDY CONKLIN CF 16 Watervliet(NY)HS Amsterdam, NY with his talent light of his star could be blinding
2 BILL WISE 2B 16 Remsen (IA) HS Remsen, IA with his talent light of his star could be blinding
3 TONY PECKHAM P 16 Lincoln HS SFran San Francisco, CA stuff and talent needed to be a #1
4 OTIS BALLARD 2B 16 Williamstown(NJ)HS Wilmington, DE multiple trips to all-star game
5 ED WHITNEY LF 19 Brandywine(PA) HS Philadelphia, PA multiple trips to all-star game
6 SAM FRANKLIN P 16 Benton Harbor(MI)HS Benton Harbor, MI someone to count on as top starter on a team
7 JOHN STALLINGS P 19 Piedmont Univ. Trussville, AL best starting P prospects in any organization
8 BERT MAYES 2B 16 Elgin HS, Marion OH Zanesville, OH franchise cornerstone
9 BOB ALLEN P 16 Sonora (CA) HS Sonora, CA talent to pitch at top of rotation
10 CLINT ROGERS P 16 Brunswick(GA) HS Lake City, FL talent to pitch at top of rotation
11 GEORGE ANTHONY 2B 16 La Crosse(WI) HS La Crosse, WI cornerstone player as a 2B
12 SHERRY DOYAL CF 16 Landry HS New Orl New Orleans, LA impact on top tier team
13 FRED WASHINGTON P 16 Lincoln (IN) HS Lincoln, IN potential to be a #2 starter
14 BILL SWEET P 16 Catholic Central HS Steubenville, OH future #2 starter
15 YANK TAYLOR RF 16 Pullman HS Chicago Providence, RI elite big league RF
16 CYRUS GOODMAN P 16 Clarendon (AR) HS Clarendon, AR near top of any major league rotation
HONOURABLE MENTION (PITCHERS)
NAME AGE SCHOOL HOMETOWN OSA ASSESSMENT
Chuck Briggs 16 Holbrook (MA) HS Holbrook, MA near top of any major league rotation
Jack Cooper 16 Pelham Manor(NY)HS Pelham Manor, NY likely be a #2 on most teams
Fred Clark 16 Plainfield (NJ) HS Painfield, NJ #3 starter or better
Tony Bonelli 16 Columbus (GA) HS Columbus, GA #3 starter or better
Dick Rutledge 16 Green Cove Springs(FL) Fleming Island, FL mid-rotation starter
Foster Sherman 16 Wheeling (WV) HS Wheeling, WV mid-rotation starter if can throw more strikes
Kid Moore 16 Bellmore (NY) HS Bellmore, NY 4th starter or even better
HONOURABLE MENTION (POSITION PLAYERS)
NAME POS AGE SCHOOL HOMETOWN OSA ASSESSMENT
Tommy Allenby RF 16 New Market(AL) HS New Market, AL can make an impact on a top-tier team
Bob Lewiston 3B 16 Bonne Terre(MO) HS Bonne Terre, MO can make an impact on a top-tier team
Bill Newhall CF 16 Hollis (OK) HS Hollis,OK elite big league CF
Jim McBride RF 19 Coastal State Burlington, NC elite big league RF
Danny Noonan C 16 St JohnHS Ashtabula OH Ashtabula, OH elite big league C
Carroll Furish C 16 Princton(WV) HS Princeton, WV elite big league C
Bobby McIlwain C 16 Shepherdstown(WV)HS Shepherdstown, WV tools to profile as premier catcher
It is obviously very early but this has the makings of a very deep and talented group as there were at least a dozen pitchers who OSA likes as at the very least a number 4 starter plus many considered potential bottom of the rotation guys. Position players were not quite as plentiful and it is very interesting there are no shortstops that warrant consideration for this list, but there are some very high players and it seems an abnormally deep crop at second base.
- Jonah Brown had his first start at home for the Keystones since the transportation worker riots and there was trepidation in the front office with how Brown would be received since the riots were racial in nature, as well as whether Brown would be daunted playing in front of a home crowd, some of which might turn on the righthander. The crowd of 11,738 saw the best start of Brown's major-league career. Emboldened by the cheers of the Keystone faithful, Brown twirled a six-hit shutout, walking none and striking out four.
- Freddie Farhat of the Detroit World has been keeping track of his own 'championship race' this year as the Detroit Dynamos try to stay ahead of Bobby Barrell in the homerun race. Barrell, with 39, has hit more homers than 3 teams, but Farhat proudly points out you can't count the Dynamos among them noting in his column today that "the Dynamos stretch out their lead in the home run race over Bobby Barrell. The Dynamos as a team had hit 38 home runs compared to Barrell’s 36 heading into this past week. Bobby B hit 3 home runs to give him 39 on the season. Detroit had a rare power surge of their own hitting a staggering (for Detroit this season) 6 home runs last week in going 5-3 and now had a 44-39 lead."
- How bad as the second half been for the city of Chicago? The Cougars 15-21 post-break record is worse than all but one team in the Continental Association while the Chiefs (15-25) are in the same boat in the Fed, outperforming only the Pioneers since the break.
- Never mind the Chicago Sportswriters Rookie Award, maybe Eli Panneton can be a late candidate for the CA Allen Award after getting 2 more wins this week. Panneton is 8-2 with a 1.93 era in 11 big league appearances since joining the club from Aberdeen College in July.
- The Stars just might regret moving Billy Riley to the Cougars. After a terrible start New York is now just 3 games under .500.Riley is 10-12 overall and 1-2 with a 3.21 era in 5 appearances with the slumping Cougars. The Stars are 21-17 since the All-Star break, third best in the CA during that time frame behind just Cincinnati and Toronto.
- Speaking of trades the Boston Minutemen must be wondering what has happened to Billy Dalton? The 30 year old was brought in to make a pennant push but has been hitting just .206 with 4 homers in 46 games since the deal. A lot of it is just bad luck as his BABIP is just .197 with Boston, by far the lowest of his career.
- Al Miller and Gus Goulding both join the war effort? No problem--37-year-old Red Hampton (13-5, 2.87) will have the best season of his career. For a pitcher the Chiefs were trying to give away, Red has had a good career in Chicago.
- In an otherwise dismal season the Gothams are celebrating Jim Lonardo. This week Lonardo picked up his career high 5th shutout and his 14th win of the season. That puts Lonardo at 275 career wins. His 3.00 ERA would be the 4th lowest of his 14 year career.
- Tough break for the Montreal Saints as their top prospect SS Gordie Perkins suffered a broken kneecap in AAA this week. The 21 year old, selected third overall in the 1941 draft, had recently been promoted to Minneapolis and was handling AAA pitching very well. He seemed to be on track for a September call-up to the big club before the injury, which has a six month recovery period.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 8/20/1944
- A new front is opened in southern France as an Allied invasion force from sea and sky overran the German's feeble shore defenses and established firm beachheads along a 100 mile strip of the Mediterranean coast between Nice and Marseille.
- By week's end General Patton's tanks were racing over Paris suburbs, the Mediterranean invasion forces were poised to capture the great French naval base of Toulon while to the east the Russians had crossed the Vistula River on a 75-mile front.
- Despite the advances and the positive words recently from Prime Minister Churchill, Allied Expeditionary Force Commander Gen. Dwight Eisenhower warns we are a long way from the Rhine, and should not expect the war to end in a few weeks.
- President Roosevelt return from a tour of the Pacific more firmly determined than ever before that Japan and Germany must not be allowed to quit the war until the Allies have completely occupied their homelands.
- Governor Dewey plans to make post-war foreign policy one of the major issues of his campaign for the Presidency but is willing to "co-operate" with President Roosevelt in working out basic ideas for a "durable and lasting peace."
