SEPTEMBER 4, 1944
WILD MONTH LOOMS IN CONTINENTAL
No one expected this a couple of months ago but it certainly feels like the Federal Association and Continental Association switched places. In late June one would have thought the Fed would go down to the wire with 4-teams within 3 games of first place when calendar switched to July. Meanwhile in the CA the Chicago Cougars were enjoying a 7 game lead on the second place Toronto Wolves and 13.5 on the defending champion Cincinnati Cannons, wo sat in 4th place and seemed to be in complete control of the race. But now, with 4 weeks remaining in the regular season it is the CA that looks like it will go down to the wire while the Federal race appears all but decided.
Top spot in the Continental is shard by the Cannons and Wolves with the Cougars still clinging to life despite a 21-25 mark since the all-star break at only a game and a half back. There will likely be plenty of lead changes the rest of the way, as there were just over a week ago when the Wolves swept a pair from the Cannons to take over top spot. Toronto gave their 2.5 game lead back this week as an 8-game winning streak gave way to 4-straight losses over the weekend including a 3-game sweep at that hands of Philadelphia that saw the Sailors tame the Wolves by outscoring them 19-5 over the weekend. The Sailors rebound came after they limped out of Cincinnati with 3-straight losses and helped the Cannons, who split a 4 game set in Cleveland on the weekend, to pull even.
Not a lot has gone right for the Cougars lately and it appeared more of the same when they started a short week that saw them only play 4 times with a pair of 1-run defeats. Things came together yesterday as for the second Sunday in a row the Cougars swept a twin bill from the Montreal Saints, destroying the Saints by a combined score of 16-0 with Art White and Harry Parker each tossing shutouts. The big positive for the Cougars was White's whitewashing of the Saints. That is his third straight win, and second shutout in that stretch, after two months of terrible struggles that, perhaps more than any other player, epitomizes the Cougars mid-season collapse. White was 10-0 with a 1.89 era in late June but then suffered through a 3-8 stretch before finally regaining his groove.
It may well be the schedule makers who decide the fate of the CA Pennant. The final stretch certainly favours the Cougars as 15 of their final 24 games are in Chicago. The Wolves and Cannons each have 25 left to play but both will only have 6 games at home the rest of the way. Cincinnati and Toronto play each other 8 teams down the stretch and will also each visit Chicago for 3 games so there is plenty left to decide in the CA.
*** BARRELL CONTINUES TO LEAD KEYSTONES ***
The Federal Association has had a pretty good tradition of tight September battles in recent years but the Philadelphia Keystones -and Bobby Barrell in particular- are very close to making the final full month of the season fairly meaningless. Barrell (.358,41,138) just won his third straight Fed batter of the month award and is running away with the homerun and rbi lead while also bidding to become the Federal Associations first triple crown winner since his old teammate Rankin Kellogg turned the trick in 1933. Watching Barrell chase the batting title -something he has never won before- and try to reach the 50 homerun mark and 160 rbi total for the second time in his career has been the 'race' in the Fed. Strange things can happen -and one needs look no further than the Chicago Cougars recent stretch for an example- but with a 7 game lead on second place Pittsburgh and 7.5 on the surprising Detroit Dynamos the Keystones should feel safe in starting to print World Championship Series tickets, something that has not happened in 11 years.
It has been another tough season for the Saints as they sit in the cellar of the Continental Association but the club has announced that three players they feel are a big part of the future in Montreal will all come up from AAA Minneapolis and make their big league debuts in the coming days.
The youngest of the three, and the most highly touted is 21 year old righthander Bert Cupid. The Buckeye Bullet, as the Ohio native is known as, has consistently be a top twenty-five prospect according to OSA since the Saints selected him 4th overall out high school in 1941. He has been impressive with the Lumberjacks this season, with an 12-7 record and 3.49 ERA and now will have a chance to prove he can throw in the FABL. Depending on the performance he makes, that can set the way to be part of the pitching squad next season. Plus, Cupid just been named the Century League Pitcher of the month in August.
Joining Cupid on the train east will be second sacker Eddie Barkley, who learned the news of his first big league promotion just 2 days before his 26th birthday. Barkley came to the Saints organization in an April deal that sent Jimmy Mayse to the Motor City. A former 2nd round pick from Detroit, Barkley has had a good season in Minneapolis with 9HRs, 44 RBIs and .278 BA. He will have the chance to prove he can play second base all on a regular basis next year. The rumors saying, he is getting the chance because of the injury Gordie Perkins got last week, but this is just rumors. Most people are saying that both would have got the promotion anyway.
The final one is certainly the most recognizable name to Saints supporters. Outfielder/first baseman Hank Eason, the Montreal native kid and son of former Saints star Hal Eason, will get his first big league at bat in September with the same franchise than his dad did. Hal Eason had made the trip to Montreal to see the first steps in FABL of son Hank and he was seen walking yesterday walking around Parc Cartier with a proud father smile in his face. Eason has been patrolling leftfield in Minneapolis all season and went through the Montreal minors league system since he has been drafted 10th overall in 1941. Many believe the promotion is more a marketing event to bring a boost in the attendance for the last month of season, but still a chance for another young kid to show his skills.
No-Hitter In Evansville Saints 21 year old prospect Andy Lyon threw a no-hitter in A ball last week. It came against Davenport and was the first no-hitter by an Evansville pitcher since Bill Dodson threw one in 1919. Lyon had struggled early in the season at the AA level but since the demotion to the Class A Heartland League the 1941 7th round selection has been outstanding- going 4-0 with a 1.13 era and is drawing some attention from OSA and their prospect rankings.
ODDS AND ENDS- When Hank Eason makes his big league debut he will become just the 8th Montreal born player to appear in a FABL game, joining Pete Casstevens, Bob Johnston Jr. (both of whom have former Saints for fathers), Abel Man, Henry Lucas, Dick Boyer, Jim Darrin and Patrick Jones. Boyer is the only other native Montrealer to ever play for the Saints. The former infielder suited up for 75 games with the club between 1928-30. However there have been three other Quebec born players to suit up for the local nine. Henri Veron, from Hebertville, played 259 games for the Saints from 1927-31. Felix Pickett was a pitcher in the 1890s who was born in Longueuil and played 11 games for Montreal and John Timmons, a Crabtree, QC, native played 239 FABL games in the 1890s including 1 for the Saints. Eason is also one of just three Quebec-born player to be drafted by the Saints, following Laval's George Scott (5th rd 1926) and proceeding Quebec City born Henri Gallagher (22nd rd, 1942).
Word is Montreal middleweight Adrian Petrie will be on the big military fight card in Liverpool next month with the World Middleweight title on the line. Petrie is currently a machine gunner with the Royal Montreal Regiment and was part of the First Army Headquarters Defense Company that landed in France in July. Before the war the 22 year old was a rising star on the Canadian boxing scene and was a perfect 6-0 record including 4 knockouts before joining the war effort. He will fight in one of the preliminary bouts on the September 16 event schedule, which will include the first World Title Fight in any division since 1941.
- An interesting note on Toronto and Cincinnati. Not only are they tied for top spot in the CA but they also sport identical home and road records. Each is 40-31 at home and 35-23 on the road.
- Lost in all the Bobby Barrell talk and the surprising Detroit Dynamos is the fact that the Washington Eagles have clawed their way back into the first division in the Fed. A 23-10 stretch will do that and is reminiscent of the terrific second half the Eagles enjoyed in 1937 when they finished 45-21 after a dreadful 36-52 start to that campaign. This year was not quite so bad a start but close as on July 29th the Eagles were dead last in the Fed with a 42-58 record. If they can hold on to 4th the Eagles will finish in the first division two years in a row for the first time since 1926-27.
- The Pittsburgh Miners are technically still in contention, 5 games left with the Keystones as well. 12-22 in one run games is the story of the season, though.
- Red Johnson of the Gothams (still feels strange saying that) manages to win FA POTW. A difficult thing to do with Bobby Barrell around. Johnson is hitting .302 with 28 homers and 76 RBI in bit of a comeback season. Red is 6 homers short of the team single season record et by Max Morris in 1931.
- More good news for the Gothams as Jim Lonardo was FA Pitcher of the Month. Ten years since his previous FA POTM in October 1934. He did win 3 in the CA along the way. The 40 year is now up to 278 career wins. Will he stick around long enough to try to make a run at 300?
- Speaking of veteran pitchers it is great to hear that the Philadelphia Sailors plan on bringing William Jones up for the final month of the season. The 40 year has bounced around the minors the last few years and not pitched in the majors since 1941. Sources say Jones will get the start September 17th against Cleveland and the night will be billed at Sailors Memorial Stadium as William Jones Night. Jones won a pair of WCS titles with the Sailors and is 194-1947 for his career, including 162 wins as a Sailor.
- Three players have been added to the Toronto Wolves expanded roster for the pennant push. Utility man Frank Huddleston, RP Ron Coles who is attempting to come back from major arm surgery, and SP Tommy Anderson. Manager Call was visibly upset for the first time this season after being swept in the weekend series, Call said "We had a golden opportunity to bury the Sailors, take the wind out of their sails but we let them back into the CA race as well as losing our division lead."
- From Percy Sutherland: Looking at the Chicago Chiefs 9-19 record in August, I've come to the conclusion that Tom Bird is really, really good. And demonstrating the balance inherent in the universe, Cincinnati, with Bird, had a 19-9 record in August.
- But it wasn't just Bird--Bob Martin and Freddie Jones have both been out. Al Haynes is hitting pretty well in replace of Martin, but his defensive at third is a disaster, to put it kindly. 11 players have been in RF for the Chiefs, and they still haven't found an answer. Manager Joe Ward say the club is planning on calling up 21-year-old Billy Brown to make it 12.
- Tough break for Cleveland as the Foresters lose Jim Adams Jr with a torn labrum. The 22 year old SS was quietly having a pretty solid first full season, hitting .273 before the injury. At least he is not a pitcher so you expect he will be just fine.
- Despite the increasingly frequent visits by B-29 Superfortress Bombers they are still playing baseball in Japan, or at least they were as the season just concluded and with some controversy. Kobe finished with a 8-1 run to 22-11-2, but Tokyo, a team that stood atop the league most of the season, ended at 20-10-5. Tokyo had two fewer wins, but one less loss. Their winning percentage is the same and the Japanese Baseball Association says there will be no championship series to determine a singular winner, so the JBA will head into the offseason with more uncertainty than Imperial Japan's chances in the war!
SHOWBOATS SHOWING OFF WITH SURPRISE SHOT AT PRO CAREER
While so much has been written about the many baseball careers that were interrupted due to the war effort, the absence of so many professional ballplayers has created an opportunity for others whose dreams of being pro athletes were likely hanging by a thread. At least until opportunity knocked liked it did for four youngsters making a name for themselves this season in Louisiana.
The New Orleans Showboats, a AA affiliate of the Philadelphia Keystones, have been one of the better outfits in the Dixie League and claimed 4 league pennants over the past decade but had not won one since 1940. That might change this year as the Showboats lead second place Knoxville by 3 games with 3 weeks remaining in the season and you need to look no farther than the Showboats starting rotation for the reason why. What is amazing is aside from Al Moore (15-10, 3.55), none of the five starters were ever drafted or played big time college ball.
Desperate to fill holes created by losses to the war efffort the Keystones organization held an open minor league tryout in March of 1943. The only requirement was your military status had to be 4-F. Hundreds of would-be ballplayers came out and the Keystones signed several of them but four in particular have enjoyed incredible success this year. They are 22 year olds Randy Burks (14-9, 3.01) and Bob Armstrong (14-11, 2.71) along with 23 year olds Pat Wheeler (12-4, 3.13) and Charlie Wentz (11-9, 3.53). The quartet have combined for 10 shutouts and Burks secured his place in baseball history with a no-hitter - the first by a New Orleans pitcher since 1899.
The four all have two things in common. One is all were declared 4-F by Selective Service and thus eligible to attend that open tryout the Keystones held nearly two years ago. And two, none of the four had ever been close to being professional ballplayers until that tryout.
Burks is a tall righthander who hails from Litchfield, MN., and looked pretty good pitching in Class B and C last year after earning a spot with the organization. This year he was made a starter at the AA level and has ran with it, winning 14 games including that June no-hitter against Atlanta. Armstrong is a St Louis boy who loved the Pioneers and idolized Sam Sheppard as a youth, and does a terrific impression of Sheppard's delivery on the mound. Like Burks, he has blossomed this season and won 14 games. Pat Wheeler was more of a tennis player in high school growing up in Brooklyn but he found himself along with the others in Class C to begin last season. It wasn't a bad year split between B and C but was interrupted by an elbow injury that cost him 6 weeks so Wheeler was somewhat surprised when the contract offer came in the mail for this season and mentioned AA. Clearly the Keystones made the right call as Wheeler is a dominant 12-4 on the year. Finally we have 23 year old Charlie Wentz. The Waynesboro, PA. native won 16 games last season -by far the most successful pro debut of the 4- and even claimed a pitcher of the month award in Class B. He has not missed a beat this season with an 11-9 record that includes 3 complete game shutouts.
All four now have big league goals but are realistic that the odds are very long, especially will all indications the war is coming to an end and well over 1,000 former pro ballplayers will be back and looking for work. OSA is not sold on any of them having much of a pro career so they may all be out of the game entirely a year from now. For the time being however, all four of them are simply making the most of a horrific world situation that has turned into the opportunity of a lifetime for each of them.
A much better effort in their second exhibition contest was displayed by the Washington Wasps. Taking on the Brooklyn Kings in Utah just before both clubs return east in preparation for the 1944 American Football Association season, the Wasps came up with an inspired 14-7 victory over the Brooklyn eleven. A less than expected crowd of 12,000 was on hand to witness the first ever professional football game played in Utah.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 9/03/1944
- Chairmen of the delegations to the current Anglo-American-Russian international security confernce revealed they have reached general agreement on the American proposal for a peace organization with a council composed of the major powers on a permanent basis, and elected members of smaller countries. The organization would have an assembly comprising representatives of "all peace-loving nations."
- Allied invasion forces continue to make progress with American troops entering Belgium while in Italy, US and British forces are smashing the German "Gothic Line" as the Nazis are seen in a general withdrawal northward.
- As the week came to a close American troops were reported to be just 11 miles from Germany.
- Secretary of State Hull expressed belief that the German high command has indicated a desire to put out "feelers for a negotiated peace," but emphasized that unconditional surrender will remain the Allies only terms.
- Stalin says the Soviet Ukrainian Army has captured Ploesti, heart of the Romanain oil field, which had been supplying the German war machine with more than one third of it's entire oil supplies.
- Finland has abandoned Germany, announcing it has asked Russia for an armistice and had demanded and received Germany's agreement to withdraw all Nazi troops from within Finnish borders.
- After 3 months in the Marines, a 15 year old New York City boy's real age has been discovered. He registered with 3 boards as 19 years old so he could volunteer and by all accounts he was keeping up in everything with the other leathernecks and a darn site better than some of them, but he will now return to high school.
