OCTOBER 13, 1944
TWICE AS NICE
CANNONS WIN SECOND STRAIGHT WCS
For the second year in a row the Cincinnati Cannons prevailed in Game Seven to win the World Championship Series. The Cannons beat the Philadelphia Keystones 5-3 at Tice Memorial Stadium yesterday to win a thrilling back-and-forth seven game series. Cincinnati, which topped Boston in a series that also went the distance a year ago, becomes the first team ever to win a seventh game in two consecutive seasons and the first back-to-back World Championship Series winner since the New York Stars won three in a row from 1924-26.
Cannons first baseman Chuck Adams, who led the series with 2 homers and 7 rbi's, was named the Most Valuable Player of the Series and it was Adams 2-run homer in the 6th inning that gave the Cannons the lead for good in the deciding game. The Series itself was a tight one with each team alternating victories until the Cannons -who had never had the lead in Series wins- broke the trend with victories at home in games six and seven.
The deciding contest had the makings of a pitching duel that would rival game four when Butch Smith of Cincinnati and the Keystones Red Ross met on the Broad Street Park mound. That one ended 2-0 in favour of Smith and the Cannons after Ross and his Keystone mates took the series opener 3-2 in the first meeting between the two aces.
Philadelphia struck quickly in this one as Chuck Hood delivered a 1-out single in the top of the first and moved to second when Harry Shumate worked Smith for a free pass. Next up was Bobby Barrell, and the likely Federal Association Whitney Award winner, continued his solid series with an rbi single. The inning could have been bigger, and had it been the series outcome might have been quite different, but Al Wheeler gunned down Shumate at third base when the veteran was trying to advance an extra 90 feet on Barrell's single. The Keystones had another chance to increase their lead in the third inning when they had runners on the corners with 2-out for Barrell but the slugger flew out to end the inning.
Cincinnati's first real chance to score came in the fifth when the Cannons had runners on second and third with one out but Ross fanned Johnny Porter, who was pinch-hitting for Bernie Griffith, and then induced a Sam Brown ground out to escape the frame unscathed and keep the score 1-0 Keystones. An inning later that would change as Tom Bird -who along with Rabbit Day was an expensive mid-season pick-up for the Cannons from the Chicago Chiefs- led off with a single and the next pitch from Ross was deposited 371 feet away from homeplate in the rightfield bleachers when Adams ripped his second homer of the series.
The Cannons then broke the game open in the 7th inning with 3 more runs to increase their lead to 5-1. It all happened with 2-out as Brown and Bird hit back to back singles and Ross -pitching perhaps a little too carefully to Adams- walked the Cannons slugger to load the bases. Next up was Al Wheeler -another midseason pickup, but a much less expensive one from the Chiefs- who hit a 2-run single and then Denny Andrews ended Ross' day with a rbi hit of his own.
Trailing 5-1 entering the 8th inning the Keystones had no quit, as Barrell tried to ignite the comeback with a one out double. He would score on Marshall Strickland's 2-out single to cut the deficit to 5-2 and Charlie Enslow would rip a double to plate Strickland. However, Enslow got a little too greedy and was thrown out trying to advance to third base as Strickland crossed the plate. Adams alertly cut-off the throw and nailed Enslow, who committed a cardinal sin of making the final out of an inning at third base and dashing any Philadelphia comeback hopes. It was the second time in the game aggressive baserunning cost the Keystones and in both cases it was the arm of Wheeler in leftfield that helped make the difference.
Butch Smith retired the first two Keystones in the ninth and then after walking John Busby, Smith forced Chuck Hood to ground into a series ending force-out setting off a wild celebration of the home fans at Tice Memorial.
A TALE OF TWO SEASONS - An incredible finish to an improbable season and the Cincinnati Cannons are once more on top of the baseball world. Say what you will about watered down play because so many of the great stars are off serving their country but this World Championship Series victory, like the one the Cannons celebrated a year ago is still the real deal and with 4 straight years of the World Championship Series going the full seven games, baseball has never enjoyed a more competitive run. In many ways this title is even sweeter than the victory tasted a year ago when the Ticemen won it all in Boston. To start with this deciding game win came on home soil, in front of screaming Cincinnati fans. An even bigger factor is this entire season was just so unexpected. Not that last years pennant and series win was easy but this time around it came in a season that the fans, and management it seemed, had almost written off in early June.
Much has already been written about how the Cannons were 19.5 games out of first place on June 24th and without their ace and two-time Allen Award winning pitcher Deuce Barrell. Plus just 3 weeks away from losing arguably their second best pitcher in Vic Carroll for the duration. Denny Andrews was also hurt and when the team dealt Billy Dalton -picked up less than a year before to help secure the 1943 flag- it seemed clear management was focused on 1945.
But then something totally unexpected happened. The Cannons got hot, finishing June with 5 straight wins including 3 over the first place Cougars, who were reeling, and suddenly the deficit was 14.5. By the all-star break it was 10 and even with Vic Carroll's injury there was still some optimism, but that optimism was focused on staying in the first division, not a second pennant. A week later the Chicago Chiefs decided they had seen enough of Al Wheeler's inconsistent play and the Cannons -in the right place at the right time- landed the Wonder Wheel for the bargain basement price of a 7th round draft pick. Wheeler was awful in Chicago, make no mistake about that, but while nowhere near the form that won him 5 Whitney Awards in his career he was much better as a Cannon, belting 11 homers and hitting .256 in 68 games down the stretch.
Around about that time another key piece from the Cannons current General Manager's old pennant winners in Brooklyn started to assert himself as well. Tom Barrell was inserted in the rotation when Carroll went down. Up until that point acquiring Barrell for a seemingly equally washed up Moxie Pidgeon was looking like an awful deal for the Cincinnati crew. Pidgeon had rediscovered his hitting stroke in Pittsburgh but when Barrell went into the Cannons rotation something clicked with him as well. In all he would go 9-2 in the second half of the season including his win in game six of the WCS.
The Cannons kept winning and the Cougars kept losing. Suddenly on July 31st - the trade deadline- Cincinnati was only 3.5 games back, tied for the third with the Philadelphia Sailors and trailing both Chicago and Toronto. The Cannons braintrust, sensing an opportunity, pulled the trigger on a major deal in adding all-star catcher Tom Bird and future Hall of Fame pitcher Rabbit Day from the Chiefs. The price was costly and included the Cannons prize prospect in outfielder Dick Blaszak. But with the Polish Hammer somewhere in the Pacific with the Marines, and the Cannons making a charge, they traded the previously untouchable Blaszak and the result would prove to be worth it...no matter what future greatness might be ahead for Blaszak.
As the calender turned to September the Cannons were neck and neck with the Toronto Wolves in a fight for first place. The Cougars were trying to stay relevant as well but in the end it came down to a rematch of last year's battle with Toronto. Day would go 6-2 as a Cannon, Bird would hit .324 with 5 homers. Despite their heroics the Cannons found themselves 3 games back of Toronto on September 15th after a heartbreaking 5-4 loss that afternoon at Tice Memorial. Then the magic struck again.
Butch Smith threw a 3-hit shutout to win 1-0 over the Wolves. Then Andrews drew a bases-loaded walk in the 12th inning to beat the Wolves in the opener of a Sunday twinbill with Tom Barrell -going the distance to beat Toronto for the second time in a little over a week- won the nightcap 8-1 and the Cannons were tied for top spot. They would finish out the season with 9 wins in their final 13 games including two more complete game 3-hitters from Barrell and would claim their second straight pennant by the same 4 game margin over Toronto that they enjoyed at the end of the 1943 campaign.
Despite a game one loss in the series you just had a feeling these Cannons would win it all again. They did not do anything the easy way this season and the WCS was no exception. Trailing 3 games to two when they returned once more to Tice Memorial, Ad Doria gave the ball to Tom Barrell. And like he has done the past 3 months, Barrell defied the expectations of many, and pitched well enough to win his first WCS game since 1938 -two years after he won his third and almost assuredly final Allen Award. Game seven belonged to another Barrell a year ago, but all Deuce could do is cheer from the dugout - dressed in full uniform as he was all series despite not having thrown a pitch all year and perhaps not even being cleared to pick up a ball when spring training starts in the spring. But he was there, shouting encouragement as Butch Smith stepped into the ace role and handled it well enough to replace Deuce as the game seven pitching hero. Who knows. Smith might even take over for his fallen teammate as the Allen Award winner when the votes are tabulated next month. Chuck Adams had a big series, including a 2-run homer in the 6th inning of the deciding game that put the Cannons in the lead for good. Adams was the Series MVP and perhaps should add a Whitney Award to his trophy haul in the coming weeks.
Adams, a little less than a month shy of his 28th birthday, is one of the younger players in this veteran clubhouse. Age might be a concern in the very near future for the Cannons as they are an old team without many good young prospects left in the cupboard. But that doesn't matter right now. Nothing else mattered in the loud, jubilant clubhouse with beer and champagne flowing freely in celebration of a second straight series. Living in the moment was all that was on the mind of the Cannons vets as they reflected on becoming the first FABL club to repeat as World Championship since 1926. Well, all execpt for Adams. Cigar in one hand, bottle in the other. He was dancing around the clubhouse telling anyone who would listen they were going to do it all again next year. Improbable perhaps. But it appears these Cannons are used to defying the odds.
- The Cannons might well be the oldest team to ever win a World Championship Series. Average age of the 24 man playoff roster for Cincinnati was 32.2 years old. The Cannons had 40 year old Rabbit Day start two games and 36 year old Tom Barrell start one. They also had 37 year old Jack Cleaves, 36 year olds Tom Bird and Al Wheeler allplay regularly. Only one Cannon, reserve infielder Clifton Smith who did not play in the series, is under age 27.
- Big question in Cincinnati for next season is will they all be back. There was plenty of speculation last winter that Rabbit Day might retire but after a terrific rebound this season which saw Day go 18-10 with a 3.09 era most are hoping he returns for another season at age 41. And what of Tom Barrell. The fairytale like ending to his season with a 9-2 record down the stretch and a win in Game Six of the series might just be a fitting end to Barrell's career. Injuries have made his arm a very old 36.
- The loss by his Keystones in the series does little to tarnish the incredible season Bobby Barrell had. A triple crown with homer and rbi numbers bordering on the same dominance Max Morris owned over his competition in his prime makes this a special year for Barrell. He is still just 34 and there is certainly talk of 500 homeruns (he has 389 right now), 3,000 hits (2,651 right now) and 2,000 rbi's (1,613 right now). Those are numbers only bettered by the legendary Morris.
- The Barrell clan has combined to win 7 (soon to 8) Whitney or Allen Awards, make 26 all-star teams, win 8 WCS rings and be named WCS MVP twice. And that is not counting Bobby's triple crown this season or Deuce's pitching triple crown in 1942.
Code:
Whitney/Allen ASG WCSwins WCSMVP
BOBBY 2* 9 1 1
TOM 3 3 2 0
HARRY 0 7 1 0
FRED 0 3 2 1
DAN 0 1 1 0
DEUCE 2 3 1 0
*should be 3 next week when Fed Whitney voting tabulated.
- It did not take long for the first trade of the off-season. Not a blockbuster by any stretch but the New York Gothams dealt veteran backup catcher Joe Green across town to the Stars in exchange for 22 year old minor league catcher Josh Porter. The 30 year old Green is a veteran of 551 FABL games with a career batting average of .262 but he was upset about being stuck behind Pete Casstevens with the Gothams. I am not sure the situation will change much for Green with the Stars as 24 year old Chick MacKnight, who hit .270 in a 42 game trial and veteran Cliff Ray are already vying for the starting job with 18 year old Dan Atwood - a 1944 second round draft choice- likely the catcher of the future for the Stars.
The Week That Was
Current events from 10/12/1944
- The Nazis have massed the greatest concentration of tanks ever to oppose the American 1st Army in a major attempt to break the siege of burning Aachen. It appears to be one of the decisive battles for Germany that is developing according to United Press Correspondent Henry T. Gorrell, who is in the "vicinity of Aachen."
- Soviet guns shelled the key East Prussian railway hub of Tilsit as Red Army forces are deployed along a 200-mile stretch of the border for an impending full-scale assault on Germany's easternmost province.
- Results of a sample of civilian voters in the 23 shiftable States showed the two Presidential candidtates evenly divided. These States account for 295 electoral votes out of the 531 for all states, 266 -or more than half- being necessary to elect. In the 25 States unlikely to shift, Roosevelt has 176 electoral votes and Dewey 60.
- Be prepared for election results to not be finalized until as late as November 22, due to the wait on some ballots from soldiers.