NOVEMBER 6, 1944
MITCHELL LEADS LATEST PARADE OF PLAYERS INTO WAR
Continental Association batting champ Leo Mitchell of the Chicago Cougars headlines a long list of big leaguers who are joining the war effort in the coming weeks. The 31 year old outfielder, who hit .357 to win his second straight CA batting crown, will join the Army this week. Mitchell is one of 22 players who either enlisted or were drafted this week in a list that also includes Bernie Johnson, who won 17 games for the Toronto Wolves, 15-game winner Jimmy Mayse of the Detroit Dynamos, 14 game winner Bill Ross from Montreal, outfielder Hal Burres of Cleveland along with infielders Tom Landowski of Brooklyn, Tim Humphrey of the Philadelphia Keystones and Toronto's Hal Wood.
Not all players have requested cushy desk jobs or plan to be part of touring Army and Navy ballteams. Chris Clarke, who went 12-10 this past season for the World Champion Cincinnati Cannons is one who will potentially end up in the line of fire. The 32 year old lefthander is requesting duty on convey escort in a destroyer and will be deployed in the Atlantic. While Nazi U-boat activity is winding down it is still far from a safe posting for the veteran pitcher.
Here is the complete list of the lastest players to join the war effort.
Code:
NAME TM POS BRANCH DEPLOYMENT
Don Orr WAS P US Navy USA
Willie Ellis NYG P US Navy USA
Bill Chapman NYS P USAAF PACIFIC
Chris Clarke CIN P US Navy ATLANTIC
Don Cress BRK 1B US Army USA
Tom Landowski BRK IF-OF US Army USA
Leonard "Speed" Brown PIT P US Navy USA
George K Brooks PHS P US Army PACIFIC
Bob Bolton BOS OF US Navy USA
Robert "Tex" Whitaker CLE C US Navy USA
Charlie Gagnon PHI C US Navy USA
Rudy Finch MON P US Navy USA
Leo Mitchell CHC OF US Army USA
Hal Wood TOR 2B US Army USA
Jasper Wright PIT OF US Marine Corps PACIFIC
Eddie Schroeder STL C US Navy USA
Luis Sandoval CHI P US Army USA
Bill Ross MON P US Navy USA
Hal Burres CLE OF US Army USA
Jimmy Mayse DET P US Navy USA
Bernie Johnson TOR P US Army USA
Tim Humphrey PHI SS US Navy USA
KEYSTONES NAME SCHMIDT NEW SKIPPER
The Federal Association champion Philadelphia Keystones filled their vacant managerial position with a familiar face as the club named ex-New York Stars bench boss Otto Schmidt as their new skipper. The 65 year old Schmidt replaces John Heydon, who stepped down after just a single season at the helm with the Keystones following 7 years with the cross-town Sailors due to the death of son while fighting in France.
Schmidt has enjoyed great success as a manager at multiple levels. After a brief pro career with the Brooklyn Kings he coached high school ball in Brooklyn during the feeder era and led his club to the playoffs three teams. He then spent 4 seasons in the Pittsburgh Miners organization and was their third base coach during their 1937 pennant winning season. In 1939 he signed with the Stars as their manager and promptly led them to a World Championship that fall and a second Continental Association pennant 3 years later.
There were rumours of a rift with some of the Stars players and his German heritage at the heart of the war did him no favours either and Schmidt was dismissed by the Stars following that 1942 pennant. He has an impressive 359-257 career record as a manager and will be under pressure to repeat in Philadelphia as the Keystones are expected to be one of the favourites to claim the 1945 Fed crown.
The Keystones conducted an extensive interview process before deciding on Otto Schmidt as their new manager. Bench coach and former Keystones star Carl Ames was considered, as well as minor league managers within the organization, Al Wavra and Bill Memory. But, in the end, the Keystones decided to look outside the organization and go for experience to helm a team expected to contend in 1945.
Otto Schmidt became the 22nd manager in Keystones franchise history (and the 8th manager in the human GM era).
There was a lot of thought given to Schmidt, the native of Germany, and whether Keystones fans and the city of Philadelphia would accept a German in these times. The Pennsylvania Dutch who hail from Eastern and Central Pennsylvania are, in fact, of German descent.
Schmidt has been in the U.S. since the turn of the century, which predates both the Kaiser Wilhelm and Hitler's reigns, so there is no chance of Nazi sympathy. Schmidt was a first baseman in the Kings organization around the turn of the century, finding action in five games in the 1902 season as a defensive replacement but never stepping to bat. He settled in Brooklyn and eventually led a local high school in the late '20s and early '30s.
From there, he joined the professional managerial ranks in 1935 in the Miners organization before taking over as manager of the Stars in 1939. Schmidt had four winning seasons in his four years in New York, winning it all in year one and capturing the Continental Association pennant in his swan song in 1942.
Owner Edward Meachum is hoping for similar success. "We are a team that is ready to win now and with Otto, he has proven he can win early and often. We do not have time to break in a novice. The fans and I will not have the patience for that."
STOCKDALE MUST FIGHT TO SAVE NIGHT BASEBALL
Word is circulating that William Stockdale will have to put up a mighty fight at the meetings of FABL clubs in New York in early December to carry on with a virtually season-long night schedule at home next year. Opponents of "owl" ball are pointing out that the stretch of after-dark games in Washington last summer drew on average only about 6,000 fans a game and there was only a marginal increase in the attendance from daytime mid-week contests.
Those who are against night ball -and five Federal Association clubs are believed ready to fight any extensive schedules of lamplight play- would hope restrict the Eagles to not more than 21 night games at Columbia Stadium next year. Night baseball was very popular in Washington two years ago, but that was when the Eagles were making headway. The crowds fell off heavily this season after the slow start but did pick up when the club showed signs of life late in the season.
- Word from sources within the War Manpower Department is that we can expect quite a few more FABL regulars being called to arms in the coming weeks. 22 of them went this week but the final tally could be as high as 85 players who played in the bigs last year not being available to their clubs next season.
- Young Frank Sinatra has a film called "Anchors Aweigh" set for release next year but in Toronto they might be working on their own version entitled "Anchors Away" as for the third year in a row the Wolves lost their top hurler to the Navy. First George Garrison in '43, followed by Joe Hancock last fall and now Bernie Johnson has informed the club he is joining the Navy. A better name for the club might be the Toronto Waves.
- Detroit is in the market for another starting pitcher as is Cincinnati. Chris Clarke is gone from the Cannons to join the Navy and in Detroit the Dynamos will be without Jimmy Mayse. While his peripherals weren’t great, the 28 year old Mayse had a career best year for the Dynamos in 1944.
- The Chicago Cougars would have loved to see Leo Mitchell get a chance for a threepeat in batting titles, but at least hes not the hardest player to replace. Mitchell is joining the Army which should envoke a rare smile out of the always scowling Rich Langton, who is now the likely starter in leftfield.
- This might be the end of the road for Rabbit Forrest. The 37 year old was cut loose by the Pittsburgh Miners this week. Forrest never played in the big leagues with Pittsburgh -he has been injured since August suffering from headaches and dizzy spells after getting knocked in the head in a minor league game- but he did play over 1,000 big league games primarily with the Philadelphia Keystones. Forrest was a starting infielder on the Keystones 1933 WCS winning club. The Miners dropped Forrest to make room for 22 year old outfielder Bob Warner on their secondary roster.
- Percy Sutherland may be busy working on creating his new grid league -one that is poised to take on the AFA next season if the war is over- but he and the rest of his colleagues at the Chicago Sportswriters Guild are said to be gathering this week and will once again name a newcomer as FABL's top rookie performer. Jesse Alvardo of the Washington Eagles was last season's winner.
PENNSYLVANIA CLUBS MAKING NOISE IN AFA
The last time the city of Philadelphia finished first in pay for play football was way back in 1924 when the Philadelphia Hornets went 12-2 to lead the American Football Association standings. Even though the Hornets led the loop with 12 victories and the custom had always been to award the title to the team with the most wins, that was not the case in 1924. The AFA instead declared the 9-0 Toledo Tigers were the champions that season leaving fans in Philadelphia outraged.
The current Philadelphia entry -the Frigates- are looking to perhaps right that wrong and final bring a grid crown to the City of Brotherly Love. The Frigates remain the only unbeatan team in the AFA as they hit the midway point of the season following a 24-7 victory over Brooklyn that lifted the Frigates season mark to 4-0-1. Not bad for a club that could not even manage to field a full team last season and had to partner up with what remained of the St Louis Ramblers to even have enough players to compete.
The Frigates have been so much more than merely just competitive this season and could go a long ways towards clinching their first Eastern Division title with a key matchup against the second place New York Football Stars at Sailors Memorial Stadium next Sunday. The two clubs squared off in the Big Apple a week ago and the visiting Frigates won in convincing fashion, posting a 27-10 victory. Back in the New York area yesterday to face the Kings in Brooklyn, the Frigates were led by quarterback Bob Allen, who threw for one score, ran for another and interecepted two Kings passes in the 24-7 win. The Stars kept pace as their star halfback Jerry McElheny had a big day. The AFA's leading rusher ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns to help send more than 50,000 fans at the Bigsby Oval home happy with a 27-10 win over the visiting Washington Wasps.
The Boston Americans string of two straight Eastern Division titles seems to be all but over after the Americans were shocked 14-0 by expansion Cincinnati. Former Bronx Tech head coach Jack Conn has the young and inexperienced Tigers eleven playing like seasoned veterans as they have leveled their record at 3-3 in a season when some obersvers felt they would be lucky to win two games all year long. The news in Boston has been far worse with Americans a dreadful 2-3 after going 18-3 over the previous two years.
*** PALADINS SHINE IN WEST ***
The Detroit Maroons improved to 5-2 on the season with a hard-fought 10-7 victory over their archrivals from Chicago. The road win gives Detroit a sweep of the Wildcats in their season series and likely ends Chicago's hopes of defending it's AFA title. The Pittsburgh Paladins continue to enjoy surprising success in the Western Division and are just a half game back of Detroit following a lob-sided 49-0 win in Cleveland over the combined Finches/Ramblers club. Dan Langley scored twice, on a 22 yard pass from Billy Bockhorst and on a 30 yard inteception return to lead the Pittsburgh scoring. Bockhorst still struggles with interceptions -he threw 4 of them on this day- but continues to present his case to be considered one of the best players in the game. The second year quarterback threw for 144 yards and two scores while also leading all rushers with 99 yards and a score. Pittsburgh heads home for a rematch with the Cleveland/St Louis team while the Maroons head to Cincinnati next Sunday.
Code:
AMERICAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION STANDINGS
EAST DIVISION W L T PCT
Philadelphia 4 0 1 1.000
New York 4 1 0 .800
Boston 2 3 0 .400
Washington 1 4 1 .200
Brooklyn 1 5 0 .167
WEST DIVISION W L T PCT
Detroit 5 2 0 .714
Pittsburgh 4 2 0 .667
Cincinnati 3 3 0 .500
Chicago 3 3 0 .500
Clev/StLouis 1 5 0 .167
SUNDAY'S RESULT
Pittsburgh 49 Clev/StLouis 0
Cincinnati 14 Boston 0
Philadelphia 24 Brooklyn 7
Detroit 10 Chicago 7
New York 27 Washington 10
UPCOMING GAMES
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 12
New York at Philadelphia
Boston at Brooklyn
Clev/StL at Pittsburgh
Washington at Chicago
Detroit at Cincinnati
Code:
AFA LEADERS
SCORING PTS
Vaught, Det 65
McElheny, NY 42
Littlejohn, Bos 40
LaPage, Phi 36
Owen, Det 30
Bockhorst, Pit 28
PASSING COMP-ATT YDS TD INT
Coleman, Det 52-135 750 7 15
Bockhorst, Pit 40-115 740 4 11
D Thomas, Bos 62-114 693 3 9
Griggs, Bos 42-69 549 8 4
G Brown, Chi 44-100 520 4 12
RUSHING YDS TD
McElheny, NY 517 7
Faulkner, Bkn 460 1
Schepis, ClSL 413 1
Bockhorst, Pit 398 2
Scharfenberg, Det 335 2
RECEIVING CAT TD
Vaught, Det 43 7
Douglas, Was 27 3
Martins, Bos 26 2
Littlejohn, Bos 24 5
Hooper, Bkn 23 3
M McLean, Cin 22 1
INERCEPTIONS #
Sutcliffe, ClSL 7
Benjamin, Phi 6
Norden, ClSL 5
Renton, Det 4
Allen, Phi 4
ANNAPOLIS MARITIME UPENDS ST BLANE
The service academies are 1-2 in the weekly TWIFB college football rankings after Annapolis Maritime upset previously unbeaten St Blane 24-17 in weekend action. The win improves the Navigators record to 5-1 on the year and was big enough to move them from 5th to second in the rankings. St Blane entered the week with our number one ranking but that loss, coupled with Rome State's 64-7 thrashing of Penn Catholic, moved the 6-0 Centurions to the top of the rankings. Central Ohio is 6-0 and ranked third after the Aviators, piloted by another big game from quarterback Jimmy Rhodes, flew past Indiana A&M 45-6.
The other upset occurred in the Deep South as Alabama Baptist improved to 5-0-1 with a 24-13 win over Noble Jones College. The Panthers climb up one spot to 5th in the rankings while the Colonenls slide from 3rd to 7th.
Code:
TWIFB COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOP TEN RANKINGS
# LW SCHOOL REC WEEKEND RESULT
1 2 Rome State (6-0) Win 64-7 over Penn Catholic
2 5 Annapolis Maritime (5-1) Win 24-17 over St Blane
3 4 Central Ohio (6-0) Win 45-6 over Indiana A&M
4 1 St Blane (5-1) Loss 24-17 to Annapolis Maritime
5 6 Alabama Baptist (5-0-1) Win 24-13 over Noble Jones College
6 7 Iowa A&M (6-0) Win 28-21 over Oklahoma City State
7 3 Noble Jones Coll. (5-1) Loss 24-13 to Alabama Baptist
8 10 Charleston Tech (6-1) Win 24-0 over Alexandria
9 8 Eastern Oklahoma (6-0) Win 16-14 over Norman Naval
10 NR Georgia Baptist (5-1) Win 14-0 over Carolina Poly
WEEKEND RESULTS
Rome State 64 Penn Catholic 7
Annapolis Maritime 24 St. Blane 17
Central Ohio 45 Indiana A&M 6
Georgia Baptist 14 Carolina Poly 0
Alabama Baptist 24 Noble Jones College 13
Iowa A&M 28 Oklahoma City State 21
Charleston Tech 24 Alexandria 0
Eastern Oklahoma 16 Norman Naval Air Station 14
Minnesota Tech 38 St. Magnus 10
College of Omaha 21 Western Iowa 16
Pierpont 13 Detroit City College 12
Northern Mississippi 31 Central Kentucky 14
Great Lakes Navy 18 Wisconsin Catholic 3
Daniel Boone College 30 St. Ignatius 27
George Fox 20 Grafton 0
Brunswick 28 Henry Hudson 3
Western Florida 17 Miami State 6
Canyon A&M 10 Lubbock Field 10
Northern California 13 Alameda Coast Guard 5
Darnell State 34 Arkansas A&T 3
Travis College 49 Texas Gulf Coast 0
Bayou State 28 Cumberland 7
Opelika State 30 Charleston (IL) 10
Frankford State 21 Bigsby College 0
Coast Guard 31 Ellery 13
Boulder State 66 South Valley State 0
Provo Tech 17 Mile High State 17
Lambert College 23 Northfield State (MN) 6
Payne State 41 Iowa Pre-Flight 26
Mississippi A&M 43 Jackson Field 6
Lawrence State 37 Olathe Navy 3
Topeka State 3 Eastern Kansas 0
March Field 28 CC Los Angeles 6
Commonwealth Catholic 24 Melville PT Boats 23
Liberty College 17 St. Pancras 10
Petersburg 31 Portsmouth Fleet 13
Whitney College 17 Wisconsin State 3
Randolph Field 50 Travis-Fort Worth 0
North Carolina Tech 28 Columbia Military Academy 0
Coastal California 55 San Diego Navy 0
Amarillo Methodist 38 Chatham Field 0
Red River State 10 College of Waco 0
Cache Valley 40 Idaho Marines 24
Eastern State 13 Maryland State 0
Cowpens State 24 Coastal State 21
Huntington State 20 Conwell College 3
St. Patrick's 23 New London Submarine 17
Second Air Force 57 Amarillo Field 0
HAWAII RIPE FOR PRO FOOTBALL, BIDS FOR POSTWAR FRANCHISE
Pro Football hops the ocean! There's a headline that is on its way toward reality says Ralph W. Olson of Honolulu. Olson is president of something labeled as the Honolulu Professional Football Club and he is in the East for a close study of the entire pro football picture. There is no doubt he means business; his bait runs into five figures, cash.
The man from the pineapple capital feels he holds a high card in the deal explaining: "Honolulu is one of the greatest potential sports areas in the world. The people of Hawaii are fanatics. Money is plentiful and sports, especially of the pro variety not nearly plentiful enough to satisfy the population."
"Crowds of 25,000 are common for high school football games. Professional boxing draws near capacity crowds and we have only a handful of first rate fighters. No matter which league our professional football club becomes affiliated with, we are certain it will be profitable. When we announced formation of the club and the prospect it would become a member of the United States League, many sports fans without any solicitation came in with varying amounts totaling $20,000 to purchase stock. We first planned it as a private venture but after such a spontaneous reception, the directors voted to sell 1,000 shares of common stock at $100 a share. This makes it something of a community enterprise and the sale of the stock is the least of our worries."
Olson adds that postwar aviation will make civilian travel to and from the islands a matter of hours and he feels certain "professional football will come to Hawaii as soon as possible after the war and Honolulu will be one of the good drawing cities of the league."
Olson is one of the first to come forward identifying himself as a potential owner in the planned United States League, being headed by Pittsburgh businessman Roland Payne. Payne remains certain his new loop will kick-off next fall. Reports are that Olson will also meet in Chicago with Percy Sutherland, who is heading up another currently-unnamed professional football league.
LIBERTY COLLEGE CROWNED KING OF THE SOUTH
The Liberty College Bells won the King of the South pre-season tournament in Houston this week. The Bells beat College of Waco 51-33 in the opener before topping CC Los Angeles 43-29 in the title game of the 4-team field. Liberty was led by senior guard Ned Nolan's 19 points in the opening game and 7 in the title contest. The event also marked the college debut of freshman Ward Messer. The younger brother of baseball start Walt Messer averaged about 9 minutes a game and while he did not score any points, the big forward did haul in 6 rebounds over the weekend.
Liberty College is now an independent after the Northeast Conference folded and is a school that has enjoyed great success. The Bells have made 9 straight post-season tournament appearances and won three National Titles in that span. They reached the semi-finals two years ago and the quarter-finals last season.
BOXING RESULTS
Heavyweights Larry Higgins and Tom Henry tangled in Providence over the weekend with the hometown boy delighting the crowd with a unanimous decision in their 10-round bout. The 29 year old Higgins improves to 10-4-1 while Henry, who is originally from Fullerton, CA. sees his record dip to 14-17.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 11/05/1944
- A force of American B-29 Superfortresses raided Tokyo and Yokohama this week in the first strike at the Japanese capital since the carrier-based Doolittle attack more than 2 and a half years ago.
- Japan, her navy crippled in a futile attempt to smash the American invasion, rushed air reinforcements into the Philippines from her dwindling reserves in the homeland.
- The American 1st Army has begun a new drive towards Cologne while British forces rip an inslead key to Antwerp.
- Explosions aboard an ammunition train in suburban Paris on a spot where Gen. Charles de Gaulle had stood just twenty minutes earlier raised concern of an assassination attempt.
- President Roosevelt and Governor Dewey each made final campaign stops in preparation for tomorrows election. In his final radio address Dewey called on Democrats to vote the Republican ticket or lose their party to "a coalition of suversive forces" which seeks "to change our system of Government." Roosevelt climaxed a campaign tour of New England by accusing Governor Dewey of "a shocking lack of trust in America" and charging that the GOP was working "both sides of the street" in an attempt to win the election by embracing New Deal reforms of the past 12 years.
- The latest Crossley Poll results show 52% for Roosevelt and 48% for Dewey and includes computed armed service voting.
- The polls open at 6am tomorrow for a United States election in which the entire civilized world has cut itself a slice of apprehensive interest. The foreign consensus is that the election, which has been an angry, bitter contest, and one of the most unkind in our recent history, will have a terrific impact on foreign affairs.
- A late newspaper report out of Moscow said this morning that rumours are circulating that the Republicans might be planning to announce a faked attempt on the life of Governor Dewey and attribute it to Communists in a last-minute effort to win the election.