JANUARY 15, 1945
COLLEGE PLAYERS ENJOY OPENING ROUND RESURGENCE
Pitchers Last Much Longer Than Usual
A year ago only two of the sixteen players selected in the first round came out of the collegiate ranks. It was a different story this year as five of the first seven selections and eight of the 16 taken in the opening round were from the AIAA. The other big change was the run on position players at the top of the draft. The first six selections did not include a single pitcher -something that has not been seen since 1920 when the first pitcher was selected 9th overall.
In this case it was Otis Porter, the scholarly star righthander of the National Champion Grange College Mustangs, that became the first pitcher called when the Toronto Wolves selected him with the seventh pick. Three more pitchers would follow shortly after but it was centerfielders that were the marquee position this year with Bob Riggins of Grange College going first, Liberty's Johnny Peters third, Ralph Johnson of Topeka State fifth and Florida high schooler Barry Lowry rounded out the collection of centerfielders when the St Louis Pioneers tabbed him with the 15th pick.
*** EAGLES HOPE TO FIND SECOND COMING OF GOINS DEEP IN HEART OF TEXAS ***
The Washington Eagles best first round pick ever made was spent on a high school catcher from Texas taken first overall in 1919. That would be Arlington born T.R. Goins, a two-time Whitney Award winner who helped the Eagles to their last World Championship back in 1923 and would win another one with the Cleveland Foresters late in his career. Since trading Goins to the Foresters midway through the 1933 season the Eagles have been looking for their next superstar player. A few, such as Mel Carrol, have come close but no one has stepped to the forefront like Goins did. Perhaps the solution is to go back to Texas for another highly touted catcher and the Eagles did just that with the selection of 18 year old Ike Perry with the fourth overall pick.
Perry, a two-time high school All-American from Navasota High School, grew up in Hearne, Texas, roughly 150 miles south of where Goins was born and has hopes in following in Goins' rather sizeable footprints. Texas has actually given FABL six catchers who have played over 800 career big league games and Perry is hoping to be the next name on that list. In addition to Goins, the Eagles had another Texas born catcher as their starter for several years. That would be Jim Sith, who was their primary catcher from 1913 thru 1918.
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TEXAS BORN CATCHERS
YRS TM G AVG HR
TR Goins 1923-38 WSH,CLE 2025 .336 270
Jim Smith 1911-22 WSH,CHI 1091 .275 5
Mickey Dowell 1924-34 BKN,MON 1019 .296 42
George Mitchell 1909-19 PHS,PHK 965 .214 40
John Williams 1916-27 CHI 949 .239 21
Tom Aiello 1929-43 BKN,CHI,PIT 844 .272 23
The ten round human GM portion of the draft continues this week before the AI controlled Scouting Directors take over for rounds 11 thru 25. All selected players must complete their high school/college year before being eligible to report to the big league organizations that drafted them in June.
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1945 FABL ROOKIE DRAFT ROUND 1
# TM PLAYER POS AGE SCHOOL HOMETOWN
1 NYS Bob Riggins CF 21 Grange College Detroit, MI
2 NYS Ralph Hanson SS 17 Beaver(PA) HS Beaver, PA
3 CHC Johnny Peters CF 20 Liberty College Lawrenceburg, TN
4 WSH Ike Perry C 18 Navasota(TX) HS Hearne, TX
5 BKN Ralph Johnson CF 20 Topeka State Omaha, NE
6 DET Del Johnson 2B 21 West Goshen State Conshohocken, PA
7 TOR Otis Porter P 20 Grange College Augusta, GA
8 PIT Paul Williams LF 18 Clayton HS, St Louis St Louis, MO
9 CLE Bert Haines P 17 North Tonawanda(NY)HS North Tonawanda, NY
10 CHI Dick Mills P 17 South Boston(MA) HS Concord, MA
11 MON Hank Smith 1B 21 Talmadge State Trotwood, OH
12 STL Artie Smtih C 20 South Valley State Waukon, IA
13 PHS Gordon McDonald P 18 Liberty(SC) HS Liberty, SC
14 STL Barry Lowry CF 17 Tarpon Springs(FL) HS Tarpon Springs, FL
15 STL Dan Finch 3B 17 Bowman(SC) HS Darlington, SC
16 PHK Nate Power 1B 21 Daniel Boone College Bryant, AR
1945 FABL ROOKIE DRAFT ROUND 2
# TM PLAYER POS AGE SCHOOL HOMETOWN
17 NYS Larry McClure C 18 Bentonville(AR) HS Bentonville, AR
18 CHC Carl Clark CF 17 Springfield(MO) HS Youngwood, PA
19 CHC Dutch Yoak P 17 La Porte(TX) HS Houston, TX
20 WSH George Penza SS 21 Yellowhammer State Waco, TX
21 BKN Harry Trinity P 18 University HS, Nashville Lebanon, TN
22 DET Dick Estes RF 20 Rutherford College Atlanta, GA
23 TOR Harry Finney SS 21 Bluegrass State Tulsa, OK
24 PIT Chet Tinsley C 18 Bellville(TX) HS Houston, TX
25 CLE Bob Miller 3B 21 Queen City University Lancaster, OH
26 CHI Jake Pomarico CF 21 Detroit City College South Bend, IN
27 MON Mike Cochran 2B 17 Pelton HS, San Francisco San Francisco, CA
28 BOS Tom Cooprider C 17 Millersburg(PA) HS Millersburg, PA
29 PHS Jerry Keith 2B 18 Forest Park(IL) HS Milwaukee, WI
30 STL Tom Hansen CF 18 Eutaw (AL) HS Eutaw, AL
31 CIN Al Browner 3B 17 Wharton(TX) HS Wharton, TX
32 PHI Russ McLean P 17 Shady Side Acad. Pittsburgh Washington, DC
CANNON FIRES KO IN RING RETURN
Cannon Cooper made his triumphant return to the ring with another knockout. The Rockford, Il. heavyweight, recently discharged from the Coast Guard, improved to 16-0 and it seems just a matter of time before he gets a chance at the World Title. His latest victim was Carson Barnes, a veteran New York heavyweight who did well just to survive until the 12th and final round before Cooper made him his 7th knockout victim before a packed house at Chicago's Lake Side Auditorium. Barnes, who made his pro debut a dozen years ago, now sports a record of 18-14-2 after being knocked out in the ring for the first time in his career.
MITCHELL MAKES SHORT NIGHT FOR TEEN OPPONENT
Dave Neal quickly found out there is a big difference stepping into the ring against grown men as compared to facing teenage amateurs. The highly touted New Yorker is just 17 years old and widely considered the best youth amateur boxer in the northeast but he certainly bit off much more than he could chew on the weekend. The youngster, who is still in high school, was a late fill-in on a card at the Bigsby Garden and was matched against 24 year old Ira Mitchell - a rising Chicago born welterweight. Mitchell improved to 10-0 with the shortest night of his boxing career, taking just 2 minutes and change to knock out the youngster Neal with a powerful flurry of blows that culminated in a uppercut that clearly meant the end of the night for the teen.
Neal is young and looked fine after the bout despite holding a big old ice pick over a right eye that has likely never looked more purple, but it was clear his handlers gravely erred in giving the boy a decent payday instead of making a more cautious choice for his pro debut. Mitchell is continuing his impressive rise through the welterweight division with 9 of his 10 victories coming by knockout.
OTHER MAJOR RESULTS THIS WEEK
HW Charlie McDougall (22-10-1) unanimous decision over Jimmy Robertson (7-11-3)
HW Dave Gwynne (15-11-3) split decision over Joe Smith (6-21-2)
GRID OWNERS ADOPT WAIT AND SEES ATTITUDE AT CHICAGO CONFAB
Regaining their composure after the shock of President Roosevelt's message to Congress urging enactment of work or fight legislation, professional sports leaders today adopted a watchful waiting attitude pending action on the Hill. Briefly, the situation is so confused at this stage that no one can say with any degree of certainty what the next step will be. A complete blackout on pro sports for the remainder of the war is possible, but highly improbable. There is better than an even chance that all sports will continue, if on a curtailed basis, once Congress has passed a law clarifying the status of 4-F's.
Coming almost on the eve of the American Football Association's meeting in Chicago this week, the President's message is certain to be the chief topic of conversation, but there won't be much the league can do about putting its house in order until it knows how Congress intends to go about funnelling 4-F's into war plants. At the moment there isn't any visible reason why the league can't function in 1945, although the schedule might have to be drafted to limit travel to one-day hops.
AFA President Jack Kristich, who previously said the league would operate next year if selective service orders did not interfere, had "no comment" on the latest developments. One thing certain, neither Krisitch, acting for the league, nor individual club owners will try to buck the Government. They'll go along quietly on whatever the lawmakers deem best.
The announcement certainly changed the tone of the owners meeting. The agenda had expected to be dominated with talk of finding a way to work with baseball - after the ball magnates closed down access to their parks in September, and on preparing for a battle of sorts with the two proposed new leagues. There also was a lot of in-fighting between the football bosses, but the President's announcement quickly united them once again. The dominant topic now will be trying to figure out what is next? And the answer to that question is left up to Congress.
COLLEGES DEBATE NEW GRID RULES
Possibility that the American Intercollegiate Athletic Association may take the college football rule book out of the refrigerator was seen after the joint convention of the National Coaches Association and the AIAA in Columbus, OH., last week. Top AIAA executives expressed themselves as favourable, to action that would remove the 'freeze' from grid laws which was implemented when the war began. Three of the suggested alterations deal with passes, two with the kickoff and one with the use of the forearm in offensive blocking. Some conferences implemeneted a trio of the changes last fall.
Here are the changes recommended by the coaches:
1) A mandatory in-bounds kickoff. If out-of-bounds, five-yard penalty and kick over.
2) Mandatory use of one-inch artificial tee for kickoffs with ball held.
3) Pass anywhere behind the line of scrimmage.
4) Restrictions on the use of forearms in offensive blocking. hands must be in contact with the body. Infraction regarded as unnecessary roughness.
5) Change of penalty for lateral pass that becomes forward pass to five-yard penalty from the point where the attempted lateral was thrown and loss of down. (Present penalty is return to scrimmage as incompleted pass.)
6) Change of penalty for lateral pass that becomes forward pass on punts and kick-offs to five-yard penalty from the point where attempted lateral was thrown. (Present penalty 15 yards.)
In its closing session, the AIAA recognized the growing epidemic of gambling on intercollegiate contests by adopting a resolution to crush the practice if such be within the co-operative effort and human endurance.
SECTION PLAY GETS UNDERWAY
The tune-up games are over as college basketball enters the heart of it's schedule over the next couple of weeks with each of the sections getting their in-conference schedule underway. A pair of conferences -the Academia Alliance and West Coast Athletic Association- got an early start to the proceedings with some key matchups this past week.
The Academia Alliance has a rich history with 7 National Championships but they all came in the early days of the sport and none since Pierpont won it all in 1918-19. The Dickson Maroons might be the Academia eight's best hope this season as they can count an early season upset of 4th ranked Annapolis Maritime as part of their 10-4 record entering section play. Sadler took the Maroons to overtime in Wednesday's conference opener before Dickson finally pulled out a 59-58 victory. Grafton and Ellery are both 2-0 to lead the way after the opening week.
The West Coast Athletic Association has been one of the dominant sections in all of college hoops with Rainier College winning each of the last two National Tournaments while CCLA and Coastal California are also serious threats each year. All three are ranked in the top 17 of the polls right now and each started WCAA play off with a win. The 3rd ranked Coyotes are 13-1 after beating Portland Tech 46-36 in their conference opener yesterday. Rainier College is also 13-1 and ranked 5th following the Majestics 55-51 win over in state rival Spokane State. Senior forward Tree Turner had a career best 26 points in the win over the Indians. Unlike Rainier College and CCLA, Coastal California has never won a national title despite 13 appearances in the semi-finals and 3 trips to the title game. As a result the Dolphins always seem to be playing catch-up in trying to match their two conference rivals but this year they may well have the best player in the nation in senior forward Morgan Melcher. Melcher averaged 17.8 ppg a year ago and is nearly duplicating that total this season despite being held to 11 in the conference opening 34-33 narrow win over Lane State.
The Great Lakes Alliance section slate gets underway this week with only Western Iowa and Lincoln College among the top 25 teams in the nation. The Canaries are on a roll with six straight victories and have been getting stellar play from junior guard Joe Hampton. The former St Louis Pioneers baseball prospect and son of ex-big leaguer Jim Hampton is among the nation leaders in assists while still averaging close to 8 points a game.
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COLLEGIATE BASKETBALL RANKINGS
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference
1. Carolina Poly (72) 13-1 1800 1 South Atlantic Conference
2. St. Patrick's 17-2 1722 2 Indy Northeast
3. CC Los Angeles 13-1 1622 3 West Coast Athletic Association
4. Annapolis Maritime 17-2 1585 5 Indy South
5. Rainier College 13-1 1514 6 West Coast Athletic Association
6. Liberty College 18-3 1472 4 Indy East
7. Chesapeake State 11-2 1372 7 South Atlantic Conference
8. Mobile Maritime 11-2 1199 12 South Atlantic Conference
9. Western Iowa 10-3 1186 13 Great Lakes Alliance
10. North Carolina Tech 12-4 1175 9 South Atlantic Conference
11. St. Blane 15-4 1115 14 Indy East
12. Mississippi A&M 12-3 1006 11 Deep South Conference
13. Garden State 11-3 1000 10 Liberty Conference
14. Lincoln 10-3 807 16 Great Lakes Alliance
15. Great Plains State 16-4 758 8 Indy Midwest
16. Empire State 11-2 742 15 Liberty Conference
17. Coastal California 11-4 649 23 West Coast Athletic Association
18. Miami State 15-4 520 17 Indy South
19. Conwell College 14-4 484 21 Indy East
20. St. Pancras 13-4 366 NR Indy East
21. Ohio Poly 13-5 336 NR Indy Midwest
22. Dickson 11-4 288 NR Academia Alliance
23. Western Florida 10-4 195 19 Deep South Conference
24. Darnell State 10-3 195 24 Southwestern Alliance
25. Middlesex 14-4 147 18 Indy Northeast
Others Receiving Votes:
Central Ohio 9-4 114 Great Lakes Alliance
Noble Jones College 10-4 21 Deep South Conference
Alabama Baptist 9-4 6 Deep South Conference
Wisconsin State 9-4 3 Great Lakes Alliance
Plover College 13-5 1 Indy Midwest
RESULTS INVOLVING RANKED TEAMS
MONDAY JANUARY 8
#3 CC Los Angeles 51 Mahoning Valley State 39
#4 Annapolis Maritime 49 Frankford State 38
#10 North Carolina Tech 58 #6 Liberty College 50
#7 Chesapeake State 35 Bigsby College 27
#9 Western Iowa 60 Lambert College 32
#20 St Pancras 49 Cuyahoga University 39
#22 Dickson 32 Georgia Baptists 31
TUESDAY JANUARY 9
#1 Carolina Poly 53 Chicago Poly 40
#5 Rainier College 49 Poweshiek 38
Minnesota Tech 49 #15 Great Plains State 41
#17 Coastal California 52 Cache Valley 44
#19 Conwell College 37 St Gordius 36
Texas Gulf Coast 66 #23 Western Florida 48
#25 Middlesex 42 Manhattan Tech 37
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 10
#8 Mobile Maritime 50 Centerville 38
#11 St Blane 63 Brooklyn Catholic 55
#16 Empire State 41 Hartford Wesleyan 40
#18 Miami State 48 Alabama Gulf Coast 40
#21 Ohio Poly 47 Central Kentucky 31
#22 Dickson 59 Sadler 58
THURSDAY JANUARY 11
#1 Carolina Poly 62 Piedmont University 41
#2 St Patrick's 51 Noble Jones College 40
#4 Annapolis Maritime 44 Western State 42
#5 Rainier College 61 Central Illinois 48
#6 Liberty College 54 Valley State 44
#15 Great Plains State 44 Topeka State 42
#23 Western Florida 51 Travis College 40
FRIDAY JANUARY 12
#8 Mobile Maritime 54 Alabama Baptist 44
#11 St Blane 54 El Paso Methodist 48
#14 Lincoln 51 Oklahoma Bible College 41
#18 Miami State 39 Boulder State 21
Cowpens State 40 #19 Conwell College 45
#20 St Pancras 49 Harrisburg State 36
SATURDAY JANUARY 13
#1 Carolina Poly 41 Eastern State 39
#2 St Patrick's 44 #10 North Carolina Tech 42
#4 Annapolis Maritime 71 Maryland State 43
#7 Chesapeake State 56 Utah A&M 42
#9 Western Iowa 51 Opelika State 44
SUNDAY JANUARY 14
#3 CC Los Angeles 46 Portland Tech 36
#5 Rainier College 55 Spokane State 51
#6 Liberty College 42 College of Omaha 24
#12 Mississippi A&M 60 Huntington State 53
#17 Coastal California 34 Lane State 33
#19 Conwell College 56 Eastern Virginia 34
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 1/14/1945
- The commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet, Admiral Jonas Ingram, warns that it is "possible and probable" that New York City or Washington will be hit by buzz bombs within the next 30 to 60 days. He was speaking of bombs similar but probably smaller than the V-1 or V-2s launched against Great Britain. He warned against panic, saying the greatest danger to expect was from fires and that the bombs were not expected to seriously damage any large buildings.
- An American invasion army numbering 100,000 strong is driving down the highway toward Manilla after meeting just feeble Japanese resistance which cost virtually no beachhead casualties.
- Alarmed Nazi broadcasts said that the Red Army had opened three more major offensives n East Prussia and Czechoslovakia and that a "gigantic struggle of decisive importance in raging" on a 600-mile front between the Baltic and Danube Valley.