The 1962 Chicago Chiefs' season was a mixed bag. OSA predicted we would only win 72 games but early on we were contending and feeling pretty good. On June 19
we were tied for second place with a 40-28 record and on pace to win 88 games. Then the wheels quickly fell off!! By July 16 we were only three games over .500 and a
full 14 games behind the Pioneers. It would only get worse from there. In fact, after June 19 the Chiefs went 35-50 the rest of the way. I decided on July 16th that we would
go in a different direction. Our farm system wasn't very good and it was unbalanced with only a few position players compared to a lot of pitchers. That needed to change.
We had kept our eye on the free agent market as well as the waiver wire throughout the season and we did pick up some decent-looking guys that were somehow left
exposed but we still needed an influx of young talent. We put a couple of the older pieces of the rotation on the trade block for the Conti teams trying to chase down
a pennant. Veterans Jack Halbur and Dick Champ, both struggling for us with ERAs around four, were sent off to the other league with six prospects coming back to us.
None of the six prospects was older than 23 when the trades happened, and all six have a legitimate shot at making the majors; two of them already have, with mixed results.
The two trades along with a successful draft that saw our first two picks make the top 100 prospects list at the end of the season have pushed our farm system to a season
high sixth in the rankings.
This team gets on base a lot which is what I want to build upon. I also don't like big strikeout numbers. I know it's just another out but I grew up in a time when
it was frowned upon to strike out 100 times a year. We didn't have anyone strike out more than 78 times and we had seven guys with more than 40 walks.
We were at the low end of the scale when it came to hitting home runs but we were near the top in runs scored. We are hoping that we can increase the
power production next season and in turn, increase the number of runs scored with it. That will be tough as the competition for playing time will be tough next spring.
We were also very bad in the field in 1962 and that contributed to a lot of unearned runs allowed for our pitching staff. Defensive ability will play a huge role in who
takes the field for the Chiefs in 1963.
One line to sum up the 1962 season from the mound? The Chiefs allowed the third most runs in the FABL which consisted of FOUR expansion teams.
That should tell you everything you need to know. Of those 861 runs allowed 118, or 14%, were unearned. That's not counting the runs given up on balls hit to
Clifford or Rader, both of which were statues in the field. Our $500 k rotation" was struggling so we blew it up and added more depth. Someone had to
start those games so we brought up three of the youngsters to see what would happen. It was a mixed bag but it comes with anticipation of what might happen next
year. 19-year-old John Thomas was the last guy to get called up but he left the biggest impression. He started 12 games and 10 of them were quality starts. He was
named Player of the Game in eight of his 12 starts including a loss. He started 5-0 before finishing 2-4 down the stretch. Bud Andrews, the Chiefs' top prospect,
struggled early but found some positive momentum toward the end of the season. His biggest moment was one run, five hit performance in his last start of the year
against the mighty Pioneers. Bennie Wood was the third prospect to get the call up. Wood was part of the Halbur trade and he looked as if he were ready for the
majors but he really struggled the entire time he was up. He'll need to impress in spring in order to make the team again. You add in the bad seasons from
veterans Vern Osbourne(5.30 ERA) and Joe Cipolla(5.21) and it's easy to see why this team couldn't keep up the winning pace. The good news is that Cipolla will
be entering his age 26 season and Osbourne, although he's a little older at 31, have a good chance to bounce back from these bad performances.
This is good to see because it means we have a lot of options coming up. We know that not every prospect is going to make it in the bigs so having a high number of quality guys means more chances to hit.
I'd say at least five of the guys on this list will be on the major league roster next season coming out of spring. Maybe more!! Freddie Mitchell is the big surprise here as he was not highly rated right after the draft
but he finds himself in the top 55, nine spots ahead of our first-round pick Larry Gifford.