OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - All things Figment - from the pages of The Figment Sporting Journal

ayaghmour2 · 04-04-2025, 01:32 PM

SEPTEMBER 16, 1963

Kings Officially Crowned Champions
Shatter Team Win Record with 105 and Counting

For most of the season, it felt like the Kansas City Kings were going to win the Continental Association, and on September 15th, it became official.

That's when the Kings split a double header in Toronto, eventually ending the Stars season despite a perfect 7-0 week. At 93-58, they've won their most games in a season since a 96-58 pennant winning finish in 1952, though their .623 win percentage will likely finish higher then the .616 they have this season. You have to credit the Stars for not giving up, fighting until the bitter end, but just like the eight teams behind them in the standings, they just weren't enough of a match for a talented Kings team.

Said talent took a minor hit this week, as 20-game winner Gene Bailey (21-4, 3.06, 173) will be shut down for two weeks as he nurses a sore shoulder. Bailey's 220.1 innings this season are a career high, and the 23-year-old righty has looked to keep the Allen award in the family. While there is no clear front-runner, Bailey has a serious case, 21-4 with a 3.06 ERA (138 ERA+), 3.42 FIP (80 FIP-), and 1.30 WHIP. He has 173 strikeouts to just 91 walks, and looked to be a lock for 200 had he stayed healthy. Tied for 2nd in strikeouts, he'll likely drop out of the top-3, but with a 4-win lead over Cleveland's Adrian Czerwinski (17-8, 3.11, 171), he has a good chance to secure the most wins among CA pitchers. What makes the Kings so good is that even if Bailey's injury was more severe, they have the arms to cover, from last year's Allen winner Beau McClellan (16-10, 3.05, 179) to Kellogg candidate Johnnie Higgins (13-7, 3.19, 149), while the pen has gotten great results from Del Lamb (11-3, 21, 2.75, 89) and Fred Myers (4-1, 5, 2.42, 29) late in game. It's hard to score on this team and hard to keep them off the board, and with no real weakness the eventual Fed leader will have plenty of trouble in the postseason.

Of course, no Kings story is ever complete without a Hank Williams (.377, 42, 135) watch, as the eventual Whitney winner is looking to pull away with the triple crown. He might have been just 7-for-27, but he added 2 doubles, 2 homers, 3 walks, 3 runs, and 6 RBIs. He's now three homers above Jack Gibson (.289, 39, 104) and 9 RBIs clear of Otis Haldeman (.319, 24, 126, 6). Making things easier on Williams, Gibson is dealing with some knee soreness, and will be shut down for the rest of the season. This secures a second category via. injury for Williams, as now all he has to focus on in the next two weeks is recording more RBIs then Haldeman.

*** Pioneers Win 4 Straight, Magic Number Down to 6 ***

Who plays Kansas City is still up for grabs, but it's looking more and more like the defending champion Pioneers will get another chance to bring a title home. If they hold on to their 5.5 game lead over both Washington and Detroit, it would set up the first All-Missouri World Championship Series, setting up a clash between two teams that are less then 250 miles apart.

St. Louis has been great since Bill Bather's (.293, 13, 43, 12) return on the 2nd, winning 11 of 15 games to improve to 99-53. A win away from their first 100 win season in team history, their .651 win percentage is better then the .630 from last season, which is their best mark this century. Bather himself hasn't been that dangerous, but his presence in the lead-off spot really lengthens the Pioneers lineup. From 1-7, there's nothing but All-Stars, and as poor of a hitter as Sam Ruggles (.237, 9, 59) is, he's the unsung hero of the pitching staff. Arguably the best blocker and one of the best pitch framers, everyone that throws to him raves about his control of the game, with Billy Hasson (16-8, 3.12, 170) crediting Ruggles for helping him right the ship this season.

Hasson has been one of the most consistent and talented pitchers since his debut as a starter in 1958, but towards the end of May his ERA was in a territory he isn't used to: above 4. Since that date, he's yet to allow more then 4 earned runs in a start, and he's been extremely good in September as his team looks to get to the finish. 2-1 in 3 starts, he holds a 1.04 ERA (408 ERA+) and 0.92 WHIP with 17 strikeouts and 5 walks, dominating most of the hitters that get in his way. They did take a blow to the staff, as the struggling Steve Madden (17-8, 2.90, 144) is dealing with a mild calf strain, exiting a 6-4 win over the Miners in after just five pitches. In the four starts that came before the injury, he had games with 8 and 5 earned runs, and even in a 2-run start he walked 6 and took the loss in a 3-1 game. A week or so off of throwing could return him to his ace-level form, as the 24-year-old is too talented to have many more starts like he's put together lately.

Tales From The Den
Wolves Split At Home Against Tough Opposition

Although late in the season with the a CA title out of sight this past week was an important one for Toronto's baseball team. They were to play 8 games in seven days against two of the top three teams in this year's CA. If this was a school test the Wolves passed with a high mark splitting both series with the Chicago Cougars then the CA's dominate force in 1963, the Kansas City Kings. Chicago was in town from Monday to Thursday, the fans were treated to four good games as the autumn weather starts to provide crisp, cool evenings at Dominion Stadium. On Monday Chicago outhit Toronto 10-4 with Hoxworth continually pitching out of jams into the seventh. Ed Savage has put the home side up 1-0 with his 22nd HR of the year in the second only to be countered by Henry Watson's two run shot in the 4th off a Hoxworth pitch that caught too much of the plate. The game was decided by the bullpens. With the score knotted at 2 the Cougars ran across the winning run when Watson's single off Jim Jackson drove in Jack Gibson who had reached on a Taylor error then scored on a wild throw from Chick Reed. On Tuesday Chicago again won a one-run game 4-3 in 11 innings, helped again by Wolves errors, when Chappy Sanders cashed in Pete Meany's double off Wilson Pearson. A three run seventh helped Wolves win 5-2 with Fisher's double being the key hit driving in two runners who has been walked by Ken Stone. The next afternoon was a 16 inning 4:38 minute marathon that Chick Reed ended with a single driving in Gus Koval to make the score 6-5 as the sun was sinking beyond the right field wall giving the Wolves a series split.

On Friday Toronto won their third straight 3-2 on 2 run single by Cal Wells in the eighth in an inning in which the Wolves got 2 of their 4 hits in the game off reliever Del Lamb. Kings turned the tables on Saturday when the rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 when Hank Williams went deep for the 41st time off Hoxworth in the eighth, The Sunday double header was split, with the first game being a wild 25 hit affair which Toronto won 11-9 with a 7 run sixth where Wolves sent 10 men to plate on 4 hits, 2 walks, one hit batter. The big blow was Chick Reed's 23rd, a 3 run long ball. Kings got revenge in the second game despite being out 11-6 when the game ended 3-2 with Bill Medley returning from sprained knee after 8 days off. Medley probably deserved a better fate in this game.

Wolves now need 3 more wins in the their final 10 games beginning Monday with Dallas in town. If the team gets to .500 it will be the first time since 1944, 1945 seasons that Toronto finishes with a record of .500 or better in consecutive seasons.

Despite not starting the season with a historical level of ineptness, the Dallas Wranglers (108) surpassed the Minneapolis Millers (107) in losses. Dallas is 8 away from the FABL loss record while Minneapolis is is 5 shy of the Fed record. They have surpassed their 105 losses from last year, which was third most in the Fed.
Keystone catcher Dick Christian (.305, 27, 99) was named Player of the Week in the Fed, going 9-for-21 with a double, 4 homers, 4 walks, 6 runs, and 10 RBIs. 27 in two days, he's had a major breakout in 1963, setting various career highs including homers and RBIs. His next RBI will net him the first 100 RBI season of his career, and he's three homers away from a 30-homer season. Appearing in 132 games, the former 5th Overall Pick has hit .305/.386/.542 (147 OPS+) and is one of five Keystones with a WRC+ of 135 or better (152).
In the Conti, it was a member of the 7-0 Stars, as Bobby Garrison (.337, 21, 105, 16) was 14-for-30 with 9 runs, a triples, 4 homers, 6 RBIs, 6 walks, and 2 steals. Almost another stud in a loaded Continental rookie class, Garrison barely exhausted his eligibility when he .290/.349/.458 (112 OPS+) with 6 homers and 19 RBIs in 146 PAs last season. This year that line is up to an outstanding .337/.417/.544 (153 OPS+) in 1963, as Garrison has provided the Stars with 34 doubles, 8 triples, 21 homers, 105 RBIs, 123 runs, 74 walks, and 16 steals. The Chicago native's bat and speed have been so effective that he's been worth 6.1 WAR in 150 games despite offering little defensively at first.
Three pitchers pulled off shutouts this week, including Keystone righty Joe Kienle (15-4, 2.26, 96), who is making a run for Frenchy Mack's (18-6, 2.14, 197) ERA title. One of the most inconsistent pitchers in baseball, if you double Kienle's ERA after his 3-hit, 7-strikeout shutout, it would still be lower then the 5.08 (89 ERA+) he had last season. Effective in odd seasons, all three of his ERAs are below 3.75, while in three odd seasons they're all above 4.75.
The other shutouts went to fellow Fed arms Hank Griswold (15-6, 2.56, 138) and Tom Arencibia (8-5, 3.80, 98). Griswold has had an under-the-radar dominant season in Pittsburgh, with his 30th start a dominant 2-hitter during a 1-0 win against the Stars. The second year righty improved to 15-6 with a 2.65 ERA (162 ERA+), 2.88 FIP (67 FIP-), and 1.12 WHIP in 210.2 innings, striking out 138 with 52 walks. Arencibia, a rookie of the Eagles, has looked pretty solid in his first year too, as his shutout saw him allow just 2-hits, bringing his ERA back below 4 in a 9-0 thrashing of the Dynamos.
A few days later the Dynamos got their revenge, as a Ray Waggoner (.369, 34, 119) led charge helped Detroit topple the Eagles 12-2 after getting outscored 21-4 in the first two games. Waggoner was almost perfect, 5-for-6 with 3 doubles, 3 runs, and 6 RBIs. While Detroit's production has fallen off, the 27-year-old Waggoner has stood tall, and holds a .369/.421/.623 (173 OPS+) batting line through 152 games.
The last piece of Dynamos news revolves around Cecil Gregg (.298, 9, 47, 6), who does a lot of rotating in the outfield corners. The 24-year-old suffered a strained back, and after trying to play through it, seems to have aggravated it. Without rest, doctor's don't know when he'll be back to 100%, but with so little season left, Detroit may just have him work through it before the long and grueling offseason that awaits them.
Philly will be without second basemen Marshall Thomas (.271, 7, 28), as the now 35-year-old vet pinched a nerve in his neck. Ending his 13th season, Thomas will enter the offseason with 1,799 hits, 203 homers, 621 walks, a 49.3 WAR, and 868 runs scored and driven in. He may not add too much to those career marks, as his .271/.327/.373 (88 OPS+) line is a career low, and he failed to reach 300 PAs for the second straight season. Thomas has lost playing time to Bob Murphy (.248, 14, 74, 5), who has a chance to take most of the time at 1B or 2B, with the injured Andy Parker (.311, 27, 71, 7) at the other spot.
Injuries keep hitting the Gothams, who will be without Frank Landrum (.289, 27, 5) for the rest of the season with a hamstring strain. A light hitting 31-year-old, Landrum didn't homer in his 296 trips to the plate, spending time in a 1B/pinch-hitter role for the Gothams. Recently he was seeing his time dwindle, as 47th ranked prospect Phil Mattis (.354, 2, 9) was one of their September callups, and "The Hornell Hammer" already has 6 extra base hits, a 142 WRC+, and 9 runs scored and driven in during his 15 game sample.

CLUBS BUSY WITH PRE-DRAFT ROSTER MOVES

Each of the six North American Hockey Confederation clubs spent the week making some final roster moves in preparation for the upcoming amateur player draft. The Detroit Motors were the busiest of the teams, inking five players to new deals while parting ways with 31-year-old defenseman Jimmy Pappin.

Pappin is a veteran of 321 NAHC games, all with the Motors, but spent last season in the minors with the Buffalo Bears of the Hockey Association of America. He still had two years left on his contract with Detroit but was deemed expendable to make room for 24-year-old Brooks Lochead, who had spent the past four seasons on an HAA deal with the Cleveland Eries. Lochead is expected to compete for a role on the Detroit blueline this season. The Motors also signed free agent forwards Cody Walsh and Jack Dennyson as well as extending contracts to goaltender Ben Nachbaur and Jimmy Nonis, both of whom were on Detroit's protected list.

Nachbaur was CAHA goalie of the year in his final season of junior hockey with the London Lions and has spent the past two seasons with the Hollywood Stars of the Great West Hockey League. Highly touted, many had felt when the 22-year-old eventually signed with Detroit he would be immediately installed as the number one netminder but a serious knee injury ended his season last December and there are now some concerns it may have affected him long term. Nachbaur will compete with holdovers Charlie Dell and Sebastien Goulet for a role with the big club.

Walsh, Nonis and Dennyson are likely ticketed for Buffalo this season but both are expected to compete for roles in Detroit in the near future. Nonis, 20, was Detroit's second round pick in the 1961 draft and scored 83 points in 62 games with Verdun while serving as the Argonauts captain last season. Both Walsh, 26, and Dennyson, 23, were undrafted but have each enjoyed some success in the minors. Dennyson was with Buffalo, Detroit's farm team, the past three seasons so he will stay in the same location but will now be under contract to the parent club.

***Dukes Sign Four ***

The Toronto Dukes were also quite active last week as they added two new players to the organization while inking two others to new deals. The newcomers are both junior graduates as Toronto signed two forwards they selected in the 1961 draft. Both were from the Kingston Cadets junior club in center Bruce Eskes, Toronto's second round choice in 1961 along with winger Rocky Moutrey, who was the Dukes third rounder that year. Moutrey had 89 points in 61 games for junior Cadets last season while Eskes had 77 points.

Toronto also signed forward Lou Turner and rearguard Don Roeszler to new deals. Turner, 24, split last season between the Dukes and Cleveland, scoring 6 times and adding 13 assists in 42 games with the big club. Turner had a strong playoff as well, adding 6 points in 12 games to help Toronto win the Challenge Cup. Roeszler is 23 years old and made his NAHC debut by playing in four games with the Dukes last season. He also stuck around for the playoffs, appearing in all 12 games and scoring his first NAHC goal.

The Boston Bees added a player that may just crack their blueline as a 20-year-old. Pierre Bastien may need half a season in the minors but he is a huge acquisition after being released by the Montreal Valiants, who drafted Bastien third overall last summer. He spent last season in junior hockey with the Trois-Rivieres Trappers. Scouts feel he has a very high ceiling.

Finally, the Chicago Packers agreed to terms with their 1961 second round pick. Ben Boimistruck is a 20-year-old forward who was a finalist for the CAHA MVP award last year, a season in which he accumulated 78 points and 121 penalty minutes as captain of the Saint John Saints. He averaged a point a game in the junior loop playoffs to lead the Saints to the league title.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 09/15/1963

NBC became the second U.S. television network to expand its evening news from 15 minutes to 30. As CBS did the week before, The Huntley–Brinkley Report included an interview with President Kennedy.
U.S. Army General Maxwell D. Taylor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, approved Operation 34A, authorizing American secret operations against North Vietnam.
U.S. President Kennedy issued an executive order that exempted married American men from being drafted.
Inspection of the Gemini 1 rocket began. The NASA team declared the rocket to be unacceptable because of severely contaminated electrical connectors and a lack of documents showing qualification of a number of major components. Martin engineers inspected all 350 of the electrical connectors and found that more than half (180) required cleaning or replacement.
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that a state law, requiring segregated seating in publicly owned ballparks, was unconstitutional.
An Indian Airlines Viscount turboprop, crashed while en route from Nagpur to New Delhi, killing all 18 people on board.
Mary Kay Cosmetics was incorporated by a Texas widow, Mary Kay Ash, who invested her life savings of $5,000.
Singer and actress Barbra Streisand married film actor Elliott Gould.
The charter creating the Organization of African Unity entered into force, after having been signed on May 25.
Astronomer Zenon M. Pereyra discovered Comet Pereyra, extremely bright with an apparent magnitude of 2, from an observatory near Córdoba, Argentina.
The Fischer quintuplets (Mary Ann, Mary Catherine, Mary Margaret, Mary Magdalene and James Andrew Fischer) were born, becoming the first American born quintuplets to survive infancy, and only the third in world history; in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
A time bomb exploded in the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four African-American girls and injuring 22 other children who were attending a Sunday school class. The blast happened at 10:22 a.m., in a room with 80 children. Denise McNair was 11, and Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Addie Mae Collins were all 14.
The Beatles and The Rolling Stones performed in the same show for the first time, appearing at a concert at Royal Albert Hall in London.

04-04-2025, 01:32 PM	#1109
ayaghmour2 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 3,000	September 16th, 1963 SEPTEMBER 16, 1963 Kings Officially Crowned Champions Shatter Team Win Record with 105 and Counting For most of the season, it felt like the Kansas City Kings were going to win the Continental Association, and on September 15th, it became official. That's when the Kings split a double header in Toronto, eventually ending the Stars season despite a perfect 7-0 week. At 93-58, they've won their most games in a season since a 96-58 pennant winning finish in 1952, though their .623 win percentage will likely finish higher then the .616 they have this season. You have to credit the Stars for not giving up, fighting until the bitter end, but just like the eight teams behind them in the standings, they just weren't enough of a match for a talented Kings team. Said talent took a minor hit this week, as 20-game winner Gene Bailey (21-4, 3.06, 173) will be shut down for two weeks as he nurses a sore shoulder. Bailey's 220.1 innings this season are a career high, and the 23-year-old righty has looked to keep the Allen award in the family. While there is no clear front-runner, Bailey has a serious case, 21-4 with a 3.06 ERA (138 ERA+), 3.42 FIP (80 FIP-), and 1.30 WHIP. He has 173 strikeouts to just 91 walks, and looked to be a lock for 200 had he stayed healthy. Tied for 2nd in strikeouts, he'll likely drop out of the top-3, but with a 4-win lead over Cleveland's Adrian Czerwinski (17-8, 3.11, 171), he has a good chance to secure the most wins among CA pitchers. What makes the Kings so good is that even if Bailey's injury was more severe, they have the arms to cover, from last year's Allen winner Beau McClellan (16-10, 3.05, 179) to Kellogg candidate Johnnie Higgins (13-7, 3.19, 149), while the pen has gotten great results from Del Lamb (11-3, 21, 2.75, 89) and Fred Myers (4-1, 5, 2.42, 29) late in game. It's hard to score on this team and hard to keep them off the board, and with no real weakness the eventual Fed leader will have plenty of trouble in the postseason. Of course, no Kings story is ever complete without a Hank Williams (.377, 42, 135) watch, as the eventual Whitney winner is looking to pull away with the triple crown. He might have been just 7-for-27, but he added 2 doubles, 2 homers, 3 walks, 3 runs, and 6 RBIs. He's now three homers above Jack Gibson (.289, 39, 104) and 9 RBIs clear of Otis Haldeman (.319, 24, 126, 6). Making things easier on Williams, Gibson is dealing with some knee soreness, and will be shut down for the rest of the season. This secures a second category via. injury for Williams, as now all he has to focus on in the next two weeks is recording more RBIs then Haldeman. * Pioneers Win 4 Straight, Magic Number Down to 6 * Who plays Kansas City is still up for grabs, but it's looking more and more like the defending champion Pioneers will get another chance to bring a title home. If they hold on to their 5.5 game lead over both Washington and Detroit, it would set up the first All-Missouri World Championship Series, setting up a clash between two teams that are less then 250 miles apart. St. Louis has been great since Bill Bather's (.293, 13, 43, 12) return on the 2nd, winning 11 of 15 games to improve to 99-53. A win away from their first 100 win season in team history, their .651 win percentage is better then the .630 from last season, which is their best mark this century. Bather himself hasn't been that dangerous, but his presence in the lead-off spot really lengthens the Pioneers lineup. From 1-7, there's nothing but All-Stars, and as poor of a hitter as Sam Ruggles (.237, 9, 59) is, he's the unsung hero of the pitching staff. Arguably the best blocker and one of the best pitch framers, everyone that throws to him raves about his control of the game, with Billy Hasson (16-8, 3.12, 170) crediting Ruggles for helping him right the ship this season. Hasson has been one of the most consistent and talented pitchers since his debut as a starter in 1958, but towards the end of May his ERA was in a territory he isn't used to: above 4. Since that date, he's yet to allow more then 4 earned runs in a start, and he's been extremely good in September as his team looks to get to the finish. 2-1 in 3 starts, he holds a 1.04 ERA (408 ERA+) and 0.92 WHIP with 17 strikeouts and 5 walks, dominating most of the hitters that get in his way. They did take a blow to the staff, as the struggling Steve Madden (17-8, 2.90, 144) is dealing with a mild calf strain, exiting a 6-4 win over the Miners in after just five pitches. In the four starts that came before the injury, he had games with 8 and 5 earned runs, and even in a 2-run start he walked 6 and took the loss in a 3-1 game. A week or so off of throwing could return him to his ace-level form, as the 24-year-old is too talented to have many more starts like he's put together lately. Tales From The Den Wolves Split At Home Against Tough Opposition Although late in the season with the a CA title out of sight this past week was an important one for Toronto's baseball team. They were to play 8 games in seven days against two of the top three teams in this year's CA. If this was a school test the Wolves passed with a high mark splitting both series with the Chicago Cougars then the CA's dominate force in 1963, the Kansas City Kings. Chicago was in town from Monday to Thursday, the fans were treated to four good games as the autumn weather starts to provide crisp, cool evenings at Dominion Stadium. On Monday Chicago outhit Toronto 10-4 with Hoxworth continually pitching out of jams into the seventh. Ed Savage has put the home side up 1-0 with his 22nd HR of the year in the second only to be countered by Henry Watson's two run shot in the 4th off a Hoxworth pitch that caught too much of the plate. The game was decided by the bullpens. With the score knotted at 2 the Cougars ran across the winning run when Watson's single off Jim Jackson drove in Jack Gibson who had reached on a Taylor error then scored on a wild throw from Chick Reed. On Tuesday Chicago again won a one-run game 4-3 in 11 innings, helped again by Wolves errors, when Chappy Sanders cashed in Pete Meany's double off Wilson Pearson. A three run seventh helped Wolves win 5-2 with Fisher's double being the key hit driving in two runners who has been walked by Ken Stone. The next afternoon was a 16 inning 4:38 minute marathon that Chick Reed ended with a single driving in Gus Koval to make the score 6-5 as the sun was sinking beyond the right field wall giving the Wolves a series split. On Friday Toronto won their third straight 3-2 on 2 run single by Cal Wells in the eighth in an inning in which the Wolves got 2 of their 4 hits in the game off reliever Del Lamb. Kings turned the tables on Saturday when the rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 when Hank Williams went deep for the 41st time off Hoxworth in the eighth, The Sunday double header was split, with the first game being a wild 25 hit affair which Toronto won 11-9 with a 7 run sixth where Wolves sent 10 men to plate on 4 hits, 2 walks, one hit batter. The big blow was Chick Reed's 23rd, a 3 run long ball. Kings got revenge in the second game despite being out 11-6 when the game ended 3-2 with Bill Medley returning from sprained knee after 8 days off. Medley probably deserved a better fate in this game. Wolves now need 3 more wins in the their final 10 games beginning Monday with Dallas in town. If the team gets to .500 it will be the first time since 1944, 1945 seasons that Toronto finishes with a record of .500 or better in consecutive seasons. Despite not starting the season with a historical level of ineptness, the Dallas Wranglers (108) surpassed the Minneapolis Millers (107) in losses. Dallas is 8 away from the FABL loss record while Minneapolis is is 5 shy of the Fed record. They have surpassed their 105 losses from last year, which was third most in the Fed. Keystone catcher Dick Christian (.305, 27, 99) was named Player of the Week in the Fed, going 9-for-21 with a double, 4 homers, 4 walks, 6 runs, and 10 RBIs. 27 in two days, he's had a major breakout in 1963, setting various career highs including homers and RBIs. His next RBI will net him the first 100 RBI season of his career, and he's three homers away from a 30-homer season. Appearing in 132 games, the former 5th Overall Pick has hit .305/.386/.542 (147 OPS+) and is one of five Keystones with a WRC+ of 135 or better (152). In the Conti, it was a member of the 7-0 Stars, as Bobby Garrison (.337, 21, 105, 16) was 14-for-30 with 9 runs, a triples, 4 homers, 6 RBIs, 6 walks, and 2 steals. Almost another stud in a loaded Continental rookie class, Garrison barely exhausted his eligibility when he .290/.349/.458 (112 OPS+) with 6 homers and 19 RBIs in 146 PAs last season. This year that line is up to an outstanding .337/.417/.544 (153 OPS+) in 1963, as Garrison has provided the Stars with 34 doubles, 8 triples, 21 homers, 105 RBIs, 123 runs, 74 walks, and 16 steals. The Chicago native's bat and speed have been so effective that he's been worth 6.1 WAR in 150 games despite offering little defensively at first. Three pitchers pulled off shutouts this week, including Keystone righty Joe Kienle (15-4, 2.26, 96), who is making a run for Frenchy Mack's (18-6, 2.14, 197) ERA title. One of the most inconsistent pitchers in baseball, if you double Kienle's ERA after his 3-hit, 7-strikeout shutout, it would still be lower then the 5.08 (89 ERA+) he had last season. Effective in odd seasons, all three of his ERAs are below 3.75, while in three odd seasons they're all above 4.75. The other shutouts went to fellow Fed arms Hank Griswold (15-6, 2.56, 138) and Tom Arencibia (8-5, 3.80, 98). Griswold has had an under-the-radar dominant season in Pittsburgh, with his 30th start a dominant 2-hitter during a 1-0 win against the Stars. The second year righty improved to 15-6 with a 2.65 ERA (162 ERA+), 2.88 FIP (67 FIP-), and 1.12 WHIP in 210.2 innings, striking out 138 with 52 walks. Arencibia, a rookie of the Eagles, has looked pretty solid in his first year too, as his shutout saw him allow just 2-hits, bringing his ERA back below 4 in a 9-0 thrashing of the Dynamos. A few days later the Dynamos got their revenge, as a Ray Waggoner (.369, 34, 119) led charge helped Detroit topple the Eagles 12-2 after getting outscored 21-4 in the first two games. Waggoner was almost perfect, 5-for-6 with 3 doubles, 3 runs, and 6 RBIs. While Detroit's production has fallen off, the 27-year-old Waggoner has stood tall, and holds a .369/.421/.623 (173 OPS+) batting line through 152 games. The last piece of Dynamos news revolves around Cecil Gregg (.298, 9, 47, 6), who does a lot of rotating in the outfield corners. The 24-year-old suffered a strained back, and after trying to play through it, seems to have aggravated it. Without rest, doctor's don't know when he'll be back to 100%, but with so little season left, Detroit may just have him work through it before the long and grueling offseason that awaits them. Philly will be without second basemen Marshall Thomas (.271, 7, 28), as the now 35-year-old vet pinched a nerve in his neck. Ending his 13th season, Thomas will enter the offseason with 1,799 hits, 203 homers, 621 walks, a 49.3 WAR, and 868 runs scored and driven in. He may not add too much to those career marks, as his .271/.327/.373 (88 OPS+) line is a career low, and he failed to reach 300 PAs for the second straight season. Thomas has lost playing time to Bob Murphy (.248, 14, 74, 5), who has a chance to take most of the time at 1B or 2B, with the injured Andy Parker (.311, 27, 71, 7) at the other spot. Injuries keep hitting the Gothams, who will be without Frank Landrum (.289, 27, 5) for the rest of the season with a hamstring strain. A light hitting 31-year-old, Landrum didn't homer in his 296 trips to the plate, spending time in a 1B/pinch-hitter role for the Gothams. Recently he was seeing his time dwindle, as 47th ranked prospect Phil Mattis (.354, 2, 9) was one of their September callups, and "The Hornell Hammer" already has 6 extra base hits, a 142 WRC+, and 9 runs scored and driven in during his 15 game sample. CLUBS BUSY WITH PRE-DRAFT ROSTER MOVES Each of the six North American Hockey Confederation clubs spent the week making some final roster moves in preparation for the upcoming amateur player draft. The Detroit Motors were the busiest of the teams, inking five players to new deals while parting ways with 31-year-old defenseman Jimmy Pappin. Pappin is a veteran of 321 NAHC games, all with the Motors, but spent last season in the minors with the Buffalo Bears of the Hockey Association of America. He still had two years left on his contract with Detroit but was deemed expendable to make room for 24-year-old Brooks Lochead, who had spent the past four seasons on an HAA deal with the Cleveland Eries. Lochead is expected to compete for a role on the Detroit blueline this season. The Motors also signed free agent forwards Cody Walsh and Jack Dennyson as well as extending contracts to goaltender Ben Nachbaur and Jimmy Nonis, both of whom were on Detroit's protected list. Nachbaur was CAHA goalie of the year in his final season of junior hockey with the London Lions and has spent the past two seasons with the Hollywood Stars of the Great West Hockey League. Highly touted, many had felt when the 22-year-old eventually signed with Detroit he would be immediately installed as the number one netminder but a serious knee injury ended his season last December and there are now some concerns it may have affected him long term. Nachbaur will compete with holdovers Charlie Dell and Sebastien Goulet for a role with the big club. Walsh, Nonis and Dennyson are likely ticketed for Buffalo this season but both are expected to compete for roles in Detroit in the near future. Nonis, 20, was Detroit's second round pick in the 1961 draft and scored 83 points in 62 games with Verdun while serving as the Argonauts captain last season. Both Walsh, 26, and Dennyson, 23, were undrafted but have each enjoyed some success in the minors. Dennyson was with Buffalo, Detroit's farm team, the past three seasons so he will stay in the same location but will now be under contract to the parent club. *Dukes Sign Four * The Toronto Dukes were also quite active last week as they added two new players to the organization while inking two others to new deals. The newcomers are both junior graduates as Toronto signed two forwards they selected in the 1961 draft. Both were from the Kingston Cadets junior club in center Bruce Eskes, Toronto's second round choice in 1961 along with winger Rocky Moutrey, who was the Dukes third rounder that year. Moutrey had 89 points in 61 games for junior Cadets last season while Eskes had 77 points. Toronto also signed forward Lou Turner and rearguard Don Roeszler to new deals. Turner, 24, split last season between the Dukes and Cleveland, scoring 6 times and adding 13 assists in 42 games with the big club. Turner had a strong playoff as well, adding 6 points in 12 games to help Toronto win the Challenge Cup. Roeszler is 23 years old and made his NAHC debut by playing in four games with the Dukes last season. He also stuck around for the playoffs, appearing in all 12 games and scoring his first NAHC goal. The Boston Bees added a player that may just crack their blueline as a 20-year-old. Pierre Bastien may need half a season in the minors but he is a huge acquisition after being released by the Montreal Valiants, who drafted Bastien third overall last summer. He spent last season in junior hockey with the Trois-Rivieres Trappers. Scouts feel he has a very high ceiling. Finally, the Chicago Packers agreed to terms with their 1961 second round pick. Ben Boimistruck is a 20-year-old forward who was a finalist for the CAHA MVP award last year, a season in which he accumulated 78 points and 121 penalty minutes as captain of the Saint John Saints. He averaged a point a game in the junior loop playoffs to lead the Saints to the league title. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 09/15/1963 NBC became the second U.S. television network to expand its evening news from 15 minutes to 30. As CBS did the week before, The Huntley–Brinkley Report included an interview with President Kennedy. U.S. Army General Maxwell D. Taylor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, approved Operation 34A, authorizing American secret operations against North Vietnam. U.S. President Kennedy issued an executive order that exempted married American men from being drafted. Inspection of the Gemini 1 rocket began. The NASA team declared the rocket to be unacceptable because of severely contaminated electrical connectors and a lack of documents showing qualification of a number of major components. Martin engineers inspected all 350 of the electrical connectors and found that more than half (180) required cleaning or replacement. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that a state law, requiring segregated seating in publicly owned ballparks, was unconstitutional. An Indian Airlines Viscount turboprop, crashed while en route from Nagpur to New Delhi, killing all 18 people on board. Mary Kay Cosmetics was incorporated by a Texas widow, Mary Kay Ash, who invested her life savings of $5,000. Singer and actress Barbra Streisand married film actor Elliott Gould. The charter creating the Organization of African Unity entered into force, after having been signed on May 25. Astronomer Zenon M. Pereyra discovered Comet Pereyra, extremely bright with an apparent magnitude of 2, from an observatory near Córdoba, Argentina. The Fischer quintuplets (Mary Ann, Mary Catherine, Mary Margaret, Mary Magdalene and James Andrew Fischer) were born, becoming the first American born quintuplets to survive infancy, and only the third in world history; in Aberdeen, South Dakota. A time bomb exploded in the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four African-American girls and injuring 22 other children who were attending a Sunday school class. The blast happened at 10:22 a.m., in a room with 80 children. Denise McNair was 11, and Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Addie Mae Collins were all 14. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones performed in the same show for the first time, appearing at a concert at Royal Albert Hall in London.