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03-25-2022, 01:01 PM
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#381 |
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All Star Reserve
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September 1, 1941
 SEPTEMBER 1, 1941 DEADLOCKED! DYNAMOS AND MINUTEMEN TIED FOR FED LEAD As the season enters it's final month it is clear the Federal Association race is going to be a battle. The bookmakers give the Boston Minutemen (75-56) a slight edge over the Detroit Dynamos (74-55) to come out on top as the two are in a virtual tie for the top spot. If one was to split hairs it is the Dynamos, who have played 2 less games than the New Englanders, who presently enjoy a slight lead, with Boston gaining a game in the standings this week thanks to a 5-2 showing while the Detroiters went 4-3. The week began with the two clubs splitting the final two games of their series in Detroit after Boston had claimed victory in last Sunday's series opener. Red Johnson (.292,28,81) powered Detroit to a 5-4 victory Monday with a homer, a double and 3-rbi's while Boston answered with a 6-4 win the next day powered by ex-Cleveland duo Dean Astle, who went the distance for the win, and Bill Moore, who drove in 3 runs. Detroit then lost a pair at home to the Pittsburgh Miners before sweeping a weekend three game set from the New York Gothams. Boston beat the Gothams twice and then put a damper on third place Pittsburgh's week by winning two of three games in a tightly contested series with the Miners. Each of the three was decided by a single run including the opener which needed extra innings. No one is counting the Miners out but the series loss to Boston puts the Pittsburgh gang 4 games back so they will have their work cut out for them if they want to win a third straight Fed pennant. The Continental Association still very much belongs to the Chicago Cougars despite the Big Cats having a second consecutive bad week. Chicago lost 3 straight for the second time in 11 days and are just 7-7 over their last 14 games. The clock appears to have struck midnight on the Brooklyn Kings as they have lost 7 of 9 and instead of closing the gap on Chicago when the opportunity presented itself, the Cinderella season for the Kings came crashing down. They moved as close as 4 games back just a couple of weeks ago but with a month to play they are now 8 off the pace and actually in third place as the New York Stars, winners of 5 of their last 7, are preparing for one last chance to make a race out of the Continental. New York hosts Chicago for 3 games this week but it will be an extremely trying 7 days for the Stars pitching staff as they play two doubleheaders, including one with Chicago, in the next 3 days and 9 games in all in the coming week.  CANNONS SOHL GETS DRAFT NOTICE Injured Cincinnati Cannons pitcher Bill Sohl has been notified by the draft board in his hometown of Portland, Oregon that he must report for his initial physical. Odds are the 22 year old, who has been sidelined with back troubles since July, will not get the green light from Army doctors but the righthander says he will do his duty once he is fully recovered. "The back is not 100% yet, but it is feeling a lot better so it will be just be a matter of time before I am fit as a fiddle," explained the youngster. The 1940 second overall draft selection out of Portland's Lane State University, Sohl made his Cannons debut this season and was 3-3 with a 4.92 era in 9 games prior to suffering a back injury in July. A first team All-American and Christian Trophy finalist in 1940, Sohl had led Lane State to within a whisker of the AIAA National Championship as a sophomore, finishing second to Maryland State. MILLER MAY LEAVE ACES TO BECOME AN ACE FLYER A few years ago when Bob Miller was an All-American football star at Carolina Poly he turned his back on the gridiron to cast his lot in professional baseball. Today, as the 25 year old appears on the verge of becoming a big league regular with the Detroit Dynamos, he may have to change his baseball flannels for a Navy uniform. But if he does, The Rajun Cajun will be ready to turn from chasing flies to flying. He is classed 1-A in the draft. Miller was a second round pick of the Dynamos in 1939 out of Carolina Poly but was considered much better as a footballer than a baseball player. That is more a testament to his football skills than any deficiencies on the diamond as he hit over .300 all three of his seasons in the Cardinals outfield. He made his FABL debut last season, hitting .256 with 3 homers in 26 games playing in a crowded Detroit outfield. Miller earned another 38 games with the big club this season but the Shreveport, La. native has spent the second half of the year with the AAA Newark Aces. QUICK HITS
 AROUND THE LEAGUE Jiggs McGee takes a look around FABL with some thoughts on players who deserve a September call-up to the big leagues. BOSTON- The Minutemen are in the middle of a tough pennant race and are stacked after deadline deals so it is unlikely anyone called up would see much action but pitcher Bobby Montefusco probably deserves to return trip to Boston as he has been practically unhittable since being sent down at the beginning of August. 24 year old outfielder Red Samuel (.288,12,59) has also performed quite well for AAA Columbus. BROOKLYN- Ike O'Donnell looks like he is finally ready to make his big league debut at the age of 24. He is on the 40-man roster and looked very good pitching exclusively in relief for AAA Jersey City. Dan Rogers and Jimmie Field have both spent some time with the Kings but are now in AA and playing very well. CHIEFS- Not a lot of prospects in the Chiefs system that are close to big league ready but they do have a number of veterans who have played well in Fort Wayne and perhaps should be rewarded with a call back to the big leagues. They include first baseman Frankie Cohen, outfielder Bennie Griffith and pitchers Luis Sandoval and George Budd. All except for Budd have had several opportunities in the majors in the past. COUGARS- 29 year old infielder Tip Harrison was just recalled after Billy Hunter went down again. Not that Chicago needs any more pitching right now but it would be nice to see the Jones brothers make the jump from AAA to Chicago together. 23 year old Johnnie is 9-11, 3.88 for Milwaukee while 21 year old Donnie is 12-6, 3.22. Neither are on the secondary roster at this point but Johnnie will need to be added as otherwise he would certainly be snapped up in the rule five draft come December. CINCINNATI- Eddie Seguin was sent down after struggling early in the season with Cannons. He has been very good in AAA and likely deserves another shot with the big club. Young catcher Rick York, son of former Detroit legend Dick York, probably has earned a shot as well but the Cannons might be reluctant to add him to the 40-man roster until next season. CLEVELAND- Most of the Foresters better prospects are still a fair distance away from threatening for a big league spot but outfielder Si Crocker is one they perhaps should look at. He came over from Boston at the deadline and did spend a couple of weeks in the big leagues already this season. DETROIT- 23 year old Tony Mullis will likely be promoted with Sid Williams getting hurt during the week. Mullis is hitting .320 at Newark and had a brief spell in Detroit last season. Often injured 25 year old righthander Nate Spear is healthy again and has looked good in AAA so he might come in handy if the Dynamos need an arm down the stretch. MONTREAL- Jimmy Mayse is now 25 years old so perhaps no longer a prospect but he has put together a pair of decent seasons at AAA Minneapolis and likely deserves a chance to make his big league debut. It's too bad outfielder Otis Parker is hurt right now as the 22 year old who joined the Saints organization as part of the Adam Mullins deal with Cincinnati has had a very good year at AAA. NY STARS- It seems like Chubby Hall has been considered a top outfield prospect forever and he has been in the minor leagues since the Cougars selected him in the third round of the 1935 draft. Hall is now 24 and with his third organization but has played in just 8 FABL games but still ranked 11th overall by OSA. The Stars have some talent ahead of him as corner outfielders and are, at least for the moment, thinking they are still in a pennant race but Hall likely could help as a pinch-hitter. With Dave Trowbridge and Ray Cochran aging it might have made sense to give Hall some reps at first base in Los Angeles this season. NY GOTHAMS- 27 year old third baseman Ed B White has not done much with a couple of previous trials with the Gothams but his 1941 season at Toledo is just the type New York brass is likely referring to when they say they are going to reward a few minor leaguers for a job well done with a trip to the big leagues. Is it time to give 21 year old super-prospect Ed Bowman a taste of the Big Apple? He has not looked particularly good at AA Reading this year so the answer is likely no but he and 22 year old outfielder Bobby Boone are their two best prospects. Boone just moved up to A ball so he won't get the call-up nor likely will pitchers Monk Adams or Marcus Mangum, the Gothams other two top-100 prospects. KEYSTONES- While fans would love to see hometown boy Joe Quade get a chance the 19 year old is still in A ball and while he has done a solid job at that level, he is certainly not ready for the Keystones yet. Perhaps 22 year old Ernie Espanoza, a 5th round pick in 1937 who threw a no-hitter in the minors last season and is now the club's top prospect, will get a taste of the big leagues. Espanoza was dominant at AA New Orleans and just promoted last week to AAA Louisville. His debut with the Derbies was solid but I expect the Keystones want him to get some starts at AAA this month and then come to camp in March with an outside chance of sticking on the club. A more likely scenario is the Keystones recall catcher Chet McCormick. The 24 year old struggled in limited action with the big club over the summer but hit .378 in 64 games at AAA. SAILORS- 22 year old outfielder Cotton Dillon has looked great at AAA San Francisco and deserves a shot. He was one of the lottery players from the 1937 draft and made a nice jump this season, batting .318 with 11 homers and 91 rbi's for the Hawks after playing A ball a year ago. Fellow outfielder Ducky Pugh and pitchers Al Duster and Slick Wesolowski perhaps also deserve a look this month. PITTSBURGH- 23 year old Luke Berry is leading the Century League with a .344 average and a big reason the St Paul Disciples are on the verge of winning their first pennant in 21 years. He played 3 games last season for the Miners and likely belongs in Pittsburgh, not just as a September call-up, but next year as well. 25 year old Tony Puccinello (18-9, 3.58) leads the Century League in wins and while the Miners pitching staff has a lot of depth, they likely need to find room for Pooch. ST LOUIS- Pitchers Cal Roe and Jasper Moore have both spent some time in St Louis and likely should get another opportunity to start a game or two each this month. 22 year old's Tucker Ness, a catcher, and shortstop Luke Michaels are two others deserving but I don't expect the Pioneers to add Ness to the secondary roster at this stage. Michaels struggled at the plate the first half of the season but perhaps the stint in Oakland helped his confidence. His glove remains a big worry as a shortstop so he will need to hit if he wants to stick as a third baseman in St Louis. TORONTO- Hank Giordano is the Buffalo prospect I want to see get a shot in Toronto. He has had two very strong years in AAA, despite still being just 20 years old and has earned a look but the Wolves may be hesitant to burn a 40-man roster spot on him at this stage. They are promoting 26 year old second baseman Mike Rollinson but the sentimental choice should be Al Jensen. The 34 year old just doesn't seem to have ever received a fair shake. He hit .298 in a season and a half in Toronto but with Fred McCormick at first baseman he was relegated to Buffalo the past 4 seasons. With McCormick in the Army this might be Jensen's only chance to get a chance with the Wolves. WASHINGTON- Bob Coon and Al Gross, OSA's highest rated Eagles prospects, are already in Washington and there really are not a lot of other higher end prospects close to being ready. Maybe 28 year old Ernesto Perez will get another chance. Perez was an All-Star for the Gothams in 1938 but has spent most of his time since coming over to the Eagles at AAA Kansas City. A guy I always liked from back at his days with Central Ohio is Bill Seabolt. Now 26, the righthander has never played a big league game and while solid at AA Mobile this season, has been below average at Kansas City. Still, I would love to see Seabolt get a big league opportunity. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 8/31/1941
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports |
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03-28-2022, 11:24 AM
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#382 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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September 8, 1941
SEPTEMBER 8, 1941 CONTINENTAL CHALLENGERS TRIP EACH OTHER UP The Chicago Cougars dropped two of three games to the New York Stars last week but the Stars stumbled against third place Brooklyn allowing the Cougars, despite winning just 14 of their last 28 games, to continue to hold a 7 game lead on first place in the Continental Association. The Stars, who have only managed to go 15-13 over their last 28, looked to be on the verge of getting back into the race when they swept a doubleheader from the Cougars last Wednesday, moving to within 5.5 games of the leaders. Pete Papenfus slowed the New York momentum with a 3-hit shutout in a 4-0 Cougars win in the series finale on Thursday and then the Stars sputtered in Brooklyn with back to back losses Friday and Saturday to the Kings. Brooklyn did Chicago a favour with the two wins but that was only after the Kings fell further back by dropping two of three in Chicago to open the week. While no longer on a record setting pace, the Chicago Cougars remain firmly in control of the Continental flag with those who run 'numbers games' saying the Stars have less than a 3% chance of catching Chicago for the crown. There are just 18 games remaining for the top two clubs but they do play each other 5 more times which perhaps is enough to give Stars fans just a faint hope of a miracle comeback. In the Federal Association the Boston Minutemen gained just a little more breathing room on the Detroit Dynamos as Boston's lead is now 1.5 games on the Detroiters but both are looking over their shoulder at the Pittsburgh Miners. The two-time defending champs had a 7 game winning streak on the go until it was halted yesterday by Washington and are now within 2.5 games of front running Boston.  MACK SUTTON GETS SECOND DEFERMENT The Selective Service Board has announced that Mack Sutton, Boston third baseman, had been given a second deferment of the date for his reporting for Army service. The new date is October 15 which would allow Sutton to finish the season with the Minutemen and participate in the World Championship Series should Boston qualify. The first deferment, granted on Sutton's plea that he was supporting his parents, was until August 11. In both cases the district board overruled Sutton's local board in Murfreesboro, Arkansas.  QUICK HITS
COUGARS TO START SELLING WCS TICKETS TUESDAY Maybe the Dynamos and the Minutemen can't make up their minds, but the Chicago Cougars can. Defying all baseball's traditional jinxes and hoodoos, Cougars Assistant General Manager Bill Horner announced today that the Cougars would starting taking World Championship Series reservations at their downtown office starting Tuesday. The Cougars haven't clinched the pennant yet, and may not for several days but Horner isn't afraid of anything that happen to the club. Do you blame him with a 7 game lead and only 18 games left on the docket? Nevertheless, some of baseball's conservative oldtimers shook their heads and muttered, "I don't like it. This counting your chickens before they hatch. Maybe it won't hurt the Cougars in the pennant race but it might put the whammy on 'em in the WCS. It's not the thing to do." This clinching early is something the Continental Association has not seen in quite some time. The identity of each of the past seven flag winners was not know until the last weekend of the season and the final margin was not greater than 3 games in any of those cases. The last time a team won the CA by more than 3 games? Well, that would also be the Chicago Cougars, who in 1933 finished a whooping 10 games up on second place Cleveland but then went on to come up just short in the WCS, falling to the Philadelphia Keystones in seven games.  The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 9/07/1941
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports |
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03-29-2022, 12:15 PM
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#383 | |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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September 15, 1941
SEPTEMBER 15, 1941 MAJOR PENNANT PUSH FROM MINERS The Pittsburgh Miners continue to look like a team determined to win their third straight Federal Association pennant. The Miners passed Detroit and moved to within a game of front-running Boston thanks to a five game winning streak. Pittsburgh has gone 11-2 in September but their stretch of strong play goes all the way back to early July. At the All-Star break the Miners were just 3 games over .500 at 41-38. Since then they have posted a 40-23 record that included wins in 30 of their last 41 contests. Boston is 7-4 for the month but clearly hearing the footsteps of the defending champs while the Detroit Dynamos are just 5-8 since the calendar flipped to September and have lost 5 of their last 7 games. Detroit visits Boston for an important two game series starting Wednesday but the pennant quite likely will not be decided until the following weekend when Boston and Pittsburgh meet in a 3 game season ending series. The Chicago Cougars went 4-2 last week and inched closer to clinching their first pennant since 1933. The Cougars gained another game on both New York and Brooklyn and their magic number for clinching the Continental is down to 5 with 12 games remaining.   Overall the Gothams aren't shining in any particular area. They are what their record says they are; a middle of the pack squad. Although one with enough youth to expect further improvement. Led by LF/1B Walt Messer who has broken out this year, (.323-28-90), the offense is scoring some runs to support a rotation that is getting a decent start more days than not. Gus Goulding has been the workhorse at the top and has actually been somewhat below expectations (12-15, 4.46). This has been offset by Bunny Edwards completing his first full season in the majors (13-8, 4.07). Rusty Petrick and Harry Carter have been some of the same type bad news, good news. The fans are coming out in higher numbers than at any time in the past decade. With the promise of a future ace in Ed Bowman, recently promoted to AAA where he has started three times (2-1, 2.52) the Gothams may not be too far off from declaring themselves a competitor in the FA. Only time, and a looming conflict in Europe, will tell.  The General Manager was very brief in his time with the press. He made a quick statement placing blame for their failures this season on underachieving players and then declined to take questions from the newspapermen before hurridly exiting the meeting room. Here is the transcript of that statement: Quote:
Can things turn around in the near future? It will be a tough road as the top half of the Fed has some dominant teams and the Keystones and Gothams are itching to get to the first division as well. There are some positives such as the arm of Jim Douglass and the bat of 25 year old slugger Sig Stofer (.277,22,107) plus outfielders Miller (if he can stay healthy) and all-star Sam Brown but there are also a lot of holes that need plugging and the Eagles rank dead last in the Fed in both runs scored and runs allowed. There is clearly still a lot of work ahead but there are some building blocks. Until then fans should just enjoy the fact that Mel Carrol is back after being exiled to Cleveland by the previous management team in Washington. QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 9/15/1941
__________________
Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports |
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03-29-2022, 03:46 PM
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#384 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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September 15, 1941 Football Joins The Figment Universe
 FIGMENT FOOTBALL COVERAGE DEBUTS AT TWIFB This special edition of This Week in Figment Baseball introduces the second sport to be covered by The Figment Sporting Journal. Known as 'The Scripture of Sports", TWIFB is beginning to live up to that moniker with the addition of coverage from Figment's professional football league which is known as the American Football Association. The history of the AFA can be traced back to the 1920 season where the first game was played in Akron, Ohio. The league had 14 teams back then and has undergone a number of changes over the years. Recaps of many of the early seasons can be found here. The 1941 campaign will be a solo simmed league ran by our Figment commissioner Legendsport. It is my understanding at some point in the future (likely after WWII) human GMs will take over running the teams just as they do in FABL, our baseball league. TWIFB will provide weekly updates on the key happenings in the football world beginning with this recap of Week One of the 1941 season. The 10 team loop is divided into two divisions. The Boston Americans, Brooklyn Kings, New York Stars, Philadelphia Frigates and Washington Wasps comprise the Eastern group while in the Western Division we have the Chicago Wildcats, Cleveland Finches, Detroit Maroons, Pittsburgh Paladins and St Louis Ramblers. WEEK ONE The season began on Sunday September 7th with the visiting Boston Americans blanking the Cleveland Finches 17-0 in the opening contest, which would be the only one on the docket in the first week of the season. The defense led the way for the Yanks, intercepting Cleveland quarterback Tom Mellette three times. Leon Fitzgerald and Myles Seaburg each rushed for a first half touchdown to pace the winners. WEEK TWO Saturday saw the New York Football Stars get off to a quick start to the season with an impressive 35-14 drubbing of the Frigates in Philadelphia. Tom Jamason completed just 6 passes for the winners but a pair of them were for touchdowns to help ruin a solid day from Frigates signal caller Jim Taylor, who threw for 266 yards and ran for 19 more in a losing effort. Sunday's game was also a rout as the Detroit Maroons thumped St Louis 40-8 at Pioneer Field. Both teams had some success running the ball but the difference was Detroit's Dewey Burnett, who passed 175 yards and 4 scores, with 3 of them to end Stan Vaught. Vaught hauled in a week high 11 catches for 98 yards, also best in the league. The final game of the week was the most hotly contested one with the visitors again triumphing. In this case it was the Cleveland Finches, who evened their record at 1-1 with a 10-7 victory over the Paladins at Pittsburgh's Fitzpatrick Park. The Finches took a 10-0 lead at the break before Pittsburgh finally got on the scoreboard in the final minute of the third quarter on a 1 yard plunge by Charlie Walzer that was set up by a interception by the Paladins Barry Abbott. That cut the Cleveland lead to 3 points but the Paladins could get no closer as some strong defense allowed the Finches to hang on for their first win of the season. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 1 0 0 1.000 Boston 1 0 0 1.000 Philadelphia 0 1 0 .000 Brooklyn 0 0 0 .000 Washington 0 0 0 .000 WESTERN W L T PCT Detroit 1 0 0 1.000 Cleveland 1 1 0 .500 St Louis 0 1 0 .000 Pittsburgh 0 1 0 .000 Chicago 0 0 0 .000 Sunday Sept. 7 Boston 17 Cleveland 0 Saturday Sept 13 New York 35 Philadelphia 14 Sunday Sept 14 Detroit 40 St Louis 8 Cleveland 10 Pittsburgh 7 UPCOMING GAMES Sunday Sept 21 Detroit at Brooklyn Cleveland at St Louis Philadelphia at Boston 
COACHES CORNER With football now a part of the Figment sporting universe and other sports destined to follow we turn to the pages of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle for a primer on football offenses.  Going forward I expect the weekly football recap will be added in as a section in each issue of This Week in Figment Baseball.
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 03-29-2022 at 09:14 PM. |
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03-30-2022, 01:32 PM
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#385 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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September 22, 1941
SEPTEMBER 22, 1941 COUGARS CLINCH CONTINENTAL. MINERS MAKE MOVE NEW ENGLANDERS NERVOUS, DYNAMOS DISTRAUGHT Plenty of emotion, of all types in baseball this week. There is jubilation in Chicago as the Cougars clinched their first title in 8 years over the weekend. There is anticipation in Pittsburgh as the Miners have seized top spot in the Federal Association while in Boston there is worry of yet another potential late season failure. That just leaves Detroit, where Dynamos diehards are once again left just a little short in their quest for October baseball and wondering what might have been had the pitching been healthy all season. It has been pretty clear for close to two months now that the Chicago Cougars seemed a certainty to win their first pennant since 1933 and the Cougars made it official by rubbing salt in the wounds of the second place New York Stars. Chicago clinched the crown in the Big Apple, winning twice over the weekend including Pete Papenfus' league leading 20th victory of the season. All the Stars, losers of 4 straight and owning a 22-27 record since August 1st, could do was sit in the home dugout with head in hands, peaking occasionally to get a glimpse of the Chicago celebration in progress on the Dyckman Stadium infield. The Cougars have certainly slowed of late after setting a torrid pace in the blistering heat from late June until mid-August, but they still have an outside shot at a 100 win season and their current total of 95 is 9 better than anyone else in either league. Now the Cougars can simply relax, enjoy the week ahead and give more of their impressive collection of young talent- such as the Jones brothers - an opportunity to showcase their skills while the veterans take it easy and prepare to face the Federal Association champ. The Fed representative remains very much in doubt but it is clear the Pittsburgh Miners, looking for their third consecutive pennant, hold all the momentum heading into the final week of the season. The Miners 10 game winning streak was snapped yesterday in Washington lowering their lead on Boston to just a single game and setting the stage for a potential pennant showdown season-ending series between the Miners and Minutemen at Pittsburgh's Fitzpatrick Park this weekend. For that to happen the Minutemen will need a big showing in the nation's capital this week as odds are the Miners will not slow down as they visit in-state rival Philadelphia for 3 before the big weekend series commences. Pittsburgh's late season run has been nothing short of incredible. 16 wins in 19 September games! 35-12 since August 3rd and 45-24 since the all-star break. Boston has not been bad but the Minutemen are all too familiar with late season struggles, having led at the All-Star break, as they did this season, several times in recent memory only to fall in the standings like leaves from trees as the first winds of September arrive. It is not that Boston has been bad - they are 37-30 since the break and 28-15 since early August - but they have played just .500 ball over the last 15 days and are clearly white knuckling it down the stretch. The Minutemen finish with 6 on the road with the first 3 against the Eagles in Washington. Boston fans can point to Detroit and say at least we still have a chance. The Dynamos fate was sealed with 3 straight losses to finish last week and they are now 5 games back and in third place. One Detroit fan sarcastically - but accurately- pointed out after the 7-2 loss at Thompson Field to lowly St Louis yesterday "at least we won't finish second again." Detroit has had 3 straight second place finishes but it looks like they will end up third this time around.  COMBINED NO-HITTER FOR COUGARS The Chicago Cougars more than made a statement to the New York Stars on Saturday, driving home the point that the pennant was theirs with a convincing 5-0 victory that saw Pete Papenfus and rookie Harl Haines combine to throw a no-hitter. Papenfus was cruising along with a 3-0 lead in the 6th inning when his elbow started giving him troubles. He wanted to remain in the game but even with the no-hitter in progress Cougars skipper Clyde Meyer decided to take no chances and shut the 23 year old phenom down for the day. On came Haines, another 23 year old who was just promoted to Chicago recently after a fine season for AAA Milwaukee. It was his major league debut and Haines helped make it historical by holding the star studded Stars lineup, including Bill Barrett and Dave Trowbridge, hitless the rest of the way. FABL does not keep records of combined no-hitters but this is certainly the first one in recent memory and almost assuredly the first time a FABL pitcher was involved in a no-hitter in his big league debut. It was just the second no-hitter ever thrown by the Cougars with the first being tossed by Eddie LaRose in 1910.   The staff has been extremely reliable, featuring potentially two 20 game winners in potential triple crown winner Pete Papenfus (20-7, 2.84, 225) and Harry Parker (19-10, 3.19, 117) with the duo of John Lawson (.317, 29, 129) and Leo Mitchell (.345, 11, 81) keeping Bill Barrett from a triple crown. With six games left, they need three wins to break their single season high and five to reach the century mark. The Cougars will also set the single season attendance mark, and will become the first team in FABL history to draw 2 million fans. With a current attendance figure of 1,998,957 and two games remaining, they'll draw at least 10,706 in each through season tickets alone, and have been averaging 26,653 on the season. With the Fed not wrapped up, the Cougars don't know who they'll be facing, but the squad will get a nice week of rest and relaxation before what should be an exciting playoff series. Expect to see some of the youth, as Donnie Jones (0-1, 3.86) already made his debut and his brother Johnnie will debut in the finale against the Stars. Papenfus will be shutdown with a sore elbow, ensuring he's healthy for potentially three starts in the playoffs. The clubhouse is ecstatic and has been all season, as despite poor play on the field, Freddie Jones has been an anchor in the clubhouse and him and Joe Brown have taken their role as captain seriously. When asked about what motivates the team, Freddie explained; "We believed in ourselves all season, and after falling just short last year, we refused to let that happen again. A lot around the league expected us to be here, but there were a few who thought we were all bark and no bite. There was one preseason prediction in particular that really riled us up, and we hung it up right by my locker all season. And I'll be the first to tell you, when we smoked our celebration cigars, we ripped it off and let it burn! Cougar fans, this one is for you!"  NERVOUS MINUTEMEN REFUSE SERIES APPLICATIONS Sept 17, Boston (UPI)--Bombarded by telegrams, telephones and letters from fans, owner Jesse Barton of the Boston Minutemen stuck to his guns and today still answered "no" to the question, "Are Boston World Championship Series tickets applications being accepted. "The race is still in doubt and we have ample time to handle the situation even if it is not decided until next weekend," Barton explained. "In 1915 I am told we did not announce the ticket sale until they day after the season ended." Barton hopes to avoid the complications involved in accepting application on the basis of victory and then having to return checks in case the Miners or Dynamos win. The tickets have already been ordered and will be ready as soon as a decision to accept reservations is made. While local interest has not yet reached the white hot peak it did back in the teens when the Minutemen gave Boston several pennants, the plucky fight of the New Englanders this season has aroused enthusiastic, albeit cautious, support from Boston fans who have seen pennant hopes dashed late in the past. If the Minutemen win a sellout for local games appears to be a near certainty.  OF Tony Mullis (AAA 317/379/773 3-73) will slot into RF for the final week of the season ahead of RF Sid Williams who has had a surprisingly good season hitting 309/401/940 with 18 home runs, 50 RBI's and scoring 76 runs this season. 21-year-old Charlie Ashmore who had an up and down minor league season has been called up to the big league roster for the final week also. He is not slated to start any games but might get an outing out of the pen this week. BOISMENU SENDS SPORTS EQUIPMENT TO BRITISH Marion Boismenu, Canadian born first baseman of the Philadelphia Sailors, sent a shipment of sporting goods to the British Forces in Africa. The Sailors veteran, who grew up in Quebec before moving to Pittsburgh for high school ball, visited the British-American Ambulance Corps office and autographed some four dozen bats and an equal number of baseballs. "I just want to do a little bit to help the lads out," explained the 28 year old who is batting .299 in 130 games with Philadelphia this season. In addition, the shipment includes footballs, soccer balls, basketballs, turf bowling games, tennis racquets and balls, dart games, rubber horseshoes beach balls, ski-balls, skill balls, handballs and two dozen Sailors jerseys. QUICK HITS
AROUND THE LEAGUE Jiggs McGee takes a look around FABL with a quick comment or two on each of the 16 clubs: BOSTON- Not that they need any more motivation this week but the Boston-Washington series gives the Minutemen a real say on if they get the first overall pick in the January portion of the draft. Washington is presently a game up on St Louis in the race (???) for last place and the Minutemen own the Eagles first round selection courtesy of the Al Gross trade earlier this season. BROOKLYN- Safe to say reports of Al Wheeler's demise were erroneous. The 33 year old 5 time Whitney Award winner had a pair of rough season the past two years but returned to form this year. Wheeler is batting .290 with 23 homers and 75 rbi's heading into the final week. CHIEFS- Rabbit Day has likely made his final start of the season as the 37 year old is dealing with some nagging back tightness. If so, Day ends with a 16-15 record this season including his 280th victory of his career. That came Saturday in a complete game 3-2 win over the New York Gothams. Day is now 15th all-time in victories and bidding to become the first pitcher to reach the 300 mark since Hall of Famer Big George Johnson got there in 1925. An interesting question poised by Percy Sutherland. "Assuming Day plays at least 2 more seasons, does he go into the Hall with a Cannons or Chiefs cap? He had 7 seasons in Baltimore and now 5.5 in Chicago." Freddie Farhat points out Day had more personal success in Baltimore but won 2 WCS titles in Chicago. 129 wins and 1 Allen Award in Baltimore. So far in Chicago, 104 wins, 1 Allen, and 2 championships. If he gets to 300 wins, he may also top the Baltimore win total for Chicago. Looking back, Day's 1936 season was utterly dominating. He led the FA in ERA, K, WHIP, H/9, HR/9. It was nearly impossible to get a hit off of him. He finished with a record of 25-3 and 2 saves. COUGARS- As if the Cougars are not already loaded with young pitching talent in Pete Papenfus and Harry Parker, opponents will soon have to contend with the Jones brothers. Both 23 year old Johnnie and his 21 year old brother Donnie were called up last week but only the younger sibling made his big league debut. Donnie, a 1938 6th overall selection of the Toronto Wolves, took the loss in a 5-4 defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Sailors but he went 7 innings allowing just 3 earned runs and 10 hits so not a terrible debut by any means. With the pennant clinched the Cougars are expected to give Johnnie, who was originally drafted fourth overall by the New York Stars in 1936 but has been traded twice, a start this week. CINCINNATI- More bad news in a season full of it on the injury front. The Cannons learned this week that young outfielder Bob Griffith's back problems are not improving and he will need at least 3 more months before he can resume training. The 25 year old was first injured in June and had been expected to be ready to resume normal exercise by now. The good news is Cannons won player of the week honours in back to back weeks with Frank Covarrubias getting the nod this time after Adam Mullins was last week's winner. CLEVELAND- Mixed results for top pick Hiram Steinberg in his first season of pro ball. The 18 year old, who rewrote the national high school record book, went 5-6 with a 4.06 era at Class C Ottumwa of the Upper Mississippi Valley Association. A strikeout machine in college, Steinberg fanned 66 in 102 innings with the Owls but did walk 30. DETROIT- It certainly could have been different this season had Frank Crawford been healthy all year and Sergio Gonzales not gone down late in the season but the Dynamos have to be proud with how far the franchise has come in the past few years. Nothing to show for it, but 4 straight pennant races is quite an accomplishment. Good news is Sal Pestilli (.287,29,107) looked a little more like the player who won the Fed Whitney Award 3 seasons ago. MONTREAL- This is shaping up to be the worst season in Saints history since 1906 when they went 51-101. Montreal has 6 games left but with 55 wins it seems a near certainty they will fail to win at least 60 for the first time since that dreadful '06 campaign. NY STARS- Not so long ago everyone was thinking triple crown for Bill Barrett. Then a late slump saw the Cougars John Lawson overtake him for the RBI lead. The homerun crown seems safe for the 21 year old as his 33 lead Lawson by 4 heading into the final week of the season but the batting title no longer is a sure thing. Barrett is hitting .349 with Leo Mitchell of the Cougars closing fast as he is now batting .345. NY GOTHAMS- A 6 game losing skid pretty much ends the Gothams dreams of cracking the first division for the first time since their WCS winning 1935 season. The still have a chance despite trailing the 4th place Chicago Chiefs by 3 games as 4 of their final 6 contests are against the Chiefs. KEYSTONES- Veteran Doug Lightbody (.287,1,24) is looking like he might just stick around for another season. The 37 year old seemed like he was at the end of the line last season after Brooklyn released him and a brief trial in Cincinnati did not work out but he picked up his 2,000th career hit with the Keystones this season and has looked pretty good as a pinch-hitter, batting .381 in that role this season. SAILORS- If there current 7th place standing in the Continental Association holds true it will be the lowest the Sailors have finished since 1922, when they also came in 7th. You have to go back to 1919, in a war shortened campaign, to find a season in which Philadelphia won less games than they expect to finish with this season. Their .426 winning percentage is the club's worst in 41 years, surpassing only a .379 (53-87) showing in 1900. PITTSBURGH- Apparently the elbow injury is not that bad. There was some worry when Pablo Reyes banged up his elbow on September 10th but since then the 5-time all-star centerfielder has notched at least one hit in every game and is batting .383 (18-for-47) during that stretch. Miners doctors say it will be 2 weeks before he is healthy again which is a good thing as Pittsburgh skipper Dan Andrew might be tempted to bash his 30 year old in the elbow again if the doc were to pronounce him fit prior to the end of the Miners season. ST LOUIS- While it has been another awful year for the Pioneers the club has to love the showing of first round pick Tom Buchanan. The 18 year old, taken second overall behind Cleveland's Hiram Steinberg, went 6-6 with a 3.30 era in 14 starts for Class C Moline. TORONTO- Wolves finish their home schedule by surpassing one million in home attendance, a tribute to the fans who stuck with the club during a trying season for the Wolves plus the hardships of wartime rationing in Canada. Toronto will begin a post mortem immediately in an attempt to prepare for 1942, Rollinson has further complicated the Wolves crowded infield situation with a slash line of .364/.429/.523 during his September callup. Rumours around the team are that the Wolves may try to deal some depth over the off-season or move Tom Fredrick to OF full-time in '42. Another decision will have to made on two-way player Juan Pomales, is he a big league player at P or OF? WASHINGTON- Two more homers this week for Sig Stofer and the Boardwalk Bopper remains one of my favourite players in the league. The 25 year old, who came over from the Keystones at the break last year is batting .270 with 24 homers and 110 rbi's in 148 games this season. He had a bit of a dry spell in July but has hit 35 longballs in 189 games since joining the Eagles. VAUGHT LEADS MAROONS TO SECOND WIN Detroit's high powered offense led the Maroons to a second straight victory to start the season. End Stan Vaught caught two more touchdown passes, to give him 5 already this season, leading the Detroiters to a 24-14 victory over Brooklyn at Kings County Park. It was a sloppy affair as the two clubs combined for 9 turnovers and Brooklyn, despite 3 first half fumbles and an interception on their opening drive led 14-10 at the break. That is when Vaught and his quarterback Dewey Burnett went to work. The 28 year old end caught a 19 yard touchdown pass for a score on Detroit's opening drive of the third quarter to give his side the lead and then would add insurance with another score late in the third on a 2 yard swing pass. In other action the Cleveland Finches handed St Louis it's second straight home loss, beating the Ramblers 27-7 behind a solid game from Archie Bernstein. Bernstein was involved in 3 of the 4 Cleveland touchdowns, running for one, passing for a second one and catching a pass for a third score. In all he ran for 61 yards, threw for 21 and caught one pass while also contributing 5 tackles and an interception on defense. Interceptions have been the cause of St Louis' woes this season. Last week it was Ernest Spears getting picked off 4 times by Detroit. This time Warren David handling most of the throwing duties for the Ramblers but he completed just 4 of ten passes to his teammates while throwing 3 into the hands of Cleveland defenders. The final game of the weekend saw Philadelphia top Boston 21-10 despite a strong passing day from Americans quarterback Del Thomas, who threw for 154 yards on the afternoon. Thomas had great success throwing the ball but the Boston side also allowed Tom Griggs to handle some of the passing duties and Griggs was much less effective, getting picked off 3 times while completing just 3 of 11 attempts. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 1 0 0 1.000 Boston 1 1 0 .500 Philadelphia 1 1 0 .500 Brooklyn 0 1 0 .000 Washington 0 0 0 .000 WESTERN W L T PCT Detroit 2 0 0 1.000 Cleveland 2 1 0 .667 St Louis 0 2 0 .000 Pittsburgh 0 1 0 .000 Chicago 0 0 0 .000 Sunday Sept. 21 Detroit 24 Brooklyn 14 Cleveland 27 St Louis 7 Philadelphia 21 Boston 10 UPCOMING GAMES Saturday Sept 27 Detroit at Pittsburgh New York at Washington Sunday Sept 28 Chicago at St Louis Brooklyn at Philadelphia VAUGHT REVOLUTIONIZING THE GAME OF FOOTBALL Perhaps the best player in professional football right now is Stan Vaught of the Detroit Maroons. The 28 year old end is a guy who seems to be changing the way the game is played and is making the forward pass a true weapon. He has already caught 18 passes in just two games including 5 touchdown grabs after catching two more in the win over Boston yesterday. A native of tiny Trumbull, Kansas Vaught attended the small, relatively unknown Dudley College in Peabody, KS. Standing 6'2 and weighing 185 pounds Vaught was something of a secret phenomenon when Rollie Barrell, passing through on his way to Eastern Kansas, stopped at Peabody and took in the game. Few scouts saw the team because Dudley did not play any top competition but Barrell was impressed enough with the young end that upon his return to Detroit he instructed his staff to sign Vaught "at any cost." As it turned out that proved necessary; Vaught did not plan on playing pro football - he was also a baseball and basketball player at Dudley and hoped to land a FABL job. Barrell instructed his staff to offer $300 per game - an unheard-of sum that eclipsed what any active player was then making. They got their man, Maroons coach Frank Yurik installed a new offense that spread one end far to one side (that being Vaught) and a legend was born. So newcomers to following the AFA, if you are looking for a player to track I would suggest you could do no better than following the career of Stan Vaught.
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 9/21/1941
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 03-30-2022 at 02:27 PM. |
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03-31-2022, 04:34 PM
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#386 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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September 29, 1941: End of Regular Season
SEPTEMBER 29, 1941 BANNER DAY FOR BOSTON Boston fans waited 26 years so nothing wrong with a couple of more innings as their baseball heroes staged a dramatic comeback to cap a week full of excitement and give the Boston Minutemen a 7-6 victory in 11 innings at Pittsburgh yesterday to clinch their first Federal Association Pennant since 1915. There were plenty of ups and downs for both Boston and Pittsburgh along the way but none more dramatic than Sunday's season ending contest to decide the crown. But before we go there let's take a look at the winding path that brought us to that point. The Minutemen had a strong start to the season and led most of the first half while Pittsburgh muddled along, hovering just over the .500 mark as June was winding down. At the all-star break Boston was 5 games up on Detroit while Pittsburgh was in 4th place. In the second half of the season the Miners caught fire and eventually caught Boston, taking the lead just under two weeks ago and as the season entered it's final week the Miners were a game up on the Minutemen with 6 to play. The strange week for Pittsburgh began Tuesday with perhaps the game that Miners fans will look back on as the one that cost them a third straight pennant. It was in Philadelphia and looked like a laugher with the Miners entering the bottom of the 9th inning with Karl Johnson pitching a shutout and a commanding 8-0 lead. When the dust settled neither Johnson nor Tom Barrell, who came on in an unsuccessful attempt to put out the suddenly raging fire, could get the final three outs as the Keystones exploded for 9 runs and an improbable 9-8 victory. Boston won that day in Washington and the two clubs were tied. The Minutemen completed a 3-game sweep of the Eagles while Pittsburgh, after rebounding with a 5-1 win the next day thanks to some fine mound work from Lefty Allen, fell a game back on Thursday when the Keystones doubled them 8-4. The season came down to three games in Pittsburgh between the front-runners with the Miners needing two wins to force a 1-game playoff or a sweep to claim the Fed crown for the fourth time in five years. They came up just short. Friday the Minutemen clinched at least a tie thanks to trade deadline pickup Walt Wells, who has been outstanding since coming over from the Philadelphia Sailors. Wells spun a 5-hit shutout and the Boston waltzed to a 6-0 victory. Minutemen fans were not quite ready to start celebrating just yet, as they have come to realize their team never does anything the easy way and has provided more than it's share of disappointing finishes over the past two and a half decades. Tied 3-3 in the 7th inning of Saturday's contest, Boston had runners on first and second against a tiring Karl Johnson but the rally ended when Buddy Schneider hit into a fielders choice. Pittsburgh did get a runner to second in the bottom of the 7th but Dean Astle, another trade deadline pick-up for the Minutemen, shut the door. Tom Barrell took over for Johnson and held the Boston bats in check in both the 8th and 9th innings setting the stage for Johnny Guzzo to become a hero as the Pittsburgh bats got to Astle. Mahlon Strong, who would a day later claim his first Federal Association batting crown, singled and after a Pinky Pierce base hit and a Jack Cleaves fielder's choice Strong was perched just 90 feet away with no one out. Enter Guzzo, who slapped a walk-off single to score Strong and give the Miners a 4-3 victory and a pulse. A Pittsburgh win on Sunday would mean the two clubs would need a 1 game playoff Monday to determine who would face the Chicago Cougars in the WCS. Which brings us to Sunday's game and the incredible emotional rollercoaster both teams ended up hitching a ride on. Lefty Allen (18-13, 3.47) took the hill for the Miners so everyone in the park knew they had a great chance. When the Miners took a 3-0 lead in the fourth, fans in Fitzpatrick Park started making plans to return tomorrow for the tie-breaker. Chick Donnelly gave Boston a little hope with a lead-off homer to start the Boston fifth but Pittsburgh got that run back and as the game entered the 9th inning it was 4-1 Miners and we were 3 outs away from needing the first Federal Association tiebreaker since 1927 when the Keystones beat Detroit. Then everything came crashing down on Allen. Lew McClendon led off with a single and Joe Watson -another of those mid-season Minutemen pickups- walked. Art Spencer singled and suddenly the bases were loaded and the go-ahead run was at the plate. That would be Mack Sutton and he delivered with a bases clearing double to tie the ballgame. Allen still had not retired a batter but Pittsburgh skipper Dan Andrew sat like a statue in the Miners dugout and made no move to his bullpen. Allen did finally get out of the mess without further damage but Pittsburgh fans went from celebrating a sure victory and Minutemen fans were lifted from the despair of another missed opportunity in a matter of moments. It was 4-4 but the game, and the season were far from over. Things got a little tense for Boston in the bottom of the ninth as the Miners had Luke Berry on second base with just one out but Boston starter Ed Wood retired the next two batters to force extra innings. Tom Barrell, the former Brooklyn ace, replaced Allen for the 10th and was greeted with a 1-out double from McClendon. An error put runners on second and third for Mack Sutton and once again the young third baseman delivered with a 2-run single to give Boston the lead. Barrell escaped the jam with an inning ending double play but the Miners season was down to three outs. There was no quit in the defending champs however as they tied the game back up at 6 when Johnny Guzzo played hero once more with a 2-run homer that ended Ed Wood's afternoon. So we go to the 11th inning once more tied, this time at 6. Barrell issued a free pass to lead-off man Pete Day, who moved to second on sacrifice and then scored on a Jack Flint single and once again Boston was within 3 outs of ending two and a half decades of futility. John Edwards, who had relieved Wood in the 10th, remained on the mound and quickly retired the first two batters. But being the Minutemen they don't do much the easy way so Pablo Reyes gave Pittsburgh life once more when he reached on a McClendon error. George Cleaves, the great Pittsburgh catcher, had a chance to prolong the agony for Boston fans but he came up short, flying out to left field to end the game and setting off a wild celebration for the Minutemen.    ---Up Next: Chicago Cougars -- While the FA race was one for the ages, the CA race was sewn up some time ago. The Chicago Cougars posted 97 wins and were eight games better than their nearest competition in the New York Stars. Chicago ranked high in the CA in many of the same categories the Minutemen did in the FA. They can score, pitch and play defense really well. It will be a great matchup but Ol’ Doc thinks it will be extremely stressful for the Schnieder family. Two of the three Schnieder triplets will be playing against each other in the fall classic. Buddy, the slick fielding second sacker from the Minutemen will go up against his brother Skipper who gobbles up every ball hit to him at SS for Chicago. Could you imagine how good Northwestern High School in Detroit was with these two playing up the middle and the third triplet Bart on the mound? Did they ever lose? Ol’ Doc is sure that Mama and Papa Schneider are beaming with pride today but probably unsure of how they will deal with all the media attention that will surely come their way. The last time Boston was in the FABL Series was back in 1915 when most of Europe was embroiled in “The Great War”. Today, 26 years later, Europe finds itself in round two of the conflict and Boston finds itself in the fall classic. OL’ Doc sincerely hopes this is not a trend for the Minutemen. As much as he loves baseball he doesn’t want a world conflict to be the trigger for Boston inclusion. While some things may look the same politically, much has changed since the last time Boston took the field against a CA opponent. Fun Facts:
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES PREDICTIONS Before we take a look around the league to see how the scribes see the WCS playing out let's take a quick look at how the prognosticators did in calling the pennant winners. The CA went pretty close to script with the Cougars winning as predicted by 7 of the 14 newspapermen that contributed. Five more of them had Chicago finishing third while the Philadelphia Record put the Cougars 6th and, as we all know thanks to Freddie Jones revelation about the Cougars locker room bulletin board, Bob Stewart of the Washington Times Herald thought the Cougars were a 7th place outfit. The biggest disappointment, according to the writers, was the Toronto Wolves who finished 25 games back in 5th place despite getting 3 first place votes and 10 second place nods. The Fed win by Boston caught everyone by surprise as no one called them winning and only BNN had them as a second place club. Detroit World writer Freddie Farhat had Boston third with six others calling for Boston to sneak into the bottom of the first division. The remainder were a mixture of 5th and 6th place calls for the Minutemen with the Philadelphia Record being the lone publication to call the Minutemen a last place team. But now the slate is clean for our fearless forecasters so let's see who can get the World Championship Series call correct. Here is what they have to say. BNN: BOSTON MINUTEMEN in seven Dan Barrell OSA: CHICAGO COUGARS in six games. Jiggs McGee - THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL: CHICAGO COUGARS in seven. These two teams look pretty even and I would not put on money on it but I am going to give the edge to the Cougars because of Pete Papenfus and John Lawson. The old guy remembers the thrill of winning in '32 with the Stars and wants at least one more ring before his career ends. And Papenfus has had a breakout year so I see no reason for that not to continue this week. Boston has talent and depth but I worry there is a bit of a letdown, at least early in the series as they try and take a breath after surviving the Fed. Doc Shaw Boston Globe: BOSTON MINUTEMEN in seven. OL’ Doc believes that Boston's lineup is a bit deeper, the pitchers are young and hungry and the team is hot right now. As much as Ol’ Doc respects the opponent he could never go against the hometown boys here and predicts that the Minutemen will win the series in 7 games. Archie Irvin Chicago Daily News: CHICAGO COUGARS in six as the entire city (well, at least those who don't root exclusively for the Chiefs) have their fingers crossed. Percy Sutherland Chicago Herald-Examiner: CHICAGO COUGARS in seven. I think the Fed is deeper, but the Cougars are a very good club. I had Chicago winning the pennant and I'll stick with them for the series: Cougars in 7. Freddie Farhat Detroit World : BOSTON MINUTEMEN in six. Because I still think the Fed is a bit stronger of the two leagues, I'm going with Boston in 6. Marc T McNeil Montreal Star: BOSTON MINUTEMEN in seven Artie Mortimer New York Daily Mirror: CHICAGO COUGARS in six. Philadelphia Record: BOSTON MINUTEMEN in six games. We are looking for big things out of ex-Sailors Walt Wells and Joe Watson in the WCS. Toronto Telegram: CHICAGO COUGARS in six, team is much more rested, setup for the Series, Minutemen had to fight it out until the final day. Bob Stewart Washington Times Herald: BOSTON MINUTEMEN in 6. Chicago's pitching is merely good vs lefties, which Boston has a ton of. SCHNEIDER BOYS READY FOR SERIES BUT MOM IS NERVOUS Imagine being the mother of Buddy and Skipper Schneider and having to watch the World Championship Series. The boys, two of the baseball playing 20 year old triplets, are going to face each other for the first time in the big leagues when the Boston Minutemen and Chicago Cougars meet in the World Championship Series. "We did play each other a few times last year when we were both in the Century League," said Buddy after his club eliminated the Pittsburgh Miners to clinch the Federal Association pennant, "but this is going to be a whole other level." The boys squared off 7 times in April of 1940 when Skipper's Milwaukee Blues faced Buddy's Columbus Titans. Skipper's side came out on top with 5 wins and both made their big league debuts shortly after that. As for Momma Schneider, she says she will be too nervous to watch but does plan to go from her hometown of Detroit to Chicago for the games in the Windy City. Second baseman Buddy hit .336 and finished third in the Federal Association batting race this season while Skipper, a shortstop, batted .298 for the Cougars. Skipper has bragging rights as he was drafted one spot ahead of Buddy (7th overall in 1939) and made his big league debut ahead of his sibling. The third triplet, pitcher Bart, was taken 9th overall by Cleveland and went 15-15 at Class A this season. Bart plans on attending all the games and the trio will celebrate their 21st birthday along with their mother after Saturday's game three in the Windy City.   DOUGLASS TO ENTER ARMY SOON Jim Douglass, Washington Eagles righthander, underwent his physical examination at Fort Jay yesterday and was classified 1-a by his draft board. He will be called up in about three weeks, a board official said. Douglass, who won 15 and lost 11 this season, left immediately after the examination to rejoin the Eagles in Philadelphia for their season ending series. The native of Haddonfield, NJ was originally selected by the New York Stars in the 1936 draft after playing his college ball at Eastern State. Washington acquired the 24 year old in a 1938 trade that sent Moxie Pidgeon to the Stars. PAPENFUS HAS SOLO FLIGHT TO CREDIT Chicago, Sept 24 - Add the name of Pete Papenfus to the list of flying enthusiasts. The big Chicago Cougars hurler is learning to fly and already has soloed, hitting that milestone this week while enjoying some time off from baseball as he is rested in preparation for next week's World Championship Series. Papenfus has 14 hours of flight experience and needs 21 more in order to obtain a pilot's license. Peter the Heater said today that his flying had nothing to do with his possible induction into the selective service this Fall.  QUICK HITS
BARTON WAGES WAR ON TICKET SPECULATORS Jimmy Barton, president and owner of the Boston Baseball Club, is getting plenty of praise today for the way in which he is handling the difficult problem of World Championship Series tickets. This is always a headache but is particularly so in a smaller ballpark like Cunningham Field. Barton is doing everything possible to keep the tickets out of the hands of speculators and giving every opportunity for the loyal fans who have supported his club all these years to gain the opportunity to see the Minutemen play in the WCS. He has given priority to calls for ducats from Bostonians over outsiders, is limiting purchasers to max of four tickets and has set aside several thousand tickets to be sold singly to those who applied for the customary set of three and been turned down.  NO STOPPING MAROONS No team has adopted the practice of the forward pass quicker or more effectively that the Detroit Maroons. Then again no team has the combination of Stan Vaught catching balls tossed to him by Dewey Burnett. Vaught caught 12 more passes Saturday including 4 that he turned into touchdowns to lead his Maroons to their third straight victory, a 35-14 triumph over the Pittsburgh Paladins adding more insult to what was already a bad week for sports fans in the Steel City. The Paladins fall to 0-2 on the year as they, just like Brooklyn and St Louis the two previous weekends, had no answer for Vaught. The Detroit end now has caught 30 passes for 370 yards while no other player has made more than 7 catches. Vaught, who also handles the kicking duties for the Maroons, leads the AFA with 66 total points including 9 touchdown catches. Yes Detroit is one of just 4 teams to have played 3 games so far, but the number two man on the scoring list is Tommy Milatz of the Stars and he has amassed just 24 points. So Vaught has scored 9 touchdowns while no other player has more than two of them. Detroit's stiffest competition in the Western Division will quite likely come from the Chicago Wildcats, who finally got their season underway with a convincing 40-21 win over the winless St Louis Ramblers. The game was pretty much over in the first quarter when the Ramblers interception problems continued as each of their first four drives ended with the Wildcats picking off a Warren David pass and building a quick 20-0 lead. Washington was the other team to finally make it's debut and the Wasps threw the game away....literally as Washington passers Jeff Proos and Gary Childs combined to be intercepted 8 times in a 35-7 win for the New York Stars. The Football Stars returned a pair of those interceptions for touchdowns. The final game of the weekend saw Brooklyn blank Philadelphia 28-0 behind a strong backfield by committee that saw Mark DeNicola, John Faulkner and Hal Collett combine for 136 yards and 2 touchdowns. DeNicola also threw a pair of TD passes in the win to even Brooklyn's record at 1-1. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 2 0 0 1.000 Boston 1 1 0 .500 Brooklyn 1 1 0 .500 Philadelphia 1 2 0 .333 Washington 0 1 0 .000 WESTERN W L T PCT Detroit 3 0 0 1.000 Chicago 1 0 0 1.000 Cleveland 2 1 0 .667 Pittsburgh 0 2 0 .000 St Louis 0 3 0 .000 Saturday Sept. 27 Detroit 35 Pittsburgh 14 New York 35 Washington 7 Sunday Sept 28 Chicago 40 St Louis 21 Brooklyn 28 Philadelphia 0 UPCOMING GAMES Sunday Oct 5 Chicago at Cleveland New York at Boston Brooklyn at Washington Pittsburgh at St Louis Someone please tell St Louis to stop throwing the ball. 13 interceptions between their two main passers in 3 games. Of course it could be worse. The Washington Wasps debuted this week against New York and they threw 8 interceptions including a pair of pick-sixes. They also fumbled 7 times but managed to recover 6 of them. Transitioning to the forward pass era is clearly a work in progress for some teams. I find it amazing that 11 games into the season the home team has yet to win a single contest. Might be just the fact the teams that are likely the top clubs in Detroit, Chicago and Nee York have begun on the road while weaker clubs like St Louis have played exclusively at home so far but just a very unexpected trend. And I am thinking it might continue next week as Boston beating New York or possibly St Louis over Pittsburgh in the battle of winless teams seem the only chances to snap the streak. No idea what the AFA record for touchdowns in a season is but with 4 more scoring receptions this week and 9 in 3 games I am going to say Stan Vaught is going to break it. He also has 30 catches when no other player has more than 7. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 9/28/1941
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 03-31-2022 at 05:08 PM. |
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04-01-2022, 11:37 AM
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#387 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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1941 WCS Games One and Two
OCTOBER 3, 1941 COUGARS BATS CRASH BOSTON PARTY The Boston Minutemen went from the top of the world after finally crushing a two and a half decade long pennant drought to being crushed under the weight of the Chicago Cougars bats in the opening two games of the World Championship Series. Chicago outscored the Minutemen 20-2 in the first postseason action at Cunningham Field since 1915 and now returns home to the Windy City with a comfortable 2-0 series lead and dreams of winning the 6th WCS title in club history. For Boston, there is hardly time to lick their wounds and get back on track as they ride the train tracks west today before stepping on the field at Cougars Park tomorrow faced with an uphill battle to try and prolong the series enough to take it back to Boston. Most had anticipated a tightly contested affair but this was anything but, at least so far, although TWIFB's Jiggs McGee did suggest the Minutemen might have trouble early as they transition from the emotion of the final weekend of the season in Pittsburgh to getting focused on the Cougars. McGee feels the Minutemen will make a series of it but after the first two games that certainly looks to be a tall task. --- GAME ONE --- A tight pitching duel was anticipated with likely Allen Award winner Pete Papenfus on the mound for the Cougars and veteran trade deadline pickup Walt Wells toeing the rubber for the hometown Boston Minutemen. It was a duel, but only for two innings as Chicago broke the game open with a 4-run outburst in the third inning and would add 7 more runs along the way to win a laugher by an 11-0 score. Papenfus was everything a Chicago fan could hope for, and more, until he tweaked his back on a headfirst slide into second base after legging out a double in the sixth inning. It was the only moment all game that Cougars fans needed to worry about and it turned out to be nothing overly serious - just some tightness but there is a chance he may not pitch again in the Series. Of course the Cougars quite possibly might not need him anyway but when Papenfus was on the mound he was nothing short of outstanding. The line on 'Peter the Heater': 5 innings of work, 1 hit allowed, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts. There were no WCS jitters as he retired the first 8 batters he faced and only allowed a 3rd inning single to his opposite number, Boston hurler Walt Wells.Wells was terrific down the stretch for the Minutemen since coming over in a deadline trade from the Philadelphia Sailors but he struggled early, allowing two base runners in the first and then gave up a grand slam to Leo Mitchell in the third inning that started the scoring parade for Chicago. John Lawson and Ray Ford would also homer for the Cougars, who scored 11 times on 13 hits with seven of them being the extra-base variety.  --- GAME TWO --- Boston starter Ray Dalpman had a rough go of things, allowing 8 runs (but just 4 earned) on 10 hits and he did not survive a 7th inning onslaught that saw Chicago pad it's lead by 5 more runs to 9-0. After the game, Boston skipper Bill Boshart admitted he had some reservations about starting the 24 year old righthander. "I was worried about starting Dalpman today. He hasn't been the lights out guy down the stretch," conceded Boshart. "Rookie wall, maybe? But then Wells gave up 8 runs with 5 of them earned. Costly errors but it didn't look like we were hitting Pap anyway. Boys are going to have to dig deep or this thing will be over by the end of the weekend." For their part the Cougars are thrilled to be returning home up 2-0 in the series but not all the news is great. "Papenfus can't stay in the game, which is a bit concerning," acknowledged manager Clyde Meyer. Papenfus has been forced to leave three games in the past month and a half with a minor injury. This one was baserunning but the previous two both involved his elbow while pitching, one of them in the middle of what would turn out to be a combined no-hitter over the New York Stars. One has to think that even if Boston wins game three the Cougars will hold Papenfus until at least game five before starting him and perhaps not even then if they are up 3 games to one. Chicago's pitching is deep enough to survive the series without risking the golden arm of Papenfus. But if the series ends up going back to Boston you have to think Peter the Heater will be on the mound for the sixth game. The Cougars later confirmed Papenfus would not pitch in game four as Dick Lyons, who took over when Papenfus got hurt in the opener, will start the fourth game after September CA pitcher of the month Jim Lonardo gets the ball in game three.   One has to think Montreal was the final big league stop for the 61 year old Pozza, who had been with the Saints since midway through the 1934 season. He was run out of Chicago that year and blamed by many for ruining the career of former Cougars ace Tommy Wilcox by subjecting him to throwing 194 pitches in a July game and then four days later Wilcox threw over 70 pitches before leaving with an ankle injury. Two days after that Pozza started Wilcox again and the 27 year old lasted four innings before blowing out his elbow, likely because of the need to adjust his delivery due to the wonky ankle. Wilcox missed over a year and was never the same pitcher. Pozza was fired the next day and many thought he would never manage in the big leagues again but he was signed by the Saints within the week. Prior to the debacle in Chicago, Pozza was very successful. He was the bench coach for the Washington Eagles when they won back to back pennants in 1922-23 and after spending some time in a similar role with St Louis he was given his first managerial job by the Detroit Dynamos. After two second place finishes, including his 1927 debut when the Dynamos forced Philadelphia to a playoff tiebreaker, Pozza skippered Detroit to the 1939 World Championship. He moved to the Cougars the following season and won another title in Chicago in 1931. His 1,188 career victories as a manager place him 13th all-time and only 7 others have won more than the two WCS titles that Pozza owns.  --SAINTS RECAP -- Positive sides of the season:
QUICK HITS
HOME TEAM FINALLY WINS A GAME - BUT JUST ONE Finally a home side wins a football game. After 11 games over the first four weeks with all of them won by the visitors home cooking finally paid off for someone. That was the Washington Wasps, who kicked a late field goal to treat fans to something they don't see an awful lot of - either in the summer or fall- a rare win by a home team at Columbia Stadium. The Wasps trailed visiting Brooklyn 7-0 at the half but took advantage of a big punt return from Jeff Proos and an undisciplined penalty on the Kings to have great field position late in the third quarter. A 6 play, 25 yard drive culminated with Bob Frum scoring from 1 yard out to tie the contest. It remained 7-7 until with just 2:31 remaining in the game Mike Biladeau split the uprights with a 13 yard field goal that proved the difference in a 10-7 Washington win. The loss for the defending champ Kings drops them to 1-2 on the season. As a recap the Kings barely edged the Stars for top spot last season, going 7-3-1 while the Stars were 7-4. In the title game the Kings defense shut down Detroit receiver Stan Vaught, holding him to just 1 catch for 31 yards, and the pass defense led them to a 20-7 triumph over the Maroons. Here is the boxscore from last year's title game.  Elsewhere the Chicago Wildcats came up with a dominant performance in Cleveland, showing it is far too early to call the idle Detroit Maroons the AFA's most dominant offense. Chicago piled up 51 points and 385 net yards in a 51-6 drubbing of Cleveland at Forester Field. Seven different Wildcats found there way into the end zone as the balanced Chicago attack improved the clubs record to 2-0 and they have outscored opponents 91-28. The Finches drop to 2-2 on the year. Counting the Minutemen, the city of Boston fell to 0-3 so far in October as Del Thomas threw for 224 yards and Leon Fitzgerald ran for 70 but it wasn't enough to prevent the Americans from losing 21-14 to the New York Football Stars, who improved to 3-0. It is now 19 interceptions in 4 games, all home losses, for the hapless St Louis Ramblers. Warren David was picked off 5 times including on each of his clubs final two possessions when they were in Pittsburgh territory as the Paladins hung on for a 9-0 win to improve to 1-2 on the season. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 3 0 0 1.000 Washington 1 1 0 .500 Boston 1 2 0 .333 Brooklyn 1 2 0 .333 Philadelphia 1 2 0 .333 WESTERN W L T PCT Detroit 3 0 0 1.000 Chicago 2 0 0 1.000 Cleveland 2 2 0 .500 Pittsburgh 1 2 0 .333 St Louis 0 4 0 .000 Sunday Oct 5 Chicago 51 Cleveland 6 New York 21 Boston 14 Washington 10 Brooklyn 7 Pittsburgh 9 St Louis 0 UPCOMING GAMES Sunday Oct 12 Pittsburgh at Chicago Brooklyn at St Louis Cleveland at Detroit Philadelphia at New York Washington at Boston NOTE- Dates will not match up with FABL in order to keep football running in conjunction with the baseball sim schedule.
The Week That Was Current events from 09/29/1941 thru 10/02/1941
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04-04-2022, 10:05 AM
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#388 |
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1941 WCS Games Three and Four
OCTOBER 6, 1941 BOSTON IS BACK : EVEN SERIES WOOD AND ASTLE WITH PITCHING GEMS What a difference a couple of days makes. The Boston Minutemen went from being considered done after dropping the first two games of the World Championship Series at home by a combined 20-2 score to being very much alive thanks to a pair of 1-0 victories as the Series shifted west to Chicago. After rapping out 27 hits in Boston, the Cougars bats went silent, managing just 7 hits total in back to back shutouts by Boston veterans Ed Wood and Dean Astle to guarantee the series would return to New England. That will be for Game Six but first there is the little matter of today's fifth game at Cougars Park and whether Chicago manager Clyde Meyer will hand the ball to Pete Papenfus. The 23 year old righthander, who led the Continental Association in wins and strikeouts, has been terrific all year and was nearly unhittable in Game One before leaving with a tight back. It was an easy decision for Meyer to rest his young ace and hold him out of Game Four even after Wood's 1-0 shutout win Saturday but now that the series is tied will temptation be too much for Meyer? Club Trainers suggest Papenfus have at least one more day to rest his wonky back but does Chicago hold him back until Game Six in Boston? If so, then Harry Parker (19-10, 3.19), who looked very strong in the Game Two win, will get the call for Chicago today and Papenfus likely goes Tuesday when the Series shifts back to Boston. The Minutemen also have some tough decisions to make on the mound. It seems a given that Walt Wells will pitch today despite getting shelled in last Wednesday's series opener. Wells was 6-4, 2.70 down the stretch for the Minutemen since coming over from the Philadelphia Sailors at the deadline but the 33 year old will need to be much better than he was in his WCS debut last week. The big question for Boston skipper Bill Boshart comes for Game Six and whether he gives the ball to Ray Dalpman, who was roughed up in the second game, or does he go back to 20-game winner Ed Wood on 3 days rest? A tough decision made even more difficult by the fact Boshart voiced concerns to the press about Dalpman's durability after the Game Two debacle, but you can bet that Boshart is glad to be in a position to have make any decision, as entering the weekend the situation for the Minutemen was dire and a sweep seemed a distinct possibility. But all that has changed thanks to Wood and Astle and we now, for the first time in 3 years, have a competitive series. GAME THREE: FEW WOOD HAVE BELIEVED IT? After being embarrassed at home in the opening two games of the World Championship Series many observers, and even some Boston fans, had counted the Minutemen out and with the series heading to Chicago with their beloved Minutemen trailing the best-of-seven affair two games to none there seemed little hope of bringing the series back to Boston. But Ed Wood, the second-longest serving Minutemen player behind only reliever Bobby Montefusco, had other ideas. Wood was about as close to perfection as one could hope for in a situation like this, tossing a 3-hit complete game shutout to beat the Chicago Cougars 1-0 and give the Minutemen a glimmer of hope in the series. Wood got into a little trouble in the second inning, surrendering back to back two out singles to Leo Mitchell and Harry Mead but a Skipper Schneider fly ball got the Minutemen out of the jam unscathed. Wood would allow just 1 Chicago hit the rest of the way - a sixth inning Ray Ford single - and Chicago did not have a baserunner advance as far as second base. However, veteran Jim Lonardo, a 4-time Allen Award winner, was nearly as effective on the mound for the Cougars. Lonardo gave up just 5 hits but the Minutemen bunched them together, nearly taking the lead in the third inning when lead-off man Jack Flint reach on an error and moved to second on Buddy Schneider's single. Ed Wood then made his only mistake of the day, botching a sacrifice attempt that allowed Lonardo to retrieve the ball and throw out Flint, who was heading for third. It looked like Boston would get the all-important first run of the game when Pete Day followed with a sharp single to right but Cliff Moss in the Chicago outfield came up throwing and fired a bullet to catcher Harry Mead that nailed Flint at the plate and kept the game scoreless. Chicago's luck ran out in the 6th when Bill Burkett worked Lonardo for a 1-out walk, stole second and then moved to third on a Bill Moore single. Chick Donnelly followed with a double that plated Burkett but the Minutemen decided not to test the Chicago outfield again and held Moore at third. He would be stranded there when Lonardo retired the next two batters but Boston had the lead at 1-0 and, as it would turn out, that would be all that Ed Wood would need to get the Minutemen back in the WCS.  GAME FOUR - MORE OF THE SAME The fourth game turned out to be almost a carbon copy of Game Three with Dean Astle providing outstanding pitching on the mound for Boston and Dick Lyons nearly as effective for the Cougars. The Minutemen had opportunities to score before they eventually did break through and that started in the first inning when Joe Watson, like Astle a trade deadline acquisition, hit a 1-out triple off of Lyons. Boston failed to score quickly however, as Art Spencer hit a fly ball to left field that was not deep enough to send Watson before Lyons fanned Mack Sutton to get out the inning. Boston had another great chance in the third inning when Lew McClendon singled and advanced to third with two out thanks to a pair of wild pitches from Lyons but Spencer popped out to end the threat. Chicago's best chance to score came in the bottom of the third when Freddie Jones and Leo Mitchell hit back to back singles with 1-out but failed to capitalize. They also had Tip Harrison standing just 90 feet away from scoring with two out in the bottom of the 5th but Carlos Montes flew out to end that threat. The game's opening run, and as it would turn out only run, came from an unlikely source. The Minutemen have always had high hopes for 24 year old catcher Bill Van Ness but he has struggled at that plate throughout his career and lost his starting job to newly acquired Jack Flint this season. Seeing his first action of the series Van Ness got the start on this day and delivered, hitting a solo homerun off of Lyons with 2-out in the top of the seventh inning that immediately prompted each Boston fan to take back every bad thing they had said about Van Ness the past couple of years. The Van Ness solo shot would be all the offense Dean Astle would need, as former Cleveland Forester retired the last 9 Chicago hitters in order to notch his first WCS victory. Astle had won a championship and made 3 Series starts for Cleveland in the mid-thirties but had lost all three.   FEDERAL ASSOCIATION PERHAPS NOT SO DOMINANT AFTER ALL For much of the past half dozen years much of the baseball talk has focused on how competitive the Federal Association is and just how powerful the top half of that loop must be. Yet when it comes time to test that theory, it is the lowly Continental clubs that come out on top time and time again. The Chicago Cougars dominance of the Boston Minutemen in the opening two games of this year's WCS is just the latest example, but there are plenty of others. How about the Pittsburgh Miners? A club that strikes fear into it's Federal foes yet rolls over and plays dead come October when the Continental champ gets a hold of them. Pittsburgh has posted a 445-325 record over the past five seasons yet are 2-12 against the CA in the Series. The Chicago Chiefs are the outliers as they did manage to beat Brooklyn handily twice but the Continental crew has won 3 of the last 5 Series and the Cougars are closing in on making it 4 out of 6. In the modern era (human GM) which began in 1926 the CA also holds a solid league with a 9-6 record in postseason series wins not counting what seems to be transpiring this season. Even the All-Star game, which belonged to the Feds early with wins in the first 3 contests and four of the first five, has seen the balance of power tip. The Continental doubled the Fed 8-4 this past July and the CA boys have no taken 3 of the last 4 mid-summer classics and 4 of the last six. The Fed boasts a lot of talented players but the young crop coming up the CA is something to see. Bill Barrett is just 21 but the Stars youngster is already the best player in the game and Pete Papenfus of the Cougars is the best in a collection of great young arms in the CA that also includes George Garrison, Joe Hancock of Toronto and Cincinnati's own Deuce Barrell. Despite all of that evidence, even as recently as last week, in the days leading up to the Series opener in Boston, Freddie Farhat of the Detroit World and none other than Percy Sutherland of the Chicago Herald-Examiner each claimed in their Series prediction column that the Fed was the stronger loop. I guess they forgot to tell that to the Chicago Cougars, just as they ignored mentioning that fact to the Toronto Wolves or New York Stars the two previous autumns. Perhaps it is high time Fed favouring writers in cities like Detroit and Chicago come to the realization that the balance of power has shifted, or perhaps it has simply been in the Continental Association all along and the Pro-Fed scribes may finally be realizing it, or at least they should be if they watched any baseball at all the past few Octobers. (NOTE - The above article is from the Friday edition of the Cincinnati Post prior to games 3 and 4 being contested.) QUICK HITS
 The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 10/05/1941
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The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 04-04-2022 at 10:10 AM. |
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04-05-2022, 01:32 PM
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1941 World Championship Series Games 5 & 6
OCTOBER 9, 1941 MINUTEMEN WIN WILD ONE TO FORCE A SEVENTH GAME. It only seems fitting that one of the most exciting World Championship Series in recent memory, one with incredible performances and almost unbelievable shifts in momentum, should require a seventh game to determine a victor. That will be the case as the Series goes the distance for the second time in four years after a sixth game that was one of the most dramatic and unpredictable WCS games ever played. Between them the Boston Minutemen and Chicago Cougars have played 4 game seven's in their history but neither side has ever won one. That will, of course, change today but for now the Cougars are 0-3 and the Minutemen 0-1 in the situation little kids dream about wherever a ball game is cobbled together whether it be in a park, on a sandlot or a stickball game on a street corner. This time it is for real as the Cougars try to erase the memories of their last taste of October baseball. That would be 1933 when they, just as they did the this season, won the first two games on the road but fell in game seven to the Philadelphia Keystones. The Cougars also came up on the short-end of the Game Seven score in 1918 (falling to Detroit) and 1896 (against the New York Gothams). Boston's only Game Seven appearance was the last time they made the WCS. That would be 1915 and they lost the deciding game 1-0 to Montreal in the Johnston & Johnson game when the Saints Bob Johnston out-duelled Hall of Famer Big George Johnson. One thing is for certain. This time tomorrow one of these two clubs will have finally broke through with a Game Seven victory but judging how this series has gone only a fool would dare feel comfortable with his prediction on the outcome. GAME FIVE - PARKER'S TURN TO SHINE After back to back 1-0 shutout victories for Boston in Games Three and Four to even the series could we see another pitching duel? Harry Parker and Walt Wells took to the mound at Cougars Field with Chicago's Parker looking to repeat a solid start in the second game while Boston's Wells wanted to replace the bitter memories of a dreadful performance in the Series opener when he didn't survive the sixth inning of what would be an 11-0 loss in his WCS debut. For five and a half innings it looked like another 1-0 contest was a distinct possibility as both pitchers kept the bats at bay. Each club had an opportunity early - the Cougars had Skipper Schneider on second with one out in the 3rd while Boston ran itself out of a chance to open the scoring in the fourth inning when Bill Burkett foolishly got caught in a rundown between second and third with one out. Boston also loaded the bases in the top of the fifth but with two out Minutemen manager Bill Boshart elected to let Wells hit for himself and all the Boston pitcher could manage was a weaker tapper for an inning ending force out. An inning later the Cougars would get on the scoresheet as a Carlos Montes single, followed by a walk and a Buddy Schneider error loaded the bases with nobody out in the Chicago sixth. Wells fanned pinch-hitter Johnny McDowell but veteran Freddie Jones lined a one-out single to score two runs and give Chicago starter Harry Parker all the offense he would need on this day. Wells went the distance, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits as the Cougars added insurance in the form of a 2-run homer by Montes in the bottom of the 7th but for the second start in a row the veteran Boston hurler received 0 runs from his offense. Harry Parker was the reason why on this day, as the 26 year old righthander scattered just 4 hits for his second complete game victory of the Series.  GAME SIX- WILD COMEBACK WIN FOR BOSTON TO FORCE A SEVENTH GAME Boston must have been saving all of their offense for this game. The Minutemen managed to score just 4 runs in the first five games of the Series but exploded for 7 in the fifth inning alone in Game Six. That put Boston up 8-3 at the time but there was no quit in Chicago as the Cougars clawed back to take a 9-8 lead in the top of the ninth inning only to see Boston tie it in the ninth and force a 7th game with walk-off single in the 10th inning to give the Minutemen a 10-9 victory. Two sensational youngsters in 23 year old Pete Papenfus and 24 year old Boston rookie Ray Dalpman hooked up on the mound. With a combined regular season record 39-13 and each sporting an earned run average under 3.50 a slugfest was not expected. However, Papenfus had his second start of the Series delayed because of a minor back strain suffered in the opener and Dalpman looked worn out in getting hammered in Game Two so perhaps indeed the writing was on the wall indicating a high scoring affair. The hometown Minutemen struck first, scoring after three straight singles to lead off the second inning with Jack Flint providing the one that knocked in the opening run. Dalpman had allowed 5 Chicago hits through the opening four innings but somehow emerged unscathed. That changed in the fifth when a pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases with 2 out. Veteran John Lawson delivered a bases clearing double to give the Cougars a 3-1 lead but it did not last long as the Minutemen responded by chasing Papenfus with a 7-run outburst in the home half of the fifth to put the Minutemen back in front by an 8-3 score. There was no quit in the Cougars as they chipped away with 2 runs in the 7th. By the 8th inning, Dalpman was out of the game replaced by John Edwards and his WCS debut did not go well. A pair of walks in the 8th inning led to a 2-run double off the bat of Cougars pinch-hitter Fred Vargas and the Minutemen lead was now just a single run at 8-7. Edwards came back out for the top of the 9th and he retired the lead-off man but allowed a one-out single to Freddie Jones. After Leo Mitchell struck out, Harry Mead hit a ground ball to Buddy Schneider that looked like the game ending play....but the youngster Schneider booted it and Chicago was still alive with runners on second and third. Up to the plate stepped Buddy's brother Skipper Schneider and he looked to be the hero of the game with a 2-run single to give Chicago a 9-8 lead. It was now the Minutemen's turn to fight back, and Charlie Reed put the tying run in scoring position with a one out double. But when Mack Sutton flew out Boston was down to it's final out. Jack Flint, the veteran catcher acquired from Cincinnati over the winter after repeated attempts by Boston to land Adam Mullins - who perhaps ironically went to the Cannons making Flint expendable - was down to his final strike against Cougars reliever Dick Lyons with a 1-2 count but Flint delivered a sharp single to plate Reed and tie the game up. Boston was alive once more, when just a moment before they were one pitch from elimination. Dick Higgins, a forgotten man this season on the Boston mound after starting 76 games over the previous two seasons, got the call to hold the Cougars in the 10th and, while he did allow a 2-out single off the bat of John Lawson, he did the job retiring Cliff Moss to end the inning. Pug Bryan would be asked to do the same for the Cougars but the 28 year old's WCS debut did not go anywhere near what he might have hoped. Pete Day, after taking ball one from a nervous looking Bryan, ripped a double to start the Boston 10th. Bryan would get to a 1-2 count on Bill Burkett, but the Boston outfielder legged out an infield hit to put runners on the corners. Up to the plate stepped Bill Moore, the mid-season pickup from Cleveland known as much for his singing as his slugging. Word is Moore has a screentest lined up with some Hollywood bigshots after the season and might give up the game for the Silver Screen but on this day he was all baseball and the crooner gave Boston fans plenty to sing about with a sharp single off Bryan to allow Day to easily trot him with the game-winning run to tie the series at three. The only question that remains is how are these two teams going to top the excitement of Game Six in today's seventh and deciding game?  A HISTORY OF SEVENTH GAMES This will mark the 13th time the World Championship Series has needed a seventh game to determine a champion. As mentioned earlier the Cougars are 0-3 and Boston 0-1 in winner take all games with the Continental Association holding a 7-5 lead all-time. Here is a look back at each of the previous dozen Game Sevens: 1896: NEW YORK GOTHAMS OVER CHICAGO COUGARS An early power it was the Gothams third title in the first four years of the WCS and their second consecutive series win over the Cougars. After winning in six games the previous season, the Gothams needed seven this time around with a 9-7 victory in the deciding contest. New York won the opener but Chicago took the next two and the Cougars were up 3-2 before losing a heartbreaking 6th game by a 5-4 score. 1908: BALTIMORE OVER DETROIT It was quite a year for the City of Detroit as not only did the Ford Motor Company debut one of it's greatest sellers in the Model-T, but also their beloved Dynamos won their first Federal Association pennant. The Series went back and forth with defending champion Baltimore winning Games One and Three while Detroit came out on top in Two and Four. Detroit took the Series lead for the first time with a 7-4 win in the fifth game but Baltimore responded with a lob-sided 9-1 victory in Game Six. That set the stage for a pair of future Hall of Famers in Mike Marner and Woody Trease to square off with the title on the line. The official FABL historical recap describes that game like this: Both guys threw goose-eggs for the first five frames. Then the Clippers got on the board with a single run in the sixth and that 1-0 score held up til the ninth. Baltimore scored another off Trease to take a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Detroit put up a valiant effort, scoring one and having the tying run at second, but the game ended in dramatic fashion when Clipper CF Bill McCollum gunned down Phil Thompson at the plate for the final out in a 2-1 win and repeat championship for Baltimore. 1911: TORONTO OVER DETROIT The greatest comeback in WCS history as the Toronto Wolves dropped the first three games, including two at home, before shocking two nations with four straight victories including a 5-0 shutout in Game Seven. Toronto's comeback was even more improbable when one considers the Wolves won both the fourth and fifth games in extra innings and barely escaped Game Six with a 4-3 victory. 1914: BALTIMORE OVER WASHINGTON 1914 marked the second straight series between neighboring rivals in the Baltimore Clippers and Washington Eagles. Washington had bragging rights in the first ever meeting between the two, taking the 1913 Series in 6 games despite the Clippers, led by Marner and fellow future Hall of Famer Powell Slocum, being heavily favoured. This time around Mike Marner outdueled Billy West 2-1 in the opener and Baltimore led the series 2-1 after each of the first three games were decided by identical 2-1 scores. The fourth game was a slugfest with Washington prevailing to even the series with an 8-7 win in extra innings but Baltimore rebounded with a 5-2 win in Game Five. Washington forced the seventh game with a 4-2 win but once again Mike Marner prevailed in a seventh game. It wasn't close as Baltimore plated 4 in the first frame and breezed to a 7-2 victory. 1915: MONTREAL OVER BOSTON 1915 was the last time prior to this year that the Minutemen won the Federal Association Pennant. Like 1914 before it, this series also went seven games after the Minutemen built a 3 games to one lead. Montreal stayed alive with a 2-0 shutout victory by Charlie Firestone in Game Five and the Saints tied the Series with a 7-4 win at home in Game Six. The official FABL historical guide takes over from here to describe the 7th game: Boston ace George Johnson, who had already won twice was on the mound for the Minutemen. Facing him for the third time was Montreal's Bob Johnston (and his 0-2 Series record). But Johnston was just a little bit better than Johnson this time, tossing a seven-hit shutout while Johnson allowed one run in the game and took the loss in a 1-0 decision. For the Saints, the celebration was extra sweet - Montreal would long remember the day that their beloved Saints finally cast off their lovable loser persona and laid claim to greatness. 1918: DETROIT OVER CHICAGO COUGARS The World War was well underway by this point but the loss of ballplayers to the Army was still minimal at this point. On the field the Series looked like a rout when Detroit won each of the first 3 games but the Cougars clawed back with three straight victories of their own. The official FABL history recount of the decisive game seven at Detroit's Thompson Field: The Dynamos sent ace Jim Golden to the hill against Chicago's Pete Boyer; the pair had already squared off twice in the series, splitting the two matchups. Boyer, picked up in a trade from the Miners midseason, was Chicago's de facto ace: he had posted a very solid 9-2 record and 1.99 for the Cougars after the deal. Golden's resume was well-known. Chicago drew first blood, plating two runs in the second to deflate the capacity crowd, seemingly resigning them to their fate of seeing their team blow a 3-0 series lead. But the Dynamos scored a single run in the fourth with budding star LF Frank St. Pierre right in the middle of the action as he had been all series long. The 25-year-old had hit .342 after becoming a regular in midseason and led off the inning with a single, then stole second and went to third on a throwing error by Cougars' catcher Ruben Gillis. After Don Benford walked, and Danny James popped out, Cliff Everett singled to center, scoring St. Pierre and giving Detroit some life. The score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the eighth. St. Pierre singled again (he was 3-for-4 for the game) and then Don Benford hit the biggest home run in Dynamos history to give the hometown fans something to scream about as the score was quickly 3-2. Golden allowed a leadoff single in the ninth to Ike Martie, but then James Richerson popped up a bunt attempt for the first out and Golden picked off Martie for the second out. A Ruben Gillis fly to center was squeezed by Matt Younger to make the Dynamos champions for the second time in three years. 1921: MONTREAL OVER ST LOUIS It was the second straight Series appearance for Max Morris and his Pioneers after he came over from Cleveland in a shocking trade prior to the 1920 campaign. Morris would hit 3 homeruns in the Series and Pioneers starter Jimmy Clinch had a 1.00 era for his two starts that October but Montreal had just a little more firepower and, led by Red Henry and Joe Ward, prevailed in seven games. 1929: DETROIT OVER PHILADELPHIA SAILORS The Detroit Dynamos came close for two seasons, finishing second to the Chicago Chiefs in 1928 and losing a 1 game playoff to the Philadelphia Keystones in 1927, before finally winning the pennant in 1929. Their opponent that October would be the powerful Philadelphia Sailors who were right in the middle of a 3 year run as Continental champs. The Sailors would win it all in 1928 and 1930 but this time around Detroit prevailed with an 8-3 win in Game Seven. Frank Vance was the Series MVP and Roy Calfee the Game Seven winner despite going on short rest as the Dynamos evened their Game Seven record at 2-2. When the Cougars take the field in Boston later today they will tie Detroit for the most Game Seven appearances.1930: PHILADELPHIA SAILORS OVER NEW YORK GOTHAMS The Sailors get revenge for 1929's Game Seven defeat with a 4-3 victory over the New York Gothams. It was a thrilling finish as the Sailors opened a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning, saw the Gothams score once in the top of the seventh and once more in the 8th to tie the contest only to have the Sailors score a walk-off Series winning run in the bottom of the ninth to claim a 4-3 win as Herm Lowman went the distance for the victory. Dick Walker, the current Cougar, was one of the Sailors stars of the deciding game, going 2-for-4 with an rbi and a run scored. 1933: PHILADELPHIA KEYSTONES OVER CHICAGO COUGARS The most recent Series appearance for the Cougars was their second one in three years. They won the first two games in Philadelphia but then proceeded to drop three straight at home including an extra inning loss in Game Five thanks to a 10th inning homerun from Keystones outfielder Grover Lee. Philadelphia took an early 3-1 lead in Game Six and looked to be on pace for it's fourth straight win but the Cougars rallied and stopped their skid with a 6-5 victory keyed by 3-hit games from both Tom Taylor and Russ Combs. That set the stage for Chicago ace Tommy Wilcox to do battle with Philadelphia's Bill Ross in the winner take all seventh game. Bobby Barrell broke open a tight game with a 2-run homer in the 6th inning that lifted the Keystones to a 4-2 victory and saw the Cougars suffer their third Game Seven loss in franchise history. 1934: CLEVELAND OVER THE NEW YORK GOTHAMS The New York Gothams blew a 3 games to one Series lead and suffered the worst Game Seven defeat in FABL history as the Cleveland Foresters, fresh off an 8-3 win in the sixth game, blasted 20 hits in an 18-3 pasting of the New Yorkers. Max Morris, who was on the losing end of the 1921 seventh game, was a winner this time around as Mighty Mo homered in the contest (for the third time in the series) while T.R. Goins had 5 hits and, like Morris, drove in 4 runs in the deciding game. New York would get it's revenge the following year when the Gothams once more faced Cleveland in the WCS, taking just 5 games to avenge the memory of the '34 Series..1938: CHICAGO CHIEFS OVER BROOKLYN The Chiefs mastery of the Brooklyn Kings continued with a seven game victory just two seasons after Chicago swept heavily favoured Brooklyn 4 straight. The two teams were considered a little more evenly matched this time around but Brooklyn jumped out to a 3-1 series lead only to see the Chiefs win Game Five by a 3-1 score behind an outstanding effort from Jim Lonardo, who is expected to start Game Seven for the Cougars today, and then take the sixth game by a 6-2 count. The seventh game in 1938 was very much like the Game Six we witnessed yesterday between the Minutemen and Cougars: a wild 11-10 slugfest with plenty of momentum shifts and lead changes. What was interesting about this one was that all of the scoring came in the first six innings and Brooklyn, while they had a couple of chances, could not get the equalizer as the Chiefs won in the first game seven for both franchises. QUICK HITS
 Football coverage will return with tomorrow's edition as we recap Week Six of the AFA season. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 3 0 0 1.000 Washington 1 1 0 .500 Boston 1 2 0 .333 Brooklyn 1 2 0 .333 Philadelphia 1 2 0 .333 WESTERN W L T PCT Detroit 3 0 0 1.000 Chicago 2 0 0 1.000 Cleveland 2 2 0 .500 Pittsburgh 1 2 0 .333 St Louis 0 4 0 .000 Sunday Oct 5 Chicago 51 Cleveland 6 New York 21 Boston 14 Washington 10 Brooklyn 7 Pittsburgh 9 St Louis 0 UPCOMING GAMES Sunday Oct 12 Pittsburgh at Chicago Brooklyn at St Louis Cleveland at Detroit Philadelphia at New York Washington at Boston The Week That Was Current events from 10/06/1941 thru 10/09/1941
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The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 04-05-2022 at 02:57 PM. |
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04-06-2022, 11:13 AM
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#390 |
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All Star Reserve
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1941 World Championship Series: Game Seven
OCTOBER 10, 1941 WOOD LEADS BOSTON TO WORLD TITLE! It took 29 years but the Boston Minutemen can finally call themselves World Champions once again after the club completed a thrilling comeback against the Chicago Cougars with a 2-1 victory in Game Seven of the World Championship Series. The story in the finale was Ed Wood as the veteran Boston pitcher shut the Chicago bats down for the second time in the series, scattering 7 hits in going the distance. Boston's win returns the city to glory, giving the franchise that has had hard times the past couple of decades it's fifth World Championship Series win. The Minutemen were once one of the most feared clubs in FABL, winning 9 pennants and 4 WCS titles in the first two and a half decades of FABL's existence. The Minutemen won the series, despite being outscored 34-16 by Chicago in the seven games, as the Chicago Cougars won the blowouts but Boston prevailed in the close games. For the Cougars it was a case of missed opportunities and a tale they knew all too well. Chicago's last trip to the WCS was in 1933 against Philadelphia and, like this season, they won the first two games on the road only to struggle at home and eventually fall in seven. All told, the Cougars are now 0-4 in Game Sevens with losses also coming in 1896 and 1918. It is the 33 year old Wood who can almost singlehandedly be credited with turning the series around. Entering game three with Boston clearly on the ropes having been outscored 20-2 and embarrassed badly in two home losses to start the series, the veteran lefthander walked into enemy territory and shut down the Chicago onslaught with a masterful 3-hit shutout to give the Minutemen a 1-0 win and life in the series. Flash forward to yesterday's seventh game and Wood once more was needed to be close to his best as he and Jim Lonardo hooked up in another terrific game. Neither was quite as a effective as they were in Game Three as each found himself in a little trouble in some of the early innings but both managed to wiggle their way out unscathed. That changed in the bottom of the fourth inning when Lew McClendon drew a one-out walk for Boston and scored when the next batter, Jack Flint, laced a double off of Lonardo for the game's first run. Flint would score on a single by Wood, who did it with his bat as well as his arm on this day and was a well deserving winner of the Series MVP award. Chicago had it's chances early in the game but it wasn't until the sixth inning when the Cougars finally did capitalize. Carlos Montes led off the frame with a double and scored on a two-out single off the bat of Cliff Moss. Freddie Jones singled as well to move the tying run in Moss to second base but Wood escaped the jam by inducing a ground ball from Leo Mitchell to end the inning and the Cougars would get no closer than down 2-1. Chicago did have runners on first and second with one out in the seventh but Wood fanned Montes and got an inning ending ground out from Ray Ford to end the threat. He would retire the next 5 Chicago batters until finally with 2 out in the ninth inning Skipper Schneider singled but he would advance no further as pinch-hitter Fred Vargas lifted a high fly ball that was hauled in by Boston rightfielder Pete Day to end the series and set off wild celebrations across New England.   It matters not to the current crop of Cougars as only Dick Lyons and Mike Taylor were around in 1933 when Chicago last played in a WCS, but like this one Chicago turned two quick road wins to start the series into a devastating 7th game defeat. None of the current Cougars were playing in 1918 when they lost a 7th game to Detroit - in fact Pete Papenfus was just 6 months old and Skipper Schneider had not even been born yet - but at least the sting of that one was far less as Chicago dropped the first three games before nearly completing an amazing comeback. They franchise also dropped a Game Seven way back in 1896 when the WCS was in it's infancy. Game Seven losses sting and only the Cougars franchise has as many as four of them, but something tells me this one is going to hurt just a little more and for a little longer than any of the previous ones. The world is in chaos and likely baseball will be too in a short time. The Cougars have an amazing group of talented players, so much depth that one could in a normal situation perhaps simply shake this loss off as one of those lessons needed to be learned on the road to greatness. The worry is Hitler and the Nazis have put a giant fork in that road and the Cougars, like the rest of baseball and the country as a whole, may not have a choice as to which path they will be allowed to follow. It would be a shame if actions in Europe and the Far East tear the team apart and deny the Cougars a chance to learn from this heartbreaking lesson.   QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from today 10/10/1941
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04-06-2022, 04:07 PM
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#391 |
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All Star Reserve
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October 13,, 1941
Before we get to today's special bonus edition of TWIFB just a reminder for readers to check out the Hollywood Newsreel footage of the 1941 World Championship Series as provided by our commissioner Legendsport. While you are at it you should also consider subscribing to his youtube channel which includes information on various games and other peaks into the Figment Universe.
OCTOBER 13, 1941 VICTORIOUS MINUTEMEN PARADE THROUGH BOSTON More than 280,000 fans were in attendance during the World Champion Series and conservative estimates say nearly triple that number lined the parade route along Brookline Avenue in Boston to catch a glimpse of the WCS winning Minutemen. The crowd did not quite eclipse even that of the close to 1 million fans that were estimated to jam city streets just a week and a half ago when they welcomed the club back from Pittsburgh after winning their first Federal Association pennant in 25 years but they were just as boisterous. The WCS drought is now over as well, put to rest at 29 years and it was clear there was close to three decades worth of pent up frustration poured out in shouts of joy and songs of victory. While official totals are not tracked it is quite possible the 281,359 paying customers that crossed through the turnstiles of the two ballparks over the past seven games is a new WCS record. RESULTS OF THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES  MAROONS SURVIVE A SCARE TO STAY UNBEATEN It was a lot tougher than they likely expected but the Detroit Maroons improved to 4-0 on the season after a hard-fought 14-13 victory over a determined Cleveland squad. Cleveland third year running back Archie Bernstein had the game of his career, rushing for 121 yards as the Finches did their best to control the clock and keep the powerful Detroit passing game off the field. Double-teaming league receiving leader Stan Vaught paid dividends as the Cleveland defense limited the talented end to just 3 catches and 1 touchdown, both season lows for native of tiny Trumbell, Kansas. The Finches did not make many mistakes but one in particular proved costly and ultimately was the difference in the ball game. Early in the first quarter Cleveland quarterback Tom Mellette had a pass intercepted deep in his own territory and 4 plays later Vaught made them pay with his first catch and only touchdown on the day to put Detroit up 7-0 early, a lead they would not surrender. The Detroit win sets up a key Western Division showdown next Sunday at Whtney Park as the Maroons must travel to Chicago to play their longtime rival, the Wildcats. Chicago is now 3-0 after Gus Harris threw for 181 yards and 2 touchdowns to lift the Wildcats to a 28-7 win over Pittsburgh. New York is the only other unbeaten team as the Stars improved to 4-0 with a tight 30-28 win at home over the Philadelphia Frigates. Stars back Tom Jameson ran for 101 yards on 18 carries to become the third player to top the 100 yard rushing mark this week - joining Cleveland's Archie Bernstein and Hal Collett of Brooklyn - after no one broke the century mark in any of the previous games this season. Jameson should probably stop being called on to throw the ball, however, as he went 0-for-12 in forward pass attempts. Fortunately for the Stars offense, Jack Combs did have success in the air as he completed 5 passes for 91 yards and a touchdown. The defending champs from Brooklyn are the latest to benefit from a trip to St Louis as the Kings handed the Ramblers their 5th straight loss at Pioneer Field, winning 35-14 behind the 113 yard rushing effort of Hal Collett. Bulldog Stein, with 68 yards on the ground, and John Faulker, who added 63, each ran for two touchdowns while Collett scored once as well for the 2-2 Kings. Finally, Ernie Nixon turned a pair of interceptions into touchdowns and Paul Griggs ran back a punt 74 yards for another score as Boston overcame a rather pedestrian game from star QB Del Thomas to blast Washington 41-9. Thomas completed just 4 of 7 passes for 7 yards but was likely shaken up in the first quarter when he was sacked for a safety. He did not throw a pass after that, handling only the punting duties for the offense the rest of the way. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 4 0 0 1.000 Boston 2 2 0 .500 Brooklyn 2 2 0 .500 Washington 1 2 0 .333 Philadelphia 1 3 0 .250 WESTERN W L T PCT Detroit 4 0 0 1.000 Chicago 3 0 0 1.000 Cleveland 2 3 0 .400 Pittsburgh 1 3 0 .250 St Louis 0 5 0 .000 Sunday Oct 12 Chicago 28 Pittsburgh 7 Brooklyn 35 St Louis 14 Detroit 14 Cleveland 13 New York 30 Philadelphia 28 Boston 41 Washington 9 UPCOMING GAMES Sunday October 19 Detroit at Chicago Boston at New York Pittsburgh at Brooklyn Washington at Philadelphia St Louis at Cleveland The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 10/12/1941
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04-07-2022, 11:25 AM
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#392 |
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All Star Reserve
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October 20, 1941
OCTOBER 20, 1941 HARDWARE POLISHED UP AND READY FOR DELIVERY FABL's four major individual awards are set to be handed out this week when the announcement of the Whitney and Allen Award winners are made by both the Continental and Federal Associations. While the league likes to keep fans in suspense until the actual presentation announcement one has to think there is no doubt as to who the recipients will be of the Continental Association baubles. Chicago's dominant young pitcher Pete Papenfus seems a lock to claim the first of what could be many Allen Awards over the course of his career while there is little doubt that New York Stars electrifying outfielder Bill Barrett should win his first Whitney Award at the tender age of 21. Papenfus had showed signs of future stardom even when he made his big league debut four years ago at the age of 20 but control issues plagued him in those early days. That changed this season as he cut his walks per nine innings nearly in half from his career totals entering the season. Once he was able to spot his 100 mph fastball, Peter the Heater was practically unbeatable and was dominant down the stretch to help lead the Cougars to the CA pennant. He combined on a no-hitter in the pennant clinching game, denied it on his own as he was forced to leave the game early when he tweaked his elbow. He also was forced out of the opening game of last week's World Championship series with a minor nick but, those aches and pains aside, there was nothing wrong with Papenfus' incredible season that saw him lead the CA in wins and all of FABL in strikeouts. The final numbers 20-7, 2.84 era with 225 strikeouts in 295 innings of work. His ERA+ for those more progressive thinkers was 139 and his FIP was a FABL best 3.05. For half a season Bill Barrett put up some of the greatest numbers in recent memory. At the All-Star break the youngster seemed a sure-fire triple crown winner with a .406 batting average to go with 23 homers and 82 rbi's. He slowed in the second half, as did his New York Stars teammates, but Barrett still finished .348,33,136 and led the Continental Association in batting average, homers, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, walks, runs scored and modern stats WAR (10.3) and wRC+ (190). Some might perhaps argue that Barrett's sluggish second half opened the door for Chicago Cougars veteran John Lawson (.315,29,129) to claim his fourth career Whitney Award but really Barrett should be the unanimous choice. Assuming he wins the Whitney Award, Bill Barrett will become the youngest player ever to be so honoured in either association. He will be one month younger than Sal Pestilli of the Detroit Dynamos was when he claimed the 1938 Federal Association Whitney. Here are the youngest players to win a Whitney Award. (age as of October 1st in the year they won)  ---FED AWARDS MUCH MORE MUDDY--- While the Continental Award winners seem quite obvious the choice for the Federal Association winners is far less predictable. There are many legitimate candidates for the Fed Whitney. They include Mahlon Strong (.347,23,100) of the Pittsburgh Miners, who won his first batting crown at the age of 32. His teammate catcher George Cleaves (.315,9,92) won in 1939 and seems to always be in the running. A pair of Detroit Dynamos in Red Johnson (.298,37,108), the 1940 winner who led the Fed in homers and slugging percentage this season, and Sal Pestilli (.288,30,133), the 1938 winner who topped the Fed in rbi's this season, are always in contention. Washington's Sig Stofer (.271,24,110) and Boston's young second baseman Buddy Schneider (.336,0,62) deserve some votes but both are likely longshots to win. 23 year old Gothams 1B/OF Walt Messer (.320,29,94) had a breakout year while Chicago Chiefs veteran Ron Rattigan (.307,18,82) led the Fed in runs scored. Other longshots include Pablo Reyes (.308,4,81) of the Chiefs, Pittsburgh's Joe Owens (.344,2,51), Al Tucker (.324,14,71) of St Louis and the Boston duo of Bill Burkett (.265,15,91) and Lew McClendon (.281,10,80). It is also too bad Boston's Art Spencer got hurt as he was enjoying a career year and was among the favourites prior to his injury. TWIFB's Jiggs McGee says he debated long and hard on his decision but in the end decided to give Strong the nod with the Detroit duo of Johnson and Pestilli finishing second and fourth sandwiching Boston's Buddy Schneider who claimed third on Jiggs' ballot. The Allan Award picture in the Fed is equally as blurry as the Whitney. Most consider it to be a three-horse race between Detroit veteran Joe Shaffner (15-8, 2.79), Chicago's Al Miller (18-14, 2.91) and Boston's Ed Wood (20-7, 3.11) - the only twenty game winner in FABL this season besides Pete Papenfus. The Pittsburgh duo of Lefty Allen (18-13, 3.47) and Charlie Stedman (16-10, 3.25) also deserve consideration as does Danny Hern (16-12, 3.41) of St Louis and Boston rookie Ray Dalpman (19-6, 3.43). Jiggs was again very conflicted in filling out his ballot but he went with WCS hero Ed Wood as his winner, with Shaffner second and Miller third. LONG-TIME CHIEFS STAR HAMPTON RETIRES After 16 big league seasons with the Chicago Chiefs Jim Hampton has decided to retire. The 40 year old was not an everyday player the past few seasons but did stick around long enough to surpass the 2,000 games played mark and the 2,500 hit plateau - both records for a player in a Chiefs uniform. The club is expected to retire his jersey number 34 at a ceremony next season. A native of Lawrence, Kansas, Hampton played his school ball at New York High in the old feeder system. He showed some power as a teen but hit just .244 his draft year of 1920 and as a result lasted until the 11th round before the Chiefs took a chance on him. It took 6 years in the minors before Hampton made his Chicago debut with 5 games in the 1926 season as a 24 year old. He would never go back to the farm, becoming a fixture in left field at Whitney Park and remained the starter until age started to catch up with him in 1939. Hampton won a pair of batting titles, including 1928 when he hit a career best .397. He was a member of two World Championship Series winners with the Chiefs and claimed a part of three Federal Association pennants. He hit a solid .300 in 16 WCS games and was a two-time All-Star. Hampton ends his career 24th all-time in hits with 2,514 and his 2,005 games ranks 40th all-time.  BIG CHANGES IN ST LOUIS The St Louis Pioneers will have a somewhat different look next season. Not necessarily on the playing field although that might happen too as long-time manager George Sparkman has decided to retire at the age of 69, but also in the owner's box where the club has been sold to Dee Rose. Rose was short on specifics regarding the direction of the club in the press release announcing the sale but feels he can and will turn the club around. He also plans to reverse the St Louis trend of dealing it's star players away - something that happened in recent years with the jettisoning of Fred McCormick and Freddie Jones to the Continental Association. ""I've made a lot of money building things that no one thought would work," said Rose in the news release, adding "I've got a track record. Some people don't like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster. "Great teams are built with great players. We're gonna go get them." Rose is said to be a tolerant character, with a fiscal personality of economizer. The Pioneers finished the regular season with a 65-89 record, 7th place in the Federal Association. No word from Sparkman on if the retirement decision was his or if he was forced out because of the ownership change. Sparkman had been in charge of the Pioneers dugout since joining the club in 1930 after previously serving as Pittsburgh's bench coach. The recent years have been turbulent for Sparkman and his charges but he did guide the Pioneers to pair of second place finishes as the high water mark on his 12 years in charge. Sparkman finishes with a lifetime record of 863-903 and his 1,766 games managed are 25th most all-time. The Pioneers have not announced a replacement at this time.  QUICK HITS
 FOOTBALL STARS AND MAROONS REMAIN UNBEATEN The New York Stars and Detroit Maroons each improved to 5-0 on the season with key victories over division rivals as the American Football Association approaches the mid-way point of the season. The Stars, behind a solid performance from Tom Jamason scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to beat the Boston Americans 21-14. It did not start out well for Jameson, who fumbled the ball on the game's opening snap but he made up for it by rushing for a game high 50 yards and, despite being just 8-for-22, threw for 145 yards including one touchdown. The normally accurate Del Thomas had a rough outing for the Americans as he was picked off 6 times on the day including one that New York's Chet Hooper returned 51 yards for the game's first score. The victory gives the Stars a 2 and a half game cushion atop the Eastern Division. It was once again the Stan Vaught and Dewey Burnett show for Detroit as the duo took their aerial act on the road to Chicago and led the Maroons to a 46-27 win over the previously unbeaten Wildcats. Vaught caught 9 more Burnett passes for 160 yards and 3 touchdowns. He now has 42 catches for 566 receiving yards and 13 touchdown grabs. Only 3 players in the entire league have more catches than Vaught has touchdown receptions this season. While there was plenty of offense at Whitney Park it was very much in short supply at Kings County Park in Brooklyn where the hometown Kings were one of three teams to be shutout this week. Pittsburgh had little offense themselves but the Paladins defense did the trick in a 5-0 victory. Fred Fykes led the way for the visitors with a pair of interceptions and he kicked the first quarter field goal that got the Paladins on the board. Each team had a 100 yard rusher in the game with Warren Howard gaining 114 for Pittsburgh and John Faulkner rushing for 104 for Brooklyn but neither could get into the end zone. Washington leapfrogged Boston and Brooklyn to move into second place in the Eastern Division with a 16-0 win at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Stadium in Philadelphia. Bernard Dishmon caught a first quarter touchdown pass and contributed 6 tackles and a fumble recovery on the defensive side of the ball to pace the Wasps. In the final game of the day the St Louis Ramblers proved they could be just as inept on the road as they are at home. The Ramblers, who lost there first 5 games of the season at Pioneer Field, finally ventured out of town and were blanked 27-0 by the Cleveland Finches. Archie Bernstein led the way for Cleveland with 62 yards on the ground and scored two touchdowns - one rushing the ball and one on a 37 yard pass from Tom Mellette. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 5 0 0 1.000 Washington 2 2 0 .500 Boston 2 3 0 .333 Brooklyn 2 3 0 .333 Philadelphia 1 4 0 .200 WESTERN W L T PCT Detroit 5 0 0 1.000 Chicago 3 1 0 .750 Cleveland 3 3 0 .500 Pittsburgh 2 3 0 .400 St Louis 0 6 0 .000 Sunday October 19 Detroit 46 Chicago 27 New York 21 Boston 14 Pittsburgh 5 Brooklyn 0 Washington 16 Philadelphia 0 Cleveland 27 St Louis 0 UPCOMING GAMES Sunday October 26 Boston at Chicago St Louis at Detroit Pittsburgh at Philadelphia New York at Brooklyn Cleveland at Washington
 The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 10/19/1941
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04-08-2022, 01:11 PM
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#393 |
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All Star Reserve
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October 27, 1941 Awards presented
OCTOBER 27, 1941 NO SURPRISE, PAPENFUS AND BARRETT WIN CA AWARDS As expected Bill Barrett and Pete Papenfus were both unanimous selections as the winners of the two Continental Association trophies. The duo are heading a young wave of talent that has descended upon FABL the past few seasons and each is expected to play a very significant role going forward. Barrett, the 21 year old New York Stars outfielder, was on a pace that rivalled the all-time greats of the game at the all-star break. He slowed slightly in the second half but still won the Continental Association batting title and led the loop in homeruns. Only veteran Chicago Cougars third baseman John Lawson, who claimed the rbi lead, prevented Barrett from the triple crown. The Whitney Award announcement, just over a week before his 22nd birthday, makes Barrett the youngest player ever to win a Whitney. Lawson finished second while Cincinnati's Adam Mullins, despite missing over a month to start the season with an injury, claimed third place. Papenfus won the Allen Award as a 23 year old after a breakout 20-7, 2.84 season but he is not expected to be around to defend his trophy next season as he is 1-A and Selective Service will be calling on the fireballing right hander in the very near future. Vern Hubbard of the New York Stars was a distant second while Papenfus' Chicago teammate Harry Parker got the nod for third place in Allen balloting.  ANOTHER WHITNEY FOR JOHNSON It was a tight race between teammates but 24 year old Red Johnson outpointed the other half of the Detroit Dynamos duo, edging Sal Pestilli for the Federal Association Whitney Award. It was the second straight for Johnson with Pestilli also owning one, which came in 1938. Johnson hit .298 on the year with a Fed leading 37 homeruns and 108 rbi's. Pestilli hit .288 with 30 homers and a Fed best 113 rbi's. Johnson ended up with 7 first place votes, one more than Pestilli while Fed batting champ Mahlon Strong of Pittsburgh collected the other three votes. Al Miller of the Chicago Chiefs won his first Whitney Award after an 18-14, 2.91 season. Miller finished as high as second in the balloting before - that came as a rookie in 1936 - but the 26 year old four-time all-star had never won one until this season. The voting could not have been much closer as he narrowly edged World Championship Series hero Ed Wood by 4 points for top spot. Wood was one of three Boston pitchers who received votes on a list that also saw highly touted rookie Ray Dalpman finish 6th. St Louis pitcher Danny Hern was fifth but the 24 year old who went 16-12 for a bad Pioneers team did receive a first place vote.  DALPMAN UNANIMOUS CHOICE AS TOP NEWCOMER Ray Dalpman was a big reason the Boston Minutemen ended a pennant drought that started before he was born and the 24 year old righthander was rewarded for his efforts with the Rookie of the Year Award as selected by the Chicago Sportswriters Guild. He was the unanimous selection as posting a 19-6 record with a 3.43 era in your first big league season will do that for a youngster who actually made his big league debut with one start in the closing days of the 1940 season. He won that one too, naturally, and the former 7th round draft pick of the Detroit Dynamos even received consideration for the Federal Association's Allen Award. Dalpman struggled in two WCS starts but his Minutemen prevailed in the Series and big things are expected of the Martinsville, Indiana native in the years ahead.  SOHL SHOCKS CANNONS, ENLISTS IN NAVY The Cincinnati Cannons received a real kick in the gut this week when pitcher Bill Sohl informed them that he has enlisted in the Navy for four years. The big pitcher, who was to be drafted into the army November 3rd, will be assigned to the Navy's physical-education service. The 22 year old Portland, Oregon native missed the second half of the season with a back injury but was 3-3 with a 4.92 era after making his big league debut with the Cannons this season. He was the second overall draft pick by Cincinnati in 1940 after being a finalist for the Christian Trophy and an All-American in his final season at Lane State University. With Sohl's departure and the slow recovery of 23 year old Vic Carroll from elbow troubles the Cannons pitching staff is expected to be in a dire situation next season, especially if Deuce Barrell can not exhibit a full recovery from the elbow problems that ended his season in mid-August. It is good news for William Jones however as the 37 year old, who seemed certain to be released following a disappointing 7-10, 5.43 season, is expected to hold on to his job and given every opportunity to fill one of the vacant spots in the rotation next year. NEW OWNER PROMISES TO BUILD A PALACE FOR PIONEERS New St. Louis Pioneers owner Daniel "Dee" Rose announced today that the club will be seeking to build a new ballpark "as soon as possible." The Los Angeles-based new boss made his fortune in motion pictures, being part of a team who played a role in developing color film such as was used in the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" among others. Rose is a "get things done" man and he promises to make that happen in St. Louis. "We're gonna build a winning team on the field. And that winning team is going to be playing in a brand-new ballpark that will be the envy of the FABL. We're gonna build us a palace," Rose told reporters. When asked if he was going to relocate to St. Louis from his native Los Angeles, Rose laughed and said, "We live in a modern age where distance is no impediment to business. I have businesses to run in Hollywood and, now, here in Missouri. I can do both from my offices in Los Angeles." This fits with Rose's stated desire to "let the baseball guys handle the baseball and let the businessmen - primarily me - handle the business side. That's how I operate. When I make a movie, I don't stand behind the camera, you know." One thing is certain: Rose is one of the most interesting personalities to ever own a professional ballclub. QUICK HITS
BOSTON BESTS CHICAGO AGAIN After coming from behind to beat the Chicago Cougars in baseball's World Championship Series earlier this month the city of Boston once more got the better of Chicago. This time it was the American Football Association's Boston Americans who delivered a serious blow to the Chicago Wildcats playoff hopes with a 35-20 win at Whitney Field yesterday. The Americans returned two punts for touchdowns less than 2 minutes apart in the second quarter to break open what was up to that point a tight game. With the loss the Wildcats fall to 3-2 and drop further behind front-running Detroit, which improved it's perfect record to 6-0 with a win at home over hapless St Louis. The Wildcats were very much in the game until those two long punt returns. After a scoreless first quarter Boston got on the board early in the second frame when Del Thomas found Jim Sandera for a 14 yard score. Two minutes later after first Tom Griggs, for 69 yards and then Leon Fitzgerald, with a 73 yard return, the score was suddenly 21-0 and Chicago never did recover. It marked the second straight loss for the Wildcats, both at home, after starting the season 3-0. The Detroit Maroons, fresh off handing Chicago it's first defeat last week, improved to 6-0 with a 20-3 win at home over the 0-7 St Louis Ramblers. It was a surprisingly quiet game from Detroit end Stan Vaught, who caught just two passes and for the first time this season failed to score a touchdown. The St Louis defense was solid but once again the offense was a mess as the Ramblers turned the ball over 9 times including 6 interceptions thrown by four different players. Like Detroit in the Western Division, Eastern leaders New York are also 6-0 and well in control of top spot thanks to a 37-0 bombing of local rival Brooklyn. Tom Jamason ran for a pair of scores and threw for a third to pace the Stars offense. Elsewhere, Warren Howard ran for a game high 90 yards and threw for 66 more to help Pittsburgh blank Philadelphia 28-0 in the battle of Pennsylvania while in Washington Archie Bernstein scored a pair of touchdowns to lift visiting Cleveland to 21-7 win over Washington. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 6 0 0 1.000 Boston 3 3 0 .500 Washington 2 3 0 .400 Brooklyn 2 4 0 .333 Philadelphia 1 5 0 .167 WESTERN W L T PCT Detroit 6 0 0 1.000 Chicago 3 2 0 .600 Cleveland 4 3 0 .571 Pittsburgh 3 3 0 .500 St Louis 0 7 0 .000 PASSING LEADERS YDS Thomas, Bos 945 Burnett, Det 917 J Taylor, Phi 610 Proos, Wsh 590 RUSHING LEADRES YDS Faulkner, Bkn 443 Bernstein, Cle 430 Spears, StL 371 Jamason, NYS 365 Jordan, Det 357 RECEIVING LEADERS CATCHES Vaught, Det 44 Nicholson, Cle 21 May, Bos 16 Bowens, Bos 16 Fitzgerals, Bos 16 SCORING LEADERS PTS Vaught, Det 98 Milatz, NYS 57 Bernstein, Cle 42 Smith, NYS 36 Sunday October 26 Boston 35 Chicago 20 Detroit 20 St Louis 3 Pittsburgh 28 Philadelphia 0 New York 37 Brooklyn 0 Cleveland 21 Washington 7 UPCOMING GAMES Sunday November 2 St Louis at Chicago Boston at Washington Pittsburgh at New York Philadelphia at Brooklyn Detroit at Cleveland
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RECENT AFA TITLE GAME RESULTS YEAR WINNER SCORE LOSER MVP 1940 Brooklyn 20-7 Detroit Don Ludwigs, Bkn 1939 Boston 21-14 Chicago Leon Fitzgerald, Bos 1938 Brooklyn 9-7 Pittsbugh Bill Morrisett, Bkn The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 10/26/1941
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
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04-11-2022, 01:45 PM
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#394 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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NOVEMBER 3, 1941 SAINTS PROMOTE FROM WITHIN TO NAME NEW MANAGER The Montreal Saints conducted a wide search but in the end they found the replacement for the fired Dick Pozza right in their own backyard as Saints bench coach Homer Moore got the promotion. It will be the first big league managerial job for the 50 year old Moore, who did spend seven seasons as the skipper of the Saints AAA affiliate in Minneapolis before moving to the big club as Pozza's right hand man a year ago. Moore guided the Lumberjacks to the Century League title in 1940. The Saints say they conducted a number of interviews with other potential candidates before deciding to name Moore to the post. Montreal Assistant General Manager Phil Catalfamo points to how well Moore is respected by the players, many of whom played for him at Minneapolis at one time or another. "One of the key factors is the quality of relationship Moore is able to build with players to develop their skills to another level," explained Catalfamo of the choice to hand the reigns to Moore. The Saints also announced that Pete Boyer, who worked with Moore in Minneapolis in 1940, has been promoted from AAA where he was the pitching coach and will handle the same duties in Montreal next season. Boyer has a decent reputation in the baseball world but he knows very well the Montreal pitching squad as he had been working with them previously in spring training and at the AAA level. Prior to beginning his coaching career in 1933, Boyer spent over a decade in the Federal Association with Pittsburgh and the Chicago Cougars. He won 115 big league games and pitched in a pair of World Championship Series, winning a title with the Cougars in 1922. Montreal still has several openings with the most pressing being the need to find a new Scouting Director following the retirement of Mark House last month after just 2 years on the job. With the amateur draft approaching that is the key need but the Saints also must decide on a bench coach to replace Moore and the third base coaching slot is also vacant. FIELDING AWARDS HANDED OUT The Chicago Herald-Examiner has selected the top defender's at each position in FABL. This comes courtesy of Herald-Examiner Sports Editor and Chicago Sportswriters Guild President Percy Sutherland, who uses a complex mathematical formula to hash out just who is the top gloveman at each position in the league. Here are the 1941 men with the golden hands: Code:
C - Fred Barrell Brooklyn Kings 1B - Ron Rattigan Chicago Chiefs 2B - Buddy Schneider Boston Minutemen SS - Skipper Schneider Chicago Cougars 3B - Tommy Wilson St Louis Pioneers LF - Chick Donnelly Boston Minutemen CF - Carlos Montes Chicago Cougars RF - Bill Barrett New York Stars P - Chuck Cole New York Stars It is also likely no coincidence that the Boston Minutemen and Chicago Cougars - the two pennant winning clubs - combined to place 4 players on the nine man squad including both of the Schneider boys in Boston second baseman Buddy and shortstop Skipper of the Cougars.  VERY QUIET HEADING TOWARDS FABL WINTER MEETINGS This off-season, at least up to this point, has been the quietest in recent memory and there is very little chatter in advance of next week's winter meetings to be held in Chicago. Many observers feel a lot of teams are taking a wait and see attitude with plenty of clubs worried about how a possible increase in Selective Service requests for additional manpower being cited as the prevailing reason why there has been no activity. "Teams are just taking a wait and see attitude right now," offered one General Manager. "October and early November are usually pretty busy, but it is almost eerie, how quiet things are right now. Just seems like nobody is taking trade." It is a far contrast from even just a year ago when names like Adam Mullins, Lew Seals, George Phillips, Tom Barrell, Cliff Moss, Nate Spear and Jack Flint all were moved at or before the winter meetings. The prevailing thought this year is there will be plenty of time to make a move, if needed, in March and club's should have a better idea who Uncle Sam might be calling up to his team during the 1942 season by then.  The New York Football Stars improved to 7-0 on the season with a 24-14 come from behind win over the Pittsburgh Paladins in Sunday AFA action. The Stars are now one win away from clinching the Eastern Division title as with 4 games remaining they are 3 ahead of second place Boston and hold the tie-breaker after beating the Americans twice this season. Sunday's game at the Bigsby Oval got off to a rough start for the New York eleven as the Paladins led 14-0 early in the second quarter and 14-3 at the break. The tide turned quickly as the Stars intercepted a pair of Mike Brown passes in a span of less than three minutes. The first pick came from Jerry Reese late in the third quarter that gave the Stars the ball on the Pittsburgh 10 yard line. After Tom Jamason scrambled for 8 yards setting up a third and goal on the one, back Mark Hedge dove in for the score to make it a 4 point game. Three plays later Brown was intercepted again and this time Don Key ran it back 42 yards for a score to give New York a 17-14 lead. Jamason, who ran for a game high 58 yards would add an insurance touchdown late in the contest. Boston stayed alive in the hunt for the division title with a 14-7 win on the road in Washington. Del Thomas threw for 131 yards while Steve Kelly ran for 56 and a touchdown to pace the Americans. Bernard Dishmon, who ran for 881 yards a year ago and finished second in the league in that category, continues to struggle this year as the Washington back gained just 8 yards on 10 carries and has just 200 on the year. The biggest upset of the week came in Cleveland as the Finches surprised Detroit 24-10, handing the Maroons their first loss after 6 straight wins to start the season. Perhaps it is not as big an upset when one considers the Finches nearly won in Detroit two weeks ago, losing 14-13 but holding Stan Vaught to just 3 catches. Cleveland did a solid job on Vaught again Sunday, allowing 5 catches but they kept the receiver out of the end zone for just the second time this season. Detroit's loss opens the door for the Chicago Wildcats, who improved to 4-2 with a 33-0 shellacking of winless St Louis. Leon Stone led the way for the Wildcats with 106 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns. The other contest saw defending league champion Brooklyn end a two game losing skid with a 21-7 win at home over Philadelphia. Kings back John Faulkner ran for 85 yards and a score to increase his league leading rushing total on the year to 528 yards. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 7 0 0 1.000 Boston 4 3 0 .571 Brooklyn 3 4 0 .429 Washington 2 4 0 .333 Philadelphia 1 6 0 .143 WESTERN W L T PCT Detroit 6 1 0 .857 Chicago 4 2 0 .667 Cleveland 5 3 0 .625 Pittsburgh 3 4 0 .429 St Louis 0 8 0 .000 RESULTS Sunday November 2 Chicago 33 St Louis 0 Boston 14 Washington 7 New York 24 Pittsburgh 14 Philadelphia 7 Brooklyn 21 Cleveland 24 Detroit 10 UPCOMING GAMES Sunday November 9 Cleveland at Chicago Detroit at New York Washington at Brooklyn Boston at Philadelphia PASSING LEADERS YDS Thomas, Bos 1076 Burnett, Det 1075 J Taylor, Phi 754 Proos, Wsh 658 RUSHING LEADRES YDS Faulkner, Bkn 528 Bernstein, Cle 493 Jamason, NYS 423 Jordan, Det 400 Spears, StL 392 RECEIVING LEADERS CATCHES Vaught, Det 49 Nicholson, Cle 27 May, Bos 19 Smith, NYS 17 Sandera, Bos 17 Fitzgerald, Bos 17 SCORING LEADERS PTS Vaught, Det 98 Milatz, NYS 57 Bernstein, Cle 42 Smith, NYS 36
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MAJOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCORES Alabama Baptist 45 Cent. Kentucky 0 George Fox 26 Ellery 0 Northern California 9 CC Los Angeles 7 Henry Hudson 14 Brunswick 0 Northern Minnesota 17 Bronx Tech 7 Carolina Poly 24 Georgia Baptist 9 Brooklyn State 17 Whitney College 0 Noble Jones College 30 Opelika State 14 Dickson 28 Sadler 6 St. Patrick's 20 Empire State 14 Western Iowa 17 Indiana A&M 7 Cowpens State 44 Hamman 14 Detroit City College 16 Lincoln 14 Minnesota Tech 13 St. Magnus 6 Mississippi A&M 27 Wisc. Catholic 9 Daniel Boone College 26 St. Ignatius 3 Annapolis Maritime 14 Pierpont 7 St. Blane 28 Rome State 3 Central Ohio 14 Pittsburgh St 13 Oklahoma City State 19 Lawrence State 3 Eastern Oklahoma 34 Fremont State 0 Lane State 45 Idaho A&M 0 Red River State 42 Shreveport St 0 Garden State 16 Maryland State 7 St. Pancras 42 Wisconsin St 33 Bayou State 16 Cumberland 0 Travis College 14 Texas GulfCoast 6 Darnell State 29 Arkansas A&T 7 Lubbock State 28 Amarillo Meth 28 Baton Rouge State 27 Bluegrass St. 14 Eastern State 23 Chesapeake St 0 Rainier College 14 Custer College 3 Portland Tech 13 Spokane State 10 Huntington State 14 Lexington State 0 Richmond State 20 Grafton 10 The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 11/02/1941
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports |
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04-12-2022, 10:31 AM
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#395 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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November 10, 1941
NOVEMBER 10, 1941 PIONEERS, GOTHAMS FILL KEY OPENINGS The St Louis Pioneers quietly, without so much as a press conference, named Hugh Luckey as their new manager. Just as the Montreal Saints did a week ago with Homer Moore filling Dick Pozza's spot, the Pioneers turned to their bench coach to step up to the manager's seat. Luckey had worked for well over a decade as a bench coach, first in Brooklyn and for the past 8 years as George Sparkman's right hand man with the Pioneers. With Sparkman's retirement the easygoing Luckey will be an almost seamless transition for the club that went 65-89 and finished tied for last in the Federal Association. The Montreal Saints are now the only club in need of a scouting director as the 1942 draft, the first three rounds of which will be held in January, fast approaches. The New York Gothams solved their need at the top of their scouting department with the news that 42 year old Stan Bayes will get the job. Despite his relative youth, Bayes has been a scout in the club's employ for 15 years. His playing career began and ended at Boulder State as he spent three seasons as an outfielder for the Grizzlies and then, after being bypassed in the FABL draft, he caught on as a scout and joined the Gothams in a regional role three years later.  NEW OWNER SURPRISINGLY NOT A PART OF ANNOUNCEMENT California movie mogul Daniel 'Dee' Rose blew in to St Louis last month, gusting up a bluster of words in his press conference that stirred up a wind not rivalled in the midwest since his most famous motion picture 'The Wizard of Oz' made it's appearance on the silver screen two years ago, which coincidentally was the last time the Pioneers were a .500 team. In a mid-October address to the local scribes, Rose vowed to build not just a winning team but also a fancy new 'Palace' for his club to call home. As quick as the storm that was Daniel Rose blew through St Louis, it was gone a day later as the tycoon of the talkies flew back to Los Angeles and by all accounts has not shown his face in Missouri since. It is now a month later and nothing else has been heard on either the subject of the new ballpark or new fortunes for the ballclub. Even St Louis management is in the dark, having heard nothing more from Rose on any preliminary plans for the park or ideas on just how he plans to turn around a club that started the 1940's with similar results to how it ushered in the last decade. St Louis was 64 games under the break even point the past two seasons (122-186) which reminds many of how the 1930s started (115-193) for the franchise that has not won a pennant since 1921. The Pioneers have some positive pieces in their big league cupboard, highlighted by two-time all-star catcher Heinie Zimmer, 25 year old second baseman Artie D'Alessandro and a rising star in 26 year old defensive whiz Tommy Wilson, who seems to have found a home manning the hot corner at Pioneer Field. However, there are also some glaring holes - most notably on the mound- that will make life difficult for new manager Hugh Luckey. Luckey is the one change we have seen in St Louis since the thrilling seven game World Championship Series came to an end. Long-time Pioneers skipper George Sparkman announced his retirement on the same day Rose announced his purchase of the club. The replacement, quietly revealed this week with none of the fanfare that accompanied Rose into town, turned out to be his long-time bench coach Hugh Luckey. Luckey is anything but the flashy hiring one might have expected from a Pioneers team looking to make a splash in a city with little going for it in the sports world right now. The football Ramblers are beyond awful at 0-8 and the gridiron outfits at local schools Laclede and Perry State College are meandering along at barely a breakeven pace. A perfect opportunity for the Pioneers to grab some headlines with a splashy hiring of a big name skipper? Nope. Hugh Luckey is anything but that...and in the long run that might turn out to be just what the Pioneers need. Luckey is a baseball man through and through. He was given nothing in this game, but rather paid his dues and worked to earn all that he claimed. After 9 seasons primarily as a backup infielder with the Brooklyn Kings he became Wally Grant's right hand man as the Kings bench coach in 1929. Four years later he was let go when that club was struggling but found an opening as Sparkman's bench coach the following season, a role he has held with the Pioneers for the past 8 years. Now he gets his first chance to be the man who makes all the decisions in the St Louis dugout. A solid baseball man like Luckey may be the right choice, but it does not sound like the kind of move a glitz and glamour owner like Daniel Rose would endorse if he was trying to make his mark on the club. Which makes you wonder if Rose has tired already of his new toy? Perhaps he is simply busy in Hollywood with his latest film project but after all of the bravado of his initial address it sure seems strange Rose would avoid the spotlight when it came time to reveal who would sit on the throne that is the manager's chair of that new 'palace'. Perhaps I am being cynical and we should take Rose at his word as he did say he was going to "let the baseball guys handle the baseball" and he would take care of the business end of things. Only time well tell. QUICK HITS
MACK SUTTON SET TO REPORT TO ARMY Mack Sutton, third baseman of the World Champion Boston Minutemen, has passed his final army physical for appointment as an air corps cadet. He is expected to report next week. Sutton, who has taken some flying lessons, hopes to become a fighter pilot. That decision is still up in the air however, as the army requires pilots to have a college degree and Sutton went straight to the minor leagues out of Arkadelphia High School in Arkansas. An army spokesman suggests Sutton will instead likely be assigned to a tank unit for his basic training. The 24 year old hit .240 with 15 homers last season, his fourth with the Minutemen and played in 3 games during their 7 game World Championship Series victory over the Chicago Cougars. He had originally be expected to report to the Army in the spring but twice was approved for a deferment, allowing him to complete the baseball season. FOOTBALL STARS KNOCK OFF DETROIT TO CLINCH EAST The New York Football Stars ran their perfect record on the season to 8-0 after Tom Jamason carried, and passed, the team to a 14-6 victory over the suddenly slumping Detroit Maroons. With the win the Stars are assured of a berth in the AFA title game as with three to play they are three games up on second place Boston and hold the tiebreaker by virtue of a pair of early season wins over the Americans. With back to back losses, 6-2 Detroit sees it's lead on Chicago shrink to just half a game. Jamason has long been the Stars main weapon on the ground - he nearly gained 1,000 yards in 1936 and has led the team in rushing all but one season since - but this year he has also emerged as the Stars primary passer. Jamason still runs into the problem of throwing the ball to a guy in the wrong color jersey, he had 3 interceptions Sunday vs Detroit and has thrown 9 on the year, but he has come up with some big passes when needed as well. Yesterday was no exception with Jamason connecting with Steve Smith for a 19 yarder late in the first half that led to New York's first score. In all Jamason attempted 13 passes and was successful on 9 of them for 66 yards. He made his mark in this league primarily as a ball carrier and that skill was also on full display as his 23 carries led to 111 yards of offense for the Stars in a performance that left New York writers in the press box mockingly asking Stan Who? throughout the second half. The 'Stan' in question was Detroit end Vaught. A runaway candidate for top player in the league as Detroit was winning it's first six games, Vaught has gone as quiet as Detroiters boasting of a title to come for the Maroons of late. Successive losses in Cleveland and now New York have chipped away at what seemed to be an insurmountable lead on Chicago such a short time ago. Vaught scored 13 touchdowns and caught 44 passes in the 6 Detroit wins to start the season but has not seen the endzone since. His 9 catches the past two weeks is certainly a good half a month's work by most standards, but Vaught had been in a world of his own since making 11 catches and scoring 3 touchdowns in a season opening rampage over the Ramblers in St Louis. It was Chicago's turn to go on a rampage of late. The situation looked dire for the Wildcats when they fell to 3-2 after successive losses at home to Detroit and Boston but nothing gets a team back on track like a visit from the Ramblers and the Wildcats pounded St Louis 33-0 last week. The momentum continued at Whitney Park for the home side yesterday as Chicago beat up Cleveland to the tune of 42-13. Back Mickey Kezar had a big day for the winners, scoring on a 5 yard run and a 53 yard fumble return and Louie Dunlap also came up big, rushing for 60 yards and catching 3 passes for 64 yards including a pair for touchdowns. Boston improved to 5-3 with a 27-14 victory in Philadelphia behind a 54 yard rushing, 76 yard passing day from Tom Griggs while in Brooklyn John Faulkner scored a touchdown and added 92 yards to run his league leading rushing total to 620 on the season. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 8 0 0 1.000 Boston 5 3 0 .625 Brooklyn 4 4 0 .500 Washington 2 5 0 .286 Philadelphia 1 7 0 .125 WESTERN W L T PCT Detroit 6 2 0 .750 Chicago 5 2 0 .714 Cleveland 5 4 0 .556 Pittsburgh 3 4 0 .429 St Louis 0 8 0 .000 RESULTS Sunday November 9 Chicago 42 Cleveland 13 New York 14 Detroit 6 Brooklyn 13 Washington 6 Boston 27 Philadelphia 14 UPCOMING GAMES Sunday November 16 Pittsburgh at St Louis Washington at Chicago Brooklyn at Boston Cleveland at New York Philadelphia at Detroit PASSING LEADERS YDS Thomas, Bos 1164 Burnett, Det 1122 J Taylor, Phi 950 Proos, Wsh 719 RUSHING LEADRES YDS Faulkner, Bkn 620 Jamason, NYS 534 Bernstein, Cle 527 Jordan, Det 409 Dunlap, Chi 399 RECEIVING LEADERS CATCHES Vaught, Det 53 Nicholson, Cle 30 May, Bos 20 Sandera, Bos 20 Bowens, Bos 19 SCORING LEADERS PTS Vaught, Det 98 Milatz, NYS 59 Bernstein, Cle 48 Dunlap, Chi 42 ALL EYES ON THE WESTERN DIVISION With the Eastern Division settled all eyes now will be focused on the Western Division to see if Detroit can hold off Chicago and win it's second straight division title. The key game comes in two weeks time with the two clubs meeting at Thompson Field in a rematch of their October 19th tussle, one that turned one-sided as the visiting Maroons prevailed 34-20. Before that game the Maroons need to get back in the winning column after back to back road losses. The Maroons 3 remaining games are all at Thompson Field starting with Pittsburgh next Sunday. The Wildcats have a much tougher go of things with 3 of their 4 remaining games away from Whitney Park but they do get to perform in front of the home fans one more time - that will be this Sunday against Washington. Here is a look at the Western race:  COLLEGE NOTES
ANNAPOLIS MARITIME IN A CLASSIC GAME? 'NO' SAYS ADMIRAL All debate regarding the possibility that the Annapolis Maritime football team will participate in a New Year's Day classic game was ended today with the announcement by Rear Admiral Russell Willson that the Navigators will end their football season with the last game on their schedule. Admiral Willson, superintendent of the academy, explained that a December graduation of the senior class and the heavy scholastic work facing the Navi's would make a post-season game impossible. Annapolis Maritime is a perfect 7-0 following a 36-6 win over St Blane on Saturday. They have two games remaining: November 22 vs Sadler and then Nov 29 in Philadelphia against their rivals from Rome State in the annual military services game.  Annapolis Maritime 34 St. Blane 6 Dickson 10 Rome State 10 Pierpont 13 Henry Hudson 7 St. Patrick's 7 Ellery 6 Brunswick 26 George Fox 0 Grafton 16 Sadler 7 Brooklyn State 33 Pittsburgh State 7 Liberty College 24 St. Pancras 13 Miami State 44 Charleston College (WV) 0 Baton Rouge State 37 Alabama Baptist 34 Cowpens State 21 Commonwealth Catholic 10 Carolina Poly 24 Central Carolina 0 St. Matthew's College 30 Maryland State 0 Noble Jones College 13 Western Florida 0 Georgia Baptist 23 Central Kentucky 3 Bayou State 7 Mississippi A&M 7 Northern Mississippi 14 Opelika State 7 Cumberland 30 Alabama A&T 0 North Carolina Tech 27 Petersburg 7 Bronx Tech 14 Boston State 0 Bluegrass State 61 St. Andrews College 0 Eastern State 24 Lexington State 0 Chesapeake State 7 Charleston Tech 3 Daniel Boone College 31 Bigsby College 7 Columbia Military Academy 20 Eastern Kansas 7 Richmond State 24 Alexandria 16 St. Magnus 34 Indiana A&M 0 Central Ohio 34 Wisconsin State 3 St. Ignatius 10 Whitney College 0 Minnesota Tech 20 College of Omaha 0 Northern Minnesota 20 Wisconsin Catholic 3 Huntington State 14 Lawrence State 0 Oklahoma City State 37 Iowa A&M 0 Lincoln 21 Western Iowa 3 Travis College 33 Lubbock State 3 Darnell State 17 Texas Gulf Coast 7 College of Waco 21 Fremont State 7 Red River State 17 Arkansas A&T 14 Laclede 24 Eastern Oklahoma 16 Lane State 20 CC Los Angeles 3 Redwood 24 Coastal California 14 Rainier College 21 Northern California 0 Spokane State 20 Idaho A&M 0 Strub College 16 Golden Gate University 15 California Catholic 61 San Francisco Tech 7  The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 11/09/1941
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports |
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04-13-2022, 09:49 AM
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#396 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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November 17, 1941
NOVEMBER 17, 1941 QUIETEST WINTER MEETING IN LEAGUE HISTORY COMES TO A CLOSE "I have never seen it like this," Cincinnati Cannons Assistant General Manager Red Franklin said to describe the complete lack of activity and this year's FABL winter meetings. "We talked trade with one team only, and that lasted less than a minute. Everyone is just in a wait and see mode." Franklin went on to reiterate what the general feeling has been since the World Championship Series ended: Teams are simply afraid to make a move out of fear Selective Service will rob them of either the player they just acquired or of a key piece forcing them to retain assets to maintain the ability to plug a hole that may or not ever exist. There was absolutely nothing at all done in Chicago, the site of this season's gathering. Not even a minor league player changed hands and even the waiver wire had very limited movement as club's prepare their secondary rosters for the annual December rule 5 selection phase. QUICK HITS
NEW YORK FOOTBALL STARS STREAK COMES TO AN END The New York Football Stars dreams of a perfect season came to an end Sunday as the visiting Cleveland Finches dealt the Stars a 14-7 defeat. New York dominated the game everywhere except where it mattered most- on the scoreboard. The Stars had a large advantage in time of possession, first downs and net yards. Each club turned the ball over three times but is was an errant backward pass thrown by New York's Tom Jamason that proved the difference. Cleveland's Axel Horn scooped up the ball on the run and barreled 40 yards into the endzone early in the third quarter for the score that would be the difference in the game. The play put a damper on another great day by Jamason as the New York quarterback ran for 85 yards, passed for 85 and made an interception on defense. Detroit got back to it's winning ways as the Maroons snapped a two-game losing skid with a 42-14 win over Philadelphia at Thompson Field. Stan Vaught picked up two more touchdowns in the win, one a 42 yard interception return and the other was scored on one of his 8 catches on the day. Chicago kept pace with the Maroons thanks to a 33-6 win over Washington that was keyed by a big day from back Louie Dunlap. He ran for 62 yards and returned a Wasps punt 77 yards for a score. The slumping Wasps have lost 4 straight. Boston built a 28-0 lead on Brooklyn and then held on to edge the Kings 28-21. Tom Griggs was the hero for the Americans with a 106 yard rushing day while the Boston defense contained Brooklyn's star back John Faulkner, limiting him to just 37 yards on 13 carries. It was Pittsburgh's turn to beat up on St Louis as the Paladins hammered the winless Ramblers 38-0 with Barry Abbott picking off three St Louis passes including one he returned for a 28 yard score. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 8 1 0 .889 Boston 6 3 0 .667 Brooklyn 4 5 0 .444 Washington 2 6 0 .250 Philadelphia 1 8 0 .111 WESTERN W L T PCT Detroit 7 2 0 .777 Chicago 6 2 0 .750 Cleveland 6 4 0 .600 Pittsburgh 4 4 0 .500 St Louis 0 9 0 .000 RESULTS Sunday November 16 Pittsburgh 38 St Louis 0 Chicago 33 Washington 6 Boston 28 Brooklyn 21 Cleveland 14 New York 7 Detroit 42 Philadelphia 14 UPCOMING GAMES Sunday November 23 Pittsburgh at Cleveland Chicago at Detroit Washington at New York St Louis at Boston COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD Dickson 3 Ellery 3 Brunswick 17 Grafton 10 George Fox 7 Sadler 3 Pierpont 3 Rome State 3 Detroit City College 17 Henry Hudson 3 Alabama Baptist 27 Georgia Baptist 3 Bayou State 17 Opelika State 13 Potomac College 21 Frankford State 7 Coastal State 16 Cowpens State 7 St. Pancras 20 Empire State 17 Utah A&M 20 Boulder State 3 Lambert College 14 Iowa A&M 7 Carolina Poly 37 North Carolina Tech 7 Strub College 12 Northern Mississippi 6 Miami State 27 Western Florida 0 St. Matthew's College 14 Charleston Tech 3 Noble Jones College 60 Danville 0 St. Patrick's 28 Bronx Tech 6 Minnesota Tech 17 Western Iowa 3 Oklahoma City State 28 Daniel Boone College 10 Custer College 8 Idaho A&M 7 St. Blane 17 St. Magnus 16 Central Ohio 30 Lincoln 7 Eastern Oklahoma 28 Valley State 24 Lane State 3 Northern California 0 Liberty College 27 Huntington State 7 College of Omaha 7 Pittsburgh State 0 San Francisco Tech 47 Fort Ord 0 Columbia Military Academy 27 Bulein 19 Cumberland 16 Commonwealth Catholic 14 Darnell State 31 Red River State 10 Travis College 17 Amarillo Methodist 7 College of Waco 28 Laclede 0 Baton Rouge State 31 Bigsby College 9 Payne State 15 Lubbock State 3 CC Los Angeles 34 Camp Haan 0 Provo Tech 17 Colorado Poly 14 Bluegrass State 20 Grange College 7 Eastern State 40 Bethlehem College 0 Alexandria 20 Maryland State 6 Redwood 3 Spokane State 3 Wisconsin State 17 Whitney College 14 The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 11/16/1941
Note- It will be a double issue today as another week will be updated shortly to keep pace with the off-season FABL sim schedule.
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports |
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04-13-2022, 01:01 PM
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#397 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,834
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November 24, 1941
NOVEMBER 24, 1941 WASHINGTON EAGLES LOOKING FOR A NEW GENERAL MANAGER Word out of Washington is the Eagles are on the search for a new man to run the team after their General Manager announced he had to step away from the club due to unforeseen circumstances. The GM had gone 203--259 (.439) during his three year tenure at the helm of the club, finishing sixth the first two seasons and in a tie for last place this past year. The Eagles organization has not seen the first division since a fourth place finish in 1929 but was the pride of baseball in the early to mid 1920's with 3 pennants and a World Championship over a 4 year stretch begining in 1922. The newcomer to the nation's capital will face a challenge as the club is ranked last in minor league system quality and had traded away the first overall pick in a deadline deal with eventual World Champion Boston that netted the Eagles a young shortstop by the name of Al Gross (.229,0,16). There is some talent in the organization led by 30 year old third sacker Mel Carrol, who is the last player in the league to surpass .400 after batting .409 in 1937. 25 year old first baseman Sig Stofer (.271,24,110) looks like a player to build around while 24 year old Jim Douglass (15-12, 4.96) and 25 year old Del Burns (9-19, 4.37) are key wings on the Eagles mound. No word from Eagles owner William Stockdale on a replacement at press time. MINERS REPLACE SCOUTING DIRECTOR AGAIN The revolving door that leads to the Pittsburgh Miners scouting office was busy again this week as Pittsburgh cast aside Chief Raymond after less than two months on the job. Raymond was hired in late September when the Miners relieved Fred Davis, who had well over a decade experience as an SD with Detroit and previously the Chicago Chiefs but lasted less than a year in Pittsburgh. Prior to Davis there was stability in the role as George Heuer held the post for a decade before announcing his retirement at the end of the 1940 season. The latest to set up shop in the corner office is Harris Dixon. A relative pup in the scouting business at the age of 35, Dixon is a graduate of prestigious Academia Alliance school George Fox and was a 6th round draft pick of the Philadelphia Keystones. He spent 8 seasons in the minor leagues as a second baseman, never advancing past A ball but was a keen judge of talent and took a scouting job with Philadelphia in 1937. He has quickly risen up the ranks and gets his first chance to run a big league organization with the Miners job. Miners Assistant General Manager Pat Moynihan agrees the turnover time was very short but felt Dixon "being a young intellectual" was too good a hire to pass up when he became available. "He has some cutting edge ideas," added Moynihan "so (we) gave him a chance." Moynihan also admitted there was a 'general unhappiness' with the performance of the two who attempted to fill George Heuer's shoes. WILDCATS ON PLAYOFF PROWL The Chicago Wildcats extended their winning streak to four games and moved in to top spot in the Western Division after they mauled arch-rival Detroit 45-24. The win puts the Wildcats record at 7-2, and a half game up on the second place Maroons (7-3). Chicago has two games remaining as they play in Philadelphia next week before ending the season in Pittsburgh on December 7th. The Wildcats wrap up their year next weekend by hosting the Paladins. There was plenty of offense from both sides at Thompson Field as this contest, similar to their meeting earlier in the year in Chicago won 46-27 by Detroit, was a high scoring affair. The two-sides combined for over 900 yards with Dewey Burnett having an outstanding game, although in a losing effort, for the Wildcats. The Detroit quarterback threw for 256 yards including 78 - on 7 catches - by Stan Vaught. Chicago relied more on a balanced running attack that saw 11 different players carry the ball at least once with Dutch Hoffman's 84 yards leading the way. Cleveland finished up it's season with a 13-3 win over Pittsburgh to run the Finches record to 7-4. They still have some slim playoff hopes as if Detroit and Chicago were to lose their remaining games it would set up a complicated three-way tie breaking process although the Finches 1-3 head to head record vs the Maroons and Wildcats would likely eliminate them. New York has already clinched the Eastern Division but the Stars are limping into the playoffs as they lost at the Bigsby Oval for the second week in a row, falling 20-14 to Washington despite another big week from Stars quarterback Tom Jamason, who ran for 59 yards and threw for 78 including both New York touchdowns. St Louis finally did not lose a game. The Ramblers didn't get their first win but they did hold on for a 24-24 tie with Boston at Cunningham Field to snap a 10 game losing skid that dates back to last season. St Louis led 24-14 early in the fourth quarter before the Americans battled back to salvage the draw. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 8 2 0 .800 Boston 6 3 1 .6667 Brooklyn 4 5 0 .444 Washington 3 6 0 .333 Philadelphia 1 8 0 .111 WESTERN W L T PCT Chicago 7 2 0 .778 Detroit 7 3 0 .700 Cleveland 7 4 0 .636 Pittsburgh 4 5 0 .444 St Louis 0 9 1 .000 RESULTS Sunday November 23 Cleveland 13 Pittsburgh 3 Chicago 45 Detroit 24 Washington 20 New York 14 St Louis 24 Boston 24 UPCOMING GAMES Sunday November 30 Pittsburgh at Detroit Chicago at Philadelphia Boston at Brooklyn St Louis at Washington PASSING LEADERS YDS Burnett, Det 1571 Thomas, Bos 1318 J Taylor, Phi 1074 Mellettte, Cle 843 RUSHING LEADRES YDS Jamason, NYS 678 Faulkner, Bkn 657 Jordan, Det 585 Bernstein, Cle 575 Dunlap, Chi 513 RECEIVING LEADERS CATCHES Vaught, Det 68 Nicholson, Cle 35 Bowens, Bos 23 4 tied with 21 SCORING LEADERS PTS Vaught, Det 110 Milatz, NYS 74 Dunlap, Chi 54 Bernstein, Cle 48 Crawhorn, Chi 48
 Mile High State 21 Boulder State 13 Bronx Tech 12 St. Matthew's College 0 Maryland State 17 Lexington State 3 North Carolina Tech 14 Eastern State 10 Alexandria 45 Chesapeake State 3 Cowpens State 16 Potomac College 10 Richmond State 30 Petersburg 0 Miami State 7 Columbia Military Academy 0 College of Waco 13 Abilene Baptist 0 Rome State 17 Huntington State 7 Penn Catholic 3 Opelika State 0 Commonwealth Catholic 38 Boston State 7 Coastal State 20 Bulein 14 Empire State 20 Henry Hudson 13 Utah A&M 10 Colorado Poly 10 Mobile Maritime 7 Central Carolina 0 Carolina Poly 52 Charleston Tech 3 Western Florida 28 Georgia Baptist 7 Brooklyn State 34 Golden Gate University 13 Noble Jones College 36 Grafton 3 Dickson 14 George Fox 0 Idaho A&M 31 Western Montana 7 Indiana A&M 7 Whitney College 7 Iowa A&M 10 Eastern Kansas 0 California Catholic 16 South Valley State 10 St. Ignatius 37 Ohio Methodist 0 Minnesota Tech 27 Wisconsin State 7 Mississippi A&M 14 Arkansas A&T 7 Northern Mississippi 24 Reuben College 0 Daniel Boone College 19 Lawrence State 3 Annapolis Maritime 17 Sadler 0 Western Iowa 17 College of Omaha 10 St. Magnus 33 Lincoln 7 St. Blane 24 Coastal California 7 Detroit City College 10 Central Ohio 10 Oklahoma City State 44 Wisconsin Catholic 17 Rainier College 37 Portland Tech 3 Lane State 13 Custer College 0 Pittsburgh State 13 Liberty College 7 Pierpont 20 Brunswick 7 Rhodes 26 Shreveport State 17 Amarillo Methodist 27 Red River State 7 Ellery 20 Garden State 9 Laclede 16 Topeka State 7 San Francisco Tech 30 Minns College 18 Sunnyvale 26 CC Los Angeles 0 Texas Gulf Coast 21 Lubbock State 14 St. Patrick's 23 Conwell College 7 Cumberland 23 Central Kentucky 3 Canyon A&M 28 Kingsville State 10 Texas Panhandle 48 El Paso Methodist 17 Payne State 19 Lambert College 0 Alabama Baptist 21 Bluegrass State 14 Perry State College 38 Boone College-St. Louis 10 Spokane State 44 Campion 3 The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 11/23/1941
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Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles |
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04-13-2022, 01:10 PM
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#398 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 9,834
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HELP WANTED- WASHINGTON EAGLES SEEK NEW GM For anyone not already in the league who is following along, here is a perfect opportunity for you to join in on the fun. We have a rare opening (average less than 1 per game year) as the Washington Eagles General Manager position is available. Those following this dynasty likely realize already it is a very active league but it is also a great group of GMs who are always willing to help someone new to our league, or new to playing stats-only, learn the ropes. The new General Manager in Washington will be joining at what promises to be a very interesting time. We are just a couple of sim weeks away from December 7, 1941. FABL teams, as I am sure you have been reading, have already been dinged for players thanks to the Selective Service draft with the most notable draftee being Toronto Wolves star and two-time Whitney Award winner Fred McCormick, who missed the second half of last season after being drafted in to the army. With the attack on Pearl Harbor imminent, the hits to 1942 rosters will be even more dramatic, but as we will find out going forward even those losses will pale in comparison to what the following 3 years will bring us. Our commissioner does not run a team but does a lot of storyline type items that make this a great league for those who like their online league to be a very immersive experience.
As a result this might be a perfect time to assume the reigns of a franchise like Washington. The Eagles were a great team in the tail end of the pre-play era (a complete written history exists from the 1870's thru 1925 which was pre-simmed by our commissioner before the human GM's came on the scene in 1926) and had one of the best catchers of all-time in the legendary T.R. Goins to lead the club. As Goins aged and his skills began to erode so did the Eagles fortunes. They have not made the first division since 1929 and have finished 6th or worse each of the past 4 seasons including 65-89 last year (1941). But I am glass half-full guy when it comes to the Eagles so the good news is the war could be a great equalizer. Think St Louis Browns winning in 1944. All of our GMs expect a major shakeup in the standings over the next few years so it might just be the Eagles time to soar. Washington has recently reacquired Mel Carrol, the terrific 30 year old third baseman who hit .409 in 1937 with the Eagles and is the most recent .400 hitter in the league. Carrol was sent to Cleveland for a few years but was reacquired at the trade deadline and is Washington's top player. They also boast one of the most exciting young sluggers in the league in Sig Stofer. The Boardwalk Bopper as the Atlantic City native is known (forgot to add the commissioner also hands out some colorful nicknames) is just 25 years old and was acquired from the Philadelphia Keystones a year and a half ago. He has blossomed in Washington with a 24 homer, 110 rbi season. If you have never thought about joining an online league but love to read (or write your own) dynasty reports, I suggest you consider joining this league. I was in those exact shoes before joining Figment about 3 real years and 17 or so sim seasons ago. Preferred to do my solo dynasty reports but the great backstory of Figment convinced me to give it a shot. If that sounds like you as you are reading this you should at least find out more about our league. I am sure you will be glad you did, plus you get the opportunity to read what Jiggs McGee thinks about your team building prowess :-) You have been reading about this great league here. Now is your chance to be a part of the rich history that is FABL baseball. You can either DM me here or contact our commissioner directly. He goes by legendsport on this board. All of us in FABL look forward to meeting the new GM of the Washington Eagles. Here is the link to the league webpages
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Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles |
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04-14-2022, 11:07 AM
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#399 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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December 1, 1941
DECEMBER 1, 1941 THE BLOOM IS OFF THE ROSE The honeymoon period for St. Louis Pioneers owner Dee Rose is apparently over. City officials in the Gateway to the West have openly derided Rose's purported plans to uproot the club and move it to California. While these are little more than rumors and nothing official has come from Rose's office, the mayor of St. Louis bluntly stated "where there's smoke, there's fire." Rumors over the past few weeks have been that Rose's stated intention of building a "palace" for his ballclub was not in fact one that included a promise that said palace would be built in St. Louis. And a review of Rose's statements does confirm that the Hollywood big shot did not say the stadium would be built in St. Louis. Of course, Rose also did not say it would be built elsewhere. With the Pioneers in a funk and having finished tied for last in the Federal Association in the recently concluded 1941 campaign, the feelings of the fans in St. Louis are already bruised. Now fear of losing their team has increased their anxiety. About two dozen people marched outside the offices of the ballclub, carrying signs reading "Save Our Team" and "The Pioneers Belong in St. Louis" despite the fact that Rose, the man upon whose shoulders such a decision would rest, has not been seen in the city since his press conference upon taking ownership. Statements from Rose himself have been scarce. He was however quoted in a Los Angeles newspaper as saying, "Distance is no longer a barrier in professional sports. Air travel has shrunk the country to the point where it is not inconceivable that a FABL club could not be placed here in Los Angeles." That particular quote has thrown much fuel on the fires of speculation in St. Louis and Los Angeles that Rose was specifically talking about the Pioneers moving to the City of Angels. Another potentially disturbing sign (in the eyes of St. Louis partisans) is that Rose has reportedly approached the New York Stars about purchasing the rights to the Los Angeles market, which the Stars currently own, and in which the Stars operate their Triple-A affiliate (the LA Stars). This rumor has not been confirmed, with neither Rose's office nor that of Stars owner Alfred Mielke available for comment. "I'll tell you this much," said one St. Louis council member on condition of anonymity, "this Rose smells like a skunk." One thing is certain: both the cities of St. Louis and Los Angeles will be watching this situation closely. NO OLYMPICS? NO MATTER SAYS BOSTON Still in the afterglow of their world championship victory by the Boston Minutemen last month, Boston officials announced that despite the possibility of the 1944 Olympic Games being canceled (as the 1940 Games already have been), they will go ahead and start construction on the city's Olympic Stadium. Boston won the bid for the '44 Games back in 1939 but the war in Europe and the empire of Japan's war in China have already canceled the 1940 Games (scheduled for Tokyo originally, then reassigned to Helsinki before being canceled entirely). The fear is that the 1944 Summer Games in the Hub are also likely to be scrapped as the war has already expanded to Soviet Russia and tensions between Japan and the U.S. have been rising inexorably towards a Pacific showdown. Ground was broken on the stadium in June and the steel framework has already begun to be fleshed out in concrete. Winter weather will likely slow the construction but according to Francis Denny, owner of the construction company that bears his name and is the primary contractor on the project, the stadium's construction will continue during the winter. "A little snow won't stop Bostonians," Denny stated. The new stadium is going up beside Denny's namesake arena, where his Boston Bees hockey club plays. Boston mayor Maurice Tobin has been an outspoken proponent of the Games and the stadium, noting that the project, partially backed by Federal funds through the WPA, has brought many jobs to the city. When asked about the potential canceling of the Games due to the war, Tobin replied, "Well, we'll just turn the stadium over to our champion Minutemen a little early then, won't we?" before adding that the city's football club (the Boston Americans) would also call the new venue home. QUICK HITS
WILDCATS CLINCH WESTERN DIVISION TITLE The Chicago Wildcats earned their second trip to the AFA Championship Game in three years thanks to a 49-7 win in Philadelphia over the Frigates. The resounding victory completes an incredible turnaround for the Wildcats, who appeared out of contention at the midway point of the season when they fell to 3-2 including a loss at home to Detroit, who was 6-0 at the time. Five straight victories, coupled with 3 Detroit losses in a 4 game stretch reversed the Wildcats fortunes. The Maroons needed a win and a Chicago loss to keep their quest for a second consecutive Western Division win intact. Chicago denied them but Detroit did finish strong with a 16-0 win over a pesky Pittsburgh Paladins club that made the Maroons earn every yard. Detroit dominated the time of possession in the game but the Paladins defense stood strong on numerous occasions, holding Detroit to just 1 touchdown. A 43 yard touchdown pass from Warren David to Tony Sanders with less than a minute remaining in the game set off a wild celebration on the St Louis sideline as the visiting Ramblers won for the first time this year, nipping the Washington Wasps 24-21. The final game of the day saw Boston trim Brooklyn 7-3. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 8 2 0 .800 Boston 7 3 1 .700 Brooklyn 4 6 0 .400 Washington 3 7 0 .300 Philadelphia 1 9 0 .100 WESTERN W L T PCT Chicago 8 2 0 .778 Detroit 8 3 0 .727 Cleveland 7 4 0 .636 Pittsburgh 4 6 0 .400 St Louis 1 9 1 .100 Sunday November 30 Detroit 16 Pittsburgh 0 Chicago 49 Philadelphia 7 Boston 7 Brooklyn 3 St Louis 24 Washington 21 UPCOMING GAMES Sunday December 7 Brooklyn at New York Chicago at Pittsburgh Philadelphia at Washington End of Regular Season
COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD Provo Tech 54 Cache Valley 0 Payne State 10 Arkansas A&T 3 Eastern Oklahoma 20 Topeka State 3 Darnell State 23 Travis College 13 Alabama Baptist 34 Miami State 0 Valley State 55 Eastern Kansas 20 Opelika State 13 Coastal State 13 St. Patrick's 16 Commonwealth Catholic 14 Redwood 17 Northern California 3 Mobile Maritime 31 St. Andrews College 0 Brooklyn State 34 Bigsby College 0 Georgia Baptist 16 Noble Jones College 7 Abilene Baptist 33 Edward Howard 6 Baton Rouge State 30 Bayou State 3 Ruston Tech 31 Shreveport State 17 Wisconsin Catholic 23 Iowa A&M 6 Huntington State 10 St. Ignatius 10 Mississippi A&M 13 Northern Mississippi 0 Annapolis Maritime 27 Rome State 0 Oklahoma City State 21 College of Omaha 17 South Valley State 45 Wyoming A&I 0 Richmond State 26 Charleston Tech 0 Lane State 14 Portland Tech 7 Liberty College 10 Columbia Military Academy 7 Pittsburgh State 41 Edgerton-Phillips 6 Lubbock State 14 Red River State 6 Laclede 24 Perry State College 0 Sunnyvale 37 Golden Gate University 3 Cumberland 24 Bluegrass State 14 Amarillo Methodist 21 Texas Gulf Coast 13 College of Waco 14 Cowpens State 7 Texas Panhandle 27 Flagstaff State 24 Chesapeake State 17 Petersburg 3 Rainier College 14 Coastal California 9 St. Francis (OH) 20 St. Matthew's College 14 California Catholic 30 Kit Carson University 0 The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 11/30/1941
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports |
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04-14-2022, 01:44 PM
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#400 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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December 8, 1941
DECEMBER 8, 1941    BOSTON- Third baseman Mack Sutton has been drafted and is attempting to qualify for training as a pilot. He had originally been assigned to tank duty but, despite not having the required college education to pursue training as a fighter pilot, he does have some experience with a large number of solo flight hours. In addition to Sutton the Minutemen had previously lost AAA pitcher Mike Lee, who was drafted early in the summer. BROOKLYN- Jack Goff, son of Kings pitching coach Danny Goff, has joined the Navy and will be the biggest loss for Brooklyn so far. The 25 year old lefthander was 12-12 with a 4.69 era last season. 28 year old Charlie Britton, another lefty, is off to the marines but he spent most of last season in AA. In addition minor league outfielder James Slocum, step-son of Kings manager Powell Slocum, volunteered last spring and is a pilot with the Army Air Corps. CHIEFS- No major losses so far as reserve shortstop George Chadwick, who had just 37 plate appearances for the Chiefs in 1941 is the first player to enlist or be drafted out of their organization. COUGARS- Fully expected but devastating news nonetheless. The Cougars had known for a while that Pete Papenfus was a Selective Service choice but the Allan Award winner decided to enlist and will report to Great Lakes Naval Academy later this week. Mid-level pitching prospect Harl Haines, who spent most of the year in Milwaukee, has also gone to the Navy as has veteran outfielder Alex Ingraham. Pitcher Rusty Watts is 8 months into his one year stint with the army after being drafted late in the spring. CINCINNATI- Young pitcher Bill Sohl enlisted in the Navy in October and has a four year commitment to be a part of the Navy's physical education service. CLEVELAND- A tough blow for the Foresters as a pair of young middle infielders in George Dellinger and Wes Parks have both joined the Navy. Each spent most of the season in AAA Rochester but were expected to battle it out, along with veteran Brooks Meeks for the starting second base job with the Foresters next season. DETROIT- 27 year old Frank Gordon, who had 16 saves out of the bullpen last season, has left for the Army. Joe York, a second baseman and the son of former Detroit catching star Dick York, is going to the Coast Guard. The 22 year old split last season between AA and AAA. MONTREAL- 27 year old Pete Wood started 91 games in the Saints outfield last season, batting .270. He has enlisted in the Army. The Saints also will be without lefthander Bud Robbins, who was 2-3 with a 4.52 era in 37 appearances last season - all out of the pen- as he has entered the Navy. NY STARS- A number of losses for the Stars with the key one being pitcher Robert Curry, who is entering the Navy. The 34 year old worked entirely out of the pen last season and led the CA with 22 saves while making his second appearance on the mid-season all-star team. Pitcher Dixie Lee is about nine months into his one year stint in the Army after being drafted last spring. Catching depth may be a concern as both Johnny Hopper and Joe Rainbow leave the team. Hopper spent the entire season in AAA while Rainbow was the Stars back-up to Cliff Ray last season. NY GOTHAMS- Veteran backup outfielder John Phillips (.267,3,35) is the first Gotham to head off to military duty. The 27 year old is joining the Navy. KEYSTONES- Keystones fans are devastated to hear that Billy Woytek is entering the Navy. The 23 year old already had 3 full seasons of big league ball under his belt and will be sorely missed in the Philadelphia lineup. SAILORS-Highly touted 23 year old outfield prospect Cotton Dillon has joined the Navy. He spent most of the season at AAA San Francisco but did hit .333 with a pair of homers in a 13 game trial with the Sailors in September. Pitcher Lee Marshall is also off to the Navy. The 27 year old has spent most of his time in the minors but did see some action with the Sailors each of the past three season. PITTSBURGH- A big loss for the Miners as veteran outfielder Joe Owens has enlisted in the Navy. Owens, a two-time all star, hit .344 last season for Pittsburgh. ST LOUIS- 23 year old infielder Luke Michaels has joined the Navy. He made his big league debut with St Louis last season and hit .241 in 94 games. TORONTO- Fred McCormick was very recently released from Fort Custer but is heading right back there this week. The Wolves have already had a taste of life without McCormick and despite Walt Pack filling in nicely, they do not like it but it appears they will be without their two-time Whitney Award winner for up to 4 more years. WASHINGTON- The only Eagles player to leave the organization for the military is 23 year old minor league first baseman Rube Norris, who was informed by Selective Service that the Army needs him. A former 16th round pick of the Eagles, he spent last season in A ball. SUMMARY- Clearly the Chicago Cougars were dealt the harshest news with Pete Papenfus leaving for the Navy. A move perhaps similar to Toronto losing Fred McCormick last season. The Wolves tumbled in the standings as a result but I don't think the same fate will befall Chicago as the Cougars have a lot of pitching depth. No replacement for Papenfus, obviously, but still plenty of talent available. The loss of Robert Curry in New York will hurt the Stars but relievers can be replaced, although admittedly Curry has been one of the best in the game in recent years. I am actually more worried about behind the plate in New York as the Stars likely were not too excited about having Cliff Ray as their number one guy to begin with, but take away Joe Rainbow and Johnny Hopper, and there is no depth at all. Clearly catcher will be the priority in the rule five draft for the Stars. The Fed balance of power may be tilting away from the Pittsburgh Miners with the news of Joe Owens departure. Boston takes a bit of a hit in Mack Sutton but they will survive and perhaps thrive with Art Spencer playing everyday at third base, although there will be pressure on the 30 year old to duplicate his outstanding 1941 campaign. The Keystones took a big hit with the loss of Woytek and I doubt they feel very comfortable with either Johnnie Wolsey or Marshall Strickland as they everyday second sacker. Detroit did not suffer too badly although Frank Gordon is a solid depth starter or bullpen piece. The team that has to be smiling the most in the Fed is the Chicago Chiefs, who saw each of their rivals for the pennant weakened without suffering any significant loss of their own. QUICK HITS
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME LIKELY TO GO AHEAD AS SCHEDULED President Roosevelt is leaning towards suggesting next Sunday's American Football Association title game should go ahead as planned but that is an unconfirmed report. There has been speculation the contest might be postponed or cancelled outright following the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor Sunday but sources say the President feels it is prudent to maintain some semblance of normalcy and believes the game should be played as scheduled. The fact that the game is in the middle of the country and not on the east coast, especially in wake of concerns the Nazis might be planning an aerial attack, plays in the games favour. However, the early forecast is for bitterly cold temperatures, -16 degrees and snow at Whitney park. Despite the cold, it is clearly much more preferable to deal with snow than the possibility of a German air raid during the contest. ---FINAL WEEKEND RESULTS---- The Sunday football games all were underway by the time the attack began on Pearl Harbor and in most cases fans knew little of what was happening while the games were being played. As a result it was a very festive atmosphere at the Bigsby Oval as supporters of the New York Football Stars celebrated the upcoming title game with Chicago and a season ending 21-7 victory over their cross-town rivals from Brooklyn. The win was important for New York, not in the standings as they had already clinched the division, but rather to snap a 2-game losing streak and get the club heading to Chicago on a positive note. Stars quarterback Tom Jamason gained 69 yards on 18 carries in the contest, good enough to allow him to claim the AFA rushing title for the season. He was dueling John Faulkner of the Kings, but the New York defense held Faulkner to just 39 yards allowing their man to finish first among league rushers. Chicago also enters the AFA Championship game on a positive as the Wildcats, who clinched the Western Division with a win last weekend, finished out their season with a 27-14 victory at Pittsburgh's Fitzpatrick Park. The public address system did make several announcements in the second half alerting fans to a 'situation' in Hawaii but provided few details. The final contest saw the Washington Wasps top rival Philadelphia 45-28 in an offensive show with Wasps back Bernard Dishmon enjoying arguably his best game of the season in running for 76 yards and 2 touchdowns while also making a couple of catches. Code:
AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT New York 9 2 0 .818 Boston 7 3 1 .700 Brooklyn 4 7 0 .364 Washington 4 7 0 .364 Philadelphia 1 10 0 .091 WESTERN W L T PCT Chicago 9 2 0 .818 Detroit 8 3 0 .727 Cleveland 7 4 0 .636 Pittsburgh 4 7 0 .364 St Louis 1 9 1 .100 Sunday December 7 New York 21 Brooklyn 7 Chicago 27 Pittsburgh 14 Washington 45 Philadelphia 28 End of Regular Season UPCOMING GAMES Sunday December 14 AFA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME New York at Chicago [b] Code:
FINAL 1941 STATS LEADERS PASSING LEADERS YDS Burnett, Det 1743 Thomas, Bos 1417 J Taylor, Phi 1305 Proos, Wsh 983 RUSHING LEADRES YDS Jamason, NYS 747 Faulkner, Bkn 705 Jordan, Det 623 Dunlap, Chi 610 Bernstein, Cle 575 RECEIVING LEADERS CATCHES Vaught, Det 73 Nicholson, Cle 35 Toops, Wsh 26 Bowens, Bos 24 Sandera, Bos 24 Dishmon, Wsh 24 SCORING LEADERS PTS Vaught, Det 111 Milatz, NYS 77 Dunlap, Chi 54 Crawhorn, Chi 54 Bernstein, Cle 48 Stone, Chi 48 SPORTS PAUSE AS WORLD CHANGES FOREVER It was nearing dusk at the Bigsby Oval as New York Football Stars fans were winding down celebrations of their club completing the formality of winning the Eastern Division and a berth in the AFA championship game when all still in attendance were startled as unexpectedly the public address system went into operation again. "All Navy men in the audience," it intoned, " are ordered to report to their posts immediately. All Army men are to report to their posts tomorrow morning. This is important." There was a sudden, startled buzz in the crowd. What had happened? No one knew, not until he got close to the nearest radio or within hearing range of newsboys yelling in the streets. The players had left the field. In the Kings clubhouse, the visitors were saying "Goodbye- see you next year" and all that sort of thing. First they heard of the bombings in the mid-Pacific was the vague, incomplete flashes brought down by the men in the press box. Once the gravity of the situation was realized probably everyone had the same thought at once, both the Stars and Kings players who were now intermingling in the halls under the Oval comparing stories of what they had heard, that each of them might have played his last football game in a long, long while. But that thought remained unspoken. The only really good quote came from a Kings sub who said, "I'd like to see (Kings lineman Henry) Robinson as he was going today in a roomful of those near-sighted little yellow devils." The victory ends a 2 game slide for the Stars (9-2), and they did replace defending champion Brooklyn as the Eastern Division representative for next weekend's championship game - assuming it is not called off. At this point that decision has not been made.
 Miami State 13 Alexandria 0 Abilene Baptist 24 Hawaii All-Stars 10 Northern Mississippi 22 San Francisco Tech 14 Texas Gulf Coast 23 Red River State 14 Coastal California 19 CC Los Angeles 9 Travis College 50 Portland Tech 3 Darnell State 21 Spokane State 7 Texas Panhandle 24 260th Coast Artillery 7 Valley State 37 Provo Tech 7 UPCOMING GAMES December 20 CC Los Angeles at Western Florida END OF SEASON The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 12/07/1941
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports |
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