FABL -- Chicago Chiefs

[mjj55409]

The Chiefs suffered their first series loss of the season last week, dropping 2 of 3 to Boston. The Minutemen received a huge blow during that series as their young slugger Bob Donoghue--who is leading the Fed in home runs--tore his achilles tendon and will miss the remainder of the season.

Chicago has two more games in Pittsburgh this week before heading to Washington for two games. After an travel day on Friday, the Chiefs will be in St. Louis for a three game series. There are 7 games remaining on this road trip. The Chiefs are 6-1 at home and 7-5 on the road.

4/27 - Off Day
4/28 @ Boston, W, 11-5
4/29 @ Boston, L, 5-6
4/30 @ Boston, L, 4-9
5/1 @ Philadelphia, W, 8-6
5/2 @ Philadelphia, L, 2-6
5/3 @ Pittsburgh, W, 8-2




Top Performances:

* Jim Hampton: .440/.464/.680, 3 2B, 5 RBI, 6 R
* Bob Martin: .423/.464/.692, 3 2B, 2 3B, 5 RBI, 5 R
* Ron Rattigan: .333/.407/.708, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 6 R
* Al Miller: 2-0, 2.50, 18 IP, 8 K


Jim Hampton's .423 average is currently leading the Fed. In Wednesday's loss to Boston, Bob Martin went 5-5--his second 5 hit game of the season. In fact, in both losses to Boston, Chicago had the Player of the Game. Ron Rattigan hit 2 home runs in the Thursday loss.




Al Miller--who has 4 wins and 4 complete games (averaging only 120 pitches/game) in his 4 starts--was named the Federal Association's Rookie of the Month for April. 24-year-old Bob Walls is being summoned from Fort Wayne to make a start this week. Larry Brown has looked good in the 5th starter role (he is 0-2 despite giving up 0 earned runs), but I mainly wanted to get Walls out of the disaster that is Fort Wayne. The Warriors have started the season 1-9. To make room for Walls, Red Hampton was optioned to Fort Wayne. Perhaps Hampton's presence in the rotation will help Fort Wayne turn things around.

[mjj55409]

A 5-1 week brings our record in May to 7-2. We've played just 7 of the first 25 games in Chicago. After today's series finale in St. Louis, we return to Chicago for a 13-game home stand.

5/4 @ Pittsburgh, W, 6-4
5/5 @ Pittsburgh, W, 7-2
5/6 @ Washington, L, 2-5
5/7 @ Washington, W, 7-1
5/8 @ Off Day
5/9 @ St. Louis, W, 8-7 (11)
5/10 @ St. Louis, W, 5-2




Top Performances:

* Cliff Moss: .571/.625/1.286, 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 4 R
* Jim Hampton: .360/.448/.480, 3 2B, 7 R
* Bob Martin: .370/.414/.556, 1 2B, 2 3B, 7 R
* Charlie Bingham: 2-0, 0.82


The Chiefs have definitely been benefiting from a full season of Cliff Moss. And Moss loves hitting in Chicago, so his bat is heating up at just the right time. We would love to see Len Jones get his bat going. At the moment, the Chiefs have the best run differential in baseball (+33), and the runs/game have been creeping upwards ever so slowly--sitting now at 5.2 runs/game, which is just above average (5.1) in the Fed.




Al Miller continues the extraordinary start to his career, winning his 5th start of the season. Interestingly, all 5 of his starts have been on the road. So his start this week--likely against Philadelphia next weekend--will be his first start at home. Whitney Park can be less than friendly to pitchers, so we'll see how that goes. I know the Chicago fans will be glad to finally get to see him pitch.

An Aside on Game Mechanics

Forgive me for stepping OOC for a moment. There was a big discussion on the league's Slack channel recently about pitcher usage in the 1930s. It was very different than today's. Primarily, there were no dedicated relievers; all pitchers would start as well as relieve. As a reference point, consider Dizzy Dean in 1936: 50 games, 33 games started, 28 complete games, 17 games finished, 24 wins, 13 losses, 11 saves. This kind of usage pattern is difficult to replicate in OOTP, particularly if the AI is left to its own devices. So I've started to experiment with my pitching staff to see if I can get pitcher usage similar to Dean. I currently am using the following setup. Ideally, the 7th (Plourde) and 8th (Heuser) men would only pitch if absolutely necessary.

[mjj55409]

The two week home stand did not go quite as well I hoped it would (6-7), but at least we held serve and maintain the 3 game lead. This upcoming week is a big one. After an off day today, we head to New York for a 4-game series with the Gothams, who are playing much better of late. This time next week the Fed standings may look different.

5/11 @ St. Louis, W, 10-6
5/12 vs Washington, L, 12-6
5/13 vs Washington, L, 10-6 (11)
5/14 vs Washington, L, 8-4
5/15 vs Philadelphia, L, 3-0
5/16 vs Philadelphia, W, 2-5
5/17 vs Boston, W, 2-3
5/18 vs Boston, W, 6-8
5/19 vs Boston, L, 7-4
5/20 vs Pittsburgh, W, 0-2
5/21 vs Pittsburgh, W, 7-11
5/22 vs St. Louis, L, 6-4
5/23 vs St. Louis, L, 10-3
5/24 vs St. Louis, W, 3-5




Top Performances:
* Bob Martin: .500/.545/.833, 4 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI
* Tom Bird: .421/.522/.421, 4 R
* Jim Hampton: .429/.448/.500, 4 RBI
* Larry Brown:, 1-0, 0.00 ERA


For the week ending 5/23, Bob Martin was named the Federal Player of the Week. The runs/game for the Chiefs is still slightly below average--despite the fact that they are 1st in batting average, 2nd in on-base percentage, and 2nd in slugging percentage, they are only 6th in runs scored. If we want to stay in the race this summer, the scoring needs to become more efficient.




Bob Walls is getting knocked around pretty good, and so he is returning to Fort Wayne and Red Hampton will be recalled to take his place. We need to put our best pitching foot forward in the Gothams series this week.

[mjj55409]

We handled the Gothams series well, winning 3 of the 4 games. We also swept the Keystones last week. However we dropped 2 of 3 to Detroit and were swept by a hot Boston club--winners of 7 in a row. The big series this week will be 3 games in Pittsburgh.

5/25 Off day
5/26 @ New York, L, 2-3
5/27 @ New York, W, 6-3
5/28 @ New York, W, 11-3
5/29 @ New York, W, 6-2
5/30 @ Detroit, L, 4-7
5/30 @ Detroit, W, 4-3
5/31 @ Detroit, L, 4-9
6/1 Off day
6/2 @ Philadelphia, W, 5-4
6/3 @ Philadelphia, W, 2-1
6/4 @ Philadelphia, W, 8-5
6/5 @ Boston, L, 0-1
6/6 @ Boston, L, 4-7
6/7 @ Boston, L, 4-5





Top Performances:

* Bob Martin: .500/.533/.571, 2 2B, 6 RBI
* Len Jones: .400/.423/.400, 4 RBI
* Ron Coles: 1-0, 2.60
* Al Miller: 1-1, 1.86


Outside of Bob Martin, it was difficult to find some top performances--which explains why we are 4-5 over the past week. We are missing Jim Hampton, who hasn't played much since straining his achilles tendon last weekend. He had 1 pinch hit double this past week, and his .374 average is now leading the Fed. He should be back at full strength this week.




Al Miller won his second Rookie of the Month Award in May. Ron Coles has been on a good run. Since the beginning of May he is 3-0 and has lowered his ERA by a full run.

[mjj55409]

Chicago dropped 2 of the 3 games in Pittsburgh, but all 3 games were competitive. The series really could have gone either way. The Chiefs followed that up by sweeping a 4-game set in Washington to maintain the 2.5 game lead. After an off day today, we can finally play some home games again. So far the Chiefs have played 20 games at home and 39 on the road. The next 21 games are at home. We won't be on the road again until after the all-star break.

6/8 @ Pittsburgh, L, 1-4
6/9 @ Pittsburgh, W, 6-3
6/10 @ Pittsburgh, L, 3-6
6/11 @ Washington, W, 6-5
6/12 @ Washington, W, 9-7
6/13 @ Washington, W, 7-5
6/14 @ Washington, W, 8-1




Top Performances:

* Bennie Griffith: .462/.500/.538, 5 R
* Bob Martin: .448/.543/.828, 3 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 9 R
* Ron Rattigan: .310/.394/.586, 2 HR, 8 RBI
* Charlie Bingham: 2-0, 1.04


Jim Hampton had an un-Hampton-like week and hit just .250. Bob Martin, meanwhile, is hitting .474 for the month, and so Martin has taken over the batting race lead in the Fed. Martin has handled the move across the diamond from first to third exceedingly well. Len Jones, in contrast, has not handled the corresponding move from third to second. Jones's bat may be starting to heat up (he is hitting .321/.339/.340 so far in June), but his position in the lineup has provided the most negative value (-13.2 BatR). And for a club that is struggling to keep it's offense above average and to hang on to first place, that is not a good situation. We have a couple of feelers out around the league looking for an opportunity to upgrade second base.




The pitching, meanwhile, remains quite solid--still the fewest runs allowed in the Fed. Larry Brown is going through a rough patch: in 16 June innings he's given up 15 runs on 24 hits.

[mjj55409]

CHIEFS ACQUIRE SECOND SACKER PETE LAYTON

The Chiefs found their upgrade at second base in New York Stars veteran Pete Layton. The Chiefs will acquire the 36-year-old Layton for a collection of prospects: OF Charlie Fielder (B), P John Douglas (AA), P Mike Sanders (AA), and P Monk Lemon (A).

Layton has been one of the top second basemen in the league since joining the New York lineup as a regular in 1924. Currently OSA has him ranked as the #2 second baseman in the league (behind Freddie Jones of St. Louis). Layton has won 4 FABL championships with the Stars, and he was named the Championship Series MVP in 1932. He just collected his 2000th FABL hit at the end of May. Overall this season, in 53 games, Layton is hitting .333/.401/.481 with 5 home runs and 33 runs batted in.



Pete Layton

[mjj55409]

We had Boston come to visit at a good time. The Minutemen have endured a rash of injuries and are currently on a 6-game losing streak. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, will be tough competition for the remainder of the season. They've scored the most runs in the Fed and have allowed the 2nd fewest runs (just behind the Chiefs).

This weeks brings the Keystones in town for 4 games, and the Eagles in for 3.


6/15 Off day
6/16 vs Boston, W, 3-5
6/17 vs Boston, W, 6-8
6/18 vs Boston, W, 3-9
6/19 vs Pittsburgh, L, 0-6
6/20 vs Pittsburgh, L, 7-5
6/21 vs Pittsburgh, W, 2-8





Top Performances:

* Tom Bird: .381/.480/.619, 2 2B, 4 R, 4 RBI
* Ron Rattigan: .364/.462/.545, 2 3B, 7 RBI
* Bill White: .300/.364/.700, 2 HR, 8 RBI
* Al Miller: 2-0, 2.12


Bob Martin had a down week (.259), so he fell out of the lead in the FA batting race. The batting race leader is now once again Freddie Jones of St. Louis. Jones has hit .457 in June to bring his average to .367. And of course, Jones has won the last two batting races.

The hope is that inserting Pete Layton into the middle of the lineup will at least raise the offense into the upper half of the Fed. We will need to score more if we intended to hold off the Miners, Pioneers, and Gothams. So to that end, I'm really excited to see how the new lineup works this week.




Ron Coles and Al Miller are doing the heavy lifting for the pitching staff. Larry Brown remains in a tough slump: in 21 June innings, he has given up 32 hits, 21 runs, 9 walks, and has hit 3 batters. Max Plourde will get some starts in Brown's spot over the next few weeks.

[mjj55409]

8-5 so far on the home stand, with two 4-game series remaining with New York and Detroit. There is a doubleheader with Detroit on Saturday, so we'll squeeze in 8 games in the 7 days. And then we'll be at the all-star break for a few days of rest. With luck, we'll still be in first place too.

6/22 vs Philadelphia, L, 10-0
6/23 vs Philadelphia, W, 3-4
6/24 vs Philadelphia, W, 4-5
6/25 vs Philadelphia, W, 10-11
6/26 vs Washington, L, 8-1
6/27 vs Washington, W, 2-6
6/28 vs Washington, L, 13-4




Top Performances:

* Ron Rattigan: .433/.419/.667, 2 HR, 7 R, 5 RBI
* Bennie Griffith: .438/.471/.563, 1 3B
* Bill White: .417/.444/.458, 1 2B, 3 RBI
* Paddy Smith: .500/.500/.700, 2 2B, 2 RBI


Pete Layton looked good in his Chicago debut (.370/.393/.444). But overall the offense is still a little stagnant. We made a change at hitting coach last week, moving Joe Ward to bench coach and hiring Jack Seibers. Seibers has an approach to hitting that appeals to power hitters. Rattigan and Griffith seemed to respond well to the change.

One big reason for the offense doldrums is Jim Hampton. Hampton had some knee issues during the first two weeks of June, and he hasn't looked like himself all month. During June, Hampton is hitting just .212/.272/.306.




You probably noticed that I didn't list any pitcher in the Top Performances. The week was ugly for the pitchers. ERAs for the week:

* Max Plourde, 6.14
* Ron Coles, 8.31
* Al Miller, 4.50
* Jack Beach, 4.00
* Charlie Bingham, 15.75

Weeks like that will happen, and the pitching has been carrying the under performing offense all season. A somewhat worrying sign is that the Chiefs actual won loss record is 7 games better than their Pythagorean won loss record. Chicago has been good at winning close games (13-6 in one run games), but it's a situation that could reverse itself quickly.

[mjj55409]

DAY TO CHIEFS IN CHICAGO-NEW YORK BLOCKBUSTER

Sources tonight have confirmed that the Chicago Chiefs will be acquiring pitcher Rabbit Day from the New York Gothams in exchange for P Gary Heuser, OF/1B Ed Reyes (class AAA), and 3B Billy Dalton (class A). Two draft picks are also changing hands with the Chiefs sending their 1st pick to the Gothams and the Gothams sending their 3rd pick to the Chiefs.

Though still just 23-years-old, Reyes is technically no longer a prospect, but he has struggled to find playing time in Chicago. Dalton was the first round pick of the Chiefs in the 1935 draft and is currently ranked as the 29th overall prospect by OSA. Heuser is a 26-year-old right-hander in his rookie season.

Rabbit Day was originally drafted as a high school junior in the 27th round of the 1922 draft by the Philadelphia Keystones. He didn't sign with the Keystones and instead went back to high school. He was drafted the next season by Baltimore with the 5th overall selection. He debuted as a 23-year-old in 1927 and won his first Allen Award in 1930, when he won 22 games and struck out 211 batters. He won a 2nd Allen Award in 1932. In 7 seasons with Baltimore, Day went 129-90 with a 3.50 ERA (119 ERA+). In 1934 he was traded to the Gothams and he led the Gothams to a World Championship victory in 1935. In 2 1/2 seasons in New York, Day went 47-21 with a 3.38 ERA (140 ERA+).

Day led the CA in strikeouts for 6 consecutive seasons (1928 - 1933) and then led the the FA in strikeouts in 1934 for a total of 7 straight seasons. He was topped in strikeouts in 1935 by Boston's rookie Dick Higgins. But with the elbow trouble that Higgins is currently experiencing, expect Day to reclaim the strikeout crown in 1936.


Chicago analysis--Obviously, giving up Reyes, Dalton, and a 1st is a huge price, but Day is potentially the top pitcher of his generation. Some of his Baltimore clubs were not good, and so Day was sometimes overlooked, but to lead the league in strikeouts for 7 straight seasons is something special. And although Day is 32-years-old, he has been extremely durable. His only injury as a professional is some back tightness in July of 1929.

The addition of Day gives Chicago a true, front-of-the-rotation ace, alleviating some of the pressure on 20-year-old rookie Al Miller (who has been nothing short of sensational). So a rotation of:

Al Miller
Ron Coles
Jack Beach
Charlie Bingham
Larry Brown/Max Plourde/Red Hampton

becomes

Rabbit Day
Al Miller
Ron Coles
Jack Beach
Charlie Bingham

And I feel that Day/Miller/Coles is a trio that can win a Championship Series.

With the additions of Rabbit Day and Pete Layton, the Chiefs have added 21 years of experience, 6 pennants, and 5 World Championship victories (as well as 2 Allen Awards and 1 World Championship MVP). Chicago is certainly going all out in an attempt to hold off Pittsburgh in the FA pennant race.



Rabbit Day

[mjj55409]

The Chiefs stumble into the all-star break by dropping 3 of 4 to Detroit. We've had trouble with Detroit all season; we've split the 12 games so far. The 3-day break won't be much of a break as Bob Martin, Tom Bird, Al Miller, and Ron Rattigan were selected the Federal Association roster--and they'll meet their new team mate, Rabbit Day, when he joins them in St. Louis.

The season will pick up on Thursday with the first of 3 games in Boston. That will be the start of an 11-game road trip. So far, the Chiefs have fared better on the road (25-14, .641) than at home (24-17, .585).

6/29 vs New York, W, 8-13
6/30 vs New York, W, 3-14
7/1 vs New York, L, 8-4
7/2 vs New York, W, 2-6
7/3 vs Detroit, L, 9-7 (10)
7/4 vs Detroit, W, 2-4
7/4 vs Detroit, L, 6-3
7/5 vs Detroit, L, 8-7 (10)




Top Performances

* Pete Layton: .471/.514/.853, 4 HR, 10 R, 9 RBI
* Cliff Moss: .520/.552/1.000, 3 HR, 3 2B, 7 R, 11 RBI
* Bob Martin: .333/.353/.515, 10 R, 6 RBI
* Charlie Bingham: 2-0, 3.12 ERA


Dare I say the offense showed a spark this week? Pete Layton won the Player of the Week award for his efforts. The club hit 9 home runs, with Layton and Cliff Moss combining for 7 of those. Even Jim Hampton (.333/.394/.367) showed signs of life.




Larry Brown was tagged with 2 of the losses and Red Hampton was responsible for 1. Neither Brown nor Hampton will be pitching much--baring injury--once Rabbit Day is in the fold. As I mentioned, Day's first introduction to his team mates will be in St. Louis at the all-star game on Tuesday.

[mjj55409]

Well, giving up 34 runs in 4 games was not the way I wanted to return to play. At least we are still only a game back. We have 2 more games in Philadelphia, and then 3 in Washington, before the week wraps up with 2 games in Pittsburgh.

7/9 @ Boston, W, 8-6
7/10 @ Boston, L, 4-7
7/11 @ Boston, L, 4-14
7/12 @ Philadelphia, W, 8-7




Top Performances

* Pete Layton: .500/.563/.847, 1 HR, 3 RBI
* Tom Bird: .429/.556/.571, 2 2B, 4 R, 4 RBI
* Bennie Griffith: .556/.556/.889, 1 HR, 3 R
* Bob Martin: .375/.400/.500, 1 2B, 1 3B, 6 R, 5 RBI


It does appear that the offense might be starting to pull its own weight. Pete Layton has been everything I imagined and more. So far with Chicago Layton is hitting .440/.481/.707 with 5 HR and 14 RBI. Cliff Moss has also been swinging the bat well this month--he is hitting .476/.538/.762. The only regulars who have been really struggling this month are Paddy Smith (.140) and Ron Rattigan (.237).

I'm a little torn with what to do about short stop. Bill White ostensibly has the better bat that Bob Barringer, but even so, White is still hitting below average (OPS+ of 88). And while White had shown a decent glove in the minors, he has struggled in the field this season. Barringer is a veteran with a very good glove. I'm thinking that if the rest of the lineup is hitting, we can afford to swap White with Barringer to help out the pitching staff. At any rate, Barringer will get the majority of the starts this week.





As has been the case for the past few weeks, the pitching staff as a whole did not have a good week. In fact, the trouble started in the All-Star Game when Rabbit Day and Al Miller combined to give up all 6 runs in the 6-4 loss to the CA. Day won his first start as a Chief, but Miller followed up his all-star appearance with his worst start of the season (6 IP, 9 H, 6 R).

[mjj55409]

We lost the first 3 games of the week to drop to 4-9 in July and 4 games behind Pittsburgh. We were then able to right the ship and finish out the week with 4 straight wins, including 2 games in Pittsburgh. After an off day today, the club is back in Chicago for 3 games with Washington and 3 with Philadelphia.

7/13 @ Philadelphia, L, 1-3
7/14 @ Philadelphia, L, 3-4
7/15 @ Washington, L, 3-7
7/16 @ Washington, W, 8-5
7/17 @ Washington, W, 8-4
7/18 @ Pittsburgh, W, 16-2
7/19 @ Pittsburgh, W, 3-1




Top Performances:

• Pete Layton: .500/.576/.679, 2 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 4 R
• Ron Rattigan: .360/.500/.720, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 7 R
• Bob Martin: .395/.395/.526, 3 2B, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 7 R
• Rabbit Day: 1-1, 1.89 ERA

Pete Layton continues to be amazing; his slash line for Chicago: .456/.509/.699 (OPS+ 205). The offense overall is functioning a lot better than it was before the all-star break. Bennie Griffith is having a great month: .394/.459/.576. He is starting to get the majority of the playing time in center. If Griffith can get his OPS+ above 100, then it will be the short stop position that is the only one below average.




Rabbit Day is starting to look more comfortable with his new club (2-1, 3.21 ERA)--though Charlie Bingham is the pitcher having the best month (2-1, 2.16 ERA). Al Miller is having a bit of a rough stretch--if you look back over his last 4 starts, 3 of them have been not so good. One against Boston and two against Washington, which are the two clubs that have given him the most trouble. Opponents batting average by team for Miller:

• .167 - Philadelphia
• .171 - Detroit
• .227 - New York
• .229 - Pittsburgh
• .250 - St. Louis
• .265 - Boston
• .330 - Washington

Miller has another shot at the Eagles in Tuesday's game.

[mjj55409]

A 6-0 week; we definitely needed that after being just 4-9 through mid-July. We are now riding a 10-game winning streak and are tied with Pittsburgh for the top spot in the Fed. And the Miners are coming to town for a big 4-game series starting today.

7/20 Off day
7/21 vs Washington, W, 0-1
7/22 vs Washington, W, 5-8
7/23 vs Washington, W, 1-5
7/24 vs Philadelphia, W, 4-6
7/25 vs Philadelphia, W, 1-3
7/26 vs Philadelphia, W, 0-10




Top Performances

• Pete Layton: .500/.542/.818, 1 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 5 R
• Bill White: .364/.391/.545, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 6 R
• Al Miller: 2-0, 0.00 ERA
• Rabbit Day: 1-0, 0.90 ERA

I want to highlight just what kind of month that Pete Layton is having. His slash line for July is .466/.530/.739. His OPS+ is 221 and wRC+ is 237, both of which are leading the Fed by a good margin. Pittsburgh is coming to town with a hot bat of its own: Lou Kelly was the FA Player of the Week last week when he hit 6 home runs, half of his season total of 13. Kelly is hitting .345/.392/.538 on the season.




This week was all about the pitching. If there were any doubts creeping in about the performances of Al Miller and Rabbit Day since the all-star break, this week alleviated them. After giving up 6 runs in 6 innings on July 15th against Washington in the worst start of his career (game score of 28), Miller threw two shutouts last week (which were the first shutouts and the best starts of his career; both had a game score of 80). Since he just pitched yesterday, he is not scheduled to pitch in the Pittsburgh series.

[mjj55409]

Well, not only did we sweep Pittsburgh, we won the first two games of the Boston series to extend the winning streak to 16 games before losing on Sunday. We now have a 5 game lead in the Fed. There is still a lot of baseball left and a lot can happen--in mid-July the Chiefs were trailing the Miners by 4 games after all. And 7 of the next 10 games are with St. Louis (4 this week in St. Louis). The Pioneers can be a dangerous club, so this is their chance to get back into the race.

The Chiefs finished July at 19-9 (.679) and are 36-18 (.667) at home and 31-19 (.620) on the road.

7/27 vs Pittsburgh, W, 2-3 (13)
7/28 vs Pittsburgh, W, 11-12 (10)
7/29 vs Pittsburgh, W, 4-6
7/30 vs Pittsburgh, W, 1-7
7/31 vs Boston, W, 2-6
8/1 vs Boston, W, 1-2 (12)
8/2 vs Boston, L, 8-5




Top Performances

• Bennie Griffith: .400/.455/.667, 1 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 5 R
• Ron Rattigan: .438/.471/.531, 1 2B, 1 3B, 6 RBI, 4 R
• Pete Layton: .323/.382/.613, 3 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 7 R
• Ron Coles: 0-0, 0.93 ERA (19.1 IP, 11 H, 3 R, 7 K)

Pete Layton wasn't quite as blistering hot last week, but his July was enough to win the Batter of the Month award in the Fed. For July, Layton hit .432/.492/.712 with 8 HR and 30 RBI. Bennie Griffith also had a strong July as he is establishing himself as the starting center fielder: .351/.405/.571, 5 2B, 3 3B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 16 R.




Ron Coles was the definition of a hard luck pitcher last week. He had two great starts (on Saturday he allowed 1 run in 11 innings). Both games went into extra innings, and while the club won both of the games, Coles wasn't involved in either decision. Al Miller won his 4th Rookie of the Month award.

[mjj55409]

We split the 4 games in St. Louis--looking listless in the 2 losses--and then swept the Dynamos to extend the lead over Pittsburgh by a game and a half. There is an off day today as we travel back to Chicago for a 9 game home stand. St. Louis and New York are in town for 3 games each this week.

8/3 @ St. Louis, W, 10-1
8/4 @ St. Louis, L, 0-3
8/5 @ St. Louis, W, 5-1
8/6 @ St. Louis, L, 0-6
8/7 @ Detroit, W, 8-5
8/8 @ Detroit, W, 4-1
8/9 @ Detroit, W, 7-4




Top Performances

• Ron Rattigan: .370/.469/.519, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 4 R
• Jim Hampton: .348/.464/.478, 1 2B, 1 3B, 4 RBI, 5 R
• Cliff Moss: .333/.370/.542, 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 R
• Rabbit Day: 2-0, 1.00 ERA

Pete Layton looked like a mere mortal last week, though he did slug a home run. The club hit a total of 7 home runs on the week. Layton, Cliff Moss, and Ron Rattigan all have a good shot at the 20 home run mark.




Rabbit Day had a shaky couple of starts right after he came over from the Gothams. In 6 starts since July 19th, Day is 6-0 with a 0.57 ERA. Day, Al Miller, and Ron Coles will get the starts in this week's St. Louis series.

[mjj55409]

For a 4-2 week, I would have expected to have lost a couple to St. Louis and to have swept the rebuilding Gothams. It turned out to be the other way around. We swept St. Louis, effectively knocking them out of the race. Meanwhile Pittsburgh has won 6 in a row, and our lead is back to just 5 games. Pittsburgh and Chicago will play each other 5 more times this season. This week there are 3 games in Chicago with Detroit before the club heads to New York for a 4-game series that begins Friday.

8/10 Off day
8/11 vs St. Louis, W, 4-7
8/12 vs St. Louis, W, 2-8
8/13 vs St. Louis, W, 4-7
8/14 vs New York, L, 4-11 (11)
8/15 vs New York, L, 4-7
8/16 vs New York, W, 4-2




Top Performances

Jim Hampton: .400/.483/.600, 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 6 R
Ron Rattigan: .292/.370/.750, 2 2B, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 7 R
Pete Layton: .407/.448/.519, 1 2B, 1 3B, 8 RBI, 3 R
Rabbit Day: 1-0, 1 SV, 0.00 ERA (10 IP, 2 H, 9 K)


Both Ron Rattigan and Cliff Moss hit 3 home runs on the week. Moss was 4 for 21 (.222) and all 4 hits were for extra bases--1 double and 3 home runs. Moss needs just 10 more home runs for 150 in his career.

Note that we also signed 37-year-old Joe Masters to a contract after Masters was released by Detroit. Masters is an icon in Chicago. In the pennant winning season of 1928, Masters hit 56 home runs, drove in a 195 runs, and won the Whitney Award. Masters and Max Morris are the only players to have hit 50 or more home runs in a season (though the Keystones' Bobby Barrell, who currently has 41, has a really good chance of joining them this season). Masters has 265 career home runs, but he is a shell of his former self, so other than some pinch hitting appearances, he is unlikely to see much playing time. He was signed mainly as a gesture of good will and to add another pair of experienced eyes to the bench as we head into the final stretch of the pennant race. To make room for Masters, we asked Mose Christopher to move to Fort Wayne, and he agreed.




Rabbit Day is pitching exactly like vintage Rabbit Day. If I were handicapping this year's Allen Award race in the Fed, I'd give a slight advantage to Day at the moment.

[mjj55409]

CHIEFS CLAIM FEDERAL PENNANT

The Chiefs can trace their history back to 1876 as one of the founding members of the Century League--the precursor of the Federal Association. They won two pennants in the 1880s, but then wouldn't win another until 1917. They won again in 1928, but that has been it--four pennants in 60 years. And now this season, they have won their 5th. Chicago is also sitting at 99 wins with four games left to play. The Chiefs have never won 100 games--the previous high was set by the 1928 pennant winning club at 95.

Even more history was made yesterday when Jim Hampton cracked a single to right field for his 2000th hit. Hampton becomes the fourth Chicago player to achieve the 2000 hit mark, joining Joe Masters (2238), Jim Shelton (2184), and Fred Feiden (2019). Hampton will have a chance to take over the career lead from Masters in 1937. Hampton has won two Federal Association batting titles (1928 and 1930) and is a .339 career hitter.

And speaking of Joe Masters, manager Jim Gentry has indicated that Masters will start at third base in the final two games of the season next Saturday and Sunday against the St. Louis Pioneers at Whitney Park. It will be a nice send-off in front of the Chicago faithful for Masters who has announced the he will retire at the end of the season. Gentry also mentioned that he doesn't expect Rabbit Day or Al Miller to start any of the remaining 4 games this season, as the Chiefs are now focused on getting ready for the championship series.

[mjj55409]

The Chiefs split the 4 games last week to finish with a club record 101 wins. Since the all-star break, Chicago has the best record in baseball at 52-22 (.703).

The World's Championship Series will begin Wednesday afternoon in Brooklyn. The series should be an intriguing one, as it matches Chicago's league-best pitching staff against Brooklyn's league-best offense.

Game 1 will see Chicago's Rabbit Day (25-3, 2.41) take the mound against Brooklyn's Tom Barrell (21-6, 3.41). It should be a classic pitching match-up. Day won the "pitching triple crown" in the Fed and is the likely Allen Award winner. Barrell is also the front runner to win the award in the Continental; it would be Barrell's 3rd consecutive Allen Award.

The probable pitchers for game 2 are Chicago's Al Miller (21-8, 2.87) and Brooklyn's Mike Murphy (17-8, 3.07). The 21-year-old Miller had one of the better rookie seasons in recent memory. It should be another good pitching match-up--Murphy led the CA in ERA, while Miller was 2nd in ERA to team mate Day.

[progen]

Should be a good series. Chiefs have to be favored though!

[mjj55409]

Originally Posted by progen

Should be a good series. Chiefs have to be favored though!

Thanks. The two clubs are pretty evenly matched. Chicago was the hotter club in the 2nd half of the year. The acquisitions of Layton and Day really pushed the Chiefs over the top. Day is 15-1 with a sub-2.00 ERA for Chicago. I see the series going the full 7 games, and of course, I'm going to hope that Day gives us the advantage.