1940 World Series
Game One: Los Angeles 3, St. Louis 1 at
St. Louis, Fri. Oct. 11, 1940
Neither Satchel Paige nor Mort Cooper (17-11,
3.35) escaped the first inning unscathed, but the
contest soon became a pitchers’ duel. Catcher Joe
Greene’s fourth inning solo shot made it 3-1, Los
Angeles, and that concluded the scoring. Cooper
worked eight innings while Paige went the
distance, picking up his third consecutive
complete-game victory of the postseason.
Game Two: St. Louis 9, Los Angeles 3 at
St. Louis, Sat. Oct. 12, 1940
Johnny Mize’s three-run first-inning blast gave
the Redbirds an early lead which they continued to
build upon throughout the game. Paul Derringer
(21-10, 4.38) kept the Halos off the board until
the eighth inning en route to a complete game
victory.
Game Three: Los Angeles 6, St. Louis 3 at
St. Louis, Sun. Oct. 13, 1940
Pinky Higgins’s two-run double capped a three-run
second inning for St. Louis, but Jesse Flores
threw shutout ball for the remainder of the
contest. Wally Berger’s bases-clearing double in
the fourth erased the Cardinals’ lead and two
ninth-inning intentional walks came back to haunt
the Redbirds when both recipients of the free
passes came home on George Scales’ two-run single.
Game Four: Los Angeles 1, St. Louis 0 at
Los Angeles, Thu. Oct. 17, 1940
Berger’s solo blast off Cooper in the eighth
inning accounted for the only run of the day as
Paige’s two-hit shutout put a bow on a postseason
performance for the ages: four starts, four
complete games, four victories, and a 1.00 ERA.
Game Five: Los Angeles 3, St. Louis 1 at
Los Angeles, Fri. Oct. 18, 1940
Ralph Buxton befuddled the ’Birds for most of the
afternoon while the ageless trio of Turkey
Stearnes, Jigger Statz, and Berger (with his third
homer of the series) all drove in runs to cement
Los Angeles’ second world title.
1940 Nyquist Trophy
Series
Game One: Los Angeles 7, San Francisco 2
at San Francisco, Tue. Oct. 1, 1940
Left fielder Lou Novikoff and right fielder Wally
Berger each collected four hits to lead an 18-hit
onslaught in support of Satchel Paige (25-8,
2.35), who scattered eight hits in picking up the
complete-game victory.
Game Two: Los Angeles 8, San Francisco 5
at San Francisco, Wed. Oct. 2, 1940
First baseman Turkey Stearnes’ two-run
first-inning homer got the Angels going, and Ralph
Buxton’s (17-11, 3.25) shaky but workmanlike
performance was sufficient to give the Halos a
second consecutive road victory.
Game Three: Los Angeles 5, San Francisco 0
at Los Angeles, Fri. Oct. 4, 1940
Jesse Flores (13-14, 3.46) spun an eight-hit
shutout while his teammates racked up 15 hits in
support, putting the Angels in position to sweep.
Game Four: Los Angeles 9, San Francisco 3
at Los Angeles, Sat. Oct. 5, 1940
The Angels finished three games behind the Seals
during the regular season and lost the season
series 13-9, but in the Nyquist Trophy Series the
tables were turned dramatically. The Halos’ Game
Four rout completed the startling transformation,
as the five players at the top of the order each
collected two or more hits, including series MVP
Novikoff, who homered twice and drove in five in a
4-for-5 performance. Outhitting San Francisco
61-31 in the four-game romp to earn their seventh
PCL title, Los Angeles moved on to the upcoming
World Series as a slight favorite over St. Louis.
Update: 9/30/1940
The 1940 race ended with little fanfare; San
Francisco (90-64) took four of six from Sacramento
(84-70), knocking the Solons out of contention
before the regular season’s final weekend, and
with the Seals dispatching Sacramento, Los Angeles
(87-67) needed little effort to clinch a
postseason berth (and they seemed to give
little effort, dropping five of six to San Diego).
San Francisco finished three games ahead of the
Angels, six games ahead of the Solons, eight games
ahead of the Padres (82-72), 14 ahead of Portland
(76-78), 15 ahead of Oakland (75-79), and 29 ahead
of Hollywood and Seattle (both 61-93). The Nyquist
Trophy Series begins Tuesday, with San Francisco
hosting Los Angeles in Game One of the
best-of-seven tourney.
San Francisco’s Arky Vaughan won his third
consecutive batting title, hitting .366; he beat
out his teammate, Joe DiMaggio (.358), and
Oakland’s Ernie Lombardi (.346). Los Angeles’
Wally Berger, with 35 round-trippers, was the home
run champion for the eighth time in his
illustrious career; DiMaggio was second with 25
while three players hit 23 to tie for third.
DiMaggio won the RBI title with 134 as San Diego’s
Buck Leonard finished second with 127 and two
players tied for third with 102.
Oakland’s Johnny Lindell led the loop in earned
run average with a fine 2.13 mark; Bob Muncrief of
Sacramento was second at 2.31 and Satchel Paige of
Los Angeles was third at 2.35. Paige posted the
most victories (25) in the league, with Lindell
winning 23 and two pitchers winning 18. It should
come as no surprise that Paige also was the
strikeout king, as he has held that title for
every one of his 13 Coast League seasons, but the
34-year-old marvel managed a novel twist this time
around: his 293 whiffs surpassed his own all-time
single-season record. Lindell was second with 173
and Leon Day of Hollywood was third with 158.
Update: 9/23/1940
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Berger |
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Los Angeles (86-62) picked a good time to get
hot; the Angels swept Oakland (71-77) running
their winning streak to seven games, and have
caught San Francisco (also 86-62) at the top of
the standings. Sacramento (82-66) is the only
other team with a mathematical chance to catch the
two leaders; the other five teams have all been
eliminated.
Wally Berger of Los Angeles is the Player of the
Week. Berger hit .360 (9-for-25) with four home
runs and 10 runs batted in. Berger, with 34 home
runs this season, appears poised to lead the
league in homers for the eighth time in his
career.
Los Angeles and San Francisco lead Sacramento by
four games. The Seals and Solons will play the
final six games of their regular season schedules
against one another. The Angels will play six
against fourth-place San Diego (77-71);
fifth-place Portland (72-76) will play six against
Hollywood (59-89), and sixth-place Oakland (71-77)
will play six against Seattle (59-89). Currently
Hollywood and Seattle are tied for seventh place.
Update: 9/16/1940
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Dunn |
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With the finish line in sight, among the three
playoff contenders only Sacramento (79-62) played
better than .500 ball this week. San Francisco
(83-58) split its final two games with Los Angeles
(80-62), then dropped three of five to last-place
Seattle (55-86); the Angels were only able to
split four games against seventh-place Hollywood
(56-86); the Solons took four of seven against San
Diego (74-68) and Portland (68-73). These results
didn’t quite lift the Solons into second
place—they still trail the Angels by a half a
game—but with a six-game Sacramento-San Francisco
series starting just nine days from now, it is
highly likely the race will remain a three-team
affair into the final days of the regular season.
The Beavers are in sixth place and it appears
unlikely they will finish much higher than that,
but they may have found a new star in first
baseman Cecil Dunn. Dunn, a 29-year-old rookie,
was named Player of the Week after going 11-for-27
(.407) and driving in eleven runs. Dunn has logged
just 174 at-bats this season but has homered six
times and knocked in 31.
Update: 9/9/1940
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Vaughan |
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San Francisco (80-54) is in the catbird seat
after winning five of their six games this week,
including two of the first three of a key
five-game set against second-place Los Angeles
(77-59). Player of the Week Arky Vaughan made a
substantial contribution to the effort, hitting
.455 (10-for-22) with a homer and eight runs
batted in. The San Francisco shortstop is second
in the league in hitting at .367, ten points
behind teammate Joe DiMaggio.
The Seals extended their lead over the Angels to
four games, making the final two regular season
meetings between the clubs must-wins for Los
Angeles if the Halos want to stay in the chase for
the top spot. Meanwhile, Sacramento (75-59) looms
dangerously close, five games behind the Seals but
only one behind the Angels.
The rest of the league no longer appears to be
much of a threat. Fourth-place San Diego (71-65)
lost five of six; the Padres are now ten games out
of first and six games out of second. Oakland
(69-67) has fallen 12 games back and Portland
(64-70) is 16 back. Hollywood (54-82) and Seattle
(50-84) have been eliminated from postseason
contention.
Update: 9/2/1940
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Johnson |
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San Francisco (75-53) and Los Angeles (74-56)
have been joined by Sacramento (72-56) to make it
a tight three-team race for first as the regular
season enters its final month; San Diego (70-60)
can’t be counted out of the playoff picture
either, with the Padres only four games removed
from the second postseason berth. The Solons
reeled off eight victories in a row—all against
the Angels or Padres—before the Halos cooled them
off on Sunday. Sacramento and Los Angeles finish
their season series with three games over the next
two days; San Francisco and San Diego do the same.
The current count has the Seals leading the
league by two games over the Angels, three games
over the Solons, six over the Padres, nine over
Oakland (67-63), 13½ over Portland (61-66), 25½
over Hollywood (50-79), and 29 over Seattle
(46-82).
The Beavers faded from contention in August but
first baseman-left fielder Bob Johnson continued
to produce, culminating in his second Player of
the Week award this season. Johnson hit .500
(11-for-22) with a pair of homers and seven runs
batted in. He’s a .295 hitter on the season, with
a team-high 19 home runs and 67 RBI.
Update: 8/26/1940
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Gibson |
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Josh Gibson of Sacramento went 10-for-20 (.500)
and hit three home runs while driving in six to
earn the Coast League’s Player of the Week award
as the Solons (67-55) scratched their way back
into third place. Gibson is hitting .296 with 19
home runs, third-most in the league.
San Francisco (72-50) remains in first place but
the Seals gave up ground to almost everyone this
week; Los Angeles (72-62), Sacramento, San Diego
(68-56), Oakland (63-60), and Portland (59-62) all
gained on the leaders. The Angels are now a game
out of first, the Solons and Padres trail by five,
the Oaks trail by 9½, the Beavers trail by 12½,
Hollywood (46-77) trails by 26½, and Seattle
(43-78) trails by 28½.
While things are tight at the top, the bottom of
the league has atrophied this year. Both the Stars
and Rainiers are uncomfortably close to setting
new records for futility. No team in the modern
P.C.L. has finished with a winning percentage
lower than .357 (Sacramento, 1921). Seattle, at
.345, is already on pace to finish worse than that
and Hollywood, at .373, is only two games ahead of
the Rainiers. If the Stars’ current pace lags just
slightly and the Rainiers don’t improve on theirs,
they will become the first and second Coast League
teams to lose 100 games in a season in the
154-game era.
Update: 8/19/1940
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DiMaggio |
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When someone is named Player of the Week five
times in a season, is it a good bet that he’s
going to the the MVP? Sure—but don’t sell Joe
DiMaggio short; there’s still over a month of
season left, and he may have one or more Player of
the Week awards in his immediate future.
This week he hit .440 (11-for-25), blasted three
home runs, and knocked in six as San Francisco
(70-46) took 4 of 7 games to take a two-game lead
over Los Angeles (69-49). Joltin’ Joe leads the
league in batting with a .381 average and runs
batted in with 102; he’s second in home runs with
19, no small feat for a player who plays half his
games in cavernous Seals Stadium.
Third-place San Diego (65-53) trails the Seals by
six games. Sacramento (63-53), winners for six
straight, are now seven games back. Oakland
(61-57) trails by 10, and Portland (56-60) trails
by 14. Hollywood (44-74) has lost of 13 (!) in a
row and trails by 27, while Seattle (40-76) trails
by 30.
Update: 8/12/1940
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Vaughan |
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The two Bay Area teams have gotten hot; San
Francisco (66-43) has won five straight and
Oakland (57-54) has won six straight. The Seals
and Oaks began the week playing against one
another, both of them taking one of the final two
meetings of a five-game set, and it was all
winning after that. The Seals are a game away from
sweeping Hollywood (44-67) and the Oaks need one
win to accomplish the same feat against Sacramento
(57-52). Oakland is still ten games out of first
place but San Francisco is technically back on top
the standings, percentage points above Los Angeles
(67-44).
Arky Vaughan of the Seals is the Player of the
Week. Vaughan hit .484 (15-for-31) with eight runs
batted in to raise his season average to .363,
good for second best in the league behind teammate
Joe DiMaggio.
Trailing the Seals and Angels in the standings
are San Diego (60-51, 7 games back), Sacramento (9
games back), Oakland (10 games back), Portland
(55-54, 11 games back), Hollywood (23 games back),
Seattle (34-75, 32 games back).
Update: 8/5/1940
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Leonard |
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Los Angeles (63-42) remains red hot; the Angels
have won eight in a row and have slipped past San
Francisco (60-42) into first place. The Halos were
just 12-15 in June but have won 27 of 35 since.
Satchel Paige won both of his starts this week,
and now the Angel right-hander has 300 wins in
Coast League play. He is the only pitcher to
attain that number of victories; Paige and two
recently-retired hurlers, Willie Foster (283) and
Frank Shellenback (270), are the only pitchers
with 250+ victories. Paige is 16-5 this season.
The league’s outstanding individual performer,
however, was not an Angel, but a Padre. Buck
Leonard is the Player of the Week for the second
time in three weeks. This time around Leonard
picked up 11 hits in 28 at-bats for a .393
average, adding a homer, eleven runs batted in,
and 7 runs scored. Leonard is third in the league
in hitting at .335 and second in RBI with 84. The
Padres, unfortunately, were unable to ride
Leonard’s hot bat to a winning record this week,
losing four of seven.
The now second-place Seals are a game and a half
behind Los Angeles, Sacramento (56-46) is 5½ back,
San Diego (55-50) is eight back, Portland (53-50)
is nine back, Oakland (51-53) is 11½ back,
Hollywood (43-61) is 19½ back, and Seattle (33-70)
trails by 29 games.
Update: 7/29/1940
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Paige |
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Satchel Paige of Los Angeles is closing in on 300
career wins; this week he tossed two three-hit
shutouts for wins #297 and #298, earning the
Player of the Week award and helping the Angels
(56-42) pick up five wins in seven games. Paige,
who is second to Oakland’s Johnny Lindell in wins
and ERA this season, is 14-5 with an ERA of 2.18.
The Angels are second to San Francisco (58-38) in
the P.C.L. race, now just three games out; they’ve
picked up four games in the standings in two
weeks.
The Seals went 2-4, allowing most of the other
contenders to gain ground on them. Third-place
Sacramento (52-44) is six games out; fourth-place
San Diego (52-46) is seven games out; fifth-place
Portland (50-46) is eight games out. Oakland
(49-49) did not have a good week and remains ten
games behind the Seals. Hollywood (39-59) is in
seventh place, 20 games out, and Seattle (32-64)
is still in the cellar, 26 games behind San
Francisco.
Update: 7/22/1940
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Leonard |
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Los Angeles (51-40), defending league champions
and winners of 95 games last year, have been
mostly just hanging around this season, staying
within arm’s length of the pennant race. This week
something lit a fire under the team and they went
undefeated; they’ve now reeled off eight straight.
The Halos began the week in fifth place but they
are now in second, 5½ games behind San Francisco
(56-34).
San Diego (48-43) had almost as good a week as
the Angels, losing just once, with much of the
credit going to first baseman Buck Leonard, the
Player of the Week. Leonard went 9-for-23, a .391
average, with three home runs and 10 runs batted
in. Big Buck is now fifth in the league in batting
(.335) and second in RBI (68). He has ten home
runs.
Sacramento (49-41) dropped to third place this
week, seven games behind San Francisco. Portland
(47-42) is percentage points ahead of San Diego
(48-43); both are 8½ back. Oakland (47-45) is
reeling; the Oaks have lost nine of their last
eleven and have dropped all the way to sixth
place. They’re ten games out of first but just 4½
out of second. Hollywood (36-56) and Seattle
(28-61) are 21 and 27½ games back respectively.
Update: 7/15/1940
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Lillard |
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Los Angeles’ Gene Lillard is the Player of the
Week, coming off a 12-for 25 (.480) performance
which included a homer, five runs scored, and five
runs batted in. Lillard, who missed the entire
month of June due to a strained abdominal muscle,
is making up for lost time with a .370 average in
July. He’s hitting .280 for the season, with 10 HR
and 29 RBI. The Angels (44-40) are in fifth place
but they’re still in the thick of the playoff
hunt, only two games behind second-place
Sacramento (46-38).
San Francisco (51-53) remains in first place with
a five-game lead over the Solons. Portland (45-38)
and Oakland (46-39) are 5½ back, Los Angeles is
seven back, San Diego (42-42) is nine back,
Hollywood (36-49) is 15½ back, and Seattle (26-57)
is 24½ back.
Update: 7/8/1940
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Lake |
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If the rest of the league has been waiting for
San Francisco (49-29) to hit a rough patch, it’s
finally happened. The Seals won only one game this
week, losing the other six, allowing every team in
the league except Hollywood (31-47) to gain ground
on them. A week ago at this time Oakland (44-34)
was the only team trailing the Seals by fewer than
ten games; as of today there are four others. The
Seals lead the Oaks by five, Portland (41-36) by
7½, Sacramento (41-37) by eight, Los Angeles
(40-37) by 8½, and San Diego (39-38) by 9½. The
Stars and Seattle (25-42) trail by 18 and 23½,
respectively.
The hottest team in the league right now is
Sacramento. The Solons, in the midst of their
mid-season ten-game series with the Seals, have
won four of the first five; their 41-37 record is
the best it’s been all season. A good portion of
the credit must go to infielder Eddie Lake, this
week’s Player of the Week. Lake hit .474
(9-for-19) with four home runs and eight runs
batted in. The 24-year-old Antioch, California
native, in his first season as a regular, has
split time between second and third base, hitting
.287 with 10 HR and 40 RBI along the way.
Update: 7/1/1940
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Irvin |
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Hollywood’s Monte Irvin hit a sizzling .538 this
week, adding three home runs and nine runs batted
in to his season totals, earning the league’s
Player of the Week award for the third time in his
short career. Irvin had hit 9 HR so far this
season, tying him for sixth-best in the loop. He
is hitting .302.
San Francisco (48-23) let up on the gas a little
this week, going just 3-3, which allowed Oakland
(39-32) to pick up a half-game in the standings.
The Seals still lead the Oaks by nine games, and
the rest of the league still trails them by
double-digit amounts. Third-place Portland (37-33)
trails San Francisco by 10½ games, Los Angeles
(36-34) trails by 11½, San Diego (35-35) trails by
12½, Sacramento (35-36) trails by 13, Hollywood
(30-41) trails by 18, and Seattle (22-48) trails
by 25½.
Update: 6/24/1940
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Averill |
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Earl Averill of Sacramento is the Player of the
Week. The 38-year-old left fielder hit .455
(10-for-22), crushing four home runs and knocking
in nine. Averill’s 10 homers are third most in the
league. It is the 14th time in his distinguished
career that the Snohomish, Washington native has
earned Player of the Week honors.
The Solons (32-33), however, managed just three
wins in seven games this week, and ultimately lost
two games in the standings to front-running San
Francisco (45-20). The Seals appear to be winning
the top playoff spot in a walk, leading
second-place Oakland (35-29) by 9½ games,
third-place Portland (33-31) by 11½, Los Angeles
and San Diego (both 32-31) by 12, Sacramento by
13, Hollywood (27-37) by 17½, and Seattle (20-44)
by 24½. The Seals have had only one losing week
all season.
Update: 6/17/1940
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DiMaggio |
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San Francisco (40-18) again extended the gap
between themselves and second place, and they
didn’t even have to play winning baseball to do
it. The Seals went 3-3, but Los Angeles (30-27),
who began the week 7½ games behind and in second
place, lost five of six. This dropped the Angels
into third and the lifted San Diego (31-26), who
also went 3-3, into second. San Francisco leads
the Padres by 8½, Los Angeles by 9½, Oakland
(30-28) by 10, Sacramento (29-29) by 11, Portland
(28-30) by 12, Hollywood (25-34) by 15½, and
Seattle (18-39) by 21½.
And once again, it was Joe DiMaggio of the Seals
winning the Player of the Week award. This time
the 25-year-old center fielder went 12-for-23
(.522) with two home runs and seven runs batted in
to earn the honors. DiMaggio is tops in the league
in hitting at .395, first in RBI with 54, fourth
in HR with 8. For good measure, he leads the
league in hits, triples, total bases, and
sacrifice flies. Most importantly, he is the most
obvious reason his team leads the league in wins.
Update: 6/10/1940
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San Francisco (37-15) seems to be extending their
lead in the Coast League by another game every
week. They did it again this past week, and with
three more games of a six-game series with
second-place Los Angeles (29-22) on the horizon,
they are poised to keep the trend going. The Seals
took two of the first three games of that series
after completing a five-game sweep of Hollywood
(20-32). San Francisco leads the Angels by 7½
games, San Diego (28-23) by 8½, Oakland (28-24) by
nine, Portland (24-27) by 12½, Sacramento (24-28)
by 13, the Stars by 17, and Seattle (16-35) by
20½.
The Beavers’ Bob Johnson has been a prolific
run-producer his entire career, a fact that has
probably been overlooked by some due to the rarity
of his team’s postseason appearances. Johnson has
spent his entire career in Portland and is the
club’s all-time career leader in home runs. This
week he took home Player of the Week accolades
with a .464 average (13-for-28), a home run, three
runs driven in and eight runs scored. Johnson is
currently second in the league in homers with
nine.
After the “live ball” replaced the “dead ball” in
the P.C.L. in the early 1920’s, no-hitters became
extremely uncommon. There were none from 1921 to
1935; fibnally Willie Foster tossed one in 1936
for Sacramento. Two and a half years later Jack
Salveson threw one in the closing weeks of the
season while pitching for Los Angeles. Add a third
name to the list—the Angels’ Satchel Paige no-hit
Portland last Monday, striking out 11 and walking
2 in the Halos’ 3-0 victory.
Update: 6/3/1940
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Gibson |
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Josh Gibson of Sacramento (20-25) has been a
perennial standout performer, boasting a .330
career batting average and 208 career home runs.
But when the 28-year-old catcher got off to a slow
start this year (along with a number of his
teammates), fans worried that he had lost
something. That doesn’t seem to be the case, as
this week he hit .360 with two home runs and eight
runs batted in to capture the Coast League’s
Player of the Week award. Not surprisingly,
Gibson’s hot streak coincided with a string of
Solons wins (Sacramento went 5-2 this week). The
Solons are still in sixth place, and Gibson is
still hitting just .230 for the season, but the
team and its star catcher are both moving in the
right direction.
San Francisco (32-14) continues its domination,
winning six of eight, and the Seals now lead
second-place Los Angeles (24-19) by a not
insubstantial 6½ games. San Diego (23-20) and
Oakland (24-21) are in a virtual tie for third, 7½
games back, Portland (22-21) is 8½ back,
Sacramento is 11½ back, Hollywood (18-28) is 14
back and Seattle (14-29) is 16½ back.
Update: 5/27/1940
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Vaughan |
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San Francisco (26-12) was victorious in their
first five games this week, losing only Sunday’s
contest to Hollywood (16-22), and the Seals are
now four games in front of Oakland (22-16), five
in front of San Diego (21-17), six in front of Los
Angeles (20-18), and seven in front of Portland
(19-19). Instrumental in this recent surge was
shortstop Arky Vaughan, the Player of the Week.
Vaughan picked up 14 hits in 29 at-bats, a .483
average, while knocking in ten runs. He’s hitting
.372 for the season (fifth best in the league),
and has driven in 31 runs (tied for second). Now
in his ninth season, the 28-year-old is recognized
as the Coast League’s all-time leader in career
batting average. Currently at .350, he’s three
points ahead of his longtime manager, Seals legend
Lefty O’Doul.
With five teams at or above .500, the other three
are accounting for a lot of losses so far this
season. Sixth-place Hollywood is six games under
.500, seventh-place Sacramento (15-23) is eight
games under, and last-place Seattle (13-25) is
already 12 games on the wrong side of even.
Update: 5/20/1940
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Leonard |
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San Francisco (21-11) bounced back from a rocky
performance a week ago to take four of six
contests from first division teams; they took the
final two games against Los Angeles to earn a
split in that six-game series, and then split the
first four games of a five-game set at Oakland
(that series concludes today). The Seals now lead
the Oaks (18-14) by three games and the Angels and
San Diego (both 18-15) by 3½ games. Portland
(16-17) is 5½ games back, Hollywood and Sacramento
(14-18) are both seven games back, and Seattle
(11-22) trails by 10½.
San Diego’s Buck Leonard wrested the Player of
the Week award away from San Francisco’s Joe
DiMaggio for at least one week. The Padres’ first
sacker hit .452 (14-for-31) with a pair of homers,
eight runs batted in, and eight runs scored. The
32-year-old Leonard is hitting .391, good for
fourth in the league, with 27 RBI, which currently
places him second.
Update: 5/13/1940
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DiMaggio |
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It’s three in a row for Joe DiMaggio. San
Francisco’s 25-year-old center fielder picked up
16 hits in 29 at bats (a .517 average) while
driving in eight runs to pick up his third
consecutive Player of the Week award. Joltin’ Joe
now leads the league in hitting at .485 and RBI
with 32, and his five HR place him just one behind
league leader Wally Berger of Los Angeles.
Berger’s sixth home run of the season, which came
on May 7 against Sacramento, was the 500th of his
career.
The Seals (17-9), despite DiMaggio’s heroics,
fell back to the pack a bit, losing five of seven,
so their lead over second-place Oakland (15-11),
who went 4-3, is down to two games. Los Angeles
and San Diego (both 14-12) are three games back.
The other four teams in the P.C.L. are under .500:
Portland and Sacramento (both 12-14) are five
games out, Hollywood (11-15) is six games out, and
Seattle (9-17), suffering a brutal 1-6 stretch, is
in the cellar, eight games off the pace.
Update: 5/6/1940
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DiMaggio |
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What does Seals center fielder Joe DiMaggio do
for an encore? He repeats the whole performance.
DiMaggio is the Player of the Week for the second
week in a row, this time hitting .440 (11-for-25)
with three home runs and 14 runs batted in. The
25-year-old is hitting “only” .471, which places
him second in the league in hitting to San Diego’s
Ted Williams (.485), but his five homers tie him
the the league lead with Los Angeles’ Wally Berger
and his 24 RBI put him well ahead of all
challengers.
Spurred by Joltin’ Joe’s big week, the Seals
(15-4) went unbeaten and now lead Los Angeles and
Oakland (both 11-8) by four games. Portland and
San Diego (both 9-10) are six games out,
Sacramento and Seattle (both 8-11) are seven games
out, and Hollywood (5-14) trails by ten.
Update: 4/29/1940
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DiMaggio |
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Joe DiMaggio, San Francisco’s exceptional center
fielder, ripped opposing pitchers to the tune of
.522 (16-for-29) en route to the Player of the
Week award. More importantly, he led the Seals
(9-4) to five wins in seven games, earning them a
share of first place with Oakland (also 9-4). The
Oaks, losers on Opening Day, had followed up that
setback with a nine-game winning streak, but
losses in their last three contests allowed to
Seals to catch them.
One of the most incredible games in Coast League
history took place on Thursday in Oakland. Los
Angeles led the Oaks 6-3 heading into the bottom
of the 8th, but the Acorns came up with a run in
the 8th and two in the 9th to send the contest
into extra innings. The two teams were unable to
score for the next 13 innings. Finally the
Halos’ Billy Holm singled home a run in the top of
the 23rd frame, but it was to no avail; Satchel
Paige, working his 8th relief inning, walked the
first five Oaks in the inning, and Loyd
Christopher’s double off Jesse Flores (who had to
start the next day) gave the Oaks a thrilling 8-7
win.
The Angels, Portland, and San Diego (all 7-6)
trail Oakland and San Francisco by two games,
Seattle and Sacramento (both 5-8) trail by four,
and Hollywood (3-10) is already six games back.
Update: 4/22/1940
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Moore |
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Injuries to two Angels outfielders created an
opportunity for 38-year-old ex-St. Louis Brown
Johnny Moore to step into a starting role, and the
veteran flycatcher made the most of it, earning
the Player of the Week award by hitting .522
(12-for-23) with two homers and 13 runs batted in
as Los Angeles (5-1) began the defense of their
league title in grand style. The Halos have
company in the top slot, however, as Oakland also
went 5-1. All four opening-week series were
decisive, so the league is currently divided
between teams with winning records and teams with
losing records. The Angels victimized San Diego
(1-5), the Oaks bettered Hollywood (1-5), Portland
(4-2) had the advantage over Seattle (2-4), and
San Francisco (4-2) topped Sacramento (2-4).
The season’s second week will test the mettle of
the loop’s two top teams, as Oakland hosts Los
Angeles in a five-game tilt.
1939
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