The Alabama Florida League Web Site

The 1940 Alabama - Florida League Season

OVERVIEW

The fifth AFL season was actually the first for the Alabama State League. After Panama City left the league and were replaced by Brewton, Alabama, it didn't make sense to reference Florida in the league name anymore. The league played a 130 game season, although the newpapers reported in March that a 120 game schedule would be used. 1940 saw the return of Yam Yaryan: Away for just one season, Yaryan came back to manage and catch for the new Brewton Millers. Yaryan was now 47 years old and started the season as the team's only catcher. Leaving the league after a very successful stint was Doc Wingard, who moved over to Montgomery to manage the Southeastern League Rebels. It was a short absence though, as Wingard was back by August after being sacked as the Rebels' skipper. He accepted a position as first baseman for the Tallassee Indians and helped them clinch the league title. 1940 also saw a new league president, Eric Ballard, who replaced C.T. Laney mid-season. Ballard was a man with new ideas: He proposed a post-season playoff series with the Class D Kitty League to extend the season, and hopefully the profits (if there were any) for both leagues. He also lead efforts to create a more interdependent relationship between the various minor leagues. The playoffs Ballard envisioned never came about, but his forward thinking and willingness to experiment made Ballard an unusual and interesting League President. The fans got a chance to watch two of the league's all-time best hitters during the 1940 season: Gordon "Cotton" Goodell, the center fielder for the Tallassee Indians was a pure hitter who seemed destined for the pros but never made it, and John Ostrowski, the Troy Trojan's left-fielder, who worked his way up to the Chicago Cubs in 1943.Goodell, a young, hard-hitting center fielder, was a natural hitter with a sweet left-handed swing. He could hit for power and possessed excellent speed. Goodell got off to a great start and by May 12th, he was batting .418 with 12 homers. League watchers took notice, especially of the younster's home run power. The league record of 20 homers was destined to be beaten since Goodell's pace would have given him 40 at year's end. By June 1st, Cotton was in a batting race with Ostrowski. Goodell was second to Ostrowski in hitting, even though he was batting an amazing .390, with 15 round-trippers. An explosive June gave Goodell the home run record, hitting his 24th before the All Star break. By mid-July, he was batting .398 with 29 homers and 39 stolen bases. The scouts had all taken notice and Goodell's big break was on it's way. He was sold to Chattanooga on July 19th, and was schduled to report August 1st. The news seemed to affect Cotton a bit and he slumped for the rest of July, ending his ASL tenure with a .376 batting average, 31 homers, 86 RBIs, and 44 stolen bases. It seemed that the majors were just a year or so away but for some reason, Cotton could stand the prosperity. Nine days later, he jumped out of his Lookout contract and ended up in Flint, Michigan, playing semi-pro ball. He spent a short time in 1942 playing for Milwaukee (American Association) and Portsmith (Piedmont League) and in 1945 he hit .229 splitting time between Atlanta and Little Rock (Southern Association). He finished up his career at Anniston in the Southeastern League, but he never returned to the glory days he had in the AFL. Ostrowski ended the season with a .341 average, 30 homers, and 120 RBIs, and by season's end, Ostrowski was sold to Macon. Ostrowski spent the next few years in Macon before getting the call to the majors. Both players brought a lot of excitement and attention to the league. Their record-breaking power hitting and home run race was similar to the Sosa/McGwire battle almost 60 years later. The previous record of 20 homers was washed from the record books and the league was able to showcase some legitimate prospects for the higher leagues. The season's pennant race was basically a two-team race between Greenville and Tallassee up until mid summer. Greenville stayed with the Indians through July, but Tallassee was an extremely talented and powerful team and they they put forth a late summer surge that left the Lions in the dust. The Indians clinched the pennant on August 14th and zoomed to a 13 game lead by season's end. The Dothan Browns and Troy Trojans both played above .500 ball, but neither could get any closer than 17 games. Tallassee was poised to cakewalk through the playoffs, but as in past seasons, the champions couldn't pull off the double. The Indians were eliminated in the first round of the "Shaughnessey" playoffs by a weaker Dothan team. Greenville beat Troy in their playoff, and then the surprising Browns sent Greenville home and captured the playoff title 4-2 in six games.

POINTS OF INTEREST

Major leaguers playing in the AFL in 1940: Bob Ferguson of Tallassee, Royce Lint of Andalusia, and Mickey McGowan of Dothan, John Ostrowski of Troy, and former major leaguers Ernie Wingard of Tallassee and Yam Yaryan of Brewton.

The Troy Trojans' pre season was a rough one. A couple days before the season started, a tornado ripped apart their stadium. As if that wasn't enough, before the season's first pitch was thrown manager Ellis Johnson was released. The Trojans played three games without a manager before Hal Fehrenbacher was hired. Once the season got going, the Trojans demonstrated lots of power with 6 players with 10 or more home runs, but a weak pitching staff kept them in the lower half of the league.

ELSEWHERE IN 1940

George Jeffcoat of Nashville in the Southern Association struck out 18 Chattanooga batters.

1940 Season	Won	Lost	Tie	PCT
Tallassee	84	45	1	.651
Greenville	71	59	0	.546
Dothan	67	62	2	.519
Troy	66	63	2	.512
Brewton	51	79	0	.392
Andalusia	49	80	1	.380

1940 Shaugnnessey Playoffs
Greenville defeated Troy, 3 games to 2
Dothan defeated Tallassee, 3 games to 2
Dothan defeated Greenville, 4 games to 2

Team Name	Managers	Batting Leader	Home Run Leader	RBI Leader	Wins Leader	Losses Leader	ERA Leader
Andalusia Rams	Bruner Nix / Oscar Moseley	Ralph McDuffie .330	Ralph McDuffie 19	Ralph McDuffie 93	Royce Lint 12	Royce Lint 11	Royce Lint 3.47
Brewton Millers	Yam Yaryan	Norm Veazey .319	Gil Leatherwood 8	Howie Clark 80	Carl Gilmore 12	Carl Gilmore 15	Carl Gilmore 4.00
Dothan Browns	Holt Milner	Ed Mitchell .315	Ed Mitchell / Holt Milner 6	Dean Place 104	Joe Beaguez 16	Joe Beaugez 16	Bill McKenzie 3.47
Greenville Lions	Dick Luckey	Les Davis .329	Les Davis 15	Dick lukey / Ray Oliver 73	John Travis 20	Ed Hoffman 13	John Travis 3.18
Tallassee Indians	Steve Bysco	Gordon Goodell .376	Gordon Goodell 31	Jim Persons 104	Steve Bysco 20	Steve Bysco / Francis Manheim 8	Steve Bysco 3.77
Troy Trojans	Hal Fehrenbacher	John Ostrowski .341	John Ostrowski 30	John Ostrowski 120	Frank Marino 14	G.P. Stubbs 10	Frank Marino 3.78

Team Offense	G	AB	R	H	2	3	HR	TB	AVG	SH	BB	RBI	SB	K
Tallassee	130	4708	957	1476	258	77	124	2260	.314	65	645	847	132	495
Greenville	130	4628	715	1305	223	40	60	1788	.282	42	493	623	80	651
Troy	131	4744	825	1326	245	46	107	1984	.280	61	546	683	101	525
Brewton	130	4598	671	1276	189	39	30	1633	.278	68	427	560	185	511
Andalusia	130	4557	754	1265	253	44	63	1795	.278	75	593	655	144	624
Dothan	131	4692	793	1275	205	72	30	1714	.272	70	557	735	114	516

1940 Hitting Leaders	Name	Team
Runs Scored	Felix Jurwiak	Dothan	121
Hits	Jim Persons	Tallassee	172
Doubles	Oscar Martin	Tallassee	49
Triples	Ross Gilhousen Ed Mitchell	Tallassee Dothan	15
Home Runs	Gordon Goodell	Tallassee	31
Sacrifices	Marion Johnson	Dothan	13
Bases On Balls	Ralph McDuffie	Andalusia	107
RBIs	John Ostrowski	Troy	120
Stolen Bases	Rau Quimby	Brewton	55
Strikeouts	Les Davis	Greenville	88
Batting Average	Gordon Goodell	Tallassee	.376

1940 Pitching Leaders	Name	Team
Games	John Travis	Greenville	50
Innings	John Travis	Greenville	255
Wins	John Travis Steve Bysco	Greenville Tallassee	20
Loses	Joe Beaugez	Dothan	16
Win Percentage	Steve Bysco	Tallassee	.741
Strikeouts	Royce Lint	Andalusia	166
Shutouts	Bob Ferguson	Tallassee	4
ERA	John Travis	Greenville	2.80
Runs	Joe Beaugez	Dothan	150
Earned Runs	Joe Beaugez	Dothan	122
Bases On Balls	Francis Manheim	Tallassee	115
Hits	Joe Beaugez	Dothan	277
Hit Batsmen	Francis Rouquette	Greenville	11
Wild Pitches	Everett Slay	Brewton	18