Beginning next March, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association will implement a computerized RPI ranking system for determining first-round match-ups in state basketball.
Montesano football fans might be forgiven for believing such a format was instituted five months too late.
Despite an unbeaten record, the fourth-ranked Bulldogs must make the long trek to Eastern Washington on Friday to face No. 3 Connell in the opening round of the state Class 1A football playoffs.
This development unfolded, in large part, because it is an even-numbered year.
In odd years, the Evergreen 1A champion receives District IV’s top-seeded state berth, provided it survives a district crossover game. In even-numbered years, that distinction goes to the Trico League champ.
That means sixth-ranked La Center, another formidable team whose resumé includes a 30-6 drubbing of Hoquiam (the Wildcats’ only loss was to Class 2A Hockinson), receives the district’s top slot this year.
For a few years, the Evergreen and Trico League champions decided the top-seeded berth on the field in a de facto district title game, with both teams advancing to state. Never popular among coaches due to the risk of injury in a relatively meaningless game, that contest was eventually discontinued.
With District IV losing a state berth this year due to the decline in Southwest Washington 1A schools, a revival of the district title game was considered, with the league runners-up potentially playing for the third and final state berth.
Montesano athletic director Tim Trimble, who doubles as the District IV co-administrator, said that plan never gained much traction. The three state spots were ultimately determined in the standard No. 1 vs. 3 and 2 vs. 2 crossover games.
“I firmly believe that sometimes leagues are not equal,” Trimble said. “There are years when our third-place team deserves a shot.”
The RPI ranking system for basketball, meanwhile, wasn’t adopted until last summer — too late to set up a similar system for football.
Trimble, however, believes that such a format will soon be extended to other sports.
“I see it coming next year, depending on how it works for basketball,” the Montesano athletic director offered. “If that method works, I can see it coming in — and I see it coming in for everything, football, baseball, softball. I’m going to be curious to see how it works for basketball, because I think it has some merit.”
As long as the WIAA is open to possible playoff changes, I’d like to see a revision in policy regarding cross-state games. If the visiting team in a cross-state match-up wins, it should be guaranteed home field advantage for the next round.
That won’t be the case for Montesano this year, however. If the Bulldogs beat Connell, they would face either Meridian in Bellingham or perennial playoff foe Cascade Christian in Sumner in next week’s state quarterfinals.
Ode to the 1948 Indians
After the Chicago Cubs ended their 108-year curse with last week’s dramatic World Series triumph, major league baseball’s longest world championship drought now belongs to Chicago’s Series opponent. The Cleveland Indians haven’t won a world title since 1948.
The 1948 Indians are justifiably excluded from the list of baseball dynasties. Their core group won only one world championship — and needed to survive an American League playoff with the Boston Red Sox to even make it to the World Series.
They remain, however, a fascinating team. Owned by baseball maverick Bill Veeck, they were the first American League club to integrate. Their rapid decline remains somewhat of a mystery.
I first became interested in the ‘48 Indians while playing against them in, of all things, a Strat-O-Matic table game league in the late 1970s. Managed by former Daily World assistant city editor Bruce Botka, the Tribe cleaned the clocks of several more famous clubs, including the 1961 New York Yankees (my team) and the 1976 Cincinnati Reds, in winning its division.
Rather than questioning my own managerial performance, I determined that the Indians were a far better team than their reputation.
For one thing, they boasted as many future Hall of Famers as the ‘61 Yankees and ‘76 Reds combined. Playing manager-shortstop Lou Boudreau, second baseman Joe Gordon, outfielder Larry Doby and pitchers Bob Feller, Bob Lemon and Satchel Paige all eventually received the call to Cooperstown.
Veeck’s signing of the 41-year-old Paige was denounced by the Sporting News, in one of its less distinguished moments, as a publicity stunt. Not quite. Pitching mostly in relief, Satchel wound up posting a 6-1 record with a 2.48 earned run average.
Additionally, the Indians possessed a 20-game-winning pitcher who led the league in earned run average (Gene Bearden), a leadoff man who batted .336 (Dale Mitchell, who became better known eight years later for making the final out in Don Larsen’s World Series perfect game), a quality third baseman having a good season (Ken Keltner) and the premier defensive catcher of the era (Jim Hegan).
In contrast to the Yankees (a group of one-dimensional sluggers with no bench) and Reds (mediocre starting pitching), even Cleveland’s weaknesses weren’t all that weak.
After beating the Boston Braves in the 1948 Series, the Indians made a sensational off-season trade to acquire a seventh future Hall of Famer (pitcher Early Wynn) and a two-time American League batting champion (first baseman Mickey Vernon) in exchange for journeyman first baseman Eddie Robinson (the last surviving member of the world championship team) and two nondescript pitchers.
Despite this influx of talent, they plummeted to a distant third in 1949 and didn’t make it to the World Series again until restructuring their roster in 1954.
Since even I’m not old enough to remember the 1949 Indians and remarkably little copy has been devoted to that team, it’s difficult to pinpoint the cause of their demise.
From a distance, it seems that they may have relied too heavily on 30-something players. Boudreau, Gordon and Keltner all aged quickly and never regained their 1948 form. Bearden was a one-year wonder. Paige was released following the 1949 season (although he was later effective enough, as a member of the St. Louis Browns, to be named to the American League All-Star team at the age of 45).
And Botka, to be honest, might have been a better manager than Boudreau, whom Veeck contended managed “by hunch and desperation” and enjoyed scant success with three other franchises after he quit playing.
With a young roster, the current Cleveland Indians should avoid the fate of their 1948 counterparts. But if manager Terry Francona needs some help, Bruce Botka might be available to serve as a bench coach.
Rick Anderson: (360) 537-3924; randerson@thedailyworld.com
