by Gordon Johnson for Uplantica Sport
September 26, 1931
KOSTINSKY PARK, DEERBORN, WOODLYN – Autumn is here and it’s time for the Windsor Cup Finals! The Deerborn White Sox will take on the Delle Stars in a best-of-seven series, with game 1 scheduled for tomorrow afternoon in Deerborn. The White Sox are appearing in their unprecedented third Windsor Cup Finals, while this is the first time the Stars have reached the championship round.
How We Got Here
The White Sox have dominated the Uplantic Association all season. Since they opened with a 7-0 run to begin the 1931 Regular Season, Deerborn has never looked back. The White Sox won nearly every series they played this summer on their way to a UA-record 72 wins. This is their third Windsor Cup Finals appearance, after beating the Stags for the Cup in 1929 and losing last year’s Finals series to the Bears. They are the first team to appear in the Finals three times, and they hope to be the first team ever to win the Windsor Cup for the second time.
Standing in the way of the White Sox are the Delle Stars. The Stars lagged a few games behind the Stags in the Wild Card race for the majority of the season, but as Roland’s winning pace began to fall off in mid-August, the Stars kept theirs going and overtook the Stags by the end of the month. They then overcame the Bears and Guardians to clinch the Wild Card on September 17, the second-to-last day of the season. Delle then stopped the Guardians’ momentum dead in its tracks with a 3-game sweep in the UA SemiFinal.
While the White Sox dominated 10 of their 11 UA opponents over the course of the season, there was one team that had their number: the Delle Stars. The Stars won all three series between Delle and Deerborn, handing the White Sox 3 of only 5 series losses in all of 1931’s Regular Season. For fans of intriguing baseball, this is the best Windsor Cup match-up we could have hoped for.
Pitching
The White Sox and Stars were the top two defensive teams in the league as far as runs allowed. Deerborn was best in the UA with 345 runs allowed, while Delle was next best with 365. For both teams, pitching was a big part of their success this year.
The White Sox’ starting rotation is possibly the league’s best with 2-time UA Pitcher of the Year Jorge Takato and Roberto Tokorres (Tokorres would be an ace on many other pitching staffs), along with a top contender for this year’s Pitcher of the Year award in Mathew Huertata. Jorge Takato missed eight weeks with bone chips in his elbow before returning for 2 strong, winning starts to end the Regular Season. While Takato was out, Deerborn traded for RHP Isaac Lee. Lee has had the best stretch of his career since putting on a White Sox uniform at the end of July.
The Stars rotation is led by ace Ron Rivera and veteran lefty Kevin Leroux, both All-Stars this year. They added LHP Jeffrey Irvin with a month to go in the season amidst a tight Wild Card race, and Irvin’s career year has continued since being traded to Delle from Railey. Delle’s starting rotation suffered a harsh loss when veteran RHP Stanley Quinn tore his elbow ligament on September 8. Sadly, he is out for this season and his return for 1932 is questionable at this point. 24-year old RHP Pat Carter rounds out the Delle rotation. Carter has been hit-or-miss this year, but he pitched very well against Northsouth in the SFS.
Deerborn boasted the league’s best bullpen ERA at 2.41. The Stars were next best in that category with a 2.81 ERA. The White Sox bullpen is stacked with big arms including the likes of RHP Roy Darnell, RHP Joao Thery, and RH CL Carlos Garcika, who led the league with a UA-record 33 saves this season. Delle’s closer, LHP David Rogers, is a 4-time All-Star and won Reliever of the Year in 1929. He had another great season with 28 saves in 1931, second only to Deerborn’s Garcika. RHP Francisco Terawaa and innings-eater RHP Gurr Gurr also headline in Delle’s top-tier bullpen.
Offense
Both teams are talented on the offensive side of the ball, but the White Sox lineup is truly something to behold. The Sox led the UA in home runs with a staggering 175 long balls this season. 1B Jorge Oko and RF Curt Sawyer led the team with 36 and 35 home runs, respectively. Sluggers LF Bob Hove, 3B Rygh Ogg, and 2B Luke Lia Puedris all contributed double-digit HR totals to the team’s league-leading power effort this year. All in all, the White Sox may have both both the most feared pitching staff and starting lineup in pro baseball.
The Stars finished third in the league with 139 homers. They had their own pair of nigh-unstoppable power hitters in RF Antonio Teakowa and 3B Mario Olivo. It was a breakout season for the 25-year old Olivo, who played in 99 games and had career bests in every offensive category, including 37 home runs for third best in the league. Teakowa hit 38 HRs this year, the league’s second-best. He led the league in slugging percentage at .702. It was another great season for the legend. Aside from a strong starting lineup, the Stars have a deep bench including Robby Hawk, who came in clutch twice as a pinch hitter in the SFS, and veteran power hitter Yassine Joseph, who announced earlier this year that he will retire after the season.
The winners of the Windsor Cup will have their names engraved on the one-of-a-kind trophy forever. Will it be the underdog Stars lifting the cup for the first time, or the heavily-favored White Sox taking it home for the second time? I’m beginning to acquire quite an abysmal record when it comes to predicting these things, but for what it’s worth: I pick the White Sox in 6 games. These are undoubtedly the top two teams in organized baseball this year, and it will surely be a treat to watch them battle for the Cup!
Uplantic Sports Today 
One thought on “Series Preview: 1931 Windsor Cup Finals”