Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Saban wrote:The New York Yankees were really better than the San Francisco 49ers for the first 2 years of the All-America Conference (1946-47). They beat the 49ers twice in 1946 and twice in 1947 and played in the league championship game both years.

In 1948, the AAFC commissioner decided to make the top teams help out the weaker teams by giving them some players. So, the New York Yankees gave some players away (to the Chicago Rockets I think), and the Cleveland Browns gave some players, including Y.A. Tittle and starting left tackle Ernie Blandin, to the Baltimore Colts. I don't know if San Francisco gave any players away. This hurt the Yankees so much that they actually became a losing team in 1948.

Anyway, in 1946, the Yankees started out with some of the remaining players that had played for the NFL Brooklyn Dodgers during the early 1940's. This included 2 players that are in the Hall of Fame in tailback Ace Parker and tackle Bruiser Kinard. Also, there was back Frank Sinkwich, who was MVP in the NFL in 1944. Then there were All-Pro types end Perry Schwartz, end Bob Masterson, Fullback Pug Manders, and back Ray Hare. There were some others including Bruser Kinard's brother George (a guard).

Some of those players were probably a little past their primes, but the Yankees also filled their roster with some pretty good rookies about as good a job as the 49ers and maybe Cleveland in that respect. Probably the best of these was Spec Sanders, who was sensational as a runner and could throw the ball as well. The Yankees used the single wing formation and Ace Parker and Spec Sanders split time at the tailback position.

The Yankees got some good rookies to strengthen their line play with guys like tackles Nate Johnson, Harvey Johnson, and Derrell Palmer and ends Bruce Alford and Jack Russell and center Lou Sossamon. Their lines were so strong that I read someplace that the Yankees had 2 platoons on defense. Don't know exactly how that would work with the limited substitution, but they did have a very strong line, especially for a first year team.

A couple more good rookies were fullback Eddie Prokop and wingback Lowell Wagner. It was a very nice mix of rookies and veterans. The older vets probably helped the rookies develope and may have been like extra coaches on the field. Of course, head coach Ray Flaherty was one of the best in pro football and had previously led the Washington Redskins to two NFL championships.

So, the 1946 New York Yankees were a force to be reckoned with in the new AAFC. I thought that they would have been heavy favorites to win the AAFC title in 1946, but I guess that the Chicago Rockets were for some reason. That was a surprise to me because the Yankees started out with so many good experienced players and also had Flaherty as head coach.

The Yankees were to be very tough in the first couple of years of the new league, but there was this team from Podunk with a high school coach that would give them a lot of trouble.

The story goes that the 1948 New York Yankees were forced to give away players to weaker teams due to the AAFC Commissioner's plan for the strong teams (the haves) to help the weak teams (the have nots), and that is what ruined the team that year (a 6 and 8 record for the 1948 Yankees), after playing in the league championship game after the previous 2 seasons. I don't totally agree with that.

Yes, the Yankees did lose Dick Barwegen, one of the best guards in football, Nate Johnson, a very good tackle, and a good running back named Eddie Prokop. I guess that they may have given up more players than that, but I don't know who they were, if any. That hurt, but I think that there was more to the Yankees decline than that.

I think that it also hurt that those veteran players from the old NFL Brooklyn Dodgers were mostly gone by 1948, Including Ace Parker and Bruiser Kinard, who are both in the HOF, and also good players like Bob Masterson, Pug Manders, Ray Hare, and Perry Schwartz.

The 1948 Yankees started out with only one win in their first 4 games, losing twice to the Baltimore Colts, who were much improved with players obtained from Cleveland like Y.A. Tittle and Ernie Blandin. After finishing in last place in the AAFC Eastern Division in 1947 with a 2-11-1 record, the Colts finished with a 7 and 7 record in the 1948 regular season to tie the Buffalo Bills for the division lead. Unfortunately for Baltimore, the Colts lost to Buffalo, 28 to 17 in a playoff game that year.

On the other hand, in 1948, the Yankees still had Spec Sanders and Buddy Young, which still should have given them at least a decent running game. Even though they lost Bruiser Kinard and Nate Johnson, they still had tackles Derrell Palmer and Harvey Johnson and they even got a sensational rookie tackle named Arnie Weinmeister.

So, it doesn't seem like they should have fallen that far and that fast in 1948. After their 1 and 3 record in their first 4 games, their great head coach, Ray Flaherty, was let go. In 1949, Flaherty was hired by the Chicago entry of the AAFC, now called the Chicago Hornets.

I guess that it was a combination of things that caused the Yankees 1948 downfall. Teams like Baltimore with Y.A. Tittle and Buffalo with QB George Ratterman got better, and teams like Cleveland and San Francisco just got too good. The Yankees lost both of their games with undefeated Cleveland, San Francisco, who lost only to Cleveland that year, and Baltimore. They also lost games to Buffalo and Chicago in 1948.

That, with the loss of players to the have nots and the loss of the veteran players from the old NFL Dodgers, and probably some things that I have no idea of is probably the answer to the mystery of the 1948 Yankees.

The fact that the All-America Conference or AAFC did not have a draft in their first year (1946) is what allowed the teams like Cleveland, New York Yankees, and San Francisco 49ers to leapfrog over most or all of the teams in the NFL, IMO.

Cleveland had 6 rookies in 1946 that ended up in the HOF (Graham, Motley, Lavelli, Willis, Groza, and Gatski), and some other pretty good rookies as well like Mac Speedie, Lou Saban, John Yonakor, George Young, Cliff Lewis, and Ernie Blandin. How many NFL teams have ever had a bunch of rookies like that in one year or even two or three? Cleveland also got NFL vets Lou Rymkus, Edgar "Special Delivery" Jones, Tom Colella, Mike Scarry, Chet Adams, Bob Greenwood, Gaylon Smith, etc.

Cleveland leapfrogged over everyone in 1946 as far as I am concerned. Especially when you consider that the 1946 NFL champion Bears were a 3 wins and 7 losses team in 1945, and the 1945 champion Rams were a 4 wins and 6 losses team in 1944. Just two or three good players could make a big difference in an NFL team, like Waterfield and maybe a couple of others and new head coach Adam Walsh with the 1945 Rams and some players returning from the war along with coach Halas for the 1946 Bears.

Go to the 1946 49ers, the third best team in the AAFC in 1946. The 49ers rookies that year included QB Frankie Albert, E Alyn Beals, HB John Strzykalski, G Visco Grgich, DB Ken Casanega, and T Bob Bryant. Albert, Beals, and Strzykalski were close to the best in the AAFC at their positions. Grgich was a terror at the defensive middle guard position (Years later, Norm Van Brocklin said that he dreaded playing against Visco Grgich). Casanega intercepted 8 passes in 1946, and Bryant became the starting left tackle in 1947 until he retired after the 1949 season. Bryant didn't start on offense in 1946 because the 49ers had tackle John Mellus, a veteran of the NFL that had been named all-pro 1st or 2nd second team a few times.

Those 6 players in an NFL draft would be a great draft for any NFL team, especially during the 1940's. But the 49ers really got some cream with the veterans they signed that year as well. There was FB Norm Standlee, probably the best fullback in the league outside of Marion Motley. Standlee was as big as Motley and a load to bring down. They also had Len Eshmont, who averaged 4.7 yards per carry and was the 49ers 2nd leading pass receiver as far as yards gained receiving.

The starting offensive line was comprised of all NFL veterans who had all started for other teams. The center, Dutch Elston had been a starter as a blocking back, but the others had all started for NFL teams on the line. Guard Bruno Banducci was an outstanding blocker and played 9 years for the 49ers (Art Donovan said upon his election into the HOF, "I know one player who has to be laughing when he reads that I made the HOF - a guard by the name of Bruno Banducci, who played for the San Francisco 49ers and blocked me all over the field.").

Tackle John Woudenberg played right tackle for all 4 AAFC years for the 49ers and often played the full 60 minutes of games. i think that Banducci and Woudenberg were 2 good reasons that the 49ers had such powerful running games. Then there was Mellus, the tackle on the other side mentioned before.

Let's face it, any team that gained this combination of rookies and vets in one year would be a team to be reckoned with, and they were.

Saban wrote:The fact that the All-America Conference or AAFC did not have a draft in their first year (1946) is what allowed the teams like Cleveland, New York Yankees, and San Francisco 49ers to leapfrog over most or all of the teams in the NFL, IMO.

Cleveland had 6 rookies in 1946 that ended up in the HOF (Graham, Motley, Lavelli, Willis, Groza, and Gatski), and some other pretty good rookies as well like Mac Speedie, Lou Saban, John Yonakor, George Young, Cliff Lewis, and Ernie Blandin. How many NFL teams have ever had a bunch of rookies like that in one year or even two or three? Cleveland also got NFL vets Lou Rymkus, Edgar "Special Delivery" Jones, Tom Colella, Mike Scarry, Chet Adams, Bob Greenwood, Gaylon Smith, etc.

Cleveland leapfrogged over everyone in 1946 as far as I am concerned. Especially when you consider that the 1946 NFL champion Bears were a 3 wins and 7 losses team in 1945, and the 1945 champion Rams were a 4 wins and 6 losses team in 1944. Just two or three good players could make a big difference in an NFL team, like Waterfield and maybe a couple of others and new head coach Adam Walsh with the 1945 Rams and some players returning from the war along with coach Halas for the 1946 Bears.

Go to the 1946 49ers, the third best team in the AAFC in 1946. The 49ers rookies that year included QB Frankie Albert, E Alyn Beals, HB John Strzykalski, G Visco Grgich, DB Ken Casanega, and T Bob Bryant. Albert, Beals, and Strzykalski were close to the best in the AAFC at their positions. Grgich was a terror at the defensive middle guard position (Years later, Norm Van Brocklin said that he dreaded playing against Visco Grgich). Casanega intercepted 8 passes in 1946, and Bryant became the starting left tackle in 1947 until he retired after the 1949 season. Bryant didn't start on offense in 1946 because the 49ers had tackle John Mellus, a veteran of the NFL that had been named all-pro 1st or 2nd second team a few times.

Those 6 players in an NFL draft would be a great draft for any NFL team, especially during the 1940's. But the 49ers really got some cream with the veterans they signed that year as well. There was FB Norm Standlee, probably the best fullback in the league outside of Marion Motley. Standlee was as big as Motley and a load to bring down. They also had Len Eshmont, who averaged 4.7 yards per carry and was the 49ers 2nd leading pass receiver as far as yards gained receiving.

The starting offensive line was comprised of all NFL veterans who had all started for other teams. The center, Dutch Elston had been a starter as a blocking back, but the others had all started for NFL teams on the line. Guard Bruno Banducci was an outstanding blocker and played 9 years for the 49ers (Art Donovan said upon his election into the HOF, "I know one player who has to be laughing when he reads that I made the HOF - a guard by the name of Bruno Banducci, who played for the San Francisco 49ers and blocked me all over the field.").

Tackle John Woudenberg played right tackle for all 4 AAFC years for the 49ers and often played the full 60 minutes of games. i think that Banducci and Woudenberg were 2 good reasons that the 49ers had such powerful running games. Then there was Mellus, the tackle on the other side mentioned before.

Let's face it, any team that gained this combination of rookies and vets in one year would be a team to be reckoned with, and they were.

I forgot about 1946 Cleveland rookie guards Ed Ulinski and Lin Houston. Both were named 2nd team all-league or all-pro during their careers, Ulinski in 1946 and 1948 in the AAFC and Houston in the NFL in 1951. That is despite the fact that teammate Bill Willis was practically an automatic all-pro choice at the guard position throughout his playing career (1946-53).

In case anyone wonders which AAFC team started out with the most veterans of NFL play in 1946, the answer is not Cleveland, New York, or San Francisco. The Los Angeles Dons had the most with 21 former NFL players on their roster. The Chicago Rockets had the fewest with only 4. Cleveland was 2nd fewest with 11, even though they got 5 players from the 1945 Cleveland Rams that refused to move to Los Angeles with the team in 1946.

Believe it or not, the Miami Seahawks had the 2nd most with 17 former NFL players. It did not do them much good because they had the worst franchise in the league, both on and off the field, and folded after one season. Buffalo had 14 NFL vets, the 49ers and Yankees 13, and the Brooklyn Dodgers 12.

Saban wrote:The fact that the All-America Conference or AAFC did not have a draft in their first year (1946) is what allowed the teams like Cleveland, New York Yankees, and San Francisco 49ers to leapfrog over most or all of the teams in the NFL, IMO.

Cleveland had 6 rookies in 1946 that ended up in the HOF (Graham, Motley, Lavelli, Willis, Groza, and Gatski), and some other pretty good rookies as well like Mac Speedie, Lou Saban, John Yonakor, George Young, Cliff Lewis, and Ernie Blandin. How many NFL teams have ever had a bunch of rookies like that in one year or even two or three? Cleveland also got NFL vets Lou Rymkus, Edgar "Special Delivery" Jones, Tom Colella, Mike Scarry, Chet Adams, Bob Greenwood, Gaylon Smith, etc.

Cleveland leapfrogged over everyone in 1946 as far as I am concerned. Especially when you consider that the 1946 NFL champion Bears were a 3 wins and 7 losses team in 1945, and the 1945 champion Rams were a 4 wins and 6 losses team in 1944. Just two or three good players could make a big difference in an NFL team, like Waterfield and maybe a couple of others and new head coach Adam Walsh with the 1945 Rams and some players returning from the war along with coach Halas for the 1946 Bears.

Go to the 1946 49ers, the third best team in the AAFC in 1946. The 49ers rookies that year included QB Frankie Albert, E Alyn Beals, HB John Strzykalski, G Visco Grgich, DB Ken Casanega, and T Bob Bryant. Albert, Beals, and Strzykalski were close to the best in the AAFC at their positions. Grgich was a terror at the defensive middle guard position (Years later, Norm Van Brocklin said that he dreaded playing against Visco Grgich). Casanega intercepted 8 passes in 1946, and Bryant became the starting left tackle in 1947 until he retired after the 1949 season. Bryant didn't start on offense in 1946 because the 49ers had tackle John Mellus, a veteran of the NFL that had been named all-pro 1st or 2nd second team a few times.

Those 6 players in an NFL draft would be a great draft for any NFL team, especially during the 1940's. But the 49ers really got some cream with the veterans they signed that year as well. There was FB Norm Standlee, probably the best fullback in the league outside of Marion Motley. Standlee was as big as Motley and a load to bring down. They also had Len Eshmont, who averaged 4.7 yards per carry and was the 49ers 2nd leading pass receiver as far as yards gained receiving.

The starting offensive line was comprised of all NFL veterans who had all started for other teams. The center, Dutch Elston had been a starter as a blocking back, but the others had all started for NFL teams on the line. Guard Bruno Banducci was an outstanding blocker and played 9 years for the 49ers (Art Donovan said upon his election into the HOF, "I know one player who has to be laughing when he reads that I made the HOF - a guard by the name of Bruno Banducci, who played for the San Francisco 49ers and blocked me all over the field.").

Tackle John Woudenberg played right tackle for all 4 AAFC years for the 49ers and often played the full 60 minutes of games. i think that Banducci and Woudenberg were 2 good reasons that the 49ers had such powerful running games. Then there was Mellus, the tackle on the other side mentioned before.

Let's face it, any team that gained this combination of rookies and vets in one year would be a team to be reckoned with, and they were.

The 1946 49ers had as good an offensive line as probably any first year team ever with all veterans that had been starters with NFL teams. Their center, Dutch Elston, wasn't very big, especially by today's standards, but had been a starting blocking back (single wing), so he must have been a good blocker. Besides, the 49ers had a backup center, Gerry Conlee, who had been a reserve center on two NFL teams. Also, they had Banducci, Mellus, and Woudenberg, who were all considered to be good offensive linemen.

A great offensive backfield with Albert, Standlee, Strzykalski, and Eshmont. Not many first year teams could equal that.

Paul Brown said that Norm Standlee reminded him of Larry Csonka. They were both about the same size, and ran a lot alike, according to Brown. Standlee was listed at 6'2" and 238 lbs. He was tough in the NFL in 1941 for the Bears (5.1 YPA) and tough for the 49ers. It must have been fun to tackle him head on.

How would the 49ers do against the top NFL teams in 1946? Pretty well I think. They did a pretty good job of beating Cleveland (34 to 20) in their 8th game. So, on a given day they probably could have beaten anyone.

Buck Shaw did a good job of putting that team together. Shaw had a very good record as a college coach at Santa Clara (47 and 10 I think) and is in the college football HOF for his coaching before taking the 49ers job. The 49ers record in the AAFC was 38 wins and 14 losses and 2 ties. Other than 1950, his teams in the NFL were good too. He also led the Philadelphia Eagles to a NFL title in 1960, defeating Lombardi's Packers in the championship game.

Despite their terrible season of 1950 (their only losing season of Buck Shaw's 9 year tenure there), the San Francisco 49ers actually had a good running game that year. There was Joe Perry (124 rushing attempts for 647 yards averaging 5.2 yards per carry), Johnny "Strike" Strzykalski (136 Att., 612 yds., 4.5 YPA), and quarterback Frankie Albert (53 Att., 272 yds., 5.1 YPA). Albert was a good scrambler as well as a tricky ball handler, a little like Doug Flutie or Fran Tarkenton.

The trouble was the passing game as Albert averaged only 5.77 yards per pass attempt and threw 23 Interceptions and had a passer rating of only 52.3. Not all Albert's fault as the pass protection was not up to par with rookies at both OT positions. I am sure that the old NFL teams put a big rush on Albert all year, which is probably why Frankie ran so much in 1950.

The 49ers lost a dozen players from the 1949 team and replaced them all with rookies. The old NFL teams were not about to help them out with trades. A bad position for the 49ers (and Cleveland for that matter) to be in that year. Cleveland got help in the AAFC dispersal draft (DE Len Ford, LB Hal Herring) whereas the 49ers did not. San Francisco did participate in that draft, but none of the players that they took made the team in 1950.

So, the 49ers had to make do with the rookies replacing the veterans that were gone, and there were some good ones (Len Eshmont, John Woudenberg, Bob Bryant, Eddie Carr, Bob Mike, Joe Vetrano, Bev Wallace, Jack Carpenter, Joe Morgan, Nick Susoeff, Don Clark, and Tony Sabuco). Five of those were tackles including all of their starters, which I am sure is the reason that the 49ers first 3 draft choices in the regular NFL 1950 draft were tackles.

The AAFC teams entering the NFL in 1950 (Cleveland, San Francisco, and Baltimore) were really at a big disadvantage. If the old NFL teams lost players due to retirements or whatever, they could get replacements from other teams in the NFL. Nobody was about to help out the new teams from the AAFC with a trade, and the Browns lost 11 players from their 1949 team and the 49ers lost 12. I haven't really looked at Baltimore, but they probably should not have even been allowed to enter the NFL with other worthier teams from the AAFC (New York Yankees and Buffalo Bills for example).

Anyway, losing 11 or 12 players is quite a chunk of a team when there was a 32 player limit in 1949 (33 in 1950). Cleveland did help the 49ers by giving them rookie end Gordie Soltau, who became a star for the 49ers and also could kick field goals (Cleveland already had ends Lavelli and Speedie with Groza to kick field goals).

Cleveland did get help in the AAFC dispersal draft and basically bought 3 players from Buffalo (John Kissell, Abe Gibron, and Rex Bumgardner) in exchange for the Bills owner getting part ownership of the Browns (some money probably changed hands as well). The Browns still had 7 rookies make the 1950 squad. The players lost from the 1949 team included Lou Saban (probably the best linebacker in the AAFC), guards Ed Ulinski and Bob Gaudio, running backs Edgar Jones, Bill Boedecker, Ara Parseghian, DE John Yonakor (sold to the Yanks to make room for Len Ford), T Joe Spencer (traded to Green Bay; the Packers were desperate for tackles and Paul Brown wanted to start a trading relationship with an NFL team. Green Bay gave Cleveland their 4th round draft choice, Gordie Soltau)), and 3 other players.

I don't believe that the players gained by the Browns in 1950 made up for what they lost from the 1949 team, and I know that the 49ers didn't. The retirements ruined the 49ers in 1950, but they came back in 1951 to finish in 2nd place when evidently their 1950 rookies got better with some experience.