Did you guys see the part where each man played each man 32 times each! Yikes. If I did the math right, that is 32*7 = 224 matches per player, over 5 months. How in the world was that scheduled! Where were the matches played? How were the 8 players chosen?
Yes, 224 games per player, for a total of 896 games. [The Procita record in post #3 above must be wrong, as it adds to 234 games for him. Probably 117 wins and 107 losses to make it all add up correctly.]
Mosconi's autobiography has several pages on this event. The format was what he calls an Intercity League tournament, a format introduced the previous year (1940) by Brunswick-Balke-Collender.
Each player was sponsored by a pool hall, not necessarily one in his home town. The players were invited (by Brunswick?). The 1940 event had 6 players. Ponzi won and Caras was second; Willie was not invited.
In 1941 they expanded it to 8 players, including Willie (age 27), who was sponsored by McGirr's Academy in NYC. They played 2 games per day for 5 days a week (excluding holidays) for 24 weeks, in 6 different cities. Willie said "it was "the longest tournament in billiard history, and none since has come close." Each player and sponsoring room worked out their own financial deal, with the player being on salary for the duration of the event. The rooms charged admission fees.
Willie's co-author, Stanley Cohen, writes: "It was, all told, an astonishing performance and it propelled Willie onto the center of a stage reserved for only a handful of sports celebrities. Every crease and crevice of his past was scoured for the telling detail that would illuminate the secret of what was now being described as a supernatural gift. ... He had exploded on the scene as a fully crafted hero, and he had all the ingredients to satisfy the image."
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