No-Hit Nick Returns to Vancouver

NICHOLAS RETURNS
Pitchers? Caps Have 14 of ‘Em
By CLANCY LORANGER
[Vancouver Province, March 24, 1954]
General Manager Bill Brenner is going to need a program at spring training to identify his pitchers alone.
With the announcement today that George Nicholas, popular favorite here for three seasons, will be back, Brenner’s list of available pitchers now stands at 14. And that’s not including Pete Hernandez, Lonnie Myers, both still with Seattle, but more or less “promised” to the WIL Capilanos. Also off the list is Gordie Palm, sold today to Victoria.
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Nicholas, whose three-year record with the Caps was 46 wins, 31 losses, “retired” after the 1951 season because he felt he could make more money in tailoring. But George, always a hard worker and a hard bargainer, wangled a five-months leave of absence from his union work, and sought out Brenner at Palm Springs for another whirl.
Nicholas, whose feats with the Caps include a no-hit game in 1950, also spent one season in the WIL with Tacoma, and he average exactly 15 victories per season for the four years. He’s been playing semi-pro baseball in California.
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Joining Nicholas as “front-line” pitchers will be Brenner (22-12 last year); Bob Roberts (9-5); Bill Franks (13-14); and Hernandez and Myers.
“The rest” include: righthanders Rod MacKay, Bob Hansen, Clarence Marshall, Baz Nagle, and Harold King, and lefthanders Bob Moen, John Cordell, Raul Galata, Emery Petty and Bill Tompkins,
Of this group, Moen, obtained from Seattle, Galata, a Cuban, and the veteran Cordell (9-7 with Spokane last year), could be very helpful. And, of course, ex-major leaguer Marshall, too, if he’s recovered from a serious auto accident he was in last fall.
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DIAMOND DUST – Brenner has ended negotiations with two other pitchers, for obvious reasons (see above) … Cal McIrvin, the clever lefthander who quit organized baseball last year, could have been bought from Spokane, but the outlay (sale price and salary) would have hit $8,200 … “He’s have to win 50 to make that pay,” said Brenner … Rookie pitcher Bob Hansen, the towering Bellingham boy, invited to Seattle’s camp, took sick and had to skip it … He could be a “sleeper” if he feels right … A rookie catcher, one “Red” Whitney, just out of the army, has been invited to spring training, which opens at Clarkston, Wash., April 2 … He was at Seattle’s camp and Brenner liked the way he hustled … Here now is Harold Younker, the ex-umpire who has replaced Carl Gunnarson as trainer for the Caps … And word from Spokane is that the Indians’ owner, Roy Hotchkiss, is under an oxygen tent after a recent heart attack.