W L Pct GB
Tri-City ..... 5 1 .833 ½
Victoria ..... 3 0 1.000 —
Yakima ....... 4 1 .800 —
Lewiston ..... 5 2 .712 —
Vancouver .... 1 2 .333 2
Edmonton ..... 2 4 .333 2½
Salem ........ 1 4 .200 3
Wenatchee .... 0 7 .000 5
VICTORIA [Colonist, July 13]— Victoria Tyees, playing snappy hustling baseball, made it three in a row in second-half WIL play at Royal Athletic Park last night as they trimmed the Lewiston Broncs, 9-4, behind the steady pitching of Bob Drilling.
Victory kept the Victoria club atop the second-half standings percentage-wise and with most of July being spent at home, the Tyees have a good chance to stay ahead if they keep up their improved play.
TYPICAL GAME
Drilling pitched a typical game last night. He gave up 11 hits, including back-to-back doubles by Don Hunter and Bob Williams in the fifth inning and an eighth-inning home run by Eddie Bockman, but he made no trouble for himself as he handed out but one base on balls.
Broncs threatened seriously but twice. They scored three of their runs in the fifth and loaded the bags with one out in the seventh, when Drilling got out of trouble by getting Williams to ground into a fast double play.
It was the sixth win for the smooth-working Victoria righthander and it boosted his season’s record to 11-5.
ERRORLESS FIELDING
Drilling got excelling batting support from his teammates as well as errorless fielding. The Tyees rapped 15 hits off the offerings of southpaw Jack Martin in handing him his eighth loss in 16 decisions.
Sheridan hit his in the first inning, after bases on balls to Ron Jackson and Don Pries, to highlight a five-run rally which gave Drilling all the margin he was to need. It was a tremendous poke which cleared the fence in left field, about 360 feet from the plate. Stein connected with no one aboard in the fifth.
The game produced some excellent defensive play. The ever-improving Jackson made two fine plays, ranging almost behind first base to take a hit away from Hunter and handling Clint Cameron’s smash neatly in the fourth in addition to starting that big double play in the seventh.
Victoria manager Don Pries also excelled in the field, snagging a foul fly off the screen alongside third base in the fifth inning and coming up with pinch-hitter Glen Tuckett’s sizzler in the ninth. The Broncs reeled off three double plays, the best being started by shortstop Nick Cannuli in the second inning.
The teams meet again tonight with Hal Flinn trying for his eighth win for the Tyees, with Guy Fletcher, ex-Coast League veteran, as his opposition.
Lewiston ...... 000 030 010—4 11 2
Victoria ....... 500 210 01x—9 15 0
Martin and Garay; Drilling and Lundberg.
VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, Province, July 13]—There was bad news for seven of the clubs in the Western International League Monday night: the Capilanos ain’t dead.
Somewhat embarrassed and a little annoyed at losing their first two starts in the WIL’s second half race, the first half champions came back in old-fashioned style against Wenatchee Chiefs for a 12-4 victory before some 2000 fans.
NO EXPLOSION
They didn’t explode, in fact they didn’t even sputter much, for the first five innings, by which time they had managed just one hit off the Chiefs’ Ted Shandor.
But it was like old times come the sixth when five straight hits, including a bases-loaded triple by Bob Wellman, overcame an early 2-0 deficit. Another hit, a double by Jim Clark, sent Shandor showerwards, and the Caps had compile seven runs before the frame was over.
MADE IT EASY
Ken Richardson and K Chorlton added home runs in later innings to make it easy for manager Bill Brenner, who gathered his 12th victory against four losses.
DIAMOND DUST—George Nicholas will pick for the locals tonight when the series continues against Wenatchee … Dick Greco, who refused to report to Salem when sold, has been placed back on the Vancouver roster … Pitcher Rod MacKay, who has seen little action in two years with the club, drew his outright release to make room for Greco … Rod might catch on with Tri-City, and could certainly help some clubs in the league … First major league scout of the season, Tony Governor of St. Louis Cardinals, turned up Monday … Province Stars: Ken Richardson, who boosted his impressive RBI total with four runs batted in …. Bill Brenner, still making it look easy … And the Chiefs Jerry Green, a busy man at the short patch.
[WILfan notes: Richardson's homer was with two on in the seventh, Chorlton's with one on in the eighth ... Richardson finished with four RBIs ... Tommy Munoz hit a homer for Wenatchee with one on in the ninth ... the loss was the ninth straight for Wenatchee, including all seven second half games.
Wenatchee ...... 101 000 002— 4 7 2
Vancouver ....... 000 007 32x—12 12 3
Shandor, Romero (6) and Helmuth; Brenner and Pesut.
ONLY GAMES SCHEDULED
NORTH BEND, Ore., July 11—The Salem Senators of the Western International League were embarrassed by a 13-3 drubbing from the bats of Oregon's top semi-pro team, the Coos Bay-North Bend Lumberjacks, tonight.
It was the Lumberjacks' 17th straight victory.
Cal McIrvin, the one-time Coast Leaguer, was never in trouble as he chopped Salem off with six hits and enjoyed the backing of four hits in five tries by Jack Dunn, a homer and two other safeties from Johnny Kovenz and three hits by Roy Nicely, another ex-PCL regular.
Sports Notes
BY GIL GILMORE [Tri-City Herald, July 13, 1954]
Don't expect anything to come of the protest made over the game with Edmonton Sunday night. First of all, nothing comes of a protest anyway—except when some team uses an ineligible player.
Fact is, Edo Vanni, the Tri-City playing manager, may not even fill out a report.
"What good will it do? We don't see those guys (Edmonton) again this year so you can't play the game over. Besides, I remember once when we protested a game and we didn't even hear about the thing until two months later."
The chances are a decision won't even be handed down.
Anyhow, who cares? Football teams frequently win 'em all, and occasionally basketball teams finish with a perfect season. But baseball teams, they will win a few and lose a few. The idea is to come out with more wins than the next team in the league and the Braves have lots more victories in them yet.
* * *
Vanni Hurt His Big Toe
Vanni, by the way, will be out of the lineup for a while as the result of tripling those tying runs home.
Some of the fans might have missed it so here is what happened.
When he pulled up safely at third, the ball went through third-baseman Don Gigli. Vanni thought it rolled out of play and started to walk home.
Then he heard Jess Dobernic, the third base coach, yell "go on, go on" and he took off. But making the triple took all the horses out of Edo.
"I tried to run, but the legs wouldn't," Edo said afterward.
When it wound up, he was barely staggering into home plate.
"As a last resort, I tried to kick the ball out of the catcher's hand," Edo said, "but I missed and kicked his shinguard.
Boy, you ought to see my big toe. Is it ever black and blue."
* * *
Sturgeon Ashamed of U.S. Teams
Bob Sturgeon, Edmonton manager, had a few harsh words about the teams that accepted the $600 for each road trip to the prairie city — and especially for Lewiston.
"It made me ashamed of the U. S. side," Bob said before the final game of the series.
What happened is this. Three U.S. teams — Salem, Tri-City, and Lewiston — refused to go to Edmonton but then Eskimo general manager John Ducey offered to pay each U.S. team $600 for each trip up there.
"I think it wan a good fair offer," Bob said. "After all, they would by playing on the road somewhere and have travel expenses and that $600 a trip would make up the difference. But now none of them want to come up there and plus us, even with that offer."
But what particularly galled him was the Lewiston deal. The Bronc management refused to send their team to Edmonton until they got the $600 in advance. They got it but before they left, Lewiston signed third-baseman Eddie Bockman, a hard-hitting ex-Coast Leaguer.
Eventually, Bockman joined the Broncs and traveled with them to Edmonton, where I recall he hit three home runs which figured in a couple of Lewiston victories.
"I could have signed Bockman, too," Sturgeon said, "but we couldn't go for it. He's a friend of mine but we couldn't see paying a couple thousand dollars to him for just half of a season."
* * *
Believes Esks To Go All-Canada
Sturgeon also said he is pretty sure Edmonton will be the spark behind forming an all-Canadian league next season.
"They are going to go for it," he said. "There (at Edmonton) I think they just want to hang onto the franchise through this season so they will have something to work on next year."
He said he was pretty certain such a league would work providing the cities have any kind of luck with the weather.
"It can kill you there." Bob said. "We lost 17,000 paid admissions in the first half because of the weather and now we are off to a lousy second half."
"Last year we were lucky, and came out okay," he said.
"You ought to do okay here though," Bob said, as he looked over the crowd of 2,000 or so trooping into the stands. "You're off to a good start this half and you ought to draw pretty well."
* * *
Beanie May Be Up Soon
Most of that 2,000 or so, admittedly, came out in hopes of seeing Rube Johnson clout some more homers. However Vanni used Jack Warren instead.
Vanni probably would have used Jack any way, but when Sturgeon started Art Worth, a left-handed pitcher, it was certain Rube would be on the bench. Pro ballplayers naturally cling to the theory that lefties can't hit lefties.
Anyhow, Beanie came through at the plate all night. He hit four for five, a lot of them coming when any kind of a hit was drastically needed.
Warren, by the way, was hitting .300 right on the button at game time. The four singles upped his average some and may herald a return to his last season form when he finished with .354.
Jack, himself, is confident enough that he will come back up near the top that he was willing to bet Dobernic he would be hitting .340 at the season end.
When Jess pointed out Jack would have to hit two for four and two for five for the rest of the season, Jack still said he would make it.
"Boy, oh boy," Jess quipped, "if he does we got the second half cinched. We're in."
I won't bet that Jack will be hitting .340 at the season end but I'll bet he won't be hitting any .300 either. Everyone on the team expects him to start busting out any time now and you can look for the old average to climb.
* * *
An Example of a "Save"
A radio announcers' recent suggestion that some sort of scoring system whereby fielders would be credited with exceptional defensive play probably won't get very far simply because the game demands nothing short of "perfection," so presumably, whenever a fielder makes any kind of a putout or assist, he was merely doing what is expected of him.
However, there is a certain justification for such a system and it emphasized in the game Sunday night. Len Tran makes a bad throw so lights flash and storekeepers mark the nasty old error in their books.
Two innings later Len Tran makes an impossible catch which saved the game momentarily. What's marked in the scorebook? Nothing, except t batter filed out to Len Tran.
BY GIL GILMORE [Tri-City Herald, July 13, 1954]
Don't expect anything to come of the protest made over the game with Edmonton Sunday night. First of all, nothing comes of a protest anyway—except when some team uses an ineligible player.
Fact is, Edo Vanni, the Tri-City playing manager, may not even fill out a report.
"What good will it do? We don't see those guys (Edmonton) again this year so you can't play the game over. Besides, I remember once when we protested a game and we didn't even hear about the thing until two months later."
The chances are a decision won't even be handed down.
Anyhow, who cares? Football teams frequently win 'em all, and occasionally basketball teams finish with a perfect season. But baseball teams, they will win a few and lose a few. The idea is to come out with more wins than the next team in the league and the Braves have lots more victories in them yet.
* * *
Vanni Hurt His Big Toe
Vanni, by the way, will be out of the lineup for a while as the result of tripling those tying runs home.
Some of the fans might have missed it so here is what happened.
When he pulled up safely at third, the ball went through third-baseman Don Gigli. Vanni thought it rolled out of play and started to walk home.
Then he heard Jess Dobernic, the third base coach, yell "go on, go on" and he took off. But making the triple took all the horses out of Edo.
"I tried to run, but the legs wouldn't," Edo said afterward.
When it wound up, he was barely staggering into home plate.
"As a last resort, I tried to kick the ball out of the catcher's hand," Edo said, "but I missed and kicked his shinguard.
Boy, you ought to see my big toe. Is it ever black and blue."
* * *
Sturgeon Ashamed of U.S. Teams
Bob Sturgeon, Edmonton manager, had a few harsh words about the teams that accepted the $600 for each road trip to the prairie city — and especially for Lewiston.
"It made me ashamed of the U. S. side," Bob said before the final game of the series.
What happened is this. Three U.S. teams — Salem, Tri-City, and Lewiston — refused to go to Edmonton but then Eskimo general manager John Ducey offered to pay each U.S. team $600 for each trip up there.
"I think it wan a good fair offer," Bob said. "After all, they would by playing on the road somewhere and have travel expenses and that $600 a trip would make up the difference. But now none of them want to come up there and plus us, even with that offer."
But what particularly galled him was the Lewiston deal. The Bronc management refused to send their team to Edmonton until they got the $600 in advance. They got it but before they left, Lewiston signed third-baseman Eddie Bockman, a hard-hitting ex-Coast Leaguer.
Eventually, Bockman joined the Broncs and traveled with them to Edmonton, where I recall he hit three home runs which figured in a couple of Lewiston victories.
"I could have signed Bockman, too," Sturgeon said, "but we couldn't go for it. He's a friend of mine but we couldn't see paying a couple thousand dollars to him for just half of a season."
* * *
Believes Esks To Go All-Canada
Sturgeon also said he is pretty sure Edmonton will be the spark behind forming an all-Canadian league next season.
"They are going to go for it," he said. "There (at Edmonton) I think they just want to hang onto the franchise through this season so they will have something to work on next year."
He said he was pretty certain such a league would work providing the cities have any kind of luck with the weather.
"It can kill you there." Bob said. "We lost 17,000 paid admissions in the first half because of the weather and now we are off to a lousy second half."
"Last year we were lucky, and came out okay," he said.
"You ought to do okay here though," Bob said, as he looked over the crowd of 2,000 or so trooping into the stands. "You're off to a good start this half and you ought to draw pretty well."
* * *
Beanie May Be Up Soon
Most of that 2,000 or so, admittedly, came out in hopes of seeing Rube Johnson clout some more homers. However Vanni used Jack Warren instead.
Vanni probably would have used Jack any way, but when Sturgeon started Art Worth, a left-handed pitcher, it was certain Rube would be on the bench. Pro ballplayers naturally cling to the theory that lefties can't hit lefties.
Anyhow, Beanie came through at the plate all night. He hit four for five, a lot of them coming when any kind of a hit was drastically needed.
Warren, by the way, was hitting .300 right on the button at game time. The four singles upped his average some and may herald a return to his last season form when he finished with .354.
Jack, himself, is confident enough that he will come back up near the top that he was willing to bet Dobernic he would be hitting .340 at the season end.
When Jess pointed out Jack would have to hit two for four and two for five for the rest of the season, Jack still said he would make it.
"Boy, oh boy," Jess quipped, "if he does we got the second half cinched. We're in."
I won't bet that Jack will be hitting .340 at the season end but I'll bet he won't be hitting any .300 either. Everyone on the team expects him to start busting out any time now and you can look for the old average to climb.
* * *
An Example of a "Save"
A radio announcers' recent suggestion that some sort of scoring system whereby fielders would be credited with exceptional defensive play probably won't get very far simply because the game demands nothing short of "perfection," so presumably, whenever a fielder makes any kind of a putout or assist, he was merely doing what is expected of him.
However, there is a certain justification for such a system and it emphasized in the game Sunday night. Len Tran makes a bad throw so lights flash and storekeepers mark the nasty old error in their books.
Two innings later Len Tran makes an impossible catch which saved the game momentarily. What's marked in the scorebook? Nothing, except t batter filed out to Len Tran.
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