W L Pct GB
Lewiston ...... 23 11 .676 —
Yakima ........ 20 13 .606 2½
Vancouver ..... 17 15 .531 5
Edmonton ...... 16 17 .485 6½
Salem ......... 15 16 .484 6½
Tri-City ...... 15 19 .441 8
Wenatchee ..... 10 24 .294 13
YAKIMA, Aug. 7—Ted Edmunds pitched one ball Saturday night to end an Edmonton scoring threat and save a 7-5 victory for Yakima in their Western International League baseball game.
Edmunds relieved Danny Rios, who had a shutout going entering the ninth, fired one ball at Augie Amorena who flied out to end the game.
Rlos had given up only five hits entering the fatal ninth. He retired the first man up, then the root collapsed. Three Eskimos crossed the plate before he got another man out and two more tallies were added before Edmunds came into to take over.
Edmonton scoring was on four singles, a walk, a hit batsman and two Yakima errors.
Yakima collected 9 hits, including five doubles and a triple, off the combined offerings of Jack Widner and Art Worth.
Edmonton ..... 000 000 005—5 8 1
Yakima ......... 200 002 03x—7 9 2
Widner, Worth (9) and Partee; Rios, Edmunds (9) and Summers.
WENATCHEE [Tri-City Herald, Aug. 8]—Herman Besse missed a no-hitter by the margin of Pumpsie Green's sixth inning single Saturday night as Tri-City cut down Wenatchee 3-1 in their Western International League baseball meeting.
Only five men reached first against Besse, four on walks and one on an error.
In the sixth, Green singled to right field, moved up when Besse walked Tony Rivas, took third on a flyout and came home on an infield out.
Tri-City scored three runs in the first inning on a pair of walks, three singles and a wild pitch by Charley Oubre, and added two in the third on Rube Johnson's double after Oubre had given up two more singles.
The Braves and the Chiefs will play a single game today. Then Tri-City returns to Sanders Field for the opening of a four-game series with the power-laden Vancouver Capilanoes.
Both Tri-City and Vancouver, however, may be a little short of playing talent. The Caps have sent four players — Dick Greco, and Bud Beasley — to play on the Bob Abel "all-stars" at Edmonton.
Tri-City has but two on the "all stars" - Artie Wilson and Dale Thomason. However, the Tri-City lineup is plagued in varying amounts by injuries and illness.
Vic Buccola, who was hurt before making the road trip, and re-injured in the grappling match with Lewiston, is still out of the lineup. Jack Warren has been having trouble with his knee. Bob Moniz with his shoulder, and several, including pitcher Herm Hesse, have had internal ailments.
Tri-City .......... 302 000 000—5 11 1
Wenatchee ..... 000 001 000—1 1 0
Besse and Johnson; Oubre and Self.
VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, Province, Aug. 9]—Vancouver Capilanos, looking once again like the Caps the opposition loved to hate, are off in pursuit of the WIL’s current front runner, Lewiston Broncs.
They hope to have the Broncs roped and broken by the middle of next week. The Caps visit in Tri-City and Wenatchee this week, and if they just have a stand like the one just completed at home, they should be camping right in the back yard of the Lewiston team come Aug. 16,when the two teams clash in a three-game series at Lewiston.
The Caps made it six out of seven last week when they edged Salem 4-3 at Cap Stadium to sweep the three game series. General manager Bill Brenner was once again the big noise, not only pitching a six-hitter for his 17th win against six losses, but also batting a sacrifice fly and a home run for two runs.
Bill drove in the first one with a line drive to left in the third inning, and came through with the winning run in the fifth, pounding one over the left field wall with nobody on to beat ex-Cap pitcher Bill Franks.
[Marv Williams doubled in Brenner and came home on Bob Wellman’s single in the three-run third. Brenner’s single came after Nick Pesut tripled … Brenner was a perfect two-for-two, as he had a single … Salem scored two in the third, with Mel Krause tripling two runs after a pair of walks. They got the other in the top of the fifth when Franks singled, went to second on a walk, moved to third on Bob Kellogg's single and scored on Gene Tanselli’s sacrifice fly].
Salem ............ 002 010 000—3 6 0
Vancouver ...... 003 010 00x—4 9 2
Franks and D. Luby; Brenner and Pesut.
Matheson Says Six–Team All-U.S. League Certain Next Season
[Tri-City Herald, August 8, 1954]
The Western International league, beset with financial troubles year in and year out, will undoubtedly lose the “International” in its name next season, Harold Matheson, president of the Tri-City Athletic association said Saturday.
Matheson, returned from the Seattle meeting of the league directors which dealt with the Victoria collapse, said a cut to six closely knit U. S. teams will be one of the recommendations the committee of which he is a member will make to the directors at meetings this October.
Matheson said the two remaining Canadian entries — Vancouver and Edmonton — will drop out on their own.
“With Vancouver next year, it will be coast league or nothing,” Matheson said. “The club is crowding the $200,000-loss mark.
“At Edmonton, John Ducey has made up his mind to go for that all-Canadian league and figures it is a matter of just hanging on this year.”
Matheson also revealed some of the details of what the committee will propose for next year’s operation.
The other members of the committee are Bob Brown, former WIL president, and Hugh Luby, general manager of the Salem Senators.
“We will suggest cutting the number of veterans in the league to six or eight,” he said, “and a salary limit of $5,400 a month for 16 players.”
The present WIL limit is $6,300 a month for 17 players. However, bonuses paid free agents are not figured within that limit .This enables some wealthier clubs to sign high-priced ex-Coast Leaguer’s for low salaries with the difference made up in high bonuses, and thereby stay within the limit.
Matheson said, “one proposal that might work is this. A team may pay a $200 bonus which will not count, within the salary limit. However, any bonus paid amounting to more will count against the limit, except for the $200.
The proposed all-U.S. six-team league will probably consist of the present five U.S. components — Tri-City, Yakima, Lewiston, Wenatchee, and Salem — plus possibly Spokane, or Eugene. Ore., or Tacoma.
Matheson told the details of the league meeting and the series of events leading up to the forming of the weird “All-star” team which will play Edmonton and Lewiston this week.
He also said that the league came very close to folding right at the beginning of the meeting.
After the directors gathered around, the Vancouver group proposed that the league fold, Matheson said. “But I said no. we wanted to finish the season if we could.”
“Vancouver then said if everyone else wants to continue, we will, too.”
“The big problem was Edmonton,” Matheson said. “Victoria was scheduled to play a week-long series there and with Victoria out of the league, that left only Salem and Lewiston coming in.
“Edmonton has dropped $35,000 this year and has been three weeks on the road.
“So we suggested to Ducey that the logical thing is for you to drop out. Well, Ducey called his partners and they said no, we don’t want to drop out. They felt they had a shot to win the second half and they were drawing good at home.
“Finally Bruce Williams of Salem said he would like to see Tri-City go there for a week-long series. But that would have meant we would lose the Vancouver and Wenatchee series at home and I told them nothing doing. If we made the trip, then we might as well quit.
“Then Williams proposed the all-star team.”
The deal, Matheson explained, is this: Each team pays its own players’ salaries. Each team is obligated to send them to Lewiston for one game Sunday (today).
The provision for having the Lewiston game was made because Lewiston had made the trip to Victoria and Victoria folded with Lewiston getting nothing back.
“After the Lewiston game, Edmonton foots the bill to take the players to Edmonton. After the series at Edmonton, they pay to send the players back to Spokane and each club pays to bring its own players home from there,” Matheson said.
He said Edmonton will also pay meal money and hotel bills. “It will cost them nearly $2,000,” he said. “but they figure they will lose less that way than by being idle for a week.”
Matheson said Lewiston pitchers will not be used against Lewiston and Edmonton pitchers will not be used against Edmonton.
Finally, he said, it came around to the point of naming an all-star team. “No one had an extra first baseman,” Matheson said, “and Artie Wilson had been playing a pretty good first for us. I figured Vic Buccola would be back in the lineup so I offered Wilson. Since we had an extra pitcher, I offered Dale Thomason.”
He said under the rules, if a team’s player fails to report for the “All-star” lineup, then league president Bob Abel can select any player he wants from that team.
Payroll Has G.M. Worried
[Tri-City Herald, August 8, 1954]
Tri-City general manager Eddie Taylor is worried aplenty now about making the Sept. 1 payroll for the Tri-City Braves.
Taylor points out that during the final half of August, the Braves have but “half” playing date at home with Lewiston plus three playing dates with Salem.
The half date comes in there because it is an exception to the home-and-home gate rule. The gate will be split with the Broncs. Tri-City loses two August and one September home playing dates because of the Victoria folderoo.
This is partially offset by the $600 in travel costs that will be saved because it will not be necessary for the team to go to Victoria Aug. 16-18.
However, the Tri-City club operates on such a tight budget that even the loss of one or two playing dates at home puts it in a precarious position.
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