W L Pct GB
Lewiston ...... 23 11 .676 —
Yakima ........ 18 13 .581 3½
Salem ......... 15 13 .536 5
Edmonton ...... 16 13 .552 5½
Vancouver ..... 14 15 .483 6½
Tri-City ...... 19 19 .406 9
Wenatchee ..... 11 22 .313 12
WENATCHEE, Aug. 5—Catcher Roy Partee singled home the tying run in the fifth inning and the winning run in the seventh as the Edmonton Eskimos came from behind to defeat the Chiefs 4-3 in a Western International League baseball game here Thursday.
Righthander John Conant hung up his l3th win of the season behind solid hitting support from Partee, Andy Skurski and Bob Brown, all of whom collected three hits apiece for the Eskimos.
Ross McCormack was Wenatchee's big gun with a double and a single.
Edmonton ...... 001 020 100—4 12 1
Wenatchee .... 002 001 000—3 7 4
Conant and Partee; Beamon and Self.
VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, Province, Aug. 6]—Marvin Williams hates to see a triple go to waste and he’ll just keep hitting ‘em until they do some good. Anyway that’s what he did Thursday at Cap Stadium, and thereby hangs a 3-2 Vancouver victory over Tri-City Braves.
Williams, the sweet-swinging second-sacker, had singled in the first inning, and got as far as third, but he “died” there. Come the fifth, he got to third in one try, whacking one to the distant reaches of centre field. But he again he was left stranded as the next two Caps went out.
Marvin got another chance in the seventh, but this time two runners were on base, waiting for him to produce. He did, slicing a ball into the right field corner for his second triple to score two runs and overcome a 2-1 Tri-City lead.
Sandy Robertson had given up three hits in the first innings for two runs, then got his considerable “stuff” working and blanked the Braves from there in. But it looked, for a while, as if the Caps would never catch the visitors.
They got one run in the second on Jim Clark’s double and Nick Pesut’s first of three singles. Dale Thomason kept them bottled up then, until the seventh, when Robertson walked and K. Chorlton singled to send Thomason showerward and bring Jess Dobernic in.
Jess unfortunately ran into Williams, and that was the ball game. It gave the Caps the series 3-1. Tonight Salem Senators come to own for three games, with two tonight starting at 7. Pete Hernandez and Bob Roberts will pitch for the locals.
- - -
VANCOUVER [Tri-City Herald, Aug. 5]—The Tri-City Braves move on to Wenatchee today for another four-game road series and for another of those battles to keep out of the basement.
The chances of doing the latter are good, since Wenatchee has been out of the Western International league running ever since the club was taught the bitter lesson of what happens to teams dealing with players on option.
Following the recall of top playing talent, Wenatchee became strictly a tail-end team for second-half play. But in so being, they will find themselves an equal rival tonight.
Tri-City dropped its fourth and final game to the Vancouver Capilanoes, 3-2, Thursday night which extends the pattern of losing three out of four to first division clubs.
The Braves again came close to an even split in the series but three-base-hits by Marv Williams did the damage. With a one-run lead in the bottom of the sixth, Williams got his second triple which sent in the tying and winning runs.
The blows came off starter Dale Thomason, who lost his sixth game against five wins. Jess Dobernic came on to pitch, got the side out, and finished the game.
Tri-City scored its two runs when Terry Carroll and Dick Watson singled in the first. Len Tran doubled Carroll home and Watson scored on Bob Moniz' sacrifice fly.
Tri-City ......... 200 000 000—2 8 0
Vancouver .... 010 000 20x—3 12 1
Thomason, Dobernic (8) and Johnson; Robertson and Pesut.
YAKIMA, Aug. 5—The Yakima Bears muffed another chance to gain on the league-leading Lewiston Broncs Thursday night as they dropped an 8-2 decision to the Idahoans. The win gave Lewiston the series, 3-1, and increase the Broncs' first-place margin to 3 1/2 games.
Last week, the Bears moved within one half game of Lewiston and a series win this week could have put them in the top spot.
The teams meet only once more this season, in a four-game series later this month at Lewiston.
Lewiston, after scoring a brace of runs in the fifth and sixth innings, put the clincher on with a our-run outburst in the seventh.
The runs came on five bases on balls by Yaklma pitcher John Carmichnel and reliefer Dick Young and doubles by Larry Barton and Nick Cannuli. Carmichael and Young gave up a total of 15 walks, 10 of them by Carmichael.
Lewiston ..... 000 022 400—8 8 1
Yakima ....... 000 101 000—2 9 1
Fletcher and Garay; Carmichael, Young (7) and Summers.
Sports Notes
BY GIL GILMORE
[Tri-City Herald, Aug. 6, 1954]
Awaiting the outcome of Western International league directors’ meetings nowadays is something like chomping your way through an oldtlme crackerjack box where you used to get a surprise in every package instead of a measly old plastic gadget of modern times.
The latest surprise in the WIL crackerjack is this whingdingeroo of an All-Star team which will enable the loop to limp along for awhile on seven legs and a crutch.
This shouldn't be taken as being critical of the directors’ action, since, under the circumstances, where is there a better solution? But off in the distance I detect no end of trouble with the makeshift arrangement.
First off, I’m wondering what minor league czar George Trautman is going to think of the situation when he hears about it, especially that part about games with Lewiston and Edmonton counting in the standings.
Talk about fraternization. Are Lewiston players going to play Lewiston when the Broncs are, say, a half game out of first place?
And who pays the travel costs for this band of orphans representing no one but Bob Abel?
* * *
Maybe The Braves Should Quit
The All-Star team, the demise of Spokane and the lack of interest there in organizing a team, the faux pas at Calgary, and the death of Victoria, all coupled with the efforts to two teams in the league to buy a pennant outright makes it increasingly apparent that Tri-City should think twice before playing in the league next year.
This may sound a little drastic considering the effort involved and the money spent in keeping the learn here and the assertion is made only if the league plans to continue operations as it has in the past.
* * *
Matheson's Solution
Harold Matheson, president of the Tri-City Athletic association, said recently it won’t next year. Harold is on the committee of three which is working to come up with some plan so the league can operate within each team’s income.
His personal solution is to set a salary limit, designed to include bonuses, that is based on an average draw of 70,000 fans per team. This is roughly what the league has averaged over the years.
The Harold would fine any team in the league found violating the limit, “not money because no one has any,” he said, “but the team's best player.”
“That will make them sit up and take notice,” Harold said.
* * *
Change In Mind
However. Matheson made this proposal at a league meeting once before and it got nowhere. Has the league brass changed its mind since? Although the recent conglomeration of financial troubles should be enough to convince them of the error of their ways, It doesn’t mean that it will.
Talk around the league a bit and you hear, “all we need is a veteran limit.” “All we need are some young players,” “All we need is better promotion,” or “Won’t your local
businessmen give you enough money to carry on?”
In other words, despite the 1954 lesson, there’s a good chance when the showdown comes, some halfway proposal will be approved.
* * *
Chalk It Up
But with the exception of the Matheson proposal. It’s going to take more than any of the things mentioned above to cure the constant ailments of the WIL.
No. 1 item is salary equalization as well as salary limits. Without it, winning a pennant will be decided by the amount of effort spent crying “wolf” and conducting fundraising drives in the middle of June, or the amount of money breweries will give as a means of getting tax writeoffs and advertising.
That salary limit should not only include amount of bonuses paid by the WIL team but also the amount of salary or bonus paid by parent team’s of higher classification. That is what is meant by salary equalization. A $700-a-month ballplayer is a $700-a-month ballplayer whether the salary is paid by a WIL team or by a coast league team. Why should one club be permitted to dodge the limit by letting a parent club pay part of the salary? (And unless that is done, you can bet your boots there will be under-the-table payments to players by giving the money to the parent club and having them give it to the overpaid player.)
Had such rules been on the books and enforced this year, the Tri-City club would be somewhere near the top of the standings and with a little money in the till, too.
* * *
Eddie Wants Games Here
But all that's for next season. Now that the league has this All-Star aggregation, it might be well to play it to the hilt.
Eddie Taylor, the Tri-City general manager, wishes the “All-Stars” would finish out the entire Victoria schedule because there are three days when Tri-City won’t be taking anything in right at a time when they will be hard up for cash.
The triple-gate loss will be offset some, because the Braves won't have to make an expensive haul to Victoria but even so, why not have this mighty All-Star nine play
all six of the games here?
On the dates originally scheduled as home games for Tri-City, the Braves could take the entire proceeds for the evening. On the three originally scheduled for Victoria, the money could be used to help pay the All-Star salaries. (The same could be done elsewhere around-the league.
Sounds nutty? Well, I'll bet that a Tri-City Braves vs the Bob Abel All-Star game will draw as many if not more fans than a straight old Tri-City vs Victoria game.
That All-Star team may not have the best playing talent in the league, but certainly it has some of the most colorful. Now there’s Dick Greco, for example, the only opposition player honored in the Tri-Cities with a special night. And Bud Beasley, a colorful ham whose age compares favorably with Satchel Paige’s.
Chances are Lewiston will send the team John Marshall, who is also something of an attraction. That team would do all right.
The latest surprise in the WIL crackerjack is this whingdingeroo of an All-Star team which will enable the loop to limp along for awhile on seven legs and a crutch.
This shouldn't be taken as being critical of the directors’ action, since, under the circumstances, where is there a better solution? But off in the distance I detect no end of trouble with the makeshift arrangement.
First off, I’m wondering what minor league czar George Trautman is going to think of the situation when he hears about it, especially that part about games with Lewiston and Edmonton counting in the standings.
Talk about fraternization. Are Lewiston players going to play Lewiston when the Broncs are, say, a half game out of first place?
And who pays the travel costs for this band of orphans representing no one but Bob Abel?
* * *
Maybe The Braves Should Quit
The All-Star team, the demise of Spokane and the lack of interest there in organizing a team, the faux pas at Calgary, and the death of Victoria, all coupled with the efforts to two teams in the league to buy a pennant outright makes it increasingly apparent that Tri-City should think twice before playing in the league next year.
This may sound a little drastic considering the effort involved and the money spent in keeping the learn here and the assertion is made only if the league plans to continue operations as it has in the past.
* * *
Matheson's Solution
Harold Matheson, president of the Tri-City Athletic association, said recently it won’t next year. Harold is on the committee of three which is working to come up with some plan so the league can operate within each team’s income.
His personal solution is to set a salary limit, designed to include bonuses, that is based on an average draw of 70,000 fans per team. This is roughly what the league has averaged over the years.
The Harold would fine any team in the league found violating the limit, “not money because no one has any,” he said, “but the team's best player.”
“That will make them sit up and take notice,” Harold said.
* * *
Change In Mind
However. Matheson made this proposal at a league meeting once before and it got nowhere. Has the league brass changed its mind since? Although the recent conglomeration of financial troubles should be enough to convince them of the error of their ways, It doesn’t mean that it will.
Talk around the league a bit and you hear, “all we need is a veteran limit.” “All we need are some young players,” “All we need is better promotion,” or “Won’t your local
businessmen give you enough money to carry on?”
In other words, despite the 1954 lesson, there’s a good chance when the showdown comes, some halfway proposal will be approved.
* * *
Chalk It Up
But with the exception of the Matheson proposal. It’s going to take more than any of the things mentioned above to cure the constant ailments of the WIL.
No. 1 item is salary equalization as well as salary limits. Without it, winning a pennant will be decided by the amount of effort spent crying “wolf” and conducting fundraising drives in the middle of June, or the amount of money breweries will give as a means of getting tax writeoffs and advertising.
That salary limit should not only include amount of bonuses paid by the WIL team but also the amount of salary or bonus paid by parent team’s of higher classification. That is what is meant by salary equalization. A $700-a-month ballplayer is a $700-a-month ballplayer whether the salary is paid by a WIL team or by a coast league team. Why should one club be permitted to dodge the limit by letting a parent club pay part of the salary? (And unless that is done, you can bet your boots there will be under-the-table payments to players by giving the money to the parent club and having them give it to the overpaid player.)
Had such rules been on the books and enforced this year, the Tri-City club would be somewhere near the top of the standings and with a little money in the till, too.
* * *
Eddie Wants Games Here
But all that's for next season. Now that the league has this All-Star aggregation, it might be well to play it to the hilt.
Eddie Taylor, the Tri-City general manager, wishes the “All-Stars” would finish out the entire Victoria schedule because there are three days when Tri-City won’t be taking anything in right at a time when they will be hard up for cash.
The triple-gate loss will be offset some, because the Braves won't have to make an expensive haul to Victoria but even so, why not have this mighty All-Star nine play
all six of the games here?
On the dates originally scheduled as home games for Tri-City, the Braves could take the entire proceeds for the evening. On the three originally scheduled for Victoria, the money could be used to help pay the All-Star salaries. (The same could be done elsewhere around-the league.
Sounds nutty? Well, I'll bet that a Tri-City Braves vs the Bob Abel All-Star game will draw as many if not more fans than a straight old Tri-City vs Victoria game.
That All-Star team may not have the best playing talent in the league, but certainly it has some of the most colorful. Now there’s Dick Greco, for example, the only opposition player honored in the Tri-Cities with a special night. And Bud Beasley, a colorful ham whose age compares favorably with Satchel Paige’s.
Chances are Lewiston will send the team John Marshall, who is also something of an attraction. That team would do all right.
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