Thursday, August 26, 1954

                W  L  Pct GB
Salem ........ 30 20 .600 —
Vancouver .... 28 19 .596 ½
Yakima ....... 33 23 .589 —
Lewiston ..... 34 24 .586 —
Edmonton ..... 26 26 .500 5
Tri-City ..... 20 34 .370 12
Wenatchee .... 18 35 .340 13½

KENNEWICK [Tri-City Herald, Aug. 27]—The Tri-City Braves, so far out of the Western International league race that they couldn't win 'em all and move any higher than they are now, will have a lot to say about who takes second-half honors.
The four leaders, Salem, Yakima, Vancouver and Lcwiston are but a game apart at the top of the heap.
Tonight, the Braves travel to Lewiston for a series and an even break there may cost the Broncs the second half title. The series will be four games, possibly five, if the Broncs want to make up the 12-inning tie game there on the last road trip.
Tri-City finishes out its season with another-series at Salem and a home series with the Senators here.
Salem, which edged into first place with three victories over the Braves, were slapped down, 14-3, in Thursday night's action. The loss left them in first place, a bare few percentage points ahead of Yakima.
Tri-City had the game won by the second inning when the Braves scored four runs on five hits and a Salem error. Bill Franks, starter er for Salem, was racked for 17 hits.
Although Tri-City may be out of the race as a team, the Braves aided their efforts to meet various personal goals.
Little Dick Watson, who hit .242 in the Pioneer league last season and who has a personal goal of hitting .260 or better this season, reached the mark with four base blows in five times up.
Jack Warren, who long ago gave up hopes of defending his batting crown, and now hopes to finish his 16 season with an above-.300 average, got three for five and climbed to .302.
Artie Wilson, who dragged along at .265 in mid-season, is now up to 294 as the result of his three for four night.
Len Tran. who has an outside chance of winning the league batting title, got two for four and now has an average of .336. More immediate to Tran is hopes of passing the 100 RBI mark. He picked up one Thursday night for a season total of 92.
Dale Thomason, the winning pitcher for Tri-City, moved a notch closer lo breaking even in the won-loss column. He now has seven wins against eight loses.
During the game Thursday, Thomason scattered 11 hits in giving up three runs. Two of them came as the result of Tri-City errors in the ninth.
Thomason aided his own cause with a three for four night at the plate.
[WILfan notes: Every man in the Tri-City lineup, except Bob Moniz, got at least one hit (though Moniz had a sacrifice fly), and every man but Terry Carroll scored one or more runs ... Harry Warner four for five with a double. Glen Tuckett doubled and tripled in four times up and Bob Kellogg hit three for five.]
Salem ....... 010 000 002— 3 11 1
Tri-City .... 040 001 27x—14 12 1
Franks, Nicholas (8) and D. Luby; Thomason and Johnson.

LEWISTON, August 26 — Lewiston Broncs trimmed Yakima 8-6 on Thursday night to break a three-game losing spell and halt their plunge out of the upper brackets of the Western International League.
It was the third win in the last 16 starts for the Broncs who held down the league's top spot until Wednesday when the Bears, with their third win in a row, knocked them into fourth place. The Idahoans led the league most of the second half season and three weeks ago were 6½ games in front.
The Broncs spotted Yakima one run then came back with four of their own in the first inning. The scoring came on four hits, a fielder's choice and a sacrifice fly.
Al Heist tripled and Larry Barton doubled during the rally. Lewiston iced the game in the third with three more runs on three hits and a walk, and Nick Cannuli's double in the fifth drove in an insurance run. Al Yaylian was the winner; Danny Rios the loser.
Yakima ...... 100 201 020—6 10 0
Lewiston .... 403 010 00x—8 12 2
Rios, Young (3), Schaening (9) and Summers; Yaylian and Garay.

Edmonton at Vancouver, postponed, rain.

Victoria Baseball Company Passes Quietly, at Meeting
[Victoria Colonist, Aug. 27, 1954]
Victoria Baseball and Athletic Company, born quietly almost nine years ago at a meeting attended by approximately 40 Victoria citizens, officially died even more quietly last night.
Fewer than 40 of the more than 700 shareholders in the company attended an extra-ordinary general meeting at the Chamber of Commerce board room, Wharf Street, to unanimously approve their directors’ suggestion that the company be wound up voluntarily.
The meeting also voted to retain business manager Reg Patterson as liquidator for a fee equal to his former salary for one month.
In the absence of president Arthur Cox, in Vancouver due to a family bereavement, and vice-president Robert Hew Fergusson-Pollock, detained in Duncan due to illness in the family, W.T. Straith, legal advisor and honorary director of the company, acted as chairman.
Straith, one of the men instrumental in obtaining a Western International League franchise for Victoria, noted that the company had been formed in the hope that professional baseball would become a fixture in the city.
Starting as the Athletics, the Victoria club shows a small profit through its first three years, paying a dividend to shareholders in 1947 and reaching its high point the following ear when 148,000 fans passed through the turnstiles.
From there, attendance skidded downward and only 28,000 had attended 44 home games of the Victoria Tyees this season when directors, deciding that further operations would only increase liabilities, forfeited their franchise on August 3.
At the annual general meeting last spring, an auditor’s report disclosed that a capital deficiency of $110,000 and it is estimated approximately $40,000 was lost this season. Among the outstanding debts are salary commitments of $3,500, which are expected to receive first consideration in liquidation proceedings.
The main portion of the company’s assets consists of its contributions to facilities at Royal Athletic Park although all fixtures are legally the property of the city. The company contributed $18,000 toward seating improvements and spent $12,000 for installation of lights.