W L Pct GB
Vancouver .... 25 15 .625 —
Wenatchee .... 24 18 .571 2
Yakima ....... 22 18 .550 3
Edmonton ..... 17 14 .548 3½
Spokane ...... 20 21 .488 5½
Victoria ..... 18 19 .486 5½
Lewiston ..... 20 22 .476 6
Tri-City ..... 19 24 .442 7½
Salem ........ 18 25 .419 8½
Calgary ...... 13 20 .394 8½
LEWISTON, June 8—Lewiston’s large and loud John Marshall is certainly no stranger to Western International League baseball. Everybody’s quite happy to have him around—everybody but the league-leading Vancouver Capilanos, that is. They found him to be quite a bore Tuesday night.
Big Jawn took over from Jack Martin in the eighth inning to stop a Vancouver scoring threat after the Caps had tied the score at 3-3. Then, with one out in the bottom of the ninth, he singled in Glen Tuckett with the winning run.
Russ Rosberg’s three-run homer in the fourth laid the groundwork for the victory after the Caps’ Bill Brenner walked Al Heist and Bob Williams. Rosberg had three of the six hits allowed by Brenner.
Vancouver’s runs were scattered over three innings with Dick Greco knocking in two with a single and a double, and K Chorlton coming through with a home run (his eighth of the season) in the fifth.
The win was the fifth in eight games for Marshall while the loss was Brenner’s fourth again six wins so far this term.
Vancouver ...... 100 010 010—3 5 0
Lewiston ........ 000 300 001—4 6 0
Brenner and Pesut; Martin, Marshall (8) and Cameron.
KENNEWICK [Tri-City Herald, June 9]—Walt (the Deacon) Clough, Tri-City righthander, will pitch for the Braves tonight at 7:30 when they clash in the third and final game of the current scries with the Wenatchee Chiefs.
Ironically, should Clough come through with his fifth win of the season, the Vancouver Capilanoes [sic] stand to benefit most by the win.
Wenatchee's 11-8 victory over Tri-City Tuesday night coupled with Vancouver's 4-3 loss to Lewiston moved the Chiefs up to within two games on the league leaders.
Tri-City remained 7½ games out of first but dropped a game and a half behind Spokane, the seventh place club.
The Wenatchee win evened the series at one game each.
The game itself was a double-or-nothlng affair with nine batters beating out two-base blows. For Tri-City, Bob McGuire and Bob Moniz got two each.
Joe Unfried, Wenatchee centerfielder, got a homer with one on in the third inning, a double and a single in six trips. Jerry Green, Wenatchee shortstop, hit four for four including a double.
The wind early in the game caused the ball to do some tricks. In the first inning. Tony Rivas, the first man up, hit a towering fly ball to centerfield which was caught by the wind and carried all the way to the wall. He pulled up at third and later scored on a sacrifice fly.
Tri-City went out in front in the bottom of the first on a walk, a single by Vic Buccola and a double by Jack Warren.
Wenatchce tied it up on a walk and Jake Helmuth's single and from then on, although the Chiefs were frequently pressed they were never headed.
They had their big inning in the fifth when three singles off Earl (Lefty) Lemieux, who made his first start this season, Unfried's double and a walk brought in two runs and left the bases loaded.
Lemieux was taken out for reliever Jess Dobernic who hit Ted Shandor to bring in another. Then Rivas hit a bouncing single over third baseman Terry Carroll's head to score two more runs.
Dobcrnic gave up two more runs, one the result of his own error, in the sixth inning.
Moniz and Sam Kanelos got back-to-back doubles for one run in the fourth and Tri-City scored three in the fifth on a walk, a single and McGuire's second double. McGuire scored from third when Moniz was safe on an error.
Des Charouhas drove two in in the seventh with a single for Tri-City's other run but then the rally died.
Wenatchee ...... 112 050 200—11 15 1
Tri-City .......... 200 130 200— 8 12 1
Shandor and Jenney; Lemieux, Dobernic (5), Thomason (9) and Warren.
SPOKANE, June 8—The Spokane Indians combined tight fielding with tight pitching to win the Western International League series opener, 6-2, Tuesday night against the Victoria Tyees.
John Anderson scattered six hits for his eighth win in nine starts this season. He struck out four and walked four.
Three double plays by his teammates choked off any Tyee scoring threat. The Indians pushed across two runs in the first inning on four singles. Will Hafey clinched the contest with a two-run homer in the eighth.
Victoria scored in the fourth when Tom Perez doubled and crossed the plate on a single by Neil Sheridan and again in the seventh on a single by Ron Jackson and a double by Joe Joshua.
Bob Drilling,hit hard as usual, stayed right in the game until the eighth, when he gave up Hafey's homer.
Victoria ......... 000 100 010—2 6 1
Spokane ........ 200 000 13x—6 13 1
Drilling, Kanshin (8) and Martin; Anderson and Dean.
Calgary at Edmonton, postponed, rain.
Yakima at Salem, postponed, rain
Tisnerat, Wilson Get Releases
LEWISTON, Idaho, June 8—Two Lewiston players, one of them under suspension for “misconduct”, were given their outright releases by the Western International League club Tuesday.
Business Manager Tom Tabor said he was instructed to release infielder Artie Wilson and pitcher Don Tisnerat after efforts to sell or trade them failed to produce any offers.
He said Wilson had been under suspension since last Friday for misconduct.
Wilson's contract was purchased from Las Vegas of the Southwest International League. He batted .286 in 1952 and drove in 98 runs while batting .311 last season. He has been hitting .308 this year.
Tisnerat, who played with Edmonton of the WIL last season, has started five games, completing three of them. Two of his losses were in relief.
Chiefs Return Player
WENATCHEE, June 8 — Rookie outfielder Don Farber has been returned to the Oakland of the Pacific Coast League baseball club by Wenatchee of the Western International League. He hit .235 in 21 games with Wenatchee.
He will be transfered to the Albuquerque Dukes of the Class C West Texas-New Mexico League and join the club in time for Thursday night’s game against Borger.
Sports Notes
BY GIL GILMORE
[Tri-City Herald, June 9, 1954]
Saturday, the baseball docs will gather around the battered old body of a character named Willy and see what can be done toward getting him functioning again.
Willy, frankly, is in rough shape and several alternative suggestions are likely to come out of the meeting.
Among them are:
1. A transfusion. (This won’t get very far since the blood bank is bone dry in many places where Willy travels, that alone is reason for the meeting.)
2. Amputation. (This may receive strong support. Willy has a couple of members too far from the rest of his carcass. Moreover, one of them is in pretty rough shape.)
3. A diet. (Here is a solution that seems most practical and therefore will receive very little support. Willy’s major ailments are the direct result of his excesses which pain him deeply when bad weather sets in. In fact, Willy is somewhat of a cannibal, even eating himself.)
4. Burial. (This one we don't talk about. After all, it’s a member of the family. But when something like half the working parts of Willy’s battered frame are out of commission, we may as well be brave and face the worst if it comes to the worst. On the surface, Willy has one foot in the grave and another on a banana peeling.)
But in any case the docs or undertakers as the case may be will meet in Spokane to see what if anything can done.
* * *
This Isn’t First Time
This isn’t the first time the league brass has met to discuss the usual problem of no dough because of low attendance. But it should set some kind of a record for earliest “death session talkfest” in the recent league history.
Normally, these meetings do not roll around until late August when the bottom seven teams in the league, no longer having a chance of winning anything and finding the fans are ignoring them, raise a cry of “something’s got to be done.”
* * *
Ah, But The Solutions
Two years ago when the league met and decided something had to be done, the solution proposed was this: If Calgary and Edmonton are permitted to have franchises, they will draw enough for the league to have a total draw of 1,000,000 fans or an average of 100,000 apiece. On the basis of a 60 per cent for the home team, 40 per cent for the visitors, everyone will make money.
After the first whack around, the league didn’t draw anything like one-million fans. It fell 300,000 short of that figure and the worst foot-dragger or the lot was Calgary, one of the teams that was supposed to provde the punch for passing the million-mark.
So realizing that was a mistake, the league came up last year with the home-and-home gate deal designed to force the weak sisters out. Now it turns out that two of the three weak sisters are Spokane and Salem, which were in the upper half in attendance last season. Ironically, these two favored the home-and-home gate with Salem especially strong for it.
* * *
And Honest Look Needed
Probably the major trouble is that the league brass, a fair share of it, won’t sit down and confess to itself that times have changed and things aren’t the way they used to be. The league is still based on the average draw of 100,000-an idea the bigwigs got based on the pre-television, pre-drive in movie, pre-high-price days following World War II.
When they accept the fact they aren’t going to average 100,000 per club and tailor their expenses to meet their income, the league can sail along on an even keel.
* * *
Classification Change Unneeded
This could mean a reduction in league classification with its resultant lower salaries and poorer caliber of baseball. But even that isn’t necessary.
By most standards, if anyone isn't able to be “Class A” in the league it should be Tri-City and Yakima. They have some of the smaller areas to draw from and no help from the higher classification “outside” nor from the financial angel “inside.”
Maybe the absence of such help is a blessing because when you know you have to whack it alone, somehow you do a better job.
True, the two clubs are something like Carl Sandburg’s Old Pioneer, who when asked how he was doing, replied;
“I’m a’ holdin’ my own. I didn't have nolhin’ to start with and I ain’t got nothin’ now.”
But at least no league meetings are being called to see what can be done to carry the Braves and the Bears through the rest of the season. When their former owners pave up the ghost, it came in midwinter before the schedules wore made out.
* * *
Tran’s Hand Bruised
Len Tran, Tri-City second baseman, is out of the lineup with a badly bruised hand. Len’s hand is always a source trouble for him. The way he explains it, the tendon running from the thumb is split and every once in a while, when he is batting, it causes trouble in the muscle there.
It has the appearance of a bruise and looks like a bruise so that’s what they call it.
It is the troublesome thumb that accounts for Len’s frequent bat-throwing incidents. On certain kinds of pitches. Len has to swing in such a way that it really hurts him and he can’t hang on.
He has found in the past that most of the trouble disappears with the hot weather and he expects the soreness to ease up soon.
* * *
Moniz’ Arm Still troubles
Bob Moniz, who has been hitting the ball with such regularity lately that he would be an asset to the team if he played defensive ball with an arm in a sling, still has some soreness in that old wing of his.
It’s the first time something like that has happened to Bob but he also expects it to disappear when the weather warms up.
BY GIL GILMORE
[Tri-City Herald, June 9, 1954]
Saturday, the baseball docs will gather around the battered old body of a character named Willy and see what can be done toward getting him functioning again.
Willy, frankly, is in rough shape and several alternative suggestions are likely to come out of the meeting.
Among them are:
1. A transfusion. (This won’t get very far since the blood bank is bone dry in many places where Willy travels, that alone is reason for the meeting.)
2. Amputation. (This may receive strong support. Willy has a couple of members too far from the rest of his carcass. Moreover, one of them is in pretty rough shape.)
3. A diet. (Here is a solution that seems most practical and therefore will receive very little support. Willy’s major ailments are the direct result of his excesses which pain him deeply when bad weather sets in. In fact, Willy is somewhat of a cannibal, even eating himself.)
4. Burial. (This one we don't talk about. After all, it’s a member of the family. But when something like half the working parts of Willy’s battered frame are out of commission, we may as well be brave and face the worst if it comes to the worst. On the surface, Willy has one foot in the grave and another on a banana peeling.)
But in any case the docs or undertakers as the case may be will meet in Spokane to see what if anything can done.
* * *
This Isn’t First Time
This isn’t the first time the league brass has met to discuss the usual problem of no dough because of low attendance. But it should set some kind of a record for earliest “death session talkfest” in the recent league history.
Normally, these meetings do not roll around until late August when the bottom seven teams in the league, no longer having a chance of winning anything and finding the fans are ignoring them, raise a cry of “something’s got to be done.”
* * *
Ah, But The Solutions
Two years ago when the league met and decided something had to be done, the solution proposed was this: If Calgary and Edmonton are permitted to have franchises, they will draw enough for the league to have a total draw of 1,000,000 fans or an average of 100,000 apiece. On the basis of a 60 per cent for the home team, 40 per cent for the visitors, everyone will make money.
After the first whack around, the league didn’t draw anything like one-million fans. It fell 300,000 short of that figure and the worst foot-dragger or the lot was Calgary, one of the teams that was supposed to provde the punch for passing the million-mark.
So realizing that was a mistake, the league came up last year with the home-and-home gate deal designed to force the weak sisters out. Now it turns out that two of the three weak sisters are Spokane and Salem, which were in the upper half in attendance last season. Ironically, these two favored the home-and-home gate with Salem especially strong for it.
* * *
And Honest Look Needed
Probably the major trouble is that the league brass, a fair share of it, won’t sit down and confess to itself that times have changed and things aren’t the way they used to be. The league is still based on the average draw of 100,000-an idea the bigwigs got based on the pre-television, pre-drive in movie, pre-high-price days following World War II.
When they accept the fact they aren’t going to average 100,000 per club and tailor their expenses to meet their income, the league can sail along on an even keel.
* * *
Classification Change Unneeded
This could mean a reduction in league classification with its resultant lower salaries and poorer caliber of baseball. But even that isn’t necessary.
By most standards, if anyone isn't able to be “Class A” in the league it should be Tri-City and Yakima. They have some of the smaller areas to draw from and no help from the higher classification “outside” nor from the financial angel “inside.”
Maybe the absence of such help is a blessing because when you know you have to whack it alone, somehow you do a better job.
True, the two clubs are something like Carl Sandburg’s Old Pioneer, who when asked how he was doing, replied;
“I’m a’ holdin’ my own. I didn't have nolhin’ to start with and I ain’t got nothin’ now.”
But at least no league meetings are being called to see what can be done to carry the Braves and the Bears through the rest of the season. When their former owners pave up the ghost, it came in midwinter before the schedules wore made out.
* * *
Tran’s Hand Bruised
Len Tran, Tri-City second baseman, is out of the lineup with a badly bruised hand. Len’s hand is always a source trouble for him. The way he explains it, the tendon running from the thumb is split and every once in a while, when he is batting, it causes trouble in the muscle there.
It has the appearance of a bruise and looks like a bruise so that’s what they call it.
It is the troublesome thumb that accounts for Len’s frequent bat-throwing incidents. On certain kinds of pitches. Len has to swing in such a way that it really hurts him and he can’t hang on.
He has found in the past that most of the trouble disappears with the hot weather and he expects the soreness to ease up soon.
* * *
Moniz’ Arm Still troubles
Bob Moniz, who has been hitting the ball with such regularity lately that he would be an asset to the team if he played defensive ball with an arm in a sling, still has some soreness in that old wing of his.
It’s the first time something like that has happened to Bob but he also expects it to disappear when the weather warms up.
The Sports Herald
KEITH MATTHEWS
[Vancouver News-Herald, June 9, 1954]
Brown May Be Man For Spokane
LEWISTON, Idaho—Putting one little word after another … and don’t be surprised if Bob Brown turns up as the new general manager of the Spokane Indians to cure that town’s financial ills.
He is the candidate of one Spokane powerful group []ants to keep baseball there .. The former WIL president has already been contacted and agreed, in part, to take the job as long as financially agreements can be agreed upon … Spokane owner Roy Hotchkiss is supposed to hand over the franchise to the league at the forthcoming directors meeting
Members of the Vancouver Baseball Club, led by pitcher George Nicholas, have asked manager Bill Brenner to change hotels here on the Capilanos’ next visit to Lewiston … reason for it occurred after the game Monday night when Marv Williams, only Negro member of the club, was refused service at the bar … Marv was in company with Nicholas, Bob Wellman, Bob Duretto and K Chorlton when the players dropped in for their usual after-game beer … When the waiter refused to serve Williams, the entire group got up and left, but not before Nicholas had reprimanded the waiter, his boss and the hotel manager for the “house rule” … Most of the players have carried the insult further by refusing to eat in the hotel dining room.
Red Lynn and Dewey [unreadable], a couple of veteran Pacific Coast League pitchers, are looking for jobs in the WIL … they are about to be cut by Los Angeles, and the Capilanos, one of the few clubs with money to buy players, are interested in Lynn.
Cordell Admits to 1928 Start
John Cordell, who is a neighbor of Brooklyn’s Preacher Jack in West Plains, Missouri, has helped clear up a mystery which had been bothering his teammates all year. He admits he started to play ball in 1928, remembers the year exactly because of one of the first games he ever played was against the great Grover Cleveland Alexander after the latter had concluded his big league career and was barnstorming with the House of David.
Cordell says it was the House of David which introduced night baseball … They travelled with their own portable lights on a truck which was similar to a fireman’s ladder truck. There were four sets of light carried on portable towers which looked like oil derricks, and the reason John got talking about the matter was because those old lights were brighter than some he has seen in the WIL (Calgary and Edmonton).
Loser when the second game of a doubleheader was called after one inning last Saturday in Calgary was the Caps’ Bob Wellman … Bob smacked a grand slam home run in the inning, had it wiped off te record when rain began to fall .. Tom Lovrich was ahead 5-2 when everybody []tered for shelter in this one.
Nick Says Conant’s A Coward
A series the Capilanos are pointing for with added interest are the games beginning Thursday at home against last-place Wentchee and next month’s duel with Edmonton … Reasons for the latter, even though it’s so far away, include the recent George Nicholas-John Conant fight … The newspapers claims a decision for Conant in that battle, but Nicholas promptly wrote an answering letter and gave the opinion: “Your brave Mr. Conant hit me once—when I was starting to take my jacket off. In my bookm he is a coward and I will fight him again anytime and anyplace. I doubt [unreadable], however, he will accept the challenge … Nick, a former Golden Gloves boxer who likes to fight, tells of the time when he was knocked out in a New York [unreadable] Walker in the finals … Walker Smith in later life became Sugar Ray Robinson.
Bud Beasley, when he joins the Vancouver club on June 15, will play only home games for the Capilanos … here again, the league’s decision to have home clubs keep their gate receipts, pops up as a bad rule … Bill Brenner, of course, will not pitch Beasley on the road where the colorful lefthander would draw a packed house and the Capilanos would get nothing out of it.
WilyTom Lovrich, who is so thin he can’t pitch when the wind is blowing, has been perfectly typified by catcher Pesut … “Only guy I ever saw who could wear a fungo bat in an overcoat,” sez Nick.
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