Wednesday, June 2, 1954

               W  L  Pct GB
Vancouver ... 23 13 .639 —
Edmonton .... 17 13 .567 3
Wenatchee ... 20 16 .558 3
Yakima ...... 19 17 .528 4
Victoria .... 17 17 .500 5
Spokane ..... 18 19 .486 5½
Tri-City .... 18 20 .474 6
Lewiston .... 16 21 .432 7½
Salem ....... 16 22 .421 8
Calgary ..... 12 18 .400 8

EDMONTON, June 2—The Vancouver Capilanos kept their pace atop the Western International League baseball standings Wednesday night by splitting a twin bill with the Edmonton Eskimos, taking the second encounter, 9-3, after dropping the twilight match, 6-4.
Edmonton's Don Gigli, who did the most to upset the Capilanos' digestion on Tuesday, was at it again, with two home runs and a single, good for five runs in the first game.
However, K Chorlton got his seventh homer of the year in the first game, while Bob Wellman got his seventh in the second. Bob Duretto also homered for Vancouver in that game and batted in three runs, while John McKeown hit one out for the home club.
George Nicholas spun his sixth win against two losses.
First Game
Vancouver .... 200 200 0—4 9 0
Edmonton ..... 400 002 x—6 6 1
Lovrich, Franks (4) and Pesut; McNulty and Prentice, Self (7).
Second Game
Vancouver .... 000 040 230—9 11 1
Edmonton ..... 200 010 000—3 8 1
Nicholas and Duretto; Widner, LeBrun (6), Manier (8) and Self.

CALGARY, June 2 — The stretch to home plate was a well-worn furrow when Calgary Stampeders and Victoria Tyees completed a Western International League doubleheader Wednesday.
The two games produced 48 runs and 65 hits, including 10 home runs, with Stamps getting a narrow nod in each encounter. The afternoon tilt ended 18-15 and the last half finished 8-7.
It was playing-manager Gene Lillard's bases-loaded, pinch-hit homer in the bottom of the eighth inning which produced Stamps' four-run winning margin in the first game.
Don Hunter homered twice for Calgary and Charlie Lundgren and Elmer Clow also hit for the circuit. Don Lundberg hit a bases-loaded homer for Tyees with Tom Perez and Joe Joshua contributing one each. Lundberg also batted in five runs.
Joshua batted in two more runs in the second game to make it seven for two games and 31 for the season but it wasn't enough. The big left-fielder made an error in the fourth inning and the Stamps scored six unearned runs.
The Tyees tied it again with three runs in the seventh, but lost it in the ninth when Gale Taylor, who started last season withVictoria, hit a double and completed the circuit on an infield out and a wild pitch.
A wild pitch, allowing Gale Taylor to score from third, decided the second contest. Previously, he hit a three-run homer in the fourth. Rocky Tedesco also homered for Calgary.
Despite the cannonading, the Tyees used only three pitchers. Bob Drilling gave up 19 hits and 14 runs in the first game before he left in favour of Mike Kanshin. He was the loser. Hal Flinn went all the way in the second game although reached for 13 hits.
Victoria manager Don Pries shook his line-up again, giving Ron Jackson another shot at first base, moving Steve Mesner back to third and sending Tom Perez to the outfield, where he replaced Dain Clay.
Jackson made the most of the opportunity, getting eight hits in 11 trips to boost his batting average 88 points. Pries and Perez also benefited, with each getting five hits in ten trips.
First Game
Victoria ....... 000 440 700—15 17 2
Calgary ....... 310 400 64x—18 23 0
Drilling, Kanshin (7) and Lundberg; Kapp, Owen (5), Levinson (7), Stites (9) and Luby.
Second Game
Victoria ...... 000 400 300—7 13 1
Calgary ...... 000 610 001—8 12 2
Flinn and Martin; Orrell and Bricker.

YAKIMA, June 2—Wenatchee defeated Yakima, 8-4, in a Western International League baseball game Wednesday night. A rash of singles produced the runs for the winner who got 15 hits off three Yakima twirlers.
Wenatchee ....... 020 400 101—5 15 0
Yakima ............. 000 000 112—4 8 1
Bowman, Thompson (9) and Jenney; Schaening, Young (4), Carter (9) and Summers.

KENNEWICK [Herald, June 3]—The Tri-City Braves are taking the day off today before the opening of a four-game series with Yakima at Yakima this weekend.
While the players loaf or fish they can mentally mull over their weird and wonderful 7-6 extra-inning victory over Lewiston Wednesday night and the possibility of moving up into the first division this weekend.
On the second point, the Braves are still in seventh place, one-half game behind Spokane and 6½ [sic] games out of the top. Yakima is in fourth, four games out of first.
A series swwep, or even three for four over the Bears, would move the Bears up into the magic five-team circle.
In the opener Friday, playing manager Edo Vanni will send Walt (the Deacon) Clough against the Bears. Clough has won all four of his last four starts, and has gone the distance every time. Opposing him, Yakima manager Dick (Kewpie) Barrett has a top group of pitchers to choose from, including Danny (the Lion) Rios and Ted Edmunds.
Vanni probably will start Dale Bloom against the Bears in Saturday's action. Dale, who pitched but one inning Wednesday night, walked off with the victory.
The final game against Lewiston, which evened the series at two games each, proved somewhat emphatically the fan is foolish for leacing the park until the ump cries out for the last time.
The Braves trailed all the way, in fact were shut out by the colorful veteran John Marshall, until two were away in the bottom of the ninth. Then on three hits and two Lewiston errors, Tri-City scored six runs to tie the score and then went on to win in the tenth.
Besides tripping up the faithless fan with the rousing rally, all manner of strange things happened in the game.
First off, there is the case of Sam Kanelos, Tri-City third-baseman. In the last inning, Sam came to bat with the bases loaded and two away. He flied out.
In the third inning, Sam came to bat with two on and two away. He grounded out.
In the seventh inning, Sam came to bat with the bases loaded and two away. He flied out.
In the ninth inning, Sam came to bat with the bases loaded and two away. This time he busted a single to left field scoring two runners, ruining Marshall's shutout bid, and touching off the rally that led to a Tri-City victory.
Second strange happened. After Des Charouhas doubled scoring two more, Lewiston centerfielder Al Heist, who made but eight errors all last season and is conceded to be one of the top three or four outfielders in the league, dropped Dick Watson's fly ball and Charouhas scored. In all fairness to Heist, Warson's fly was the long-line drive type and not the tall "can-of-corn" variety.
Not so strange but dramatic from the Tri-City point of view was pinchhitter Bob McGuire's single which scored Watson
In the tenth inning, Lewiston wan held scoreless by Bloom when an intentional walk and a twin killing ruined the effects of Mal Walsey's leadoff double.
Then in the bottom half, strange things began to happen again.
Terry Carroll, who was hitless all night, as well as five times the night before and who has trouble getting base blows off left-hand pitching, rapped out a single off leftie Dick Derganc.
A sacrifice moved him along and Len Tran was intentionally walked.
Then Jack Warren hit an infield single and wound up spiking himself on the hand while sliding into first base. The wound isn't anything more than a scratch but Warren himself hasn't quite figured out how it happened.
Finally, Bob Moniz, who like Kanelos had trouble bringing runners in, flied out to center field and Carroll scored the winning run after the catch.
Lewiston scored four of its six runs off starter Don Robertson in the sixth on six hits including Wasley's double. They picked up two more in the top of the ninth on two singles and what everyone thought was a long foul. It was ruled a double.
Lewiston .... 000 004 002 0—6 14 2
Tri-City ..... 000 000 006 1—7 11 0
Marshall, Derganc (9) and Garay; Robertson, Dobernic (9), Bloom (10) and Warren.

SALEM, June 2—John Briggs pitched his fourth successive victory and swatted a home run Wednesday night as Salem salvaged one game of a four-game Western International League series with Spokane, 6-1.
Spokane ..... 000 000 100—1 5 2
Salem ........ 201 101 10x—5 13 1
Romero, Moen (8) and Dean; Briggs and Ogden.

WIL Prexy Sees Spokane Staying In Loop in 1954
SPOKANE, June 2 — "I am confident the Spokane baseball club will play its games as scheduled for the rest of this season," Robert Abel, president of the Western International League, said Wednesday night.
Abel made that statement after an informal meeting with Roy Hotchkiss, owner of the Spokane Indians who has declared his intention to get out of the business, and Maurice Cooper, attorney representing a group interested in keeping baseball in Spokane.
Abel said earlier Spokane is vital to the other nine teams in the league, and even hinted the league might "carry" Spokane the rest of the season if necessary.
Hotchkiss said poor health and poor attendance at ball games force him to leave the picture. But he has said he will keep the club going until a satisfactory arrangement can be made.

Shortstop Released By Braves
[Tri-City Herald, June 3, 1954]
Charlie Davis, shortstop acquired from Vancouver in the trade for catcher Nick Pesut last winter, received his outright release today from the Tri-City Braves, general manager Eddie Taylor announced.
The release was in line with Tri-City efforts to cut the roster to the league limit of 17 players.
Davis, who came down with appendicitus on the opening day of spring training, never played with the club. However, he reported to the Tri-Cities after his recuperation and has worked out daily since. He has been carried on the temporarily inactive list.
Taylor said Davis may tie in with the Lewiston Broncs. Lewiston manager Larry Barrett is in need of an infielder and is currently playing Clint Cameron, a catcher, at third base. Meanwhile, his second-string catcher Ed Garay, is working fulltime and catching doubleheaders.

Sports Notes
BY GIL GILMORE
[from Tri-City Herald, June 3, 1954]
The Willy Worries Again
The poor old Willy league is taking another financial shalleacking and in some circles the boys are beginning to worry.
The weather is the cause of most financial woes but high operating costs are the real source of worries, In a way, the league directors are something like the kids in the comic strip — "they bring it on themselves."
This league is based on the idea of an average draw per club of 100,000 but not two teams in the league have that potential. Since almost all of them arc sure of being 25 per cent short of their goals right to begin with a few weeks of bad weather spell real trouble.
Spokane, Lewiston and Salem are the ones most recently mentioned as having trouble. But then Roy Hotchkiss, the I'm-in-I'm-out man of the league, said he will go until the end of the season.
Lewiston made up its deficit through advance sale of tickets which may get them through. However, about mid-July, when those purchasers start using the tickets and the club has its stands full and no money coming in, meeting the payroll may be difficult.
Salem has always managed to pull out and it doesn't have the expensive club to begin with.
Two others not mentioned, though, are probably in hotter water than the three above. Despite the assurances made at a meeting at Spokane awhile back. Calgary is the shakiest club in the league and right now you couldn't get 100-1 odds that the team will finish the season — or, for that matter, the next two weeks.
Victoria, too, is reported to bo worse off than the above three and will be depending heavily upon its English angel.
* * *
Yakima Is Ahead
Yet while some of the clubs are having trouble, one is running far ahead of last year in attendance. The team is Yakima, operating independently for the first time this season, and running 4,000 ahead of 1953.

The Sports Herald
KEITH MATTHEWS
[Vancouver News-Herald, June 3, 1954]
Bill Knows Value Of The Pen
EDMONTON—Bill Brenner has an eye for publicity. He comes from the old Bob Brown school which is “Don’t say anything important unless a reporter is there to hear it.”
Being the home-loving type (Bill covered half of Europe during the war and about three-quarters of the U.S. of A. in his baseball career), Brenner is rather hesitant about [word travelling. This we know to be true because the manner in which the skipper runs to first base could hardly be construed as travel.
Be that as it may, this particular tour was getting him down, and it’s only started.
“We just may not turn up in Lewiston in time for the Monday game,” he suggested. “Now what do you think they would say about that?”
Bill’s suggestion has apparently been heard, down in Lewiston, which the Brenners used to call home, they are already preparing to proclaim the Monday game a forfeit, and issue a following complaint to league president Bob Abel’s office, which could bring about a $500 fine.
“Good,” Brenner seconded. “We’ll pay the fine and not the expense of going to Lewiston. It’s a dandy place to be from anyway.”
The grief is this. The Capilanos play in Calgary on Sunday night. They are then headed to appear in Lewiston Monday night, which is 24 hours and 629 miles away.
“We would gladly take an airplane,” Brenner winked, “but I don’t ever remember seeing an airport in Lewiston. But now that I am on the subject, I don’t remember seeing anything in Lewiston—and, mind, I am not a drinking man.”
Bill went on to say that because of trips such as this, it is his belief that 10 teams cannot possibly finish the first half of the WIL season.
Those Bear Caps Okay For Locals
“It costs $1700 in transportation to make a tour of this one. As they are still putting caps on bottles of beer, we are going to be all right. But what about the other clubs now that road teams don’t get anything from the gate receipts?”
Lewiston was offered as a case in point. Whenever a player thinks of anything distasteful to him, he naturally thinks of Lewiston.
That baseball team is paying its expenses this year on the receipts it gets from an ingenious fence-advertising gimmick introduced in the spring. The advertising was sold on the basis that as long as the Brocns play out the season they’ll be financially healthy.
What happens, though, when their first tour of duty of the season occurs and the transportation money must be laid on the line?
“It would mean that Tom Tabor, Lewiston’s backer, would have to spend some of his own money,” Bill said. “I’ll say this for him, he’s got it to spend, but whenever he’s faced with the necessity, he talks about that terrible affliction he has with arms. Can’t get into his own pockets.”
Because Tabor is not a baseball man by choice, but only by necessity (it was another of those you take it, I don’t want it jobs), he is a little difficult to do business with.
Home Run The Logical Move
“I merely tried to point out the folly of playing in Calgary Sunday and Lewiston Monday,” Brenner said. “I suggested a Wednesday double header instead so we’d have 24 hours of travel time. Tabor refused, I believe, just because that the idea came from me. I don’t know why it is, but he always thinks I’m trying to pull something on him.”
The last year when Brenner was running the Lewiston ball club (“Won’t anyone ever let me forget that?” Brenner said), Tabor was but a director of the club, but he still insisted upon his say.
“We were losing 2-1 in the ninth to Spokane,” Brenner recalled. “Our first man doubled and because it was the tying run and we were at home, I ordered the next fellow to bunt him along. Then a fly ball would get us even.
“But the bunt backfired and Spokane got off the hook for the final win.
“In the dressing room, Tabor asked me about the strategy.
“Why did you pull a silly play like that, Brenner?” he demanded.
“Silly,” I screamed, “any manager in baseball woulda’ done the same thing.”
“I wouldn’t,” Tabor supposed. “I’da ordered the next guy to hit a home run. Why bother playing the tie?”