W L Pct GB
Lewiston ...... 40 25 .615 —
Yakima ........ 38 25 .603 1
Salem ......... 33 24 .579 3
Vancouver ..... 31 23 .574 3½
Edmonton ...... 28 31 .475 9
Wenatchee ..... 20 36 .357 15½
Tri-City ...... 20 38 .345 16½
VANCOUVER [Skip Rusk, Sun, Sept. 2]—Odds on the Western International League tote board Wednesday night had Lewiston Broncs even-money favorites to win the second half title. Yakima Bears were 2-1, Salem Senators closed at 3-1 and Vancouver Caps were the outsiders at 6-1.
These odds were derived following last night’s WIL action which saw Bill Brenner’s Caps defeat Yakima 6-2 as George Nicholas recorded his 16th win at Cap Stadium; Lewiston eke out a 1-0 verdict over Edmonton, and Wenatchee upset Salem 1-0 in 10 innings.
CAPS TRAIL SENATORS
As a result, Larry Barton’s Broncs moved into undisputed possession of first place, one game ahead of Lou Stringer’s Bears. Salem is in third place, two-and-a-half lengths off the pace while Caps are one jump behind the Senators.
Tonight, Pete Hernandez (if he arrives from his home in Hayward, California) will pitch for Vancouver as they open their final four-game series of the season against Wenatchee. If Pete doesn’t arrive in time, Brenner will start Arnie Hallgren.
If Caps sweep this series, they’ll end up with a percentage of .603. If Lewiston splits their remaining six games, they’ll have .606. And if Hugh Luby’s red-hot Senators win five of their seven games, they’ll have .600.
However, they’re still playing baseball and it’s a safe bet that the second-half winner will not be decided until the league officially ends Labor Day (Monday).
GEORGE WAS HOT
Last night, Nicholas pitched one of his better games this season, setting the Bears down on four hits. He allowed three in the second inning when Yakima scored its only two runs, and didn’t allow another until Don Pries’ singled in the eighth.
Caps tied up the game in the fourth when Ken Richardson hit his second home run in two nights with Bob Wellman aboard. They sewed it up in the sixth as Yakima starter Tom Lovrich, a former Cap, lost his control. Tom walked two, hit Neil Sheridan with a pitched ball and gave up singles to Richardson [for one run] and Dick Greco [for two].
[WILfan note: Marv Williams’ single in the seventh accounted for the final Vancouver run … Irv Noren doubled, went to third on a passed ball by Bob Duretto and scored the first Yakima run on Summers sacrifice fly. John Albini then singled, stole second and was doubled in one out later by Dick Briskey.]
Yakima ........... 020 000 000—2 4 1
Vancouver ...... 000 203 10x—6 7 0
Lovrich, Rios (7) and Summers; Nicholas and Duretto.
LEWISTON, Idaho, Sept. 1—Lewiston's Jack Martin won a pitcher's battle with Edmonton's Ken Kimball Wednesday night to give the Broncs a 1-0 Western International League victory over the Eskimos.
A walk he gave up in the second inning after the bases were loaded proved Kimball's downfall. Kimball, who gave up only four walks and four hits in the game, walked Mel Wasley in that frame, then gave up singles to Nick Cannuli and Jack Martin, and a walk to Al Heist.
Martin struck out six and walked only one, while giving up five hits during his tour of duty. He posted his 11th victory and sixth shutout of the year.
The game, Lewiston's last home performance of the regular season, gave the Broncs a 2-1 edge of the three-game series. A crowd of 2,164, the second-largest of the
season, turned out.
Edmonton ........ 000 000 000—0 5 0
Lewiston ......... 010 000 00x—1 4 0
Kimball and Prentice; Martin and Cameron.
WENATCHEE, Sept. 1—Catcher Tom Self's 10th inning single with the bases loaded scored the winning run Wednesday night as Wenatchee shaded Salem, 6-5, in the rubber game of their Western International League baseball series here.
Salem pitcher Jon Briggs, trying for his 20th win, absorbed his 17th loss.
Salem .............. 200 001 002 0—5 10 2
Wenatchee ....... 010 002 110 1—6 8 0
Briggs and Ogden; Shandor and Self.
BASEBALL MAN DIES IN U.S.
Fans Will Remember Wimpy
By KEITH MATTHEWS
[Vancouver News Herald, Sept. 2, 1954]
“Wimpy” Quinn, a well known and tremendous popular baseball figure in Vancouver, died of cancer in Los Angeles Wednesday.
The death came as no surprise to those, locally, who knew Wimpy intimately. He has been ailing with the disease the last four years and as recently as 1952 when he played with Tacoma in the Western International League. It was rumored that the big fellow was close to playing out the string.
DIDN’T LIKE NAME
Quinn was 36 years old, and a big, good-hearted guy who laughed at everybody’s jokes and became everybody’s straight man. He impressed as a native of the Ozarks, even though he was born and raised in the heart of California’s greatest metropolis, Los Angeles.
The “Wimpy” part of the name came naturally. The real surnames were J. Wellington and the suspicion is the J. was for Jason. Wimpy would never explain say exactly.
Bob Brown brought Quinn first in the dying days of his old semi-professional baseball league at Athletic Park. The Los Angeles Angels owned Quinn, then, and he was the third baseman Bob wanted for one of his clubs.
Quinn was never the third baseman he was rumored to be. What didn’t hit him in the chest, shins or teeth usually went by for a base hit. What he did was an automatic out, for the Wimp could throw a baseball through a brick wall.
By the time Brown had moved back into professional baseball with the Capilanos, Quinn was his first baseman. He did better there because there weren’t as many ground balls hit his way.
POWER HITTER
As much as could be criticized about Quinn’s fielding, just as much could be added in praise about his hitting. His power, even though a right-handed hitter, was in right centre field, and he shot so many live drives over Athletic Park’s short porch that he was often accused of having a Nordin site on his bat.
Quinn played for the Capilanos in 1940 under Jimmy Crandall, the old St. Louis Browns catcher, and in 1941 under Don Osborn, the former Chicago Cubs pitcher. Quinn, himself was later to play a season for Los Angeles and he had a war-time trip with the Cubs.
TOO MANY BURGERS
Quinn, though he never talked about himself greatly, did detest his nick-name “Wimpy.”
Everywhere he went, people wanted to see him buy hamburgers. Once, in Bakersfield, where he managed in the twilight of his career, on rambunctious fan—a Quinn lover, naturally enough—brought a dozen hamburgers to the field and gave them to his hero.
The fact of the matter was, though, Quinn hated hamburgers. He gave them all to his team-mates a practice he had performed many times before. It made him, he used to confess, a sort of players’ ball player.
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