Caps Deal Unhappy Pitcher

Trade Away ‘Ghost,’ Get ‘Live’ Pitcher
By CLANCY LORANGER
[Vancouver Province, Dec. 15, 1953]
Vancouver Capilanos have traded a pitcher they had merely “on paper” for another pitcher they expect to produce “in the flesh” next spring.
General manager Bill Brenner said today that he has dealt Dick Aubertin, a wild righthander who finished the 1952 season with the Caps, to Spokane Indians for Gordon Palm.
Aubertin, who had a world of [unreadable] the plate, sat out last season. Palm, after a promising start with the Indians in ’52, had a difference of opinion with the management, and eventually finished the year with Salt Lake of the Pioneer League. Brenner thinks he could develop into a good Class A pitcher. He’s a righthander.
HOT STOVE LEAGUE – Palm is the second Spokane player to switch to a Vancouver uniform. Bill Franks is the first … And [unreadable] is toying with the idea of getting Wilbur Johnson, a shortstop with the Indians, and converting him into a second baseman … Originally he had designs n one-time Yakima second-sacker Al Jacinto, but a projected deal in which K Chorlton would have figured fell through … So Chorlton is still a Capilano, and the Caps’ g.m. is now visualising what would be the league’s greatest ground-covering outfield: Chorlton, Bob Wellman (property of )[unreadable] Al Heist last year with Lewiston … Brenner insists Heist covers more ground than Chorlton—that’s a lot of acreage—and is backed up by Spokane’s Don Osborn, who says he’s the best minor-league outfielder he’s ever seen … Incidentally, it now looks as if Osborn will return to Spokane … He tendered his resignation there last fall but it was never accepted … and ‘tis said Cec Garriott won’t be back as Victoria’s manager … another, unfortunately, who won’t be back with the Caps is Cal Humphries, the Seattle bonus pitcher who found himself last summer, won more than 20 games in Class C ball … He’s now in the U.S. army, as is outfielder Nick Castas … Brenner saw Clarence Marshall, the Caps’ no-hit pitcher, in Bellingham t’other day … Clarence, injured in a post-season accident last September, is now on a “walking cast,” and will likely go to the Seattle camp at Palm Springs next spring to get an early start.