Yakima 1954 Preview

Yakima Bears New to Circuit; Guess on Result Shot in Dark
(Editor's Note: This is one in a series on the prospects of the Western International Baseball League, written for The Associated Press by sports writers who follow the teams throughout the season).
By GEORGE F. REDMOND
Sports Editor
Yakima Daily Republic
YAKIMA, April 22 — The Bears Yakima will send out in quest of the Western International League pennant late this month are so new to the circuit that any guess as to their final standing would be a random shot in the dark.
Outside of the pitching staff, the Bears will take the diamond with only two players who were members of the 1953 club and only five who were in the league at any time previously.
The two 1953 leftover Bears are Len Noren, the first baseman who batted .327, and Herman Lewis, the outfielder who hit only .283, but was among the league's runs-batted-in leaders with 106 and also well up in total bases with 253.
Mead Hard Hitter
One player with previous WIL experience is Charlie Mead. As a Calgary player in 1953, he led the circuit in home runs, 26, and runs batted in, 116, while compiling a .328 average. Others are Mike Catron, a third baseman who played with Tacoma three years ago, and Dick Briskey, the one-time star Yakima shortstop who had several trials with the San Francisco Seals.
Noren will be at first, Lewis in center or right, Mead in left and Catron possibly at third when the season opens.
Lou Stringer, the new manager who spent a half dozen years in the major leagues with the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox, probably will be at second base when the curtain is rolled up, but thereafter the lineup presents number of question marks.
Two players have been showing at shortstop during the spring training games. They are Briskey and John Wesley Walker, a rookie just out of Fresno State College.
Now a new aspirant is entering the shortstop battle. He is Pete Gomez, a Cuban who first saw service in organized baseball at Washington's Southern Assn. farm at Chattanooga in 1943. If he could hit the .310 credited to him in the Mexican Winter League in its 1953-54 season he would be hard to keep out of the position as he is an exceptionally brilliant fielder with a rifle arm.
Player Returns
The club has only one more infield aspirant—Chuck LaGrace, who returned to baseball this season after a year on the shelf after breaking a leg while trying out with Sacramento in the spring of 1953.
The outfield is shallow in talent. Outside of Lewis and Mead, there is, only one outfielder in camp—Ernie Sites, a veteran who is back in organized baseball after one season in Western Oregon's Lumber League. He will be in either right or center field if not beaten out by John Popovich, who batted .279 in the Arizona-West Texas League and has been promised the Bears on option from the Seattle Rainiers.
Stringer believes the Bears’ strongest point this season will be their catching. Expected to do most of it is Lonnie Summers, who as late as 1952 caught 130 games for the San Diego Padres. The Bear pilot says Summers “has no business being out of the Coast League.”
Seeking the No. 2 position are Charlie Ling and Stanley Fleishman, a pair of rookies from Massachusetts and Portland, respectively. However, they may be pushed aside by Jim Watson, a catcher-outfielder purchased from the Chicago White Sox farm chain during the winter. He is regarded as an exceptionally good hitter.
Pitching Question
The pitching staff is a big question mark. Danny (The Lion) Rios, the one-tune pride of Mexico who won 19 games while losing 10 for the Bears last season; Ted Edmunds, who had a 9-6 record, and Dick Young, who as a rookie finished with 2-0, are the only pitchers on hand who finished the 1953 season with the Bears. Don Carter, who won 10 while losing nine in 1953, is expected to join the ciub this week after being a holdout.
Other candidates are: Jack Schaening, who had a 10-4 record in the Longhorn League in 1953, Gene Wulf, who won 20 and lost 9 in the same league; Ray Machado, who Bad 17 victories in three lower classification leagues in 1953: John Carmichael, who went 10-8 for Reading in the Eastem League; Vertis Elmore, a rookie just back from military service; Glen Hyatt, who was with Idaho Falls in the Pioneer League two years ago. and Marion Blank, former Yakima Valley Junior College ace signed last season.
Even newer than most of the players is the ownership and front office management. The owners are some 400 fans who purchased the club from Frederick Mercy Jr. during the winter and placed the presidency and general managership in the hands of Orin E. (Babe) Hollingbery.

Yakima Bears Saved

More Than Enough for Yakima Baseball Given
YAKIMA, Dec. 2 — The "Save the Bears" campaign organized to keep professional baseball in Yakima has netted $21,380 to date and stock holders will meet Thursday night to elect directors of the club that will represent them in the Western International League next year.
Orrin E. (Babe) Hollingbery, a leader of the campaign, said the total raised is $1,380 more than needed to acquire the Bears from Frederick Mercy Jr., but the stock-selling will continue to raise at least $10,000 more to operate the club.

Try Another Season....
Yakima Businessmen Buy Bears
YAKIMA, Dec. 4 (BUP)—The Yakima Bears will field a team in the Western International Baseball League for at least one more year, a group of businessmen announced Friday.
A spokesman for the group of 16 said local baseball fans have pledged more than $24,000 in a fund-raising campaign to buy the club’s franchise and its 24 players from the present owner, Frederick Mercy, Jr. Mercy has been asked $20,000 for his ball club.
The group has nominated 14 candidates for the proposed new board of the directors for the Bears. A seven-man board is to be selected from about 350 stockholders by December 24.
The Yakima ball club has been represented at the meeting of minor league baseball officials in Atlanta, Ga., by Dewey Soriano, general manager of Seattle Rainiers.
A spokesman for the Yakima group said Soriano has contacted several ball players, including former New York Yankee Johnny Mize and ex-Boston Red Six outfielder Dom DiMaggio in search for a new Yakima manager.

WIL May Shrink in '54

WIL Expects To Operate Next Year
YAKIMA, Wash., Sunday, Sept. 27, 1953 — The 10-team class A Western International Baseball League may be pared to only eight teams in 1954 but is definitely expecting to operate.
Such was the optimistic opinion expressed late Saturday by Robert P. Brown, WIL president, in the face of growing rumors that the league is bordering on financial chaos resulting from a sharp attendance decline during the 1953 season.
The annual winter meeting, termed as a settlement meeting by Brown, was conducted here behind closed doors. Brown acted as official spokesman for the 10 club representatives who were in session throughout the afternoon and to a late hour Saturday night. The meeting continued Sunday.
Brown admitted there were doubtful clubs for 1954 but would not disclose which owners were reluctant or how many.
However, at least two clubs have publicly stated they were ready to withdraw. Roy Hotchkiss, Spokane president, and Frederick Mercy Jr., Yakima president, have announced intentions to close out their baseball holdings.
In addition, Wenatchee and Calgary have previously expressed concern over large financial losses suffered in 1953.

WIL League Future Lies With Board
YAKIMA, Sept. 27 — A final decision on the future of the Class A Western International Baseball League will be made at a directors' meeting at Victoria, B.C., Nov. 9, officials of the ten-team loop said Sunday.
The directors, after a day-long session here Saturday spent wrestling with financial problems resulting from falling attendance in 1953, predicted the circuit definitely will operate in 1954.
However, they postponed a decision as to whether it will be an eight or a 10-team league until the November meeting.
A spokesman said "nobody surrendered their franchise" at the meeting here.
Frederick Mercy Jr., owner of the Yakima Bears, and Roy Hotchkiss, president of the Spokane Indians, have talked of disposing of their holdings.
Mercy told a reporter after Saturday's meeting he definitely plans to give up his franchise but will takeno action until November. The Yakima Republic said a group from Eugene, Ore., has expressed interest in acquiring the Bears but reported a local movement was developing to keep them here.
Victoria, Edmonton and Calgary were reported ready to operate in 1954.
Victoria is said to be the league's most financially hard pressed team but president Reggie Patterson, said: "We'll operate. We always have."
The directors also discussed Edmonton's request for a Shaughnessy playoff, and talked of shortening the season by two weeks.

WIL Loses Two Teams
BY DOUG PEDEN
[Victoria Colonist, Sept. 29, 1953]
Possibility of the Western International League operating as an eight-team circuit in 1954 was seen as Wenatchee and Yakima announced their withdrawl from the loop during a closed-door meeting at Yakima Saturday and Sunday.
Despite the league’s financial difficulties through the 1953 season, the remaining eight clubs—including the Victoria Tyees—expressed their intention of continuing operations as team delegates met with president Bob Brown in an effort to iron out various difficulties.
Delegates also decided to hold their annual meeting in Victoria on November 9 when applications for franchises received from Tacoma, Washington and Eugene, Oregon will be considered.
Among suggestions advanced as a means of easing financial strain on the clubs were those of lowering the classification of the WIL, thus reducing salary limits, and cutting the present player limit of 18 to 16 men per team.
Victoria business manager Reg Patterson, on his return from Yakima, declined to discuss the Tyees’ plan for 1954. He said, however, that the club hoped to clear all its local debts this winter through the advance sales of box seats and sales of tickets for Christmas gifts.
Patterson also said that admission to Victoria games was expected to be slightly lower next season.