Wednesday, June 26, 1946

                W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee .... 41 24 .631 —
Salem ........ 39 23 .629 ½
Tacoma ....... 35 21 .625 1½
Bremerton .... 32 24 .571 4½
Spokane ...... 32 26 .552 5½
Yakima ....... 24 36 .400 14½
Vancouver .... 18 40 .310 19½
Victoria ..... 18 45 .286 22

SALEM, June 26—Three runs in the third inning were all the Tacoma Tigers needed here to cop the series opener from the Salem Senators, 4-2. The win enabled the third-place Tigers to edge within one game of the league-leading Solons.
[WILfan note: the story doesn't take into account Wenatchee's sweep that put the Chiefs in front].
Tacoma ......... 003 000 010—4 13 0
Salem ............ 000 010 010—2 7 6
Jungbluth and Kemper; Gunnarson and Kerr.

YAKIMA — Wenatchee swept into first place in the Western International league race here Wednesday night by winning a doubleleader against the Yakima Stars, 6 to 5 and 11 to 2, while Tacoma drubbed the Senators at Salem.
Mel Wasley, right-fielder, spearheaded the Chiefs' attack in the second game with six singles in as many times to the plate.
First Game
Wenatchee ......... 022 001 01—6 8 2
Yakima ............... 000 310 10—5 10 2
Babbitt and Pesut, E. Fitzgerald; Chapetta, Simon (3), Yaylian (3) and McConnell.
Second game
Wenatchee ...... 060 110 201—11 17 0
Yakima ............ 000 000 011— 2 7 4
Cronin and Fitzgerald; Kralovich, Kasepchuk (4), and Gibb.

VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, News-Herald, June 27]—Vancouver Capilanos have had a couple of days off, but they didn’t forget anything—about losing.
Despite the fact that their two-day rest permitted cripples Ray Spurgeon, Jimmy Estrada and Ray Orteig to get back into the lineup, the Brownies didn’t look any different as they dropped their sixth decision in seven starts against Victoria’s basement-dwelling Athletics at Cap Stadium last night, 5-1.
Aided by Vancouver errors—one in each scoring inning—the visitors sent over single runs in the first, fourth and fifth stanzas, then sewed it up in the sixth as Vic Buccola parked one of Bob Snyder’s offerings into Sixth Avenue with a mate aboard.
The locals whose only run off big John Carpenter came as Estrada homered in the fourth, filled the bases in the eighth, but pinch-hitter Pete Jonas struck out to end that one and add another three digits to the grand Cap total of 11 left on the sacks.
CUFF NOTES—Last night’s tilt wound up the team’s stay here for a spell … the same squads repair to Victoria to finish the series tonight, Friday and Saturday … even if the Caps took all four games on the island, the series is already lost .. Two of the games were rained out, and another passed up because of the Spokane tragedy … Bob Brown is still playing guess who with the fans about the club’s new manager … Seattle papers last week liked Bill Brenner, still nursing an ankle injury, and that may mean something … Rube Sandstrum, the pitcher who was supposed to bolster our hurling staff, arrived Tuesday, said hello, then went home to his wife … Latest tip on the rumor market has Newt Kimball, once Coast League chucker of note, coming our way … Art Bonnell has been sent back to the Seattle Rainiers and Spokane Indians can have him if they want him, said Bob … Earl Silverthorn will probably wind up with the Spokes, too … Cleve Ramsey will probably be retained because he can play outfield, infield and catch.
- - -
VANCOUVER — Victoria Athletics finished its Vancouver half of a 14-game series by defeating Vancouver Capilanos 5-1.
Vancouver's Bob Snyder gave up seven hits and five runs in the eight innings he pitched, compared with John Carpenter who allowed seven hits and one run in nine innings. Alex Palica, who came in for Snyder in the ninth, allowed two hits but no runs.
Vancouver's only run was scored when Jim Estrada swatted a homer.
The Athletics started rolling in the first when Frank Cirimele singled to score Al Steele. They came right back in the seocnd and Neil Clifford scored on Carpenter's single. In the sixth, the A's scored twice as Vic Buccola homered with Pete Hughes on board.
In the eighth, the Caps had the bases loaded, but pinch hitter Pete Jonas flied out to right field to end the rally. Carpenter struck out four and Snyder five.
Victoria .......... 100 112 000—5 9 0
Vancouver ...... 000 100 000—1 7 4
Carpenter and Clifford; Snyder (8), Palica and Spurgeon.

ON THE SUNBEAM
By ALF COTTRELL, Sports Editor
[Vancouver Sun, June 26, 1946]
Tough Year For the Bosses

Mulling dismally over the ghastly bus accident that took the lives of those seven members of the Spokane ball team night before last, I was struck particularly by the trail of disaster that has followed Western International League managers this year.
In the light of this last blow some of the incidents now seem to strike a minor note though they seemed rough enough at the time. For instance, it came as a shock as we were in Spokane awaiting the opening of the baseball season there we were when we heard that Glenn Wright, manager of the Spokes and once a luminous big league star, had been fired without notice.
A few weeks later, likeable Frisco Edwards, a rare raconteur, who was managing Salem and making a very decent job of it, died suddenly while chatting with friends in the Bremerton stands.
Over at Victoria, the fellow who had worked hard to put Victoria back on the baseball map, Laurel Harney, was given his ticket by the club.
Down at Yakima the baseball boss, on the field, was Spencer Harris, long something of an idol to the bleacherites in the Portland and Seattle Coast League parks. Spence seemed to be in solid with fans and owner alike at Yakima, bur when his club his downgrade, Harris got the swinging gate.
Mel Was rare and Popular Guy
Here in Vancouver, old Syl Johnson started as bench generalissimo with bright hopes and prospects. Just fine him a home here to which he could bring his wife and kids and this would be the best summer in 25 years for the old boy. The cards didn’t fall that way. He couldn’t find a home here. Nor could the club win for losing. And he was taken taken ill, seriously for a time. Whipsawed four ways from the middle, Syl gave up.
Now the fellow who replaced Glenn Wright on the eve of this summer’s opener at Spokane, Mel Cole is dead, along with six of the fellows he had playing for him.
Mel was a rare sort of fellow. He had a quiet sense of humor. He liked everybody off the field, but he would swing at the nearest white man when he thought his club was getting the nine of hearts.
Almost all of those Spokane players who were killed had come through a war unscathed, as one of the local players pointed out yesterday.
The gloom in the camp of the Capilano was deep and heavy yesterday. Struggling in the lower places of the league ever since Spokane had given them a start downwards by taking them apart relentlessly in the first series of the season, they were inclined to regard the Indians as their particular enemies. That was all changed by the bus tragedy.
Brenner Looms as Cap Mentor
Some of the Caps had played with the ill-fated players in other leagues. Earl Silverthorn had been a keen rival of tall Bob Paterson, the Spokane centre fielder, in the Pioneer League. Ronnie Bryant, Cap righthander, had pitched against Bob Kinnaman back in 1942 in this league.
“When a thing like this happens, you realize a lot of things,” Bryant said. “Like, for instance, it could have been us just as easy. And those fellows were just like us, trying to earn a living in the same way. There were swell guys on that club, fellows I knew well, like Bob Kinnaman and old Levi (McCormack, who was among the injured.—Ed.) and, well, it’s hell.”
I didn’t intend, in starting this column, to get off the subject of the WIL’s managerial misfortunes and tragedies. So, to come back to where I started, I believe the local bosses have just about given up hopes of getting a name manager from the outside to replace Syl Johnson.
If the guess is right, it narrows the field considerably. Looking the runners over in that light, I think I might even make a surmise as of the name of the party they’ll pick. If isn’t Bill Brenner, well, I have been wrong before.