Tuesday, April 30, 1946

               W L   Pct GB
Salem ........ 5 0 1.000 —
Tacoma ....... 3 1  .750 1½
Spokane ...... 3 2  .600 2
Wenatchee .... 3 2  .600 2
Bremerton .... 2 2  .500 2½
Vancouver .... 2 3  .400 3
Victoria ..... 1 4  .200 4
Yakima ....... 0 5  .000 5

SALEM —The Salem Senators won their first game on home field in the 1946 season Tuesday night by scoring eight runs off four Spokane pitchers in their Western International league opener here to win 8 to 5.
Spokane .......... 200 020 010—5 9 4
Salem ............. 030 012 02x—8 9 4
Nelson, Kinnaman (2), Carson (4), Prosser and Cole; Kowalski, Gerkin and Salmon, Daniels.

VICTORIA—Dick Greco, pinch-hitter, realized a batter's dream when he slammed a homer in the eighth inning with the bases loaded to put Tacoma Tigers ahead for their winning margin in an 8-7 victory over Victoria Athletics.
Greco's homer came after Tony Ferrara had uncorked a wild pitch with the bases loaded to allow a run to come in.
Victoria got a run in the first and two in the third before Hank Valle tied it for Tacoma one inning later with a home run over the Pembroke Street fence, the first homer of the year at Royal Athletic Park.
The Tigers turned in an erratic fielding display with a total of nine errors.
Loaded bases were the order of the game. Victoria filled the bases in the fourth but were unable to score. Tacoma did it in the first, and the Athletics came back in the seventh to score a pair of runs.
A crowd of 4,114 fans took in the first professional game in Victoria in 25 years.
Tacoma .......... 000 300 050—8 11 9
Victoria .......... 102 001 210—7 11 1
Martin, Greenlaw (7) Jungbluth (8) and Kemper, Kuper; Ferrara, Jones (8) and Mulcahy.

BREMERTON—Filling the bases in the 10th inning, Frank Volpi drove in Hooks De Vaurs, who had tripled, with a long fly to the scoreboard as Bluejackets defeated the Wenatchee Chiefs 3 to 2.
Bremerton's Jack Smith pasted a two-run homer in the fourth and the Chiefs Chuck Cronin did the same in the sixth.
Wenatchee ..... 000 020 000 0—2 11 0
Bremerton ...... 000 200 000 1—3 8 3
Cronin and Pesut; C. Federmeyer and Volpi.

VANCOUVER, B.C.—The Vancouver Capilanos led off their 1946 home town schedule with a winning effort as they downed the Yakima Stars 11-6.
Although outhit 12 to 9, the Vancouver squad made the best of a big third inning for seven runs off Joe Kralovich while Ronnie Bryant kept Yakima well-scattered to turn in his second victory against no losses this season.
In the wild third, Cleve Ramsey and Earl Silverthorn hit solid home runs eight batters apart. Ramsey's tied the game at 4-all, but Silverthorn's came with two mates aboard to make it a 10-4 game. It was the fifth hit of the inning and came after two errors.
- - -
VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, News-Herald]—Almost everything was new at Capilano Stadium Tuesday night for our Capilanos’ Western International League home debut against Yakima Stars. There was a new grandstand (nearly), new paint, a new scoreboard, new (and better) umpires. But it was something old and familiar that the Caps liked best—that low, beckoning right field fence.
The short fence inspired Syl Johnson’s boys to a display of batting power that astounded the experts who saw them in their first series in Spokane, where they didn’t raise a suspicion that they were hitters. Slapping out two home runs and three doubles the Brownies overpowered Spencer Harris’ crew, 11-6, in the opener of their seven-game series.
The victory was the home club’s second in five starts, and they can bring their average to an even .500 with another win tonight over the luckless Yakima nine, which has yet to score its first triumph. The Stars drew a blank in their first four-game series with Salem. Alex Palica, who so far has looked the best of the locals’ pitchers, has been nominated to toss ‘em at the visitors tonight. Game time is 8 p.m.
It looked for awhile last night as if the sad Spokane story was going to be a twice-told tale, as Ronnie Bryant gave up two walks and three hits, good for three runs, in the first inning.
CAPS TEE OFF
But the Capilanos teed off on ex-Vancouver hurler (pre-war vintage) Joe Kralovich for one run in their half of the stanza, evened it up in the second, and had the game neatly tucked away in the third inning.
Young Cleve Ramsey, back in action after a knee injury, established the tempo for the local swatsmiths by walloping a choice Kralovich offering over the wall. Sweet-swinging Frank Mullens bounced another off the boards, and the Caps were away. A walk, and error and two more singles got the works oiled up, and Earl Silverthorn wrapped it up with the second four-base blow of the inning. The grand total for the inning: seven runs, five hits, two errors and one ball game won.
CUFF NOTES—You may have been wondering about Spencer Harris’ strategy in leaving Kralovich on the mound after the uproarious third stanza, but Spencer, and Joe, fooled ‘em … The Caps didn’t get a hit off him after that frame … Suppose Bryant’s win makes him the ace of the staff, because he got credit for the Caps’ only triumph in Spokane when he relieved lefty Jim Hedgecock … Vancouver’s fielding, which is sparkling after a slowish start, was again bright last night … A couple of smart double killings gave Bryant, who s not yet at his best, a helping hand, and a running catch by Silverthorn plus a toss to home plate by Mullens, pulled on out of another hole … Al Kretchmar became the Caps’ third casualty when he stopped a Kralovich special with his head in the fifth … Al was packed off to hospital, where he’ll be x-rayed today … Watts Gulan, still nursing a torn back muscle, went to third base when Kretchmar was hurt, but his first swing at bat put him on the sidelines again.
Yakima ............ 301 100 001— 6 12 4
Vancouver ....... 127 000 10x—11 9 1
Kralovich and Stagg; Bryant and Spurgeon.

It Says Here
By CLANCY LORANGER
[Vancouver News Herald, May 1, 1946]
If anybody gets around to writing a booklet called “So You Want to be a Baseball Manager?”, Syl Johnson, who is serving his freshman year in the managerial ranks, would like to toss in a couple of pungent paragraphs.
Although the ball season is barely out of the cradle, the big easy-going Vancouver Capilano boss is learning, very fast, there is more to running a club than naming your starting pitcher.
SYL NO AMATEUR
Of course, Syl has had more than a passing acquaintance with ball teams in the last 25 years, so he may have picked up a couple of ideas en route. He served a term as a coach with the Phillies as well as with Seattle, and a coach in the majors and the Coast League, he says, has to ride herd on the players and practically runs the crew. But don’t tell Joe McCarthy.
Anyway, things are a little different in Class B ball. You don’t have a large, competent staff to handle the dirty work on the road.
The manager has to serve as a combination secretary (to make sure the boys get their meal money); porter (to carry the bats and see that they’re put on the right train); nurse maid (some fellows have to have their eyes opened in the morning); and chaperone (the 20-year-olds’ mothers, and the 25-year-olds’ wives worry about them when they’re away from home).
MIGHT WIN ONE
That’s just to mention a few extra-curricular activities. Making his expense money, and the figures in the book, come out even is also rather important. It’s kind of nice to pick up one or two wins for the folks back home, too.
Syl had a rather rugged time of it on the first trip, what with two sets of uniforms, a set of players’ wives, a large collection of bats and balls, a bus ride from Sunnyside to Spokane, a long train trip from there, getting various forms signed at the border, and what not. What not included shelling out a few bucks as deposit on a couple of portable radios the boys brought across the line.
It would be a lot better next time, of course, when the equipment problem, and the players themselves, are better organized. The first 1000 miles are the hardest when you’re travelling.
STRATEGY, YET
Yep, the easiest part of running a club is directing traffic on the diamond, and though there’s still a club or two with a better record than the Caps, Syl hasn’t guessed wrong in that department.
He came up with a dazzling piece of strategy Sunday afternoon that won us our only ball game from the Spokane club.
The Caps had just blown a 5-2 lead, and with the game tied up 5-5, classy Vic Picetti opened the last of the ninth for Spokane with a double. Large Bob Paterson, who will be one of the stars in the loop, sacrificed him to third, and with nothing but a long fly ball needed to win the contest, nobody in the park was anxious to change places with Sylvester. Especially with Jack Lohrke, the Spokes’ cleanup hitter at the dish.
ONE BIG BOUNCE
But Johnson, who is not really perturbed, shouted at Ronnie Bryant, his pitcher, to put Lohrke on. The idea, of course, was to play for a double killing.
And fanged if the thing didn’t work. Big Chief McCormack, the most popular man in the inland empire, hit down to Al Kretchmar at short, who forced Lohrke at second, and Art Bonnell’s relay was taken, on a big hop, by Frank Gosney at first base for the third out, while the fans moaned.
The fact that the Caps went on to win in the next inning made Johnson look even smarter.
You can second-guess, naturally, that Syl was fairly lucky to have McCormack fall in line with his plan. But that’s the kind of luck that wins pennants.