Thursday, June 28, 2007

Capsulising the Caps and Other Vancouver Pro Baseball

The year was 1905. Vancouver had been blessed with semi-pro baseball, as visiting nines from American cities and colleges as far south as California would come to the Powell Street Grounds for contests – contests that inspired a couple of local baseball backers to believe the city could support a professional team. A.E. Tulk and W.D. Haywood convinced the Northwestern League to grant them a franchise. They hired long-time baseball man John McCloskey, later known as the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, to put together a team. And because McCloskey was a veteran, the team was called the Vancouver Veterans. One newspaper shortened it to Vets. Another took that name and using the esoteric rhetoric peculiar to baseball sportswriters, called them the Horse Doctors.

The team’s first game was in Bellingham on May 9 (a loss) and the first home game was May 11 (a win) against Victoria in the brand-new Recreation Park at the southeast corner of Homer and Smithe (recently turned into a condo development with narry an indication a ball park ever existed there). The season was divided into halves and Vancouver lost the first half by a bit of chicanery by Everett Smokestackers manager Billy Hulen. Unbeknownst to McCloskey or the Vets, Hulen played an unscheduled make-up game at 5 in the morning in Bellingham to ensure his team at least tied Vancouver for first. The Veterans finished with a 45 and 52 record (Everett won the championship), and Haywood and Tulk decided against a second season.

However, a baseball club was resurrected for the 1907 season. The Vancouver Canucks (not to be confused with a current hockey team) went through five managers and finished a painful 34 and 106 year, a mere 53 games behind the first place Aberdeen Black Cats, managed by one Robert Paul Brown, whose name would soon become familiar to several generations of Vancouver baseball fans.

Stunningly, Vancouver went from worst to first. It topped the Northwestern League in 1908 with a new moniker – the Beavers, which it would keep through 1922. The team’s “manager” was by Richard Dickson, a businessman who had no baseball experience, though likely many of the on-field decisions through a succession of Captains. George Engel led all league pitchers with a 22-7 record, Ham Hyatt has a league-best 15 home runs and Jim Flanagan led in batting average with .352.

Bob Brown arrived in 1910 to manage the club after time at the helm of the Spokane Indians. With players over the years like Pug Bennett, Lou Nordyke, Kitty Brashear, Dode Brinker, pitcher Dutch Ruether and sluggers Charles Swain and Emil Frisk, the Beavers were contenders throughout most of their life, hoisting the pennant in 1911 and 1914.

The other highlight for the Beavers was the opening of Athletic Park on April 17, 1913 at Fifth and Hemlock. 6,000 took in the first game, a Vancouver win over Tacoma. A lowlight was a player mutiny on June 18, 1915 to protest Bob Brown’s suspension of a player.

The Northwestern League was reconstituted in 1918 as the Pacific Coast International League and Vancouver placed first in a shortened season in 1919. It was renamed the Western International League in 1922 and died suddenly on June 18, mainly because Tacoma was tied in with W.H. Klepper, the Portland P.C.L. owner, who had been suspended by Commissioner Landis in a baseball ethics scandal and withdrew his financial assistance to the Tigers
. However, venerable Athletic Park hosted amateur ball through the rest of the roaring 20s and the Depression, and players like Coley Hall, Johnny Nestman, Norm Trasolini and Ernie Paepke became household names in Vancouver.

Athletic Park suffered a fire in 1926 and survived to host two memorable events – the first night baseball game in Canada on July 3, 1931, and a major league all-star exhibition game on a very rainy October 19, 1934 (Babe Ruth was 0-for-2), which was broadcast by Charlie Defieux on CKWX.

The Depression was lifting, and a successful attempt was made at reviving the Western International League. The owner of the Don’t Argue cigar stores, Con Jones, built a park (now Callister Park), named it after himself and put the Vancouver Maple Leafs there. The first home game was April 27, 1937 (Tacoma won it in the ninth inning). The Leafs finished in third place, and in fourth in 1938. Jones, heavily involved in the local lacrosse scene among other things, sold to team to brewer Emil Sick, the owner of the Seattle Rainiers (named for one of his beers), who renamed the team the Capilanos (named for his brewery) and moved it back to Athletic Park. Tommy Lloyd won the home run championship that year with 25, the team acquired veteran minor league slugger Smead Jolley from Spokane in 1941, but the Caps didn’t win the pennant until 1942 under the guidance of Don Osborne, who led the league in earned run average in both ’41 and ’42.

The league shut down in 1942 due to the war, and Athletic Park suffered a disaster. It been renamed Capilano Stadium in 1943 when the land was purchased by the team from the C.P.R. for $35,000. On February 28, 1945, a $50,000 fire roared through the park and left it a soak shambles of charred lumber and twisted iron. But it was quickly rebuilt, as there was already talk about reviving the Western International League – which happened at a meeting of the board of directors months later. And so, the Capilanos were back in business for 1946. They rose from sixth place to take the pennant the following year over Spokane by .001 percentage points with 25-year-old war veteran Bill Brenner as manager and catcher.

Almost from the outset, there had been talk of building a bigger stadium, and after a bit of dickering with the city of Vancouver, the new Capilano Stadium opened (late) on June 15, 1951, built using the blueprints of the parent club’s ball park – Sick’s Stadium. The $550,000 park was compared by many at the grand opening to a major league park (precient, as Sick’s housed the Seattle Pilots in 1969), as the Caps thrashed the Salem Senators and former New York Yankees pitcher Floyd Bevens, 10-3. Alas, the Caps finished the season in second place, a half game behind Spokane, despite Bob Snyder’s 27 wins.

But minor league baseball was in a deep decline. Teams were losing money. Leagues that had existed for decades were shutting down for good. The Western International League tried to add to its attendance numbers by expanding into Alberta in 1953, but it was to no avail. The Calgary and Victoria franchises folded in 1954, then the league was voted out of existence on December 15. The Caps won the pennant in the W.I.L’s final year, with Marv Williams leading the league in batting with .360, Bob Wellman tied for homers with 21 and Bill Brenner back with the club – as a knuckleballing pitcher, with a 2.53 E.R.A. and a 21-9 record.

Some owners wanted to form a smaller circuit with less travel expense between cities, and thus the Northwest League was born. But Vancouver adopted the attitude “P.C.L. or nothing” – there had been talk years earlier of an "All Pacific" League with Vancouver and the Coast League clubs – and rejected the idea of joining the small-time N.W.L. And the P.C.L. wasn’t far away. Brick Laws got fed up with poor attendance numbers and a decrepit stadium in Oakland and moved the Oakland Oaks (a.k.a. Acorns) to Vancouver for 1956. The team’s new name was the Mounties, and they made their debut in a 6-3 loss at Seals Stadium on April 10. The P.C.L. had been to Vancouver before – the Seattle Rainiers had played several games at Athletic Park in the late 30s – but it arrived on what was hoped would be a permanent basis on April 27. San Francisco was the opponent again, and 8,146 paid to see the Seals score a pair in the ninth to defeat Vancouver 2-1. Losses were not all that unusual in 1956 – the Mounties finished dead last with a 67 and 98 record.

The Mounties never did have a first-place club, but came close in 1957, finishing 3½ games back as the team benefitted from excellent pitching by George Bamberger, Morrie Martin, Erv Palica and Art Houtteman, all ex-big leaguers.

On May 4, 1959, the Mounties got a Hall of Famer, though no one knew it then. At the time, they were getting an infielder who had been struggling with Baltimore and was been sent down to see if he was the real thing. He made an auspicious debut, breaking up a no-hitter in the seventh inning with a single. His name was Brooks Robinson. Less than two weeks later, on May 17, Robinson tore his forearm in the fifth inning when he ran into a metal hook projecting from the Mounties’ dugout guard rail. 2,011 witnessed it at Cap Stadium, though Jim Robson’s play-by-play description on CKWX was so vivid, many more claim they were at the ballpark that day and saw it with their eyes instead of their ears. Robinson came back within three weeks, and finally was called up on July 6, homering in his last game. The Caps finished in second, 1½ games behind Salt Lake City, and second again in 1961, ten games behind the Tacoma Giants, as Canadian=-born Mountie Ron Piché led the P.C.L. with an earned run average of 2.26.

1962 saw lowlights and skylights. José Valdivielso led off the 12th inning of the May 28 game at Cap Stadium when he looked in the sky, screamed and ran back to the dugout, with other players quickly following. He thought a burning plane was sending debris onto the field. There was a three-minute game delay due to what was said to be a meteorite high in the galaxy. It was also the year George Bamberger communicated with the dugout via a hand-held radio receiver inside his uniform (Bamby won the July 18 contest with Tacoma). But the team estimated its losses at $90,000 and the franchise packed up and moved to Dallas.

However, the Mounties made a comeback. The Kansas City A’s put a farm team at Cap Stadium from 1965 to 1968, sending players like Sal Bando, Tony LaRussa and Rene Lachemann, shortstop Ossie Chavarria, who stayed in Vancouver and became a respected umpire, and local boys Wayne Norton and Gerry Reimer (Kevin’s dad).

The most infamous incident in Vancouver baseball history happened on May 11, 1966 against Seattle. Vancouver outfielder Ric Joseph was hit on the shoulder in the fourth inning by a fastball from Jim Coates, who had a reputation as a head-hunter. Joseph headed to the mound, but was stopped by Seattle catcher Merritt Ranew, who landed one of Joseph’s chin. Players poured onto the field and umpire Jerry Dale restored order. Or so he thought. Tommy Reynolds was up next and bunted, went part the way up the line, then turned for the mound to get at Coates. Ranew tried to rescue his pitcher, but Mounties’ first baseman Santiago Rosario, waiting in the on-deck circle, raced to the mound and cracked Ranew on the head with a bat. The dugouts emptied again, and an ambulance came to take Ranew to Vancouver General Hospital. Lost in all this was the fact Coates was throwing a no-hitter at the time, which is the reason he denied throwing at Joseph. Santiago was banned from baseball the rest of the year. A post-script is that Joseph got his revenge, waiting for Coates at the Sylvia Hotel and pummelling him there, cutting his nose and chipping a tooth.

Ranew’s career carried on eventually. He ended up with the Mounties in 1969, when the club was a joint farm team of the expansion Seattle Pilots and Montreal Expos. That year’s team is famous for being the April home of Jim Bouton when he wrote Ball Four (though, as he writes, he was called up before ever pitching at Cap Stadium). Manager Bob Lemon’s team drew only 62,666 fans, last in the league, the season ending with the club dropping a pair of games in Portland on September 1. Mounties management urged fans not to give up hope there would be a team in 1970, but that was quashed in a statement on September 9 by P.C.L. president Bill McKechnie. The team would move to Salt Lake City. The following day, the sports landscape of Vancouver changed forever with the announcement the city that an N.H.L. expansion franchise for 1970 had been purchased.

Capilano Stadium was left to fallow, featuring soccer games and concerts. But the idea of professional baseball in Vancouver was still alive. Harry Ornest ignored all the nay-sayers, including Province baseball writer Clancy Loranger, who told him of all the cash Nat Bailey lost running the Mounties, and managed to convince the P.C.L. to grant Vancouver an expansion franchise for the 1978 season. Harry looked at history and re-named Capilano Stadium ‘Nat Bailey Stadium’ (Bailey died about a month before seeing a game in “his” stadium). Perhaps looking at the historical connection with breweries, Harry named the team the Canadians, with the same typeface and colour as the Molson Canadian beer label, though Harry always brushed it off as mere coincidence. Ironically, the Park Board would not permit him to sell beer in the first year. And as an added historical bonus, the scoreboard used at Sick’s Stadium, torn down several years earlier, were transported to Nat Bailey.

The Canadians began life on April 14, 1978 in Honolulu as the guests of the Hawaii Islanders (winning 4-0) and the first home game at the renovated Nat Bailey Stadium was April 26 (beating San Jose 9-4). Endless call-ups to Oakland didn’t help manager Jim Marshall, a former slugging Mountie first baseman, as the team finished third in its division. It won a first-championship in 1979, as Mark Bomback had an outstanding 22-7 season, leading the league with a 2.56 E.R.A., but the team lost to Hawaii in the divisional playoffs. The Canadians finally won a P.C.L. championship in 1985, defeating Phoenix, but lost to Las Vegas in the finals in 1986 and 1988. Pennant number two came against Albuquerque in 1989, as lefthander Tom Drees threw three no-hitters at home, two of them back-to-back, with Jerry Willard as the catcher and Pat Karl the official scorer for all of them. (Drees drew 13,258 in Albuquerque's Sports Stadium on June 2 as he went for back-to-back no-hitters. He lost it in the first inning when Tracy Woodson homered off him). The low-light of the P.C.L. Canadians came that year as well, as the team staged a 1915-style mutiny on July 6 and forfeited a game in Albuquerque because they had not been paid. The cheques arrived the next day.


The Canadians changed ownership a number of times over the ensuing years, with the last owner, Art Savage, candidly admitting he would prefer a ball team closer to his California home. Sacramento had been talking about building a Triple-A ballpark ever since leaving the P.C.L. in 1977. The Sacto area finally got its act together and was waving the sweet carrot of a state-of-the-art stadium with all the amenities, a far cry from a luxury-boxless Vancouver stadium designed in the 1930s for Seattle. Savage convinced the P.C.L. that extra attendance and revenue would be assured in the California state capital, and the league cavalierly disregarded the Vancouver fan base and agreed to move the Canadians after the 1999 season. How bittersweet it was that the Canadians went all the way, winning the P.C.L. championship at home on September 17 against Oklahoma City before a full house, then travelling to Las Vegas to beat Charlotte in the Triple-A World Series. The P.C.L. had come to Vancouver from California and to California it would return.

But even as smoke from fireworks masked ‘Field of Dreams’ cornstalks on the field in a special goodbye after the final game (the left field fence was accidentally lit on fire), rumours circulated that a team would be coming to Vancouver from the Northwest League – the very league rejected by Bob Brown and fellow local baseball owners in 1955. Fred Hermann, the owner of the Southern Oregon Timberjacks, was doing what Art Savage was doing – thinking he’d make more money by moving his franchise. The Timberjacks were based in Medford, Oregon, and Hermann quickly got approval to move the team to Vancouver. The first game of the Class A Canadians was played at Nat Bailey on June 25, 2000.

The major leagues are a long ride from Class A, but the new Canadians have sent over a dozen players to the big leagues, notably Victoria’s Rich Harden. Hermann sold the team after the 2006 season to local owners who spruced up the old park. So baseball remains, and fans can continue to await Vancouver 11th baseball championship, and endless memories in between.
- by Jim Bennie

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

1948 Underway

The 1947 page is just about finished, other than the final stats, which I have to scan, and then format for this page. As the text boxes don't accept more than one space-character, I have to type a special code for each space. It's a pain. I'll get it done when I can scan the stats, make corrections, do the format coding and upload it.

You'll now notice a 1948 link to your right. I've started with the season previews and have done the first couple of weeks of the season. Just about all of the rest of the season will involve going through newspaper microfilm at the library and transcribing. When I have time. So, it'll be a lengthy process. Again, all we'll have is linescores for most of the games that don't involve Canadian teams.

1948 was another close race, the Indians winning by 2½ games (sorry to spoil the ending for you). Imagine if there wasn't all that rain that washed out all kinds of games in the latter part of April and beginning of May. The Spokane win, rather fitting considering the dedication of fans after the 1946 fatal bus crash, is despite Victoria's individual efforts; the team had a player that won 2/3rds of the triple crown and the pitcher with the most wins.

If you read the previews, it sounds like the league would finish with all teams tied for first. But isn't that the way it sounds in every sport, every team, every pre-season?

Monday, June 18, 2007

1947 Western International League on Seperate Page

There'll be little activity on this blog for awhile as I'm going to set up to have seperate web pages for each year of the Western International League. I am now working on 1947 and you will see a link to that page on your right.

1947 was an interesting year as the race for the top spot came down to the last weekend.

I should have linescores for almost all the 1947 games. Stories for teams outside Canada are difficult to come by, transactions even more so. As this involves manually transcribing material, it will take a while to post.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

We Interrupt This Blog....

Just a note that if you hunt and peck around here, you'll find linescores for most of the games of the 1946 and 1953 Western International League seasons. There are game stories for some, but not all, matches.

Unfortunately, I don't have access to all the material that would provide stories (or box scores) on all the games. Newspapers I can get my hands on provided inconsistent coverage; one paper has published line scores but in checking against another newspaper, I've found they didn't publish all of them. That same paper, not in a WIL city, sometimes published one-line game stories, but most of the time it didn't. Another paper in a WIL city was equally inconsistent and didn't even print information on games if it didn't publish the next day (so there would no info on a Sunday game if it had a Tuesday paper but didn't publish Monday). Still another paper had a reporter who was great at thinking up colourful phrases, but rarely said much about the game itself other than what a reader could have gleaned from the box score anyway. "He of the swarthy complexion whose hurtling speed would give jackrabbits a greenish tinge"; that sort of stuff that passed for writing in one era.
On top of that, in 1946, the final standings are correct, but some of the mid-season numbers you'll see here don't add up. (wire services compile their own standings and there have been times where someone at the service has put a win or loss in the wrong column. Getting that someone to fix things is a chore, as I can attest through experience.)

So this means a lot of work in just doing the bare-bones highlights that you can read here as I have to park myself at the library and make notes.

1953 was picked arbitrarily; 1946 is here because it's the first year of resumption after the war and because of the horrible Spokane bus crash, printed in stories across the continent, thanks to full coverage by the two major wire services.

Because some of the coverage is from wire services, names are not spelled consistently. This will be corrected over time. And some material came from .pdf files so there will be the occasional scanning error.

I hope you've found the information here at least mildly interesting.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Final Standings - 1946

WESTERN INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Standings
                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee .......... 89 54 .622 —
Salem .............. 79 63 .556 9½
Bremerton .......... 73 63 .537 12½
Tacoma ............. 76 67 .531 13
Yakima ............. 71 69 .507 16½
Vancouver .......... 65 71 .478 20½
Spokane ............ 54 78 .409 29½
Victoria ........... 49 91 .350 38½


INDIVIDUAL BATTING
                          G  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR SB RBI  AVE
Wright, Van. ........... 11  26   8  12  0  0  0  3   2 .462
Stetter, Wen. ......... 154 500 132 183 49  7 18 14 102 .366
Amaral, Bre. ........... 73 261  60  95 17 10 13  6  72 .364
Kemper, Tac. .......... 127 425  82 151 22  6  7  3 106 .355
Kuper, Tac. ............ 97 307  54 109 19  8  7  3  58 .355
Spaeter, Sal. .......... 17  51   4  18  1  3  0  0   6 .353
Salmon, Sal. ........... 87 265  39  93 18  0  8  0  55 .351
Bryant, Van. ........... 25  43   5  15  1  2  0  0   3 .349
Hawkins, Spo. .......... 51 158  28  55 19  0  3  1  26 .348
Stumpf, Vic. ........... 24  66   7  23  4  0  0  0  11 .348
Orteig, Van. .......... 102 358  84 123 23  4 25  4  86 .344
Garbe, Yak. ........... 134 558 119 191 43 12 16  5 141 .342
Barisoff, Bre. ........ l31 523 130 178 18 18 40  6 155 .340
Crawford, Sal. ........ 125 462  99 157 29  5  5  7  79 .340
Hughes, Vic. .......... 119 366 119 124 25  1 30  1 120 .339
E. Fitzgerald, Wen. .... 91 287  58  97 16  8 13  8  48 .338
Clarkson, Van. ........ 116 475  97 158 30 16 14 15  62 .333
DeVaurs, Bre. ......... l35 573 116 190 26  5  4 17  60 .332
Greco, Tac. ............ 67 208  43 069 12  6 15  1  44 .332
Gullic, Sal. ........... 89 302  64 100 23  4  6  6  60 .331
Adams, Wen. ........... 126 548 113 180 36  7 37 11 155 .330
Vallee, Tac. .......... 107 404 102 133 19  9 10  7  62 .329
Wheeler, Sal. .......... 54 239  53  78  6  5  6 10  30 .326
Harris, Yak. ........... 95 273  75  88 26  1  8  2  63 .322
Jonas, Van. ............ 17  28   9   9  4  0  0  0   2 .321
Hedington, Tac. ....... 1O3 318  64 100 18  4  8  3  50 .314
Walsey, Wen. .......... 145 601 105 188 38  5  5 16  93 .313
Plouf, Bre. ............ 60 218  38  68 14  2  4  0  34 .312
Kubiak, Sal. .......... 129 480  91 147 15  6  5 12  67 .306
Clift, Yak. ........... 120 426 119 130 31  4 19  8 111 .305
Marionetti, Vic. ....... 97 361  60 110 19  7 12  6  32 .305
Pesut, Wen. ............ 77 233  35  71 19  2  5  0  33 .305
C. Peterson, Yak. ..... 104 438  87 433 24  0  5  7  70 .304
R. Peterson, Tac. ..... 141 512 106 155 30 17 17 19 108 .303
Summers, Sal. ......... 121 436  62 132 27 10 13  4  98 .303
Lilly, Yak. ............ 76 324  88  98 21  7  4  9  55 .302
Thompson, Yak. ........ 122 445  86 134 19  7 11 20  95 .301
Gibb, Yak. ............. 64 217  29  65 16  4  2  0  46 .300
Clifford, Tac. ........ 131 510  79 151 34  3  2  9  79 .296
Mead, Van. ............. 77 274  46  81 11  3  7  2  49 .296
Gedzius, Bre. ......... 110 386  82 114 22  5 14  6  82 .295
Estes, Van. ........... 112 327 411  96 24  1  7  4  67 .294
Warner, Wen. .......... l22 480 106 140 31  2 25 21  90 .292
Sabena, Spo. ........... 54 237  31  69 10  2  1  4  22 .291
Wenner, Sal. .......... 138 517 100 150 37  4 16  4 101 .290
Bishop, Spo. ........... 41 155  28  45  9  2  2  4  22 .290
McConnell, Yak. ........ 94 285  59  82 15  3  4  6  51 .288
Paglia, Bre. ........... 52 153  20  44  8  1  1  2  28 .288
Murphy, Vic. .......... 126 507  83 145 21  6 15 38  71 .286
Bliss, Bre. ........... l18 477  71 136 11  3  4 22  44 .285
Brenner, Van. .......... 59 l93  29  55 12  3  7  1  38 .285
Kretchmar, Van. ....... 124 486  88 138 10  8  2 44  53 .284
Moore, Yak. ........... 135 463 101 131 24  9  4  6  92 .283
Scott, Tac. ........... 107 396  61 112 23  1  0  3  52 .283
Joratz, Tac. .......... l33 465  80 130 28  5 10  9  84 .280
Volpi, Bre. ........... 118 386  86 108 15  6  5  7  58 .280
Reese, Bre. ........... 130 462 106 129 23  1 27  5  81 .279
Barr, Wen. ............ 121 435  96 121 24  0  9 12  57 .278
Palica, Van. ........... 31  54   9  15  1  0  0  0   3 .278
Estrada. Van. ......... 135 498  82 137 16  4  6 12  70 .275
Sutak, Tac. ............ 42 131  19  36  8  0  0  1  18 .275
Reynolds. Sal. ........ 104 398  66 108 14  2  6  3  46 .271
Spurgeon, Van. ......... 75 258  39  70  8  4 11  4  39 .271
Steiner, Spo. .......... 70 258  53  70 14  0  1 17  25 .271
Elliott, Yak. .......... 61 204  37  55 12  1  2  2  29 .270
Caviglo, Wen. .......... 14  37   4  10  2  2  0  1   7 .270
Kerr, Sal. ............. 83 251  32  67  8  1  6  3  41 .267
Flager, Sal. ........... 66 244  44  65 17  2  1  4  21 .266
Dawson, Yak. .......... 141 567 l30 148 27  8  5 20  58 .261
Cherry, Vic. .......... 131 446  97 117 21  6 13 14  53 .262
Sandell, Spo............ 30  92  13  24  4  1  2  1  19 .26l
Schultz, Spo. .......... 61 231  34  60  8  2  1  5  27 .260
Lucceshi, Sal. ......... 53 197  38  51  3  2  1 13  26 .259
Marsh, Tac. ........... 131 492  88 127 22  7  4 24  60 .258
Dunn, Spo.-Vic. ....... 124 425  61 109 22  0  8 10  57 .256
W. Raimondi, Vic. ...... 92 273  43  70 18  2  2  6  32 .256
N. Clifford, Spo. ...... 87 262  24  67  9  0  0  1  27 .256
Anderson, Van. ......... 28  86   8  22  4  0  0  0   7 .256
E. Curtis, Bre. ........ 86 332  46  84  8  5  0  7  31 .253
Gulan, Van. ............ 51 150  17  38  7  2  2  2  25 .253
Williams, Wen. ......... 99 340  71  85 21  0  9 14  54 .250
Mullens, Van. ......... 131 496  83 123 21  5 16 14  75 .248
Paulson, Spo.-Vic. ..... 94 275  29  67 16  2  4  1  34 .244
Anderson, Spo. ......... 33 108  13  26  4  0  0  0  10 .241
Hedgecock, Van. ........ 30  75   6  18  2  0  2  0   9 .240
Haskell, Wen. ......... 129 473  75 111 20  1  3 13  76 .235
F. Curtis, Bre. ........ 68 240  32  56  7  5  0  3  27 .233
Varrelman, Spo. ........ 64 195  29  44  5  1  1  2  34 .226
Suytar, Vic. ........... 27  99  15  22  2  0  7  0  16 .222
Faria, Spo. ............ 36  97   5  19  5  0  0  0   9 .196
Bartolomei, Sal. ....... 80 259  43  47  8  2  3  3  27 .181
A. Raimondi, Vi.-Sp. ... 55 121  10  19  4  0  2  0   7 .157
Cirimele, Vic. ........ 118 383  56  83 12  0  1 23  26 .217
Bertoletti, Wen. ........76 258  45  55 11  2  5  5  30 .213
Norbert, Vic. .......... 17  47   7  10  2  0  2  0  14 .213
Molitor, Tac.-Yak....... 22  93  19  19  0  4  0  2  15 .104


INDIVIDUAL PITCHING
                       G  W  L  Pct.  IP  H   R   BB  SO HB WP
Jonas, Van. .......... 9  6  0 1.000  58  64  32  17  31  0  3
Hess, Sal. ........... 5  1  0 1.000  16  15   9  13   4  0  3
Condon, Wen. ......... 2  1  0 1.000  11  16   9   5   3  1  0
W. Raimondi, Vic. .... 7  1  0 1.000  10  14  11  16   4  2  0
Romple, Yak. ........ 13  9  1  .900  92 118  80  61  52  2 19
Orphan, Wen. ........ 26 14  4  .778 174 140  83 123 164 17  2
Babbitt, Wen. ....... 37 15  6  .714 198 192 102  84  82  6  4
Simon,Yak. .......... 21  5  2  .714  65  62  46  79  38  5  5
Cadinha, Spn. ....... 28 16  7  .696 232 204 124 100 174  4  4
Medegheni, Bre. ..... 34  9  4  .692 107 112  65  48  62  3  2
Vivalda, Wen. ....... 34 18  9  .667 221 2l6 104  90 125  6  3
Martin, Tac. ........ 29 12  6  .667 196 190 124 159 115  7 15
Green, Wen. ......... 27 12  6  .667 182 172 121 130 204  4  9
McCollum, Wen. ...... 16  8  4  .667 103 124  69  50  69  3  0
Schubel, Sal. ....... 27 12  7  .632 159 195  87  53  61  7  1
Wyatt, Sal. ......... 31 15  9  .625 169 163 107 112 143  6 15
Colombo, Tac. ....... 31 13  8  .619 196 181 103 105  80  4  9
C.Federmeyer, Bre. .. 41 2l 13  .618 263 270 168 139  15 11  1
Kittle, Bre. ........ 32 15 10  .600 216 187 146 103 l38 14  4
Porter, Sal. ......... 7  3  2  .600  45  52  24  16  13  1  4
Strait, Yak. ........ 32 13  9  .591 157 208 127  80  72  2  5
Pintar, Bre. ........ 28 10  7  .588 183 244 136  52  91  4  3
Anderson, Van. ...... 28 14 10  .583 208 206 114 l13 104  3  3
Soderberg, Sal. ..... 23  7  5  .583 128 159  89  56  66  4  1
Greenlaw, Tac. ...... 36 l8 13  .581 208 198 l32 110 141  8 11
Yaylian, Yak. ....... 35 18 14  .563 249 218 124 118 211 14  7
Jungbluth, Tac. ..... 37 16 13  .552 193 103 126 134 126  5 10
Gunnarson, Sal. ..... 32 12 10  .545 201 230 110  63  98  3  4
Snyder, Van. ........ 34 14 12  .538 233 255 122  96  98  5  6
Cronin, Wen. ........ 38 14 12  .538 226 218 122  93 140  2  5
Hallbourg, Spo. ..... 29  7  6  .538 112 154 106  58  47  1  7
Sullivan, Bre. ...... 13  7  6  .538  85  80  47  36  39  3  0
Gerkin, Sal-Ya-Ta. .. 47 16 16  .500 227 268 144  64  66  1  2
Lowman, Bre. ........ 26  7  7  .500 131 145  91  42  40  0  3
Hedington, Tac. ..... 16  6  6  .500 103 111  57  29  38  0  3
Sandel, Spo. ......... 6  1  1  .500  31  37  20  32  17  2  4
Kershaw, Van. ........ 3  1  1  .500  1l  18  10   3   7  1  1
McHugh, Yak. ........ 32 11 12  .478 205 206 155 124  95 13 15
Hedgecock, Van. ..... 30 10 11  .476 90O 109 127 119 125  3  5
Jensen, Vic. ........ 44 15 17  .469 264 211 146 179 296  5 17
Sostre, Tac. ........ 31  7  9  .438 118 135  83  68  52  1  6
Palica, Van. ........ 29 10 13  .435 161 175 1l2  90  92 10  4
Bass, Spo. .......... 27  6  8  .429 137 191 122  79  40  3  2
Kowalski, Sal. ...... 32 11 15  .423 196 206 126 110 154  3  3
Blankenship, Vic. ... 44  7 10  .412 169 244 165  77  67  1  6
Ferrara, Vic......... 30 10 15  .400 187 192 138 149 110  4  7
Bryant, Van. ........ 23  6  9  .400 136 170  85  54  60  2  4
Bohnen, Yak. ........ 28  2  3  .400  83 109  84  49  38  4  0
Faria, Spo. ......... 24  7 12  .368 183 202 114  78 111  4  2
Kralovich, Yak. ..... 32  8 16  .333 150 178 133  10  85  4  5
Musgrave, Vic. ...... 27  5 11  .313 149 203 147  90  55  7  3
Carpenter, Vic. ..... 27  5 11  .313 117 203 147  90  55  7  3
Fallin, Sal. ........ 26  3  7  .300 114 131 101  99  67  2  4
Glane, Spo. .......... 8  2  6  .250  54  43  42  65  64  3  4
A. Raimondi, T-Sp. .. 25  5 1O  .231 109 152 104  40  36  3  4
Marshall, Y-Va.-B. .. 16  3 12  .200 116 140 120  95  76  2  4
Oliver, Spo.-Vic. ... 20  2  9  .l82  76  96  90 l63  37  6 12
Sadlish, Spo. ....... 10  1  5  .167  53  72  57  28  25  1  1
Chapetta, Y.-Vic. ... 14  0  5  .000  55  81  72  41   9  2  4
Collins, Spo. ........ 8  0  5  .000  29  51  47  32   7  1  4
Note - Musgrave and Carpenter have the same stats on this list. That is incorrect from the source.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Sunday, September 8, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 89 54 .622 —
Salem ......... 79 63 .556 9½
Bremerton ..... 73 63 .537 12½
Tacoma ........ 76 67 .531 13
Yakima ........ 71 69 .507 16½
Vancouver ..... 65 71 .478 20½
Spokane ....... 54 78 .409 29½
Victoria ...... 49 91 .350 38½


First game
Wenatchee ....... 000 012 0— 3 8 1
Bremerton ........ 006 233 x—14 15 1
Adams, Barr (3) Wasley (3) and Sady; Federmeyer and Volpi.
Second game
Wenatchee ....... 002 011 000—4 9 1
Bremerton ........ 000 301 001—5 8 4
Babbitt, Warner (5) and Pesut; Kittle, Sullivan (5) and Volpi.

VANCOUVER—The Vancouver Capilanos ended their WIL season Sunday by sweeping the Spokane Indians by identical 2-1 scores.
Al Kretchmar scored both Vancouver runs. He doubled and walked and added to his stolen base total of 40.
Neil Clifford singled in Frank Hawkins in the second inning, who was issued a walk by Bob Snyder for the Indians' run.
Snyder walked only two, scattered eight hits and struck out five for his 14th win.
In the second contest, Spokane wasted a ten strikeout performance, three-hit performance by Bill Glane. Jim Estrada had a pair of them, including a double.
Lou Kubiak got Spokane's run in the fourth when he walked, was sacrificed to second by Anderson and scored on a single by Joe Faria, a pitcher playing left field.
Ron Bryant, who walked and scored a run, was the winning pitcher.
First game:
Vancouver ....... 010 100 0—2 8 0
Spokane .......... 010 000 0—1 8 2
Snyder and Spurgeon; Sandell and Clifford.
Second game:
Vancouver ....... 000 110 0—2 2 1
Spokane .......... 000 100 0—1 5 2
Bryant and Spurgeon; Glane and Varrelman.

First game
Salem ........... 100 000 0—1 4 1
Tacoma ........ 012 100 x—4 4 0
Wyatt and Salmon; Jungbluth and Kemper.
Second game
Salem ........... 002 010 000— 3 12 4
Tacoma ........ 009 002 02x—13 15 2
Kowalski, Fallin (3) and Salmon; Gerkin and Kuper.

First game
Victoria ........ 002 000 1— 3 10 5
Yakima ......... 040 250 x—11 5 0
Ferrara and Paulson; Simon, McHugh (4) and McConnell.
Second game (8 innings—midnight curfew).
Victoria ........ 010 020 23— 8 12 3
Yakima ......... 238 000 4x—17 22 3
Chapetta, Carpenter (3), Blankenship (3), W. Raimondi (4) and Paulson; Romple and Gibb, McConnell.

Saturday, September 7, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 89 52 .631 —
Salem ......... 79 61 .564 9½
Bremerton ..... 71 63 .530 14½
Tacoma ........ 74 67 .525 15
Yakima ........ 69 69 .500 18½
Vancouver ..... 63 71 .470 22½
Spokane ....... 54 76 .415 29½
Victoria ...... 49 89 .355 38½


SPOKANE, Sept. 7—Hunk Anderson scattered five hits and held off a two-run, ninth inning Spokane rally as the Vancouver Capilanos defeated the Indians 4-3 in WIL baseball here Saturday.
Anderson needed help from Ray Orteig, who tripled, Lou Estes and Reg Clarkson, who doubled, and Al Kretchmar, who stole home in the second inning.
Anderson picked up his 14th win, tying him with Bob Snyder on the Capilanos staff.
Milt Cadinha was victimised for his seventh loss of the year in giving up nine Vancouver hits.
Vancouver ........ 010 001 002—4 9 2
Spokane ........... 000 000 102—3 5 3
Anderson and Spurgeon; Cadinha and Hinz, Varrelman (8).

YAKIMA, Sept. 7—Victoria squared its Western International League series with Yakima by defeating the Stars 13-11 tonight in a wild contest which produced 16 extra-base blows, including home runs by Beans Marionetti and Jake Suylar of the Athletics and Spencer Harris of the Stars.
The visitors scored eight runs in the second inning off Walt McHugh and his relief, elongated Henry Bohnen.
Making his first mound appearance in Yakima, Spencer Harris, veteran outfielder who started the season as Yakima's manager, held the Athletics to four runs the rest of the way and clouted a double besides a homer to lead the uprising by which the Stars almost overtook Victoria.
Victoria ........... 180 103 000—13 15 0
Yakima ............ 023 030 102—11 13 1
Bass, Blankenship (3), Jensen (5), Carpenter (6), Ferrara (7) and Paulson. McHugh, Bohnen (2), Harris (3) and Gibb.

Salem ......... 010 003 100—5 12 3
Tacoma ...... 000 203 31x—9 11 2
Gunnarson and Kerr; Sostre and Kemper.

Wenatchee .......... 212 100 101—8 19 1
Bremerton ........... 020 000 001—3 9 4
McCollum and Pesut; Lowman, Medeghini (7) and Volpi.

(other stories not available)

Seals, Acorns Recall Athletics
VICTORIA, Sept. 8—Coast League clubs have recalled six members of the Victoria Athletics, it was announced yesterday by Reg Patterson, business manager of the Western International League team.
Pitcher Bob Jensen received notice to report to San Francisco Seals, while recalled by Oakland Acorns were outfielders Eddie Murphy and Pete Hughes and infielders Walt Raimondi, Bill Dunn and Beans Marionetti.

Friday, September 6, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 88 52 .629 —
Salem ......... 79 60 .568 8½
Bremerton ..... 71 62 .534 13½
Tacoma ........ 73 67 .521 15
Yakima ........ 69 68 .504 17½
Vancouver ..... 62 71 .466 22½
Spokane ....... 54 75 .419 28½
Victoria ...... 48 89 .350 38½


YAKIMA, Sept. 6—Although outhit, Yakima trounced Victoria tonight 9-1 in the first game of the final Western International League series of the season for both teams.
Ahead 4 to 1 at the time, the Stars capitalized on the control trouble of pitcher Doug Oliver for five runs in the seventh inning, the first two of which were forced in on walks. Singles by Charley Peterson and Bill Garbe drove in more.
Walt Raimondi hit a double and two singles for the Athletics but the blows were wasted as pitcher Max Strait hurled effectively in the clutches.
Victoria ....... 000 000 010—1 10 4
Yakima ........ 211 000 50x—9 9 2
Oliver, Blankenship (7) and Paulson; Strait and McConnell.

Salem .......... 050 100 050—11 13 3
Tacoma ....... 230 001 003— 9 14 2
Porter and Kerr; Greenlaw, Oppelt (8), Colombo (9) and Kuper.

Wenatchee .... 110 001 000 3—6 8 2
Bremerton ..... 000 010 101 0—3 6 3
Orphan and Sady, Pesut (9); Ahearn and Leovich, Volpi (4).

Vancouver at Spokane, postponed (wet grounds).

Thursday, September 5, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 87 52 .626 —
Salem ......... 78 60 .565 8½
Bremerton ..... 71 61 .538 12½
Tacoma ........ 73 66 .525 14
Yakima ........ 68 68 .500 17½
Vancouver ..... 62 71 .466 23
Spokane ....... 54 75 .419 28
Victoria ...... 48 88 .353 37½


VANCOUVER, Sept. 5—Tacoma Tigers edged the Vancouver Capilanos, 11-9, here tonight in a 13-inning slugfest which marked the final home appearance of the Caps this season.
Singles by Marv Scott and Dick Kemper drove in three runs in the Tacoma half of the 13th for a winning margin. The losers managed a single run in their last turn at the plate.
Reg Clarkson continued his hard hitting, banging out two home runs and a double in six trips. Ray Orteig and Al Kretchmar also homered for the hometowners while Bob Hedington cleared the fence for the Tigers.
Tacoma ........ 000 006 020 000 3—11 12 1
Vancouver .... 200 100 500 000 1— 9 19 0
Gerkin, Jungbluth (8) and Kemper; Hedgecock, Anderson (8), Kershaw (9) and Spurgeon.

VICTORIA, Sept. 5—Weakened by injuries, Victoria Athletics were handed a 3-1 setback at Royal Athletic Park Thursday night in their last home appearance of the season as the Bremerton Bluejackets copped their second win, 5-1, behind the effective pitching of Hub Kittle.
Over 2,500 customers turned out to honour Ted Norbert, popular manager of the A's, who was given a night at the park in appreciation for his hustling leadership. Norbert was presented with gifts from the players, club management, fans and business firms in a home-plate presentation before game time.
Although wild, Kittle bore down in the pinches and left 12 runners stranded. He got out of a bad jam in the seventh when he retired the side without a run after passing the first three batters. Norbert connected for a pinch double in the eighth, scoring Bill Dunn, who led off with a two-bagger, to spoil Kittle's shut-out bid.
The game was scoreless until the seventh, when the winners pushed over three runs on two hits, a walk and a pair of errors. A home run by Joe Gedzius and an error by Dunn accounted for the last two Bremerton runs in the ninth.
Bob Paulson and Bob Stumpf, Victoria catchers, injured Wednesday night, where unable to play, although Paulson caught the ninth inning. Business manager Reg Patterson was pressed into service behind the plate. Beans Marionetti played part of the game with a severly-swollen finger and Bob Cherry was lost in the early innings when conked on the hand by a pitched ball.
Bremerton ...... 000 000 302—5 6 0
Victoria ......... 000 000 010—1 6 3
Kittle and Volpi; Jensen and Patterson, Paulson (9).

Salem ....... 022 020 002—8 11 3
Yakima ...... 003 000 003—6 12 2
Schubel and Kerr; Yaylian and McConnell.

Spokane ........ 000 000 000—0 4 2
Wenatchee .... 002 000 01x—3 5 1
Faria and Varrelman; Cronin and Pesut.

(stories unavailable)

Wednesday, September 4, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 86 52 .623 —
Salem ......... 77 60 .562 8½
Bremerton ..... 70 61 .534 12½
Tacoma ........ 72 66 .522 14
Yakima ........ 68 67 .504 16½
Vancouver ..... 62 70 .470 22
Spokane ....... 54 74 .422 27
Victoria ...... 48 87 .356 36½


VANCOUVER, Sept. 4—The youngest playing manager on the Pacific Coast, 24-year-old Bill Brenner, of the Vancouver Capilanos Baseball Club, was honoured tonight by fans and officials of the Western International League here, showering gifts on him in the fifth inning of tonight's game with Tacoma.
Brenner, who had given the Caps nothing but good performances, was the receipient of gifts from owner Bob Brown, sports writers, the president of the ball club and others. Mrs. Brenner was presented with a bouquet from her husband's Capilano mates.
The young manager, who hails from Olympia, Wash., has given Vancouver 20 wins out of 24 starts.
Vancouver jumped on 17-year-old Richie Colombo early, and chased him after he got only one out. He was credited with six earned runs on four hits and two walks, as Vancouver scored eight times in the first inning. The final two runs came off Bob Hedington, who gave up two more in the seventh inning. All four were unearned.
Only one of Vancouver's eight hits of the night went for extra bases - a double by Brenner.
Tacoma picked up four runs in the third inning thanks mainly to a three-run homer by Bob Joratz. Hedington homered in the fifth and Peterson smacked a two run shot in the ninth as the Tigers ended the game with two runners stranded.
Tacoma ............. 004 010 002— 7 11 6
Vancouver ......... 800 000 20x—10 8 0
Colombo, Hedington (1) and Kemper; Snyder and Brenner.

VICTORIA, Sept. 4—The Victoria A's pounced on Clarence 'Beak' Federmeyer for five first-inning runs, but came out on the losing end of a 19-10 Western International League game with the Bremerton Bluejackets in the B.C. capital on Wednesday night.
Bremerton started to roll in the second and scored in every inning afterward.
Bean Marionetti clouted a grand-slam home run in the fourth to highlight Victoria's second five-run rally and give them a momentary 10-6 lead. The winners tied it in the fifth and consistently added to their total in the last four frames, while Federmeyer tightened up to hurl shutout ball the rest of the way.
Big Bill Barisoff clouted his 39th and 40th homers for the Jackets and added to his runs-batted-in total with seven. Marionetti drove in six runs for the Athletics, while Frank Plouf brought in four for the Tars with three singles. Frank Volpi had four of Bremerton's 18 hits.
Bremerton ......... 013 242 223—19 18 0
Victoria ............ 500 500 000—10 9 7
Federmeyer and Volpi: Chappetta, Blankenship (3), Carpenter, (6) and Paulson, Stumpf and Cherry.

Spokane ............ 240 010 000— 7 10 1
Wenatchee ........ 031 140 03x—12 18 5
Hallbourg and Varrelman; Condon and Sady.

Salem ............. 200 000 000— 2 8 5
Yakima ........... 000 902 20x—13 12 1
Wyatt, Kowalski (4), Fallin (4), Hess (8) and Salmon; Romple and Gibb.

ON THE SUNBEAM
By ALF COTTRELL, Sports Editor

[Vancouver Sun, Sept. 5, 1946]

While Alf Cottrell, regular keeper of this corner, sojourns in distant places on a two-week vacation, guest columnists will provide the daily fare. Today REGGIE CLARKSON, talented young centre-fielder for the baseballing Vancouver Capilanos, tries his hand with the pen.
Reg Debuts in Pro Society
As the baseball season draws to a close and I reminisce about the past summer, I realize my first year in pro-ball has been a real experience.
However, I didn’t realize that while that Cottrell cad has a good time doing nothing, that the finger would be put on me to reminisce in public.
But that’s how it goes.
My pro baseball career began on April 4, 1946—which, if you are still with me, isn’t very long ago. It was the Planters Hotel in Sunnyside, Washington, for me and a spot of spring training with the WIL’s Caps.
The first fellow I met was Watts Gulan, which may have been my biggest mistake.
I roomed with Gulan in Sunnyside and never did get it straight why I was there. Though I admit the first intention was to get in a few practise licks with a bat and ball I was later led to believe this was a rehearsal for some sort of pantomime. This Gulan—or if you will “The Nose”—is terrific.
I also met Earl Silverthorne who had a strong claim staked for centre-field. He wasn’t very worried about my meagre reputation and as I look back, I can’t say as I blame him.
It’s Great to Have Friends
With the opening of the playing season, my friendship with Bob Brown finally paid off and I was allowed to sit on the Cap bench instead of being sent to Boise in the Pioneer League. There were six outfielders on the team and my chances of making the “varsity” seemed rather slender.
Then things took a different light. By the end of the month I was playing regularly, doing very well and thinking that baseball was a cinch, which is a mistake all of us young fellows make.
No matter what a fan thinks the score is on the diamond, it’s still the club-house where the games are won and lost. It’s there where these managerial strokes of genius are discovered, where intimate friend are made and where the best chuckles are heard.
Foremost among the clubhouse personalities is Watts Gulan—that little man again. Watts is affectionately called the “Horn.” The ball players will still argue that when Watts hit a high inside pitch over the left fence, he didn’t use a bat, but, instead his nose.
‘Twill Be a Long, Hard Pull
Watts is always good for a laugh, and more than once during this season he has pulled out a little spark from a bunch of buddies who were all but down and out.
Pete Jonas, who has since deserted out scenery, is another high ranking member in the club of the ridiculed. Bill Wright claims that it is for hairless heads like Pete’s that w wear Caps. Otherwise the woodpeckers wouldn’t stay away.
Bill Brenner, our likeable manager, has had nothing but praise for his work and so it should be. I don’t like to be any different but I think Bill takes the game a little too seriously when he fines a lowly paid outfielder ten bucks for being a little late.
(ED. NOTE: Reg was fined the tenner when he arrived after the first game of the Victoria series had started. He caught the wrong boat.)
Bob Brown, the general boss of the Caps, has received his share of criticism from the ball players. He has the unfortunate job of balancing the budget, but to our knowledge it hasn’t tipped over yet.
Which reminds me. Bob was telling me the other day that the Brooklyn Dodgers had made a bid for my contract. Now I have to choose between baseball and dentistry as a career.
It’s going to be a long, hard pull.

Tuesday, September 3, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 85 52 .620 —
Salem ......... 77 59 .566 7½
Bremerton ..... 69 61 .531 12½
Tacoma ........ 72 65 .526 13
Yakima ........ 67 67 .500 16½
Vancouver ..... 61 70 .466 21
Spokane ....... 54 73 .425 26
Victoria ...... 48 86 .358 35½


VICTORIA, Sept. 3—Getting full production out of their base hits and receiving a neat pitching chore from curve-balling Tony Ferrara, the Victoria Athletics handed the Bremerton Bluejackets a 7-3 setback in the first game of a three game series which marks their last home appearance of the season.
Although in frequent trouble due to streaks of wildness, Ferrara had a two-hitter going into the ninth when a pair of walks and two scratchy infield hits got him in trouble. Frank Plouf's pair of well-tagged singles were the only balls hit out of the infield by Bremerton.
The Tars scored a pair of unearned runs in the second inning when Pete Hughes led Plouf's single roll past him, scoring Bill Reese from first and sending Plouf to third, to score later on an infield out.
Jake Suytar clouted one over the fence in the Victoria half to get one run back, but Ferrara walked four men in a row in the fifth to give Bremerton a 3-2 lead.
Hughes sent the A's ahead in the last of the fifth when he dropped his 30th home run of the season over the centrefield wall, scoring Bob Cherry ahead of him.
Three runs in the eighth, which featured a jawfest between Bremerton players, led by pitcher John Marshall and umpire Rice over ball and strike decisions, salted the game for the Athletics. Doubles by Hughes and Billy Dunn, the latter blow scoring two runs, were the big blows.
The losers had the bags loaded in the ninth and two runs in when manager Ted Norbert, taking no chances, called for Bob Jensen. The right-handed ace finished his relief chore in short order, making Reese his 290th strike out victims on three straight pitches.
Bremerton ....... 020 010 002—5 4 1
Victoria .......... 011 020 03x—7 7 1
Marshall, Medeghini (8) and Volpi; Ferrara, Jensen (9) and Stumpf.

WENATCHEE, Sept. 3—Bill Glane of Spokane outlasted Eddie Green of Wenatchee in a 13-inning pitching marathon tonight as the Spokane Indians nosed out the Wenatchee Chiefs, 2-1, for their first win in three Western International League games here.
Green set a single game strike-out record of 22, although it took him four extra innings to do it.
The game also produced a record for total strikeouts as Glane whiffed 19 to make a two-pitcher total of 41.
Spokane ......... 000 000 010 000 1—2 4 1
Wenatchee ..... 100 000 000 000 0—1 6 1
Glane and Varrelman; Green and Pesut.

VANCOUVER—Al Kretchmar added to his WIL-leading stole base total with a pair as Vancouver thumped Tacoma 11-6 at Capilano Stadium on Tuesday.
Kretchmar now has 42 steals this season.
His first of the game came into the second inning after he reached back on a muff by Marvin Scott. It wasn't needed as Reg Clarkson brought him in with a three-run homer.
Kretchmar reached base five times—twice on errors, twice on walks and once with a hit.
Lou Estes hit a two-run double in the seventh and Ray Spurgeon followed later that inning with a three-run homer for Vancouver.
Bob Hedington smacked a pinch homer for Tacoma in the eighth to score two runs.
Pete Jonas made his farewell appearance, though not in the game. He appeared as a base ump, and was called up afterward to the Seattle Rainiers. Earlier in the day, pitcher Larry Guay was summoned by the Pacific Coast League club.
Tacoma ........ 010 300 020— 6 8 3
Vancouver ..... 030 100 52x—11 12 0
Sostre, Jimmink (8) and Kuper; Anderson and Spurgeon.

YAKIMA, story unavailable.
Salem ...... 300 110 027—14 13 6
Yakima ..... 203 001 210— 9 12 4
Soderburg, Gunnarson (1), Fallin (4), Schubel (8) and Salmon; McHugh, Yaylian (8), Simon (9) and McConnell, Gibb (1).

Monday, September 2, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 85 51 .625 —
Salem ......... 76 59 .563 8½
Bremerton ..... 69 60 .535 12½
Tacoma ........ 72 64 .529 13
Yakima ........ 67 66 .504 16½
Vancouver ..... 60 70 .462 22
Spokane ....... 53 73 .421 27
Victoria ...... 47 86 .353 36½


Wenatchee Wins WIL Flag
WENATCHEE, Sept. 2—The Wenatchee Chiefs are indeed chiefs of the Western International League, thanks to a double win Monday over Spokane, 5-1 and 17-3, as the runner-up Salem Senators divided a double bill with Yakima.
Salem captured the opener from the Stars 15-3 but dropped the finale 5-4 to fall eight and one half games behind the leaders with but seven games left on the schedule.
First Game
Spokane ......... 000 100 0—1 2 ?
Wenatchee ..... 010 012 x—5 6 ?
Collins and Varrelman; Orphan and Pesut.
Spokane .......... 3
Wenatchee ..... 17 (LINESCORE UNAVAILABLE)

VANCOUVER, Sept. 2—The Vancouver Capilanos split a twin-bill Monday with the Victoria Athletics, with the home team losing the afternoon game 7-6 in ten innings, but winning the night contest, 7-4.
The finale featured six stolen bases by Vancouver, as Alex Palica allowed five hits in picking up his tenth win. Three of the hits were home runs, by Bob Paulson, Bob Cherry and Walt Raimondi.
A towering fly by Reg Clarkson that center fielder Ed Murphy lost in the lights in the second inning cleared the bases to score three of four runs that inning.
In the daytime game, Ray Orteig, earlier voted the Caps' most popular player, was the goat as his boot of Murphy's grounder with two out in the tenth allowed Jack Suytar to score the winner. And the Caps came close to tying it in their half with one out, only to have pinch-hitter Charley Mead force Al Kretchmar at the plate.
First Game
Victoria ............ 300 011 010 1—7 7 2
Vancouver ........ 003 030 000 0—6 10 2
Ferrara, Blankenship (3), Carpenter (8) and Stumpf; Jonas, Bryant (8) and Brenner.
Second Game
Victoria ............ 001 001 020—4 5 1
Vancouver ........ 040 020 20x—7 9 1
Jensen and Paulson; Palica and Brenner.

First Game
Bremerton ..... 000 201 0—3 4 ?
Tacoma ........ 010 300 x—4 7 ?
Sullivan and Volpi; Jungbluth and Kemper.
Second Game
Bremerton ..... 8
Tacoma ........ 6 (LINESCORE UNAVAILABLE)

First Game
Salem ........ 015 700 2—15 17 ?
Yakima ....... 001 020 0—3 5 ?
Kowalski and Kerr; Romple, Bohnen (5) and McConnell.
Second Game
Salem ........ 4
Yakima ....... 5 (LINESCORE UNAVAILABLE)

Sunday, September 1, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 83 51 .619 —
Salem ......... 75 58 .564 7½
Bremerton ..... 68 59 .535 11½
Tacoma ........ 71 63 .530 12
Yakima ........ 66 65 .504 15½
Vancouver ..... 59 69 .461 21
Spokane ....... 53 71 .427 25
Victoria ...... 46 85 .351 35½


First Game
Yakima ......... 100 012 132—10 13 1
Spokane ....... 000 010 002— 3 9 3
Simon and Gibb; Sandel, Sadlish and Varrelman.
Second game
Yakima ......... 432 003 100—13 12 3
Spokane ....... 000 000 100— 1 4 3
Yaylian and McConnell; Cadinha and Clifford, Varrelman.

First Game
Tacoma ......... 001 101 0—3 6 3
Wenatchee .... 000 002 0—2 5 0
Greenlaw and Kuper; Vivalda, Cronin (6) and Pesut.
Second Game
Tacoma ......... 100 202 003—8 9 3
Wenatchee .... 100 032 012—9 10 0
BATTERIES UNAVAILABLE

First Game
Salem .......... 200 301 0—6 13 0
Bremerton .... 000 000 0—0 2 0
Wyatt and Kerr; Kittle, Medeghini (5) and Volpi.
Second Game
Salem .......... 000 110 101—4 7 1
Bremerton .... 000 001 000—1 5 1
Schubel and Salmon; Lowman and Leovich.

(Vancouver and Victoria unscheduled due to Lord's Day Act)

Saturday, August 31, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 82 50 .621 —
Salem ......... 73 58 .557 8½
Bremerton ..... 68 57 .544 10½
Tacoma ........ 70 62 .530 12
Yakima ........ 64 65 .496 16½
Vancouver ..... 59 69 .461 21
Spokane ....... 53 69 .434 24
Victoria ...... 46 85 .351 35½


SPOKANE, Aug 31—Yakima Stars tonight crowded 12 runs into two home-run studded innings to defeat Spokane, 13-5, in a Western International League game.
Hugh McConnell's triple in the fourth inning scored Bill Garbe with the first run of the flurry. McConnell trotted home when Gene Thompson hit a homer run and Bob Moore followed with another homer.
In the fifth inning Garbe climaxed with a three-run homer. Three more singles, a walk and an error accounted for the rest of Yakima's eight runs for the inning.
Yakima .......... 001 480 000—13 16 2
Spokane ........ 101 200 100— 5 8 1
McHugh and McConnell; Faria and Varrelman.

BREMERTON, Aug 31—Six pitchers beat a weary trail to the mound as Salem's Senators walloped the Bremerton Bluejackets 11 to 7.
Bremerton's starting flinger, John Pintar, was touched for three singles and a double beforee he had a man out. Ted Gullic, Salem manager, greeted Bill Ahearn, relief tosser, with a three-run homer. Gullic batted in six of the Salem runs.
Hal Summers homered in the ninth with two aboard for Salem—his fourth round-tripper of the current series—and Joe Gedzius made the circuit for the losers in the fourth with a mate aboard.
Salem .............. 300 100 005—11 15 3
Bremerton ........ 022 200 100— 7 13 1
Gunnarson, Soderburg (3), Kowalski (5) and Salmon; Pintar, Ahearn (1), Medeghini (9) and Leovich.

Victoria at Vancouver, double-header, postponed rain.
Tacoma at Wenatchee, postponed.

Kuper Leads W.I.L. Hitters
[Sept. 1, 1946]
Earl Kuper, Tacoma catcher-outfielder, maintained his steady pace in the Western International League while his closest opponant fell off slightly and holds a four-point bulge over Glen Stetter, Wenatchee second baseman, latest averages released yesterday by the Howe News Bureau reveal.
Kuper has bashed in 92 hits in 254 trips for a mark of .362. Woody Salmon, Dick Kemper, Ray Orteig, Duane Crawford and Bill Barisoff are all within distance of the leader and a late spurt by any of the leading seven hitters could give them the bat crown.
Barisoff yielded the runs batted in to Wenatchee's Dick Adams, 143 to 145, but continues to lead in most offensive departments, showing the way in home runs, 38, total bases, 323, and triples, 17 and sharing the scoring lead with Stettler at 120.
Ed Murphy of Victoria still held a 34-30 margin over Vancouver's Al Kretchmar in their duel for stolen base honours. Bob Jensen's record-breaking total of 279 strikeouts give him the lead with Al Yaylian's 193 next in line.

Friday, August 30, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 82 50 .621 —
Salem ......... 72 58 .554 9
Bremerton ..... 68 56 .548 10
Tacoma ........ 70 62 .530 12
Yakima ........ 63 65 .492 17
Vancouver ..... 59 69 .461 21
Spokane ....... 53 68 .438 23½
Victoria ...... 46 85 .351 35½


VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, News-Herald, Aug. 31]—Next Wednesday at Capilano Stadium there will be a “Bill Brenner Night” to honor the rugged young catcher who has had nothing but success since he took over as manager of the Capilanos about three weeks ago.
The fiery backstop doesn’t make many mistakes, but Bill seemed just a little mixed up last Friday. He seemed to think last night was his night, for he slapped two home runs and a single to bat home seven runs and lead his club to a 14-5 triumph over Victoria Athletics.
The triumph was the fifth straight for Bill’s crew—the third time they’ve reached the five-in-a-row mark in three weeks—and the 17th victory for the locals in their last 20 starts.
REG MISSES BOAT
The win, incidentally, was accomplished without Outfielders Reg Clarkson and Charley Mead. Reg missed a boat, or something, and arrived late, and Charley has a cold. Bill Wright and Watts Gulan plugged the gaps admirably, and after the fourth frame, Vancouver had no trouble.
Victoria was leading 2-1 as a result of Pete Hughes’ homer in the fourth, but Mr. Brenner went to town in the Caps’ half of the inning, his single with two on putting us in front, 3-2.
Bill dropped his sixth four-bagger into Sixth Avenue in the fifth, scoring two ahead of him, and slammed out homer number two in the eighth, after his boys had worked Tony Chapetta for another four runs in the sixth.
TWELVE FOR SNYDER
Bob Snyder was warmish on the Caps’ hillock, Hughes’ round-tripper and a three-run four-ply smash by Beans Marionetti being his only mistake as he registered his 12th win.
Victoria winds up its stay here with a pair of doubleheaders over the long weekend, and the Caps will be trying for a new season record—nine straight. Alex Palica, who shut the A’s out on the islanders [sic] with four hits earlier this week, will hurl one game tonight, with Ronnie Bryant handling the other.
Tonight’s twin bill starts at 7:30, but there’ll be a change on Monday, Labor Day, with an afternoon tilt at 2:30 and a night game at 8. Hunk Anderson and Pete Jonas will likely work Monday.
- - -
VANCOUVER, Aug. 30—Vancouver Capilanos continued their winning streak tonight as they trounced Victoria Athletics 14-5 in the first of a five-game Western International League series here.
The Caps' manager and catcher, Bill Brenner, sparked the Vancouver victory as he chalked up three hits for five and accounted for seven runs batted in, two of them being homers in the fifth and eighth.
Losing pitcher Tony Chapetta didn't help any as he gave up 17 hits to Vancouvers sluggers compared with six allowed by Bob Snyder.
Victoria's king of swat, Pete Hughes, playing a starry game in right field, came through with a circuit smash in the fourth, although the sacks were empty.
Beans Marionetti, hitting two for four, was the mainstay of the A's rally in the ninth as he pounded one over the fence bringing in Ed Murphy and Hughes for three runs.
The Caps have now won 17 of their last 20 games since Brenner took over managing the club.
Victoria ......... 001 100 003— 5 6 4
Vancouver ..... 001 234 04x—14 17 1
Chapetta and Paulson; Snyder and Brenner.

BREMERTON, Aug. 30—With homers accounting for two of the game's three runs, Bremerton defeated Salem, 2-1, in their Western International League baseball game tonight by converting three ninth-inning singles into the winning run.
Salem scored first in the second inning on Hal Summers' homer over the left field wall. Walt Bliss tied it with the same for Bremerton in the fourth.
Salem .......... 010 000 000—1 8 0
Bremerton .... 000 100 001—2 9 1
Porter, Schubel (7) and Salmon; Federmeyer and Leovich, Volpi (8)

Spokane ...... 001 000 600—7 9 3
Yakima ........ 043 000 032—12 11 1
Rompel, Strait (7), and McConnell; Hallbourg, Collins (8) and Varrelman.

Tacoma ......... 301 010 022— 9 10 1
Wenatchee .... 030 (10)02 60x—21 21 3
Jungbluth, Gerkin (4), Jimmick (4), Greco (7) and Kemper; Green and Pesut.

(stories unavailable)

Thursday, August 29, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 81 50 .618 —
Salem ......... 72 57 .558 8
Bremerton ..... 67 56 .545 10
Tacoma ........ 70 61 .534 11
Yakima ........ 62 65 .488 17
Vancouver ..... 58 69 .457 21
Spokane ....... 53 67 .442 22½
Victoria ...... 46 84 .354 34½


VICTORIA, Aug. 29—The Vancouver Capilanos sent 17 batters to plate off three Victoria pitchers in the fifth inning to score 11 times in a 22-7 Western International League thrashing of the Victoria Athletics.
Bill Brenner got Vancouver first circuit-clout in the second inning, boosting one of Bob Jensen's fast ones over the centre field fence to bring in Al Kretchmar and Charlie Mead.
Then came the big inning, which saw Jensen yanked after eight scored with only one out. He was placed by sore-armed Tommy Musgrave.
Jim Hedgecock's solo homer smacked a solo homer in the sixtht, and Ray Orteig's home run brought in Jimmy Estrada in the eighth.
Hedgecock, who scattered ten hits, had four RBIs, as did Lou Estes.
Eddie Murphy and Jake Suytar each homered twice for Victoria.
Vancouver ........ 030 0(11)1 223—22 16 1
Victoria ............ 000 031 201— 7 10 3
Hedgecock and Brenner, Spurgeon; Jensen, Musgrave (5), Bass (5) Oliver (6) and Stumpf.

Yakima ........ 010 240 422—15 11 0
Spokane ...... 000 000 001— 1 4 2
Yaylian and Gibb; Glane and Varrelman.

Tacoma ......... 110 031 005—11 16 4
Wenatchee .... 200 040 501—12 13 2
Colombo, Hedington (5) and Kemper; McCollum, Cronin (9) and Pesut.

Salem .......... 023 013 330—15 16 1
Bremerton .... 002 002 020— 6 7 1
Wyatt and Kerr; Sullivan, Marshall (6) and Volpi.
(stories unavailable)

WIL All Stars Picked
TACOMA, Aug. 30—Compiled by the National Association Press Bureau from the votes of writers in the circuit, the 1946 All-Star team for the Western International Baseball League was released yesterday.
Widely diversified opinions marked the selections, especially in the pitching department. Victoria's number one moundsman, popular Bob Jensen, got the nod for the club's right-handed hurler by a single vote over Spokane's Milt Cadinha. The left-hander, Cy Greenlaw of Tacoma, also had rugged opposition and won his berth by one vote over Ken Wyatt of Salem and Al Yaylian of Yakima.
There was not a single unanimous choice, but second baseman Glen Stetter of Wenatchee, outfielder Bill Barisoff of Bremerton and manager Buddy Ryan of Wenatchee won their places handily, missing only two of the first-chance ballots.

Wednesday, August 28, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 80 50 .615 —
Salem ......... 71 57 .555 8
Bremerton ..... 67 55 .549 9
Tacoma ........ 70 60 .538 10
Yakima ........ 61 65 .484 17
Vancouver ..... 57 69 .452 21
Spokane ....... 53 66 .445 21½
Victoria ...... 46 83 .357 33½


VICTORIA—Hunk Anderson and Pete Jonas, two ex-members of the Seattle Rainiers now doing their hurling for Vancouver, pitched the Capilanos to a double win over the Victoria Athletics at Royal Athletic Park Wednesday.
Anderson limited the A's to three hits in the seven-inning opener and singled in the winning run in the seventh for a 3-2 victory over Tony Ferrara.
Jonas was given an early inning lead to notch his sixth straight triumph, 9-5 in the finale.
Walt Raimondi drove Eddie Murphy over with the first score in the third inning of the opener but the Caps put together three base hits to take a 2-1 lead in the fifth after Ferrara had held them hitless for the first four frames.
A bad throw to first base by catcher Bill Brenner allowed Bob Cherry to score from second to tie the game in the sixth but Ferrara's wildness set the stage for the winning run in the seventh. He walked Al Kretchmar and Lou Estes to open the iunning, The former was cut down at the plate on Brenner's infield roller but Anderson singled Estes over with the winner.
Doug Oliver started out in a blaze of glory for Victoria in the second game, retiring the first four batters, but walks to Charley Mead and Kretchmar in the second were followed by Lou Estes' long home run and the Caps took an early 3-0 lead.
Reg Clarkson doubled to open the third and Jim Estrada followed with another over-the-fence wallop. Oliver walked two more, gave up a single to Kretchmar and uncorked a wild pitch before Joe Blankenship was called in.
Jonas ran into trouble only in the third when Clarkson's muff on a fly ball by Blankenship set the stage for four unearned runs. Pete Hughes' home run clout over the right field wall accounted for two of them.
First Game
Vancouver ............ 000 020 1—3 5 1
Victoria ................ 001 001 0—2 3 2
Anderson and Brenner; Ferrara and Stumpf.
Second Game
Vancouver ........ 034 001 100—8 13 1
Victoria ............ 004 000 010—5 10 1
Jonas and Spurgeon; Oliver, Blankenship (3) and Stumpf.

SPOKANE, Aug. 28—A home run smashed over the centre-field fence by Warren Sandell tonight gave Spokane a 4-3 victory over Yakina in the ninth inning of a Western International League baseball game.
The homer, which provided the tying and winning runs in the last half of the ninth, climaxed a five-hit pitching performance by Spokane's Milt Cadinha, who chalked up his 16th victory against five defeats.
Yakima .......... 100 011 000—3 5 0
Spokane ........ 000 010 012—4 7 2
Bohnen and McClelland; Cadinha and Varrelman.

Salem ............ 110 031 200— 8 11 0
Bremerton ...... 121 030 40x—11 15 1
Kowalski, Soderburg (7) and Salmon; Lowman, Medeghini (7) and Volpi.

Tacoma ........... 001 001 100—3 11 0
Wenatchee ...... 000 000 40x—4 6 0
Greenlaw and Kuper; Orphan, Babbitt (9) and Pesut.
(other stories unavailable)

Salem Call-Ups - 1946

Portland Beavers Send for Seven Salem Players
PORTLAND — The Portland Pacific Coast League club has recalled seven players from the Salem farm club, General Manager William Klepper announced Wednesday night.
All seven will don Portland uniforms for the Portland-Hollywood series at Hollywood starting September 10.
Klepper listed catchers Hank Souza and Woody Salmon; infielders Duane Crawford, Vern Reynolds, Wally Flager and Eddie Wheeler and outfielder Dick Wenner.
The Portland club previously had recalled George Vico, hard-hitting first baseman who has since been sold to the Detroit Tigers.
- Thursday, August 29, 1946

More Spokane Widow Help

SPOKANE, - Mrs. Christian Hartje of San Francisco, widow of one of the Spokane baseball players fatally injured in a bus crash last June 24, was awarded $17,500 and her unborn child $500 under a settlement with the Washington State Motor Coach company approved in Superior Court Wednesday.
- Thursday, Aug. 29, 1946

Tuesday, August 27, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 79 50 .612 —
Salem ......... 71 56 .559 7
Bremerton ..... 66 55 .545 9
Tacoma ........ 70 59 .543 9
Yakima ........ 61 64 .488 16
Vancouver ..... 55 69 .444 21½
Spokane ....... 52 66 .441 21½
Victoria ...... 46 81 .362 32


WENATCHEE, Aug. 27—Pitcher Joe Vivalda won his 18th game of the season as the Wenatchee Chiefs defeated the Tacoma Tigers, 7-2, in the first game of a seven-game Western International League series here Tuesday night. Vivalda, who has lost eight games this year, limited the Tigers to eight hits and walked but one man.
Five home runs accounted for all of Wenatchee's scoring. Jim Warner, centre fielder, connected for three homers in four trips to bat in five runs. Nick Pesut added another and Dick Adams hit his 34th of the year.
Tacoma ............. 101 000 000—2 8 0
Wenatchee ......... 210 010 30x—7 11 0
Gerkin, Sostre (5) and Kemper; Vivalda and Pesut.

BREMERTON, Aug. 27—Salem defeated Bremerton 2-1 in the opening game of their Western International League series tonight to widen its second-place lead over the Bluejackets.
Hub Kittle held Salem to seven hits, but his wildness led to the winning tally in the sixth when he filled the bases with three walks.
Wally Flager scored both Salem runs.
Bremerton's only run canme on Bill Reese's homer in the second, his 27th of the season.
Salem .............. 100 001 000—2 7 0
Bremerton ........ 010 000 000—1 8 0
Schubel and Salmon; Kittle and Volpi.

VICTORIA—18-year-old Alex Palica surrendered only four singles as the Vancouver Capilanos handed a 14-0 whitewashing to the Victoria A's Wednesday night.
He was never in serious trouble except in the eighth, when the A's loaded the bags with two out. He got out of that when catcher Bill Brenner scooped up a low grounder and threw to first.
John Carpenter started for the A's and stuck around until the fourth when he left in the middle of a five-run rally. He failed to receive the support of his batterymate as Bob Paulson allowed Ray Orteig to go from first to third when he kicked the ball back to the mound after dropping a pitch. Carpenter was replaced by Tommy Musgrave, who went out in the ninth when a line drive from the bat of Charlie Mead literally hit him on the pitching arm and knocked him out of the contest. Only two of the seven runs against him were unearned.
Jim Estrada, Vancouver shortstop, led the hitters with four singles in six trips, while Reggie Clarkson contributed a triple and a double.
Victoria's six errors translated into seven unearned runs. The A's shortstop, Bill Dunn, completed the sad showing by being bounced by Umpire Hughie Day after an argument about a decision at first base.
Vancouver .......... 021 500 033—14 14 1
Victoria .............. 000 000 000— 0 4 6
Palica and Brenner; Carpenter, Musgrave (4), Raimondi (9) and Paulson.

SPOKANE, Aug. 27—The Spokane Indians tonight clouted 11 hits to defeat Yakima, 6-3, in the opener of a seven-game struggle for sixth place in the Western International League.
Yakima .......... 000 010 003—3 7 2
Spokane ........ 030 003 00x—6 11 2
Strait, Simon (7) and McConnell; Faria and Varrelman.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Monday, August 26, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 78 50 .609 —
Salem ......... 70 56 .556 7
Bremerton ..... 66 54 .550 8
Tacoma ........ 70 58 .547 9
Yakima ........ 61 63 .492 15
Vancouver ..... 54 69 .439 21½
Spokane ....... 51 66 .436 21½
Victoria ...... 46 80 .365 31


VICTORIA—Unable to hit in the clutches, Vancouver Capilanos went down to a close 6-5 defeat at the hands of the Victoria Athletics Monday night in the opener of a five-game series between the two Canadian entries in the Western International League.
Vancouver's hard-hitting batting order found Pee Wee Bass no puzzle and picked up single runs in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings and one more off Joe Blankenship in the sixth, but left 11 runners stranded through the first six innings.
The Athletics counted all their runs in two big innings, then held on for the win.
Ed Murphy's triple in the third was followed by Frank Cirimele's single, doubles by Bob Cherry and Beans Marionetti, and a costly error by first baseman Ray Orteig on a high ball behind the mound to account for four Victoria runs. Final tallies for the winners came in the fourth when Bass walked, and Murphy and Cirimele singled to load the bags. Outfield flies by Cherry and Hughes sent two runners in from third.
Feature of the contest was the clouting of Al Kretchmar and Reg Clarkson, Caps second baseman and centre fielder, respectively. The former cracked out three doubles and a pair of singles in five trips, while Clarkson tripled, doubled and singled in five appearances.
There was a little trouble before the game started. Failure of the league's umpires to show up forced the teams to nominate one player apiece, Ronnie Bryant of the Caps and Bob Jensen of Victoria, to handle calls on the bases.
Vancouver ....... 011 111 000—5 13 3
Victoria ........... 004 200 00x—6 11 1
Snyder and Brenner; Bass, Blankenship (5) and Stumpf.

YAKIMA, Aug. 28—The Yakima Stars outscored the Spokane Indians 12-9 tonight to take their sixth win in their current Western International League series against two losses.
Fritz Romple was credited with his seventh victory against no defeats, but had to call on Jerry Bohnen in the seventh inning to finishe out the game on the mound.
Spokane ........ 012 013 101— 9 12 6
Yakima .......... 002 233 20x—12 11 2
Collins, Sadlish (7) and Varrelman; Romple, Bohnen (7) and Gibb.

(only games scheduled)

Sunday, August 25, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 78 50 .609 —
Salem ......... 70 56 .556 7
Bremerton ..... 66 54 .550 8
Tacoma ........ 70 58 .547 9
Yakima ........ 60 63 .488 15½
Vancouver ..... 54 68 .443 21
Spokane ....... 51 65 .440 21
Victoria ...... 45 80 .360 31½


SALEM, Aug. 25—The Salem Senators wound up their home season Sunday by setting an all-time home attendance record in a doubleheader split with Tacoma.
The club drew 103,000 for the year, after 3,500 turned out to watch the Senators win the opener, 4-1, and lose the second game, 9-4.
First game:
Tacoma ....... 000 000 1—1 7 2
Salem ......... 400 000 x—4 8 0
Edington and Kuper; Porter and Salmon.
Second game:
Tacoma ....... 000 130 014—9 12 1
Salem ......... 120 000 100—4 9 1
Jungbluth and Kemper; Wyatt and Kerr.

First Game
Spokane ...... 000 000 0— 0 2 5
Yakima ........ 210 106 x—10 3 2
Glane and Varrelman; Yaylian and Gibb.
Second Game
Spokane ...... 200 040 010— 6 10 5
Yakima ........ 000 901 02x—12 15 2
Hallbourg, Sadlish (5) and Varrelman; McHugh and McConnell.

(no stories unavailable)

Saturday, August 24, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 78 50 .609 —
Salem ......... 69 55 .556 7½
Bremerton ..... 66 54 .550 8
Tacoma ........ 69 57 .548 8
Yakima ........ 58 63 .479 16½
Spokane ....... 51 63 .447 20
Vancouver ..... 54 68 .443 21
Victoria ...... 45 80 .360 31½


VICTORIA, Aug. 24—3,300 fans crowded Royal Athletic Park on Bob Jensen Night tonight, and got to see the Victoria ace toss a three-hitter and strike out 18 in a 4-0 win over the Wenatchee Chiefs Friday night.
Jensen raised his strikeout total this season to 279. He struck out the first four batters of the game.
Wenatchee came from behind to win the free-hitting matinee attraction, 11-7, with a four-run rally in the ninth.
In a pre-game presentation at home plate, Jensen was presented with a wrist watch for winning the most popular player contest and gifts from his teammates, the club management and Victoria business firms and fans.
Then, as if to show his appreciation, the popular hurler took the mount to turn in his outstanding game of the season. He struck out the first four Wenatchee batters to come to the plate and never let down.
Since August 4, he has struck out 77 men in 46 innings, winning four games and losing two.
The only hits he allowed were singles to Jim Warner and Dick Adams and a double to Doug Williams.
Frank Cirimele doubled and rode home with the first run on Bob Cherry's vicious double. Pete Hughes dropped a bloop double to right to score Cherry, who scored ahead of Beans Marionetti when he looped a long one over the centre field wall.
Hughes was ejected by umpire Tuma in the fifth inning for tossing his bat after a called strike.
In the matinee, Tommy Musgrave, hoping for his second win, was leading 5-1 but was sent to the showers in the sixth after losing control and the Chiefs scored five runs. Home runs by Nick Pesut and Eddie Barr accounted for all the scoring after bases on balls filled the bags.
Wenatchee picked up a run in the seventh but Cherry and Marionetti homered to tie it at 7-7. Pesut off with his second circuit-blow in the ninth and three more runners hit pay dirt before John Carpenter retired the side after relieving Joe Blankenship, who took over for Musgrave in the sixth.
First Game
Wenatchee ...... 001 005 104—11 19 2
Victoria ........... 000 410 200— 7 12 1
McCollum and Pesut; Musgrave, Blankenship (6), Carpenter (9) and Stumpf.
Second Game
Wenatchee ...... 000 000 000—0 3 4
Victoria ........... 004 000 00x—4 7 0
Greene and Pesut; Jensen and Paulson.

VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, News-Herald, August 26]—How does the travelogue go?
And so the Capilanos left beautiful, fruitful Vancouver, in search of further adventure. But they will long remember the two glorious weeks spent on the banks of lovely old False Creek.
And well they might, for in their two-week home stand again W.I.L. rivals, they won 12 games and lost just two, easily their season’s best record, and one that any previous edition of the Caps would have been proud of.
After their five-game winning streak against Spokane and Salem, Bill Brenner’s boys teed off on second-place Bremerton Bluejackets for six straight victories, the desperate Blues finally stopping or rampaging forces in the first game Saturday night, 5-2. But the Brownies bounced back in the nightcap to win handily, 11-3, to grab the series seven games to one and send the overflow crowd home happy.
Unable to stop the Vancouver crew with the material on hand, Bremerton boss Sam Gibson sent a rush call for Joe Sullivan at Bremerton. Sullivan, a former Detroit Tiger and Boston Brave, has a good job and usually just pitches in the “Jackets” home games.
ESTES LENDS HAND
The strategy paid off as southpaw Sullivan, with a lot of help from Cap first-sacker Lou Estes, kept the locals guessing for most of the seven innings of the opener.
But it might have been different if Estes had been on his toes, because big Hunk Anderson was matching Sullivan pitch for pitch.
After Reg Clarkson had pounded Sullivan’s first pitch for a homer, Bill Reese lofted one over in the second to even the score. Then with two out in the third, Estes booted Elwood Curtis’ blow, and the visitors went on to score twice.
Again in the sixth, with two out, Estes failed to stop a drive by Frankie Plouf, and though it went as a base hit, officially, the general consensus of the experts was that a “professional” first-baseman would have got it. Again, Bremerton went on to score twice, and that was the ball game.
SULLIVAN TRIES AGAIN
Flushed with success, Gibson held a short conference with Sullivan, and though John Marshall had been originally slated for the afterpiece, Sad Sam decided to throw Sullivan back in the second game.
This time Gibson guessed wrong, because Sullivan didn’t last three innings. The boys jumped on him for seven hits, including homers by Frank Mullens and Ray Orteig, to drive him to the showers early.
Clarence (Cousin) Federmeyer, who’s taken a lot of punishment from the locals recently, and who worked Friday night, guttily finished up. He didn’t have any better success. Charley Mead and Estes helped sink him with further four-masters. Estes redeemed himself by parking his round-tripper over the left field wall.
Tonight the Brennermen are in Victoria where they battle the Athletics until Friday, when they return home for their last home stand against the A’s and Tacoma.
[WILfan note: Mead had three hits for Vancouver in the second game, Hooks Devaurs did the same for Bremerton … There was only one walk in the first game. It was by Anderson].
First Game
Bremerton ............ 012 002 0—5 7 1
Vancouver ........... 100 001 0—2 8 2
Sullivan and Volpi; Anderson and Brenner.
Second Game
Bremerton ............ 001 200 000— 3 12 0
Vancouver ........... 204 110 30x—11 15 0
Sullivan, Federmeyer (3) and Volpi; Bryant and Spurgeon.

SALEM, Aug. 24—Salem Senators protected their second-place position in the Western International League from the encroaching Tacoma Tigers here tonight as they stopped the Tigers 4-3 in ten innings.
The Solons pushed across the winning counter when manager Ted Gullic singled and scored on Vern Stephens' long fly.
Tacoma ......... 010 100 001 0—3 9 1
Salem ........... 100 002 000 1—4 10 0
Columbo, Gerkin (9) and Kemper; Kowalski and Kerr.

Spokane ............ 040 023 010—10 12 7
Yakima .............. 000 300 041— 8 8 5
Cadinha and Varrelman; Strait, Simon (5), Bohnen (6), Thompson (9) and McConnell.

Bob Jensen
[from Victoria Colonist, Sat., Aug. 24, 1946]
Property of the San Francisco Seals, the 24-year-old hurler has racked up 15 wins and would have been at least five or six games better with a few good breaks. Earlier in the season he was used in an out of turn and in relief roles, which further handicapped his season mark.
He joined the club in Wenatchee on the second day of the season from San Francisco training camp, arriving in the morning and taking the mound that night. In an epic performance, he struck out 19 and registered his first win, although walking 14.
Since then Jensen has shown consistent improvement and has added an effective curve to his blazing fast ball. Qualified observers rate him the best pitching prospect in the league and a little more experience in holding men on the bags and the developmennt of a change of pace is all that he needs to move up into faster company to stay.
First Baseball With Semi Pros at 14
Born in San Francisco on August 30, 1921, Jensen is of Norwegian descent, although he has been tagged with the moniker 'Swede.' His first baseball experience was for the Mill Valley semi-pro nine when he was 14 as an outfielder.
He attracted the attention of Justin Fitzgerald, scout for the Detroit Tigers, who signed him to a contract. He went to Alexandria in the Evangeline League, but was cut loose following the 1939 Spring Training session and rejoined the Mill Valley colub.
Walter Mails, publicity agent for San Francisco, was impressed with his ability to thrown and arranged to have him work out with the Seals. He was signed to a contract and stayed with the club all of the 1940 season, winning two games and losing three, mainly in relief roles.
Jensen was optioned to Salt Lake City in the Pioneer League in 1941, where he won ten and lost 12. He joined the navy in January 1942 and was discharged in November, 1945.
During his 46-month hitch in the navy, he played no baseball and his first start in four-and-a-half years was at Wenatchee after being optioned to Victoria following the San Francisco spring training session.

Friday, August 23, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 77 49 .602 —
Salem ......... 68 55 .553 7½
Tacoma ........ 69 56 .552 7½
Bremerton ..... 65 53 .551 8
Yakima ........ 58 62 .483 16
Spokane ....... 50 63 .442 20½
Vancouver ..... 53 67 .442 21
Victoria ...... 44 79 .358 31½


VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, News-Herald, August 24]—Everybody, except of course Bremerton Bluejackets, is happy about the current Vancouver Capilanos’ winning streak, which now stands at six straight following last night’s relatively easy 9-3 triumph over (Very) Sad Sam Gibson’s men at Cap Stadium.
Leading the happiness department are the lads who comprise the Cap pitching staff, especially the fellows like Jim Hedgecock, who pitched their heart out at the start of the year, but who picked up mostly losses for their efforts.
You can take it from Jim, life is much sweeter for the present hustling ball club, which can’t seem to do a thing wrong, behind you. A few figures in that “win” column don’t do a man any harm either, and last night’s triumph, the fifth straight for the easy-going lefthander, gave him a 9-11 mark for the season.
Hedgecock ran into trouble on a couple of occasions last night, but there was a time when a Vancouver chucker needed to make just one mistake to lose a ball game.
RECORD FOR BARISOFF
For the first time, Jim hit Hooks DeVaurs with a southpaw slant, then big Bill Barisoff, the league’s home run king, parked a record-breaking four master into Sixth Avenue. It was No. 38 for Barisoff, and broke Mory Abbott’s league mark.
But just to let Hedgecock know he wasn’t alone, the Caps roared back in their half of the first with three runs, two singles, two walks and Charley Mead’s double doing the damage.
Reggie Clarkson, who continued his lusty clouting with three blows, slammed out a round-tripper in the second to make is 4-3.
Then when Bremerton shoved another counter in the fifth on a single, an error, a balk and an infield hit, to move within one run, our lads set to work again to widen the gap.
TWIN BILL TONIGHT
They climbed aboard the offerings of Beak Federmeyer for four counters in the seventh, and added another for luck in the eighth to let Hedgecock sail home.
Hunk Anderson and Ronnie Bryant will be out to pad their winning percentages tonight, when the Brownies will attempt [to sweep the] eight game series from the Bluejackets by taking both ends of a doubleheader.
The season’s record crowd is expected, so you better bring your camp stools just in case. First game is at 7:30.
[WIL notes: Clarkson was a triple shy of the cycle … DeVaurs was on base every time up, adding three singles to his grazing by Hedgecock … Ray Orteig and Al Kretchmar joined Mead in plating a pair of Capilanos]
Bremerton ....... 200 010 000—3 9 0
Vancouver ...... 310 000 41x—9 11 1
Federmeyer and Volpi; Hedgecock and Brenner.

VICTORIA [Colonist, August 24]—Playing scintillating defensive ball behind the brilliant hurling of Tony Ferrara, who turned in his best mound effort of the season here, Victoria Athletics turned back the Wenatchee Chiefs, 5-3, at Royal Athletic Park last night to register their first win of the series after three defeats.
Ferrara gave up one run in the second with Williams’ screaming double following a walk to Stetter and two in the fourth when Haskell homered with one aboard put pitched shutout ball from there. He got out of a bad jam in the fifth and then struck out the dangerous Dick Adams with two on in the ninth to end the game. Ferrara also contributed to his own cause with two great putouts at first base.
Held at bay by Chuck Cronin for the first four innings, the A’s hit the slim righthander hard in the latter stages to take the verdict.
Ed Murphy, who drove in there runs with as many hits, doubled the first two Victoria runs over in the fourth. Stumpf’s single scored the tying marker in the sixth. Winning run scored in the seventh after two were out when Cherry doubled and Hughes cracked a hard single through the centre. Murphy’s single accounted for the fifth run in the sixth.
DIAMOND DUST: With both clubs playing heads up baseball, last night’s game was the best played of the series. Sparkling defensive play was a feature with Dunn, Marionetti and Ferrara for the A’s and Pesut and Wasley for the Chiefs coming up with some neat work … Wenatchee has been steady defensively throughout the series, being charged with only one bobble in the four games … Tommy Musgrave will likely hurl the afternoon game today for Victoria with JoeVivaldi on the opposition mound. Eddie Greene will probably hook up with Bob Jensen tonight and another great duel is expected … A new attendance mark for the season seems to be in prospect for “Bob Jensen Night” with almost all reserved seats already sold ... Wenatchee received a rude blow yesterday when the Sacramento Solons, hard pressed for catching help, recalled Eddie Fitzgerald, top receiver in the W.I.B.L. … Vancouver Capilanos play a five-game series here starting Monday with a double-header billed Wednesday night.
- - -
VICTORIA - Ed Murphy drove in three runs with as many hits as the Victoria Athletics took a Thursday night WIL contest, 5-3, over the Wenatchee Chiefs.
With Wenatchee leading 3-0, Murphy doubled the first two Victoria runs over in the fourth. Bob Stumpf's single scored the tying run in sixth. The winning run came in seventh after two were out when Bob Cherry doubled and Pete Hughes cracked a sharp single through to centre.
Murphy's single accounted for the fifth run in the eighth.
Tony Ferrara gave up one run in the second on Doug Williams' screaming double following a walk to Glen Stetter. Clyde Haskell homered with one aboard in the fourth.
Ferrara struck out Dick Adams with two base on to end the game.
After the game, the Sacramento Solons recalled catcher Eddie Fitzgerald from Wenatchee.
Wenatchee ...... 010 200 000—3 7 0
Victoria ........... 000 021 11x—5 13 1
Cronin and Pesut; Ferrara and Stumpf.

Tacoma .......... 020 133 001—10 14 3
Salem ............. 000 030 120— 6 10 2
Martin, Gerkin (8) and Kemper; Soderburg, Fallin (6), Gunnarson (6) and Kerr.

Spokane ........ 000 020 020—4 10 2
Yakima .......... 031 100 01x—5 11 2
Faria and Varrelman; Romple and McConnell.

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