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

Tuesday, July 30, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 62 39 .614 —
Salem ......... 58 39 .598 2
Bremerton ..... 53 37 .589 3½
Tacoma ........ 53 41 .564 5½
Spokane ....... 42 45 .483 13
Yakima ........ 40 53 .430 18
Vancouver ..... 36 56 .391 20½
Victoria ...... 33 67 .330 28½

SPOKANE, July 30—Victoria spoiled the return appearance of pitcher Gus Hallbourg tonight, blasting the Spokane Indians' bus crash survivor for 12 hits and 10 runs in the process of winning a 15-4 decision in a Western International League baseball game.
The first Spokane player to return to action from the June 24 bus crash which killed nine men, Hallbourg was driven from the mound in the fifth inning.
Victoria continued the onslaughter against Salish, running up a total of 18 hits, including home runs by Bob Cherry and Pete Hughes. Bill Dunn hit three doubles in a row to boost the Atletics' total to five and Bob Paulson added a four-bagger.
Victoria started the barrage with a bunt festival which baffled the Spokane infield in the second inning.
Victoria ......... 034 321 110—15 19 1
Spokane ........ 001 111 000— 4 7 6
Bass and Paulson; Hallbourg, Sadlish (5) and Clifford.

VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, News-Herald, July 31]—Umpire Jack Rice isn’t entirely to blame for the Vancouver Capilanos’ 11-inning, 5-3 loss to Bremerton Bluejackets in the opening contest of their four-game series at Cap Stadium last night. But it would take a statesman of Churchill’s calibre to convince the mob that pelted him with cushions and milled around outside his dressing room after the game, that Rice is anything but a four-star bum.
Manager Eddie Carnett of the Caps, although of the same opinion regarding the merits of Mr. Rice’s case, did his duty and helped shoo the gathering away after the tilt. Two or three arms of the law turned up, too, but fortunately (or unfortunately, depending in whose side you’re on) nobody was killed.
BIG BLUNDER
Mr. Rice’s major blunder came after Hunk Anderson, or our forces, and Hub Kittle of the visitors had pitched nine innings of bright, cagey ball and were settling down for an all-night stand.
To be more precise, it was the first half of the 10th, and the score was tied 3-3. Bill Brenner’s tremendous homer over the left field wall had brought two of our runs, and Lou Estes, who left the game after being beaned in the ninth, had slapped in Run Number Three. The visitors had shoved over three singletons, one of Hooks De Vaurs’ four-master.
Charley Mead opened the first extra inning with a single to centre, then Jimmy Estrada laid down a smart bunt toward third base. Walter Bliss of Bremerton threw to second, but too late to get Mead by about a step. At least, that’s the way it looked to everybody but Rice, who called him out.
That call, as it turned out, probably cost the locals the game, because Brenner walked immediately after that and that would have filled the sacks with none out. As it was, Anderson hit into a double play, and that was it for Vancouver.
JIMMY BAFFLED
The Jackets went out in order in their half of the stanza, but they sent home the winners in the 11th on a single, a walk, a sacrifice, and Gus Paglia’s single past shortstop Jimmy Estrada, who happened to be moving to his right when the ball went to his left.
This was just about the ball game, except that Rice did his best to even things up by calling Carnett safe in the 11th when he apparently was out at first base. The fans, however, were not impressed with this generous attitude, and would gladly have torn asunder the gent in blue if somebody had said the word.
Tonight the locals will attempt to get the jump on Bremerton by taking both ends of a doubleheader. Bob Snyder and newcomer Larry Guay have been assigned the job of stopping the Jackets, who are without heavy-hitting Danny Amaral, out for a week with a bad knew. First game is 7:30.
- - -
VANCOUVER, July 30—There was action on and off the field Tuesday night as Bremerton score a pair in the 11th inning to best Vancouver 5-3 in a Western International League victory.
A half dozen police officers had to be brought in to remove irate fans from around umpire Jack Rice's dressing room after the game.
Al Kretchmar was called out in the ninth inning when he tried to steal third, and reversed a call in the tenth after Charley Mead stole second.
Gus Paglia singled in the winning runs in the 11th inning.
Bill Brenner hit a two-run home in the fourth for Vancouver and Lou Estes singled in a runner in the seventh.
Vancouver's Ray Orteig set a WIL record for assists by a third baseman, with 11.
Bremerton ...... 000 110 010 02—5 12 2
Vancouver ..... 000 200 100 00—3 10 1
Kittle and Paglia; Anderson and Brenner.

SALEM, story unavailable
Wenatchee ....... 010 000 000 000 3—4 6 2
Salem .............. 001 000 000 000 0—1 7 3
Cronin and E. Fitzgerald; Kowalski and Salmon.

TACOMA, story unavailable
Yakima ....... 001 011 400— 7 12 3
Tacoma ...... 005 150 00x—11 15 4
Strait, Simons (5) and McConnell; Colombo and Kemper.

Salem Senators Release Gerkin
SALEM, Ore., July 30—Steve Gerkin, pitcher of the Salem Senators club on option from the Portland Beavers, has been released outright by both the Western International and Pacific Coast League clubs, it was announced today.
George Emigh, Salem business manager, said "Gerkin's own actions prompted this move." There was no further explanation.
The former Philadelphia Athletics player came to Portland last season.

Musgrave Signed
VICTORIA, July 30—Former Vancouver Capilano pitcher Tony Musgrave has been signed by the Victoria Athletics of the WIL. He will play home games.
He has been with the V.M.D. [Victoria Machinery Depot] Baseball Club the last few years.

11 Grand For Charity
SPOKANE, July 30—The Spokane Athletic round-table brought its $17,500 hole-in-one tournament to a close last night after 34,215 shots had been fired at the two 125-yard holes to net $11,405 for charity. President Joe Albi estimated to cost the organization $25,000 to stage the event. Fifty percent of the proceeds will go to the families of those killed in the Spokane baseball disaster.

Thursday, July 18, 1946

                W  L  Pct GB
Salem ........ 53 32 .624 —
Wenatchee .... 55 35 .611 ½
Bremerton .... 45 31 .592 3½
Tacoma ....... 46 35 .568 5
Spokane ...... 36 39 .480 12
Yakima ....... 34 46 .425 16½
Vancouver .... 30 50 .375 20½
Victoria ..... 28 59 .322 26

SALEM, July 18—Salem's Senators hung on to first place in the W.I.L. tonight as they pounded out a 10-4 win over the third-place Bremerton Tars.
Bremerton ....... 200 000 002— 4 3 3
Salem ............ 002 410 03x—10 15 4
Holt, Medeghini (4) and Volpi; Wyatt and Kerr.

SPOKANE, July 18—Wenatchee Chiefs edged out Spokane, 2-1, tongiht behind the two-hit pitching of Joe Vivalda in a Western International League baseball game.
Wenatchee ...... 000 000 020—2 6 4
Spokane .......... 000 100 000—1 2 3
Vivalda and Fitzgerald; Faria and Varrelman.

YAKIMA, July 18—Knocking their former teammate, John Marshall, out of the box in less than two innings, Yakima Stars pounded the Vancouver Capilanos for 16 hits in a 16-5 victory tonight in a free-swinging game.
Marshall gave up four runs in 1 1-3 innings, but Pete Jonas suffered a bigger humiliation, being tagged for seven runs on six hits in the third inning. Watts Gulan was tagged for seven hits, four walks and five runs in five innings of relief.
McConnell had four singles to bring in two runs, and Harris batted in four runs.
Vancouver leads the series two games to one.
Larry Guay has now reported to the Caps from Seattle and will likely start Friday's game in Yakima.
Vancouver ...... 300 200 000— 5 11 2
Yakima ........... 047 120 02x—16 16 3
Marshall, Jonas (2) and Gulan (3) and Spurgeon; Romple and McConnell.

TACOMA, July 18—Behind the four-hit pitching by Warren Martin, the Tacoma Tigers took a 9-1 decision over the Victoria Athletics in a Western International League baseball game here tonight.
Despite his stinginess with the base knocks, Martin was almost constantly in trouble because of his wildness. The Tacoma righthander issued nine walks but managed to pitch his way out of every bad jam, striking out 13 of the Athletics in going the distance.
The Victoria run came in the fifth when first baseman Vic Buccola led off with a home over the 330-foot right-field wall.
Tacoma's first two runs also came as the result of a round-tripper, as Earl Kuper clouted a fastball served up by Victoria's Doug Oliver in the second.
Oliver was even more free with the passes than Martin, giving free transportation to 11 Tigers in addition to hitting a batsman, and his wildness caught up with him in the late innings as Tacoma put the game on ice.
Victoria ......... 000 010 000—1 4 1
Tacoma ........ 020 020 32x—9 11 1
Oliver and Clifford; Martin and Kemper.

Woody Salmon Quits Salem in Wage Tiff
SALEM, Ore., July 18—Woody Salmon, hard-slugging catcher for the Senators, who had been leading the Western International League hitting averages most of the season, announced tonight he was retiring from professional baseball.
Salmon, who is only 30, gave salary difficulties as the season and Salem Business Manager George Emigh said the big catcher would be placed on the suspension list immediately.
Emigh said after handing Salmon his suspension that "Woody was asking for a bonus much larger than we could find it possible to pay. We hate to lose his big bat and experience, but we have no alternative. He wants too much money."
Salmon declared he was one of the lowest-paid players in the league and that if he couldn't do better he had better leave professional baseball.

Saturday, July 13, 1946

                W  L  Pct GB
Salem ........ 51 31 .622 —
Wenatchee .... 51 33 .607 1
Bremerton .... 43 28 .606 2½
Tacoma ....... 43 34 .558 5½
Spokane ...... 34 35 .492 10½
Yakima ....... 32 43 .427 15½
Vancouver .... 28 49 .364 20½
Victoria ..... 27 56 .325 24½

VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, News-Herald, July 15]—Salem Senators, being W.I.L. leaders, naturally don’t have to go out of their way to seek favors from anybody. But as they pulled out of Vancouver Sunday, there were sending up humble thanks to the baseball gods that our Capilanos have just one fellow named Ray Orteig. And because we have a fellow named Orteig, the Solons were greatful to escape with an even-break in their six-game series here.
Ted Gullic’s visitors picked up their series draw with an 8-6 victory over the locals in the first game of Saturday night’s twin bill, but Orteig and Co., spurred on by an enthusiastic capacity house, were closing in at the finish. Time ran out on the locals, but they beat Steve Gerkin, the ex-Philadelphia Athletic, in the nightcap, 6-5.
JUST A START
But about Orteig. The husky third-sacker, you will remember, had quite a night for himself Saturday. After striking out his first time up, he banged out four straight hits, including two home runs and a triple. Well, apparently his Friday performance just gave him an appetite.
He came up five times in the first game Saturday. He walked twice and rapped out two more four-baggers and a single. That stretched his consecutive hitting streak to seven, and incidentally brought the Caps from behind an 8-1 deficit Salem built up on the offerings of John Marshall.
HE HAD HELP
However, as we said, the locals didn’t quite make it, despite the fact that Al Kretchmar also gave Orteig a hand with four-ply swats. So that brings us to the second game and Orteig again.
The first time up he singled down the third base line. Second time up he singled again, down the first base line, Third time up, he powered a line drive to centre field, and, after nine straight safeties, was caught out. If the Salems had salaamed right then and there, nobody would have blamed them.
Almost lost in the glare of our hero’s bright lights and shining feats were the commendable deeds of some of his teammates. F’ristance Frank Mullens, who homered as he collected four-for-four Friday, stretched his consecutive hitting streak to six, and smacked two more four-masters, on in each game.
SPURGEON BACK
Ray Spurgeon, back in catching harness after a much-needed rest, came up with two prodigious doubles in the nightcap; and Pete Jonas, in his first hurling stint, relieved Marshall in the first game and pitched five and two-thirds innings of four-hit, shutout ball.
It was a fairly satisfying evening, in spite of Mr. Marshall’s troubles, and left the Caps in a happy mood for their seven-game stand at Yakima starting Tuesday. After breaking even with the tough Tacoma Tigers and Salem, the second-division stars, who come back here with the Caps the following week, might look good to Eddie Carnett’s boys.
- - -
VANCOUVER, July 13 - The Vancouver Capilanos split a double-header tonight with the Salem Senators, Western International League leaders. Caps rallied to eke out a 6-5 win in the seven-inning nightcap after Salem won the first, 8-6.
Despite four homers in the first game, Vancouver was unable to defeat Salem, mainly due to the Senators' five-run outburst in the fourth inning.
Two of the homers came from Ray Orteig, who was a perfect three-for-three for Vancouver. Frank Mullens and Al Kretchmar hit the others.
In the nightcap, Mullens got another homer and Catcher Woody Salmon hit one out of the park for the Senators.
Ray Spurgeon returned to the line-up for Vancouver and put dents in the left field fence twice with doubles to bring in three runs.
Orteig had singled in his first two at-bats in the finale, giving him nine consecutive hits, and setting a WIL record.
First Game
Salem ............. 210 500 000—7 11 0
Vancouver ....... 010 200 302—6 10 2
Wyatt and Salmon; Marshall, Jonas (4) and Brenner.
Second Game
Salem ............. 010 210 1—5 10 1
Vancouver ....... 001 481 x—6 9 1
Gerkin and Salmon; Palica and Spurgeon.

SPOKANE, July 13—Spokane Indians got only six hits off Wenatchee's Chuck Cronin, but bunched five of them for as many runs in the seventh inning to defeat the Chiefs, 5-3, in a Western International League game here tonight.
Wenatchee ......... 000 010 101—3 9 2
Spokane ............. 000 000 50x—5 6 0
Cronin and Pesut; Cadinha and Paglia, Verrelman (8).

VICTORIA, July 13—The Tacoma Tigers snapped a four-game losing string with a pair one one-run victories at Victoria Saturday, picking up a 5-4 win in then opener and a 2-1 victory in the finale. Bob Jensen was the hard-luck loser in the night game, as he struck out 13 Tacomans. One of the strike-outs led to the game's first run in the seventh. He whiffed the first three hitters but the third strike to Bob Joratz was a wild pitch, enabling the runner to reach first. Successive singles to Sutak and Cliff Clifford sent the runner over. Kuper homered in the eighth for the winning count.
The Athletics made a bid for the game in their half as Jensen started it by cracking a terrific triple to left field with one out. Vic Buccola walked and Jensen scored as Eddie Murphy singled into centre. One of Hal Jungbluth's downers got away from Kuper and Murphy broke for second, only to find Vic Buccola still standing there, and was run down for the final out.
Jimmy Dumeah made his first pro start in the afternoon game and was treated roughly in the first three frames, as Tacoma scored four times, once on a homer by Hank Valle. He escaped further trouble until the sixth when he walked two and manager Ted Norbert sent in Joe Blankenship.
A pair of errors by the usually reliable Pete Hughes in left accounted for the fith and winning run in the seventh.
The Athletics teed off on Bob Hedington in the first inning with Frank Cirimele, Buccola and Murphy hitting consecutive singles and Hughes following with a double to score two. A sacrifice fly added a third run.
A base error by third baseman Marvin Scott allowed Victoria to come within one run in the ninth but the tying and winning runs died on the sacks when pinch-hitter Neil Clifford lined out to the pitcher.
First game
Tacoma ........... 211 000 100—5 11 1
Victoria ........... 300 000 001—4 8 2
Hedington and Kemper; Dumeah, Blankenship (6) and Paulson.
Second game
Tacoma ........... 000 000 110—2 8 1
Victoria ........... 000 000 010—1 5 1
Jungbluth and Kemper; Jensen and Clifford.

YAKIMA, July 13—Yakima and Bremerton battled through a sensational 17-inning Western International League game here Saturday night which ended in a 7-7 deadlock when a curfew called a halt to the hostilities.
The home club fought back to knot the count at 2-2 in the lead of the ninth and then tied it again in the tenth after allowing the Cruisers two runs in their half. The next three innings were scoreless but the Bremerton scored three in the fourteenth before Yakima's Bill Garbe hit an improbable three-run home in the bottom of the inning to tie the game again.
Bremerton ....... 010 000 000 200 030 10—7 10 1
Yakima ........... 000 000 001 200 030 10—7 11 0
Lowman, Medeghini (14) and Volpi; Romple, Kasepchuk (10), McHugh ( ) and McConnell.

WIL Leaders Expect 100,000
SALEM, Ore., July 13—With four home series remaining on their schedule, the Salem Senators, current leaders of the Western International League, appear to be a cinch to attract 100,000 fans into Waters Park during the 1946 season.
The Senators in six series at home this year have drawn 59,927. Previous high was in the 1940, when the city's first professional team drew 54,000.

New Pilot for Salem

Ted Gullic Named to Manage Salem Senators
SALEM - Ted Gullic, utility player for the Portland Beavers since 1943, Tuesday was named to manage the Salem Senators of the Western International league.
Gullic, a former Milwaukee player in the American Association for 12 years, succeeds the late Leo (Frisco) Edwards who was buried here Tuesday.
Bill Klepper, general manager of the Pacific Coast League Beavers, the parent club of the Senators, said Gullic would take over the post immediately and manage from the third base sack.
Wednesday, May 29, 1946

Senational Senators Staying in Salem

Portland Beavers Have No Plans to Raid Salem Team
PORTLAND — General Manager Bill Klepper said Friday the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast baseball league do not plan to raid the Salem Senators, top-ranking Western International league squad.
"It is an unwritten rule of baseball that a farm team is left alone early in the year," he declared, "and we certainly will observe rule. However, later we will have to protect our interests and investments, and if any Salem player seems ripe for the coast league, we will recall him. Otherwise the player would be eligible for drafting by some other team," he said.
If a farm player shows he is ready for the big time, the Portland baseball club will not hold him back, Klepper said.
Saturday, May 11, 1946