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This incident likely took place in 1939. Bellingham packed up for Salem for 1940. As usual, "manager" means "business manager" as opposed to "field manager."

Speaking of baseball did you know that at one time a team hitch-hiked in order to keep up with the schedule? That's right. It happened when Bellingham was in the WIL circuit. The club had suffered heavy financial reverses and finally were left without even a manager. Al Lichtner, now sports editor of the Salem Statesman, was appointed as manager, and the club not only used their thumb to get to Spokane for a series, but also used the same method to swing across the state to Tacoma.
-Tri-City Herald, Monday, February 5, 1951

Amby Moran

Umpires don't tend to be popular. But Amby Moran was. He had called balls and strikes and outs in the PCL then worked in the shipyards in Bremerton during the war before resuming his umpiring career in the WIL in 1946. That's all I knew about him until stumbling on this column by the late Jim Coleman in the Lethbridge Herald of November 21, 1950.

Jim was always a great writer, and here he is about Amby Moran. It doesn't deal with Amby's time in the Western International League, but you'll like the story.

THE GREAT AMBROSE
This is about "The Remarkable Reformation of Ambrose Jason Moran, The Man-Who-Scored-A-Goal-While-Skating-Backwards." We ran into this story in Vancouver last week and we offer it in the spirit of humility because we think that it provides a strong object-lesson for any young athlete who wanders from the Primrose Path.
Young gaffers of today probably don't remember Ambrose Jason Moran, but he was one of the fabulous figures of the Torrid Twenties. He was the locomotive fireman from Winnipeg who played hockey for Brandon, Regina, Vancouver, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Black Hawks, Tulsa and way-stations.
He was one of the best all-round athletes ever developed in Winnipeg, In the space of two years, he played on six championship teams—in lacrosse, hockey and baseball. There is no telling how far he might have gone if a fellow-railwayman hadn't given him his first drink of gin at the age of 19. There are competent western sports critics who will tell you that Amby Moran could have been elected to Hockey's Hall of Fame, on the strength of his playing-ability—if he hadn't been an unregenerative screwball.
You've heard the old legend of how Cyclone Taylor is reputed to have scored a goal while skating backwards. Taylor has never confirmed that story. The fact remains that Amby Moran did score a goal while skating backwards.
Despite the fact that he weighed 250 pounds, Moran was a speedy and skillful skater. When he was checled by the opposing defence, he had a trick of pirouetting like a ballet dancer. One night, he was playing for Regina Capitals against Calgary Tigers in the old Western Canada League. He was hit by Red Dutton and Herb Gardiner of the Calgary defence.
Amby pirouetted, retained possession of the pick, skated backwards all the way from the blue line and blasted the pust past Bill Binnie in the Calgary goal.
* * *
However, we're writing this piece with Moran's blessing because he hopes that others may profit from his mistakes. To be brutally frank about it, Amby was a lush. Looking back on it, he believes he was the unchallenged, catch-as-catch-can champion of Canadian professional sport.
The other day, in Vancouver, we asked Amby if ever there was an occasion when he was on the wagon.
"Sure," said Mr. Moran affably, "I was on the wagon every time they had me locked up in the can."
Mr. Moran's visits to these houses of correction were the direct result of the chemical reaction of alcohol on an Irish temperament. Moran never deliberately hurt an opponent in the course of a game but, when he got his nose into the grog, in extra-curricular activities, his actions were somewhat unpredictable.
* * *
Moran owes all his misfortunes to his affection for alcohol. He was one of the outstanding athletes of his era but he was tossed aside reluctantly by sports promoters who couldn't keep him on a straight line. He blew his jobs and he blew his chances with the unreasoning nonchalance of the alcoholic.
Today, Amby should have been one of baseball's top umpires, holding a job in the National League.
The National League sent a scout to report on Moran, who had been recommended highly by Big League players who barn-stormed in Canada. The scout caught up with Moran who was umpiring a Labor Day double-header in Winnipeg. It was one of those "synthetic" double-headers with a single game in the morning and another in the afternoon.
After the first game, the scout wired National League headquarters: "Hire this man at once. He's outstanding."
During the luncheon interval, Amby dipped into a jar of jungle-juice. The crowd appreciated the umpire's antics during the second game but, reluctantly, the scout telegraphed National League and told them to forget about Moran.
* * *
It was only his remarkable constitution which kept him going. He skidded and skidded and then, one night 26 months ago, he reached the end of the road.
He was sitting alone in a little hotel room in North Vancouver. He tried to read the newspaper and his eyes couldn't focus on the type. The perspiration ran down him in streams. The walls were closing in on him and there was no one on whom he could call for help.
It was at that precise moment that two strangers walked into his room. One an impulse, they had driven 10 miles through a blinding rain-storm to see him. They were Alcoholics Anonymous.
Analyzing it now, we believe that those were the first two real friends that Amby Moran ever had in his life.
He hasn't had a drink since that day. Now, at 55, he looks so wonderfully clear-eyed and happy that his old friends wouldn't recognize him. In our Vancouver hotel room the other day, he told us the story simply and sincerely and he told us that he's devoting the remainder of his life to helping other men and women.
We were mobed genuinely, when we heard him say: "We don't want to add years to their life—we want to add life to their years."
Well, if ever an old athlete needs help, he should remember the name of Ambrose Jason Moran.

Amby Moran died in North Vancouver on April 4, 1958, age 61.

1950 Done (Mostly)

If results of the 1950 Western International League season are what you're after, they're all on the 1950 page. There are scores for all of them, linescores for all but a handful and at least a one-line story from various sources on most of them. Despite conflicting newspaper numbers and my poor math skills, I think I have accurate standings after most game-nights.

Unfortunately, the CUPE strike in Vancouver that has shut down the library and its newspaper archives is still on, otherwise I could flesh out some of the stories and add the missing linescores. I especially wanted to check the Vancouver News-Herald for Clancy Loranger's (I'm presuming it was his) front page story on rumours of Tri-City moving, as well as the flap regarding the Vancouver official scorer (the current Vancouver official scorer, Pat Karl, is guessing it was the late Eric Whitehead), and more on the proposal to move the Salem club to New Westminster.

If you're waiting for the 1951, 1952 and 1954 seasons (and the pre-war years of 1937-1942), you will be waiting for awhile. Now that September is here, I am involved with a number of organisations which will take up about all my spare time until next summer and thus I will be unable to carry on with the game-by-game roundup. And I still can't finish 1949 until the strike ends and I check the archives to confirm six weeks worth of linescores.

Vancouver SABR Meeting

Once a year, a pleasant afternoon is spent in Vancouver when the local/regional members of SABR get rounded up by Max Weder for a little get-together. This year was no exception and Max did a fine job in setting up the meeting in the empty-but-noisy concession area at Nat Bailey Stadium (now, if the old Press Room were still around.....).
I had a chance to speak far too briefly with Bill Whyte, who pitched for the Vancouver Capilanos in the Western International League. Bill's retired in Nanaimo now. He doesn't look old enough for someone who was in baseball 55-plus years ago. The chat was coincidental as I'm now posting the July 1950 WIL games (see the 1950 page) and have reached the point where Bill started appearing for the Capilanos.
He's a local guy who was signed by Bob Brown off the sandlots. Bob sent him to Calgary to play semi-pro in 1949 (if I recall, it was four-team league; the Purity 99s and another club in Calgary and two in Edmonton). He led the league. The following year, Bill says Victoria was shy of players so he and another were loaned to the Athletics, then he ended up in El Centro in the Class C Sunset League before being called up in mid-season to the Caps.
Bill stayed around the team for a couple of more years and has the distinction of winning the last game played in Athletic Park. "They rolled up the infield," he says, "and the next day, we were playing on it here [Cap Stadium, now Nat Bailey]."
I wish I had a chance to make some notes and then speak with him longer. The stories about the games and the players are usually more interesting than the games themselves.
Bill's picture you see above is from 1951. It's been purloined off the web and I'm guessing it's from Max's collection.
Incidentally, I mentioned how I saw Bud Beasley's name in a linescore with his. "He was quite a character," Bill said. Indeed he was. Here's a link to Bud's obit. He's probably the only WIL player to have a school named after him (it's in Sparks, Nevada).

The best part about the meeting perhaps was the appearance of the former trainer for the 1954 Capilanos and PCL's Vancouver Mounties during their years as an Orioles farm club. Doc Younker told the story about what happened after Brooks Robinson ripped his arm on the dugout at Cap Stadium in 1959. It was more like he impaled it. Doc explained that ambulance response times were worse in the '50s than they are today, so he ended up taking Brooks to Vancouver General, and then caught hell from Mounties General Manager Cedric Tallis for it. But, in doing so, Brooks was able to get medical attention and then, as we all know, go on to a Hall of Fame career for the Orioles.

Bud Kerr showed me a ball signed by members of the 1953 Caps. Apparently, some widow found it in her late husband's garage workshop on the North Shore, called former C's souvenier man Torchy Pechet, who immediately called Bud.

Canadians co-owner Jake Kerr made an appearance. What a great thing to have local ownership show that kind of interest. Andy Kerr, the GM-who-has-some-other-title, spoke about his jaunts around the minor leagues, starting with the Oklahoma City 89ers. It sounds like he was there when the Rangers would seemingly sign almost any six-year free agent over the age of 32 (pitches, especially) and ship them to OKC. A lot of veteran PCL players used to end up there back then.

He reminded us the park isn't up to AAA standards. We can always hope that day comes.

Congrats to Bud Kerr

He never played in the Western International League, but he's been supporting Vancouver baseball since those days. He's Bud Kerr, who has received more space in one edition of the Vancouver Courier than the dailies will give to local baseball in a month. Click HERE for it.

A loud "Hear! Hear!" comes from this blogger about a baseball museum. One of the selling points about dear old Nat Bailey Stadium is "the past," but precious little about it is visible anywhere there, unless you want to count the coats of paint like rings on oak tree. What a great idea to allow baseball fans of all ages to view Bud's collection and learn about our city's baseball history. Decades ago, Bob Brown was the first to be inducted into the Vancouver Baseball Hall of Fame. The Hall's resurrection is long overdue and should have a home in Bud's museum.

Now that the club will put this excellent idea in place, the next thing they should do something about is the atrocious state of the field at Nat Bailey. It used to be the best in the PCL. Now, it's a divot-laden, boggy embarrassment to A-ball. Cement has more give than the infield some nights. It's pretty bad when the umpire demands last-minute work be done on it, like we saw on Thursday night.

While we're mini-ranting, here's a question raising from the Courier story: where on earth did anyone get the idea that professional baseball in Vancouver "is preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary"? The first pro game was 1905. That was 103 seasons ago. If you take out the various gaps when Vancouver didn't have pro ball, it still doesn't work out to 100. Whoever came up with "100 year" canard sure didn't get the idea from Bud Kerr. He knows his history. Other people obviously don't. Maybe when we get a baseball museum, stupid misconceptions like this will become history themselves.

Don Ferrarese

Today, not an awful lot of players get called up to the PCL from the Northwest League. How different things were in the 40s and 50s. The Western International League was, in part, a feeder for PCL clubs and you'll read stories of guys going from, say, the Vancouver Capilanos to the Seattle Rainiers (and vice versa). So, when Vancouver joined the PCL in 1956, Mounties fans (and it's remarkable there were any after that dreadful season) would see former WIL players dotting various Coast League rosters.

One of these was Don Ferrarese, who appeared in a Wenatchee Chiefs uniform in 1950. He was 9 and 12 with an ERA of 5.21 that year, giving up 123 runs (107 earned) on 121 hits and 209 walks. He struck out 154 and tossed 18 wild pitches that year (the 16 March 1951 newspaper photo to the left is when he went to spring training with Oakland). Ferrarase also pitched for the Vancouver Mounties, as he was sent down from the Baltimore Orioles on May 16, 1957 (the baseball card you see to the right and above is from that year). He won his first start for the Mounties ten days later against the Rainiers, and reeled off three straight victories, then five straight losses, then eight straight wins to finish the season. Don had a remarkable string of four straight four-hitters and even beat Tommy Lasorda who was with a Los Angeles team that wasn't the Dodgers on August 28th. He struck out 15 in his final start for Vancouver on September 14 and finished with an ERA under 3.00 (why aren't minor league career stats before 1978 available on-line anyways?)

I write this because I occasionally stumble upon what former WIL players are doing now. Don had a charity web site with a broken URL, but THIS will give you an idea of what it's about. It's great to see someone helping others.

And HERE is an interesting article about his career in the Texas League and what happened after he left Vancouver.

Bob Robertson - Part 3

Instead of me rewriting the story, go HERE to go to the 1950 blog and read how Bob started his radio career. It's interesting, but a little less than candid. Sounds like the play-by-play guy got liquored up or didn't show up or both. That wouldn't be a surprise, considering the sports media back then. It's a lot different than today's sterile, corporate radio (or newspaper) world. The industry doesn't have real characters any more. And they wouldn't be allowed to smoke cigars in the press box anyway. I'll have to ask Bob about it when he comes back to Vancouver next season.

Vancouver's main library is still behind CUPE pickets. I can't put August and September up on the 1949 blog until then. However, I'm getting some pre-season work done on 1950 which you can click on and read.