Thursday, June 7, 1951

               W  L  Pct GB
Vancouver ... 34 13 .723 —
Spokane ..... 30 19 .613 5
Salem ....... 23 24 .489 11
Yakima ...... 21 24 .467 13
Victoria .... 21 27 .438 13½
Tri-City .... 19 25 .432 13½
Wenatchee ... 21 28 .429 14
Tacoma ...... 27 27 .428 14

VANCOUVER, B.C., June 7 — Vancouver Capilanos Thursday night traded out of the ramshackle, 38-year-old Capilano stadium for the last time—and they left as winners.
The Caps rallied for two runs in the 11th inning to nip Wenatchee Chiefs 10-8 and end the rain-abbreviated, two-game series at one game apiece.
Despite 16 hits by the winners and 13 by the losers, only four pitchers saw action. Winner Bill Whyte relieved star Carl Gunnarson in the eighth. Lou Tost, who took over from Al Treichel in the seventh, took the loss.
- - - -
VANCOUVER [Erwin Swangard, Sun, June 8]—Vancouver Capilanos bowed out of old Athletic Park Thursday night and not even a top Hollywood writer could have composed a more dramatic script for their farewell appearance.
For a while at least, it looked as if Caps’ board of strategy was determined to hand Wenatchee Chiefs a much-appreciated goodbye gift in the form of a victory—that was before catcher John Ritchey belted a tremendous homer over the right field fence in the 11th inning.
As baseball games go Thursday night, played before some 2000 shivering fans, had a little bit of everything, topped off by:
1. Gordon Brunswick’s daring steal home in the sixth inning.
2. Two wind-swept homers by Lil Arnerich and Jim Marshall of the visitors.
3. Vancouver’s own Bill Whyte’s one-hit relief pitching over four innings and his long game-tying single in the ninth.
4. Capilanos’ fantastic base-running in that ninth which probably robbed them of a chance to win the game right then and there.
COME FROM BEHIND
At that the Caps came from far behind. They trailed 5-1 after five innings as pitcher Carl Gunnarson presented no puzzle to the Chiefs batters. They tied the score at 6-6 in the sixth.
They were behind once more in the seventh, 8-7. Whyte’s single off the right centre field screen sent Reno Cheso home with the equalizer in the ninth.
On the same play, Ritchey was waved to home plate all the way from first. He was a sitting duck on the relay. Meanwhile, Whyte had made it to second which would have left the Caps with runners at second and third and one away if Ritchey had been held up at third.
As it was McGuire struck out and the teams had to play two more extra innings. Ritchey clouted one of Lou Post’s [sic] special deliveries right on the nose with Cheso once more aboard. That ball is probably still going. The Chiefs outfielders didn’t even bother to watch its flight. They just came trotting in.
FAST START
Meanwhile as workmen started dismantling seats for the move to the new Stadium in Little Mountain, general manager Bob Brown announced first baseman Earl Richmond had been sold outright to Yakima Bears and pitcher Bob Brunner [sic] would join the Caps next week.
Caps left today for a four-game series at Wenatchee and a three-game series at Tri-City before returning here Friday, June 15 for the grand opening at Little Mountain.
Who will pitch that opening game? Either Bob Snyder or George Nicholas.
Wenatchee ...... 200 301 200 00— 8 16 1
Vancouver ....... 100 023 101 02—10 17 1
Triechel, Tost (7) and Neal, Gunnarson, Whyte (8) and Ritchey.

YAKIMA, June 7 — Ted Savarese and Bill Boemler combined to notch the Yakima Bears to a twin victory over Spokane in a Western International League baseball double-header Thursday night.
Savarese space eight hits to take the seven-inning opener 5 to 1. Boemler allowed 11 hits in the nightcap but was tight in the pinches to chalk up a 3 to 2 victory.
Bill Andring's single chased home two Yakima runs in the fourth inning of the second game and Mike Baxes' single drove in the third Yakima tally. Spokane scored a single run in the sixth on singles by Steve Mesner, Ken Richardson and Jim Wert. Spokane tallied another in the ninth on singles by Wert, Jim Brown and Ed Murphy.
First Game
Spokane ..... 000 000 1— 1 8 0
Yakima ....... 100 013 x— 5 9 0
Wyatt, Roberts (5), Richardson and Sheets; Savarese and Brenner.
Second Game
Spokane ..... 000 001 001— 2 11 0
Yakima ....... 000 200 10x— 3 9 0
Bishop and Sheets; Boemler and Tiesiera.

TACOMA, June 7 — Supported by five double plays the Salem Senators behind pitcher Aldon Wilkie defeated Tacoma 5 to 0. Wilkie spaced eight hits and was in trouble only m the second inning when Tacoma had runners on second and third with one out. Two outfield flies got Wilkie out of the jam.
Tom Kipp, Tacoma left-hander, was the loser.
Salem ........ 003 101 000—5 11 1
Tacoma ..... 000 000 000—0 8 0
Wilkie and McKeegan, Kipp, Barta (5) and Lundberg.

END COMES QUIETLY
No Tears as Athletic Park Shuts Gates for Last Time
By DAN EKMAN [Vancouver Sun, June 8, 1951]
For Bob Brown, Thursday was a longer working day than usual. The extra-inning ball game had set back his office routine, and only now, at 11:35 p.m., the last well-wishers and the last players wanting expense money were gone. But there were still a couple of things to do.
Seated at his ancient rolltop desk in the tiny office, its walls brightened with calendars and yellowing team pictures and a 1907 Northwestern League pennant, he checked out the attendance report. Then he glanced over the list of future reservations and gave the same to a late-phoning fan. The night watchman came by to chat, said goodnight and continued on his rounds. And so the long day finished.
Down came the top of the rolltop desk. Bob pushed back the chair, put on his coat. He glanced around once, snapped off the light switch and went out. At 11:42 p.m., he locked the front office door, and as simply as that a 39-year chapter in Vancouver’s athletic history was closed.
• • •
It was a night for Auld Lang Syne at Athletic Park, but the old redhead left with few regrets. “Five weeks ago it would have been tough to leave,” he admitted. But since the second fire, without our old main grandstand and without the gym, it hasn’t been the same.
“No, I’m not sorry to go. These past few years, it’s been as bad for us to try to do business here as it’s been for fans having to watch their baseball here.
• • •
Nearly everybody felt the same way, but there were a few exceptions. The home owners around Fifth and Hemlock, for instance, were losing the little extra income that came their way each summer when they opened their back yards to car parking.
“It wasn’t a lot, but it paid the taxes,” said G.W. Linge [photo at left]. He has owned the corner house at 1402 West 5th for the past six years, but now he’s moving, too. “The city bought us out,” he explained. “I guess our lot will be part of the approach to the Granville Street bridge in a couple of years.”
• • •
In the lofty old houses that line Sixth Avenue there were a few regrets, too, because the free show was over. Last night, the cold and blustery weather kept most of the bird’s eye viewers indoors, but one hardy foursome, bundled under blankets, was watching without paying for the last time. After June 15, perhaps, the rooftop squad will gather on the northern slope of Little Mountain to watch their baseball.
For some of the regulars, the changeover to 33rd and Ontario means simply taking a different bus route each night. Don Kruissen, the 14-year-old scoreboard boy, thought he’d be out of a job when he heard that the board in the new stadium will be an electric job.
“But I found they’ll still need two boys behind it,” reported Don. “So I guess I’ll still be working, even though I won’t get such a good view of the games.”
• • •
For H.O. Hammond, the switch means just another gate to be watched [photo at right with Shriner W.J. Kirby of Rocky Mtn. House]. He’s the cheerful little man who has taken tickets at the reserved seat entrance for 19 years.
“I’m going to be on the pass gate at the new park,” says the 77-year-old stripling who kept an eye on another pass . . . the Khyber in India for 21 years as a British Army regular. “I’ll meet the same old friends each night, I suppose.”
• • •
The concession people can hardly wait to open for business [unreadable] where all hands don’t have to breathe in rhythm to save space. They’ve operated for the last time out of the ten-by-ten commissary. At the new stadium, Bob Sinclair will patrol a 40-foot counter, restocking his hog-dog setters, and boss Eddie Lamoreux will direct the operation by intercom, yet, from a seat high in the bleachers.
• • •
Sentiment? Famous last words. They were hard to find last night. Secretly, maybe, Bob Brown felt a twinge; for he was there at 3:15 on the afternoon of April the 18th in 1913 to open the glistening new park he’d carved out of the Fairview brush.
But during the seventh-inning stretch, when they asked the crowd to sing “Auld Lange Syne” instead of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” hardly anyone joined in. The record scratched to a finish, everybody sat down and a beacherite shouted:
“Awright, awright—let’s go.”
WILfan note: Harry Octavius Hammond died in Vancouver on July 15, 1956 at age 82.

Dewey Soriano Goes to Sea
SEATTLE, June 8 — Dewey Soriano has swapped his base ball uniform for seagoing togs.
Soriano, 31, former pitcher-president of the Yakima Bears in the Western International baseball league, signed with the Alaska Steamship company yesterday as a third mate. He will sail north next Wednesday on the S. S Alaska.
Soriano recently obtained his release from the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast league. Earlier in the season, he was with the Seattle Rainiers, the club that gave him his start in professional baseball ten years ago. The Rainiers had also released him.

NON WIL MINOR LEAGUE NEWS
Pittsburg Club Gives Up, No Support
PITTSBURG, Calif., June 7 (UP) — The Pittsburgh Diamonds, present leaders of the Far West baseball league, have announced they will give up their franchise owing to lack of support at the games by home town fans.
Vincent A. Dazi, owner of the club, said gate receipts for home games have been less than half the amount needed to keep the team out of the red — despite the fact that his club is leading the league by 3½ games.
League President Jerry Donovan said the franchise has been offered to a group in Albany, Ore., and he hoped for an answer today. The franchise will revert to league ownership and a five-team schedule will be played the remainder of the season if nobody takes the place of Pitisburgh.
It was estimated that Dazi lost at least $75,000 in operating the Diamonds the past 2½ years. He spent thousands on new lighting and other park improvements, yet continued to take a beating at the gate for home games.
The league decision to play home games this year with the home club keeping all receipts only added to the troubles for Pittsburg. In the past they could count on a flat $100 per game guarantee on the road. Dazi said that attendance at home this year was averaging less than 250 persons.