Thursday, July 19, 1951

W L PCT GB
Vancouver ... 62 31 .667
Spokane ..... 60 33 .645 2
Salem ....... 46 46 .500 15½
Wenatchee ... 45 46 .459 16
Tri-City .... 42 51 .452 20
Victoria .... 40 54 .426 22½
Tacoma ...... 38 54 .413 23½
Yakima ...... 37 55 .402 24½

VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, Province, July 20]—The oddsmakers wouldn’t have given you much for Vancouver Capilano’s chances against Tacoma Tigers before last night’s baseball game at new Capilano Stadium. [Vancouver 13, Tacoma 4]
Caps’ league-leading hitter, John Ritchey, was riding the bench with an ankle injury, and Dick Sinovic, number two man in the WIL leaders’ one-two punch, was in a batting slump. And with the rest of the attack looking peaked, to say the least, things appeared grim for George Nicholas’ return to action after more than two weeks with a sore arm.
THREE EXTRA-BASERS
But Sinovic is too good a ball player to let a slump tie him in knots for long. The classy centre-fielder busted out all over leading the winners’ 11-hit attack on five Tacoma pitchers with four-for-four, his output including two doubles and a triple.
Gordie Brunswick took up the slask left by Ritchey’s rest—Reno Cheso replaced him behind the plate—the young infielder-outfielder slapping out a double and three singles in five tries.
McGUIRE SLUGS TOO
Bob McGuire provided whatever other punch was needed for Nicholas to coast to his 10th win against six losses, coming through with a bases-loaded double good for three runs.
CUFF NOTES—The win left Vancouver with a 3-1 advantage in the series with Tacoma. . . The Brownies repair to Victoria for a three-game series with the Athletics, the same two teams returning here Monday for four more. . . Pete Hernandez is down to pitch the Victoria opener tonight.
Tacoma .......... 000 004 000— 4 10 1
Vancouver ...... 102 060 40x—13 11 1
Kipp, Mishasek (5), Schulte (6), Clark (7), Brillheart (8) and Lundberg; Nicholas and Cheso.

YAKIMA, July 19—The Spokane Indians salvaged a victory from their series with the celler-dweling Yakima Bears on Thursday night. Ken Richardson's two doubles were the big blows in Spokane's 5-1 truimph but the busiest man on the field was Ed Murphy, the Indians outfielder.
Murphy laced out four hits in five appearances, stole three bases and accounted for seven put-outs and one assist.
Spokane .......... 010 030 001—5 13 1
Yakima ............ 000 000 010—1 7 0
Bishop and Sheets; Boemler, Anderson (5), Savarese (8) and Tiesiera.

SALEM, July 19—Bill Bevens pitched his 14th victory of the season Thursday night as the Salem Senators downed Tri-City, 10-2, to sweep a three-game Western International baseball league series.
Bevens let the Braves down with eight well-scattered hits.
Jack Brewer started on the Tri-City hill but after being found for four hits and three runs, Buzz Berriesford took over before the first inning was finished, But a five-run fourth inning derrlcked the young rookie. The Senators scored those five on four walks as Berriesford lost his control, an error and a line drive by shortstop Richie Meyers.
Dick Stone, who then walked to the mound, became the third Tri-City hurler. . .Stone finished the game giving up two runs over the four and one-third inning distance.
Both of Tri-City's runs were unearned. Clint Cameron, back in the cleanup batting position, led the Braves at the plate with a single and a double.
Bill Spaeter, Salem outfielder, lead their offense by driving in three runs on a double and a single in five trips to the plate.
Friday is "Husband's Night" at Sanders Field. The woman buys the tickets paying full price for her own, but only the tax on her husband's, or boy friends, as the case may be.
Tri-City ........ 001 000 001— 2 8 1
Salem .......... 300 511 00x—10 13 2
Brewer, Beriesford (1), Stone (4) and Pesut; Bevens and McKeegan.

VICTORIA [Colonist, July 20]—Victoria Athletics continued in their hitting slump last night and made it very easy for Tom Breisinger and the Wenatchee Chiefs to register a 7-2 win at Royal Athletic Park.
CAPS HERE TONIGHT
The victory, second in a row for the Chiefs, squared the four game series. Vancouver’s leading Capilanos move in tonight for three games with John Tierney slated to start for the A’s. Pete Hernandez looms as the possible Vancouver choice although there is a chance that Bud Beasley, the eccentric southpaw is almost as good as he is entertaining, will get the starting assignment.
First baseman Hal Jackson did his best in his first starting assignment to give the A’s a series win but with bad support in the early innings and his teammates’ inability to do much with Breisinger prevented him from cashing in on a creditable job.
STAYS IN GAME
Started mainly because the Chiefs are overloaded with left-handed hitters, Jackson was touched for 12 hits, but all of them were singles. He stayed in the game until the ninth inning, when he tired and the visitors iced it with a three-run rally.
A bad throw by Shortstop Jim Clark on a double steal gave Wenatchee one of its two runs in the fourth inning. Catcher Milt Martin’s error on a force play at the plate gave the Chiefs two more unearned runs and a 4-0 lead in the seventh.
SMITH STOPS RALLY
The A’s, helped by an error, got back into contention in the eighth when they scored their only runs, but three hits and two walks to open the ninth sent in two runs and left the bases loaded for Ron Smith. The relief pitcher got out neatly, forcing Len Neal to hit into a double play and whiffing Breisinger, but it was too late.
On the bright side was the showing of Clark on the bases and at the plate. The little infielder singled twide against a tough lefthander and flashed some of the speed the A’s have lacked.
Defensively, the plays of the game were turned in by Don Pries, with a leaping snatch of Neal’s terrific liner, and Martin, with a diving catch of a low pop foul.
Wenatchee ....... 000 200 203—7 12 2
Victoria ............ 000 000 020—2 1 3
Breisinger and Neal; Jackson, Smith (9) and Martin.

NO PRO BALL FOR EDMONTON
—John Ducey Says
EDMONTON, July 20—(CP)—John Ducey, Edmonton's top baseball executive, said Thursday Calgary “can’t have Western International League baseball without Edmonton in the picture.”
Ducey intimated Edmonton is not interested in lining up with the class “B” professional league at the west coast.
He was commenting on reports that Calgary may be on the verge of taking up the Tacoma franchise in the W.I.L.
Ducey said Calgary wouldn’t be able to make a go of it without Edmonton because “the distances are too great for the coast teams to be coming into Alberta just to play in Calgary.”
“If they (W.I.L.) weren’t in trouble they wouldn't be looking up our way,” Ducey said. “We're not interested without normal commitments. We don't have to go out of our way to get into an organized league.
“We won't be buying any (W.I.L.) franchise.”
Rather than the coast, Ducey said he feels the first move by Calgary and Edmonton into organized baseball should be to the south—as a section of the Pioneer League with the principal Montana cities.

Outfielder, Pitcher Bought by A’s for Playoff Drive
[Colonist, July 20, 1951]
Determined to finish in the first division if at all possible and attempting to find more speed and pitching, Victoria Athletics yesterday purchased a pitcher and an outfielder from Klamath Falls of the Far West League.
HERE TOMORROW
The new players will report to the club tomorrow and will probably see action almost immediately. Their arrival and the arrival next week of pitcher Bill Carr will mean three of the players currently on the roster will have to be sold, traded or released. Just who the trio will be will probably be determined tomorrow before the club embarks on another road trip.
The new Athletics are southpaw Ben Lorino and Ben Jaffey, an outsider who swings from the first-base side. They were procured through the co-operation of Don McShane, scout of the Philadelphia Phillies, who own the Klamath Falls club.
GET SCOUT’S APPROVAL
McShane explained he had recently signed some young players for the Klamath Falls club and that they were blocked from playing regularly by the presence of Jaffey and Lorino on the Klamath Falls roster. McShane believes that Lorino will win in the W.I.L. and states that Jaffey, only 22 years of age, has prospects of becoming a good player for the A’s.
No information was available last night on Lorino’s previous baseball record but it was reported that he had a 7-2 rating this season.
RECORD GOOD
Jaffey was hitting .330, had batted in 78 runs and was leading the league in home runs at the time of his purchase. He played with Klamath Falls last season and although he batted only .269, his record showed 93 runs batted in, 25 doubles, five triples and 12 home runs among his base hits, 29 stolen bases, 109 bases on balls and 66 strikeouts.
Reg Patterson, business manager of the Victoria club, was particularly intrigued by Jaffey’s 29 stolen bases and the fact that he swings lefthanded. The A’s had only Hal Jackson batting from the port side among the regulars and little speed on the club until shorstop Jim Clark reported. Clark, incidentally, has made a good impression in the two two games he has played and looks as if he will be around for some time.
LOSE OUT ON BENTON
At the same time, it was learned that the A’s had failed in their bid for Al Benton, former star relief pitcher of the Detroit Tigers. The big veteran, released earlier this week by Sacramento, has caught on with San Diego and pitching in relief for the Padres last night.


ON THE INSIDE
By DON BECKER, Herald Sports Editor [from July 20, 1951]
Floyd Bill Bevens who once stood on the threshold of immortal baseball fame by virtue of an almost no-hitter in a World Series, and who is currently pitching with Salem in this league, is the subject of an article in this week's issue of Collier’s. Tom Meany, a former sports writer but now an associate editor of the magazine, authored the story following a personal trip to Salem.
Naturally the highlight of the story is how Cookie Lavagetto slammed a double after two were out in the ninth, inning to beat Bevens. Following that historic game in Oct. 1947, Bevens never again started a game for the Yankees.
One of the highlights of Meany’s story tells of the desperate measures Bevens took to bring his “dead” arm back to life. It included a trip to the doctor who first game Bevens a slug of novocain, followed by saline solution shots. “Now try your arm,” said the medico. “Well,” said Bevens, “my arm really felt good. I dashed into the clubhouse and just as I was peeling off my jacket, the effects of the novocain wore off. Brother, did I have a sore arm then.”
It’s a story well worth reading if you're a sports fan. . . and more particularly if you follow baseball at all.
HELP WHEN HE NEEDED IT
Coming right down to cases you have a good example on the Tri-City Braves. Early in the season the pressure was really on Manager Charlie Petersen to drop Bob Costello from the pitching staff. However, Petersen shook off the opposition and stuck firmly by his decision to keep Costello, To say that Bob achieved his fine record this year as a result of Petersen’s faith in him wouldn't be doing justice to the bespectacled speedball whiz. Yet, it's reasonable to believe that his manager’s faith must have instilled a lot of confidence in Cos’. . . and when he needed it most.
JOTS AND DOTS ... HERE AND THERE
Some insiders are whispering that Frank Gillihan’s trip to Canada to peddle the Tacoma WIL franchise was done more to prod along the Tacomans than anything else.