Spokane ..... 80 42 .656 —
Vancouver ... 78 45 .634 2½
Salem ....... 64 58 .525 16
Wenatchee ... 68 63 .479 21½
Victoria .... 58 69 .448 25½
Tri-City .... 53 71 .427 28
Tacoma ...... 52 70 .426 28
Yakima ...... 50 73 .410 30½
SPOKANE, August 16—Spokane Indians gained back the game they lost Wednesday in their first-place battle with Vancouver by scoring eight runs in the third inning to defeat Tacoma Tigers 8-2.
Steve Mesner's double and Jim Brown's triple highlighted the big inning. The Tigers got but four hits off Dick Bishop.
The Spokane win snapped Tacoma's six-game winning streak and provided Bishop with his 14th mound victory.
Spokane .... 008 000 000—8-10-0
Tacoma ..... 002 010 001—4- 4-3
Bishop and Sheets; Kipp, Knezovich (3) and Lundberg.
SALEM [Vancouver News Herald, August 17, 1951]—Vancouver Capilanos come home tonight with a new injury, a loss and still some distance to catch up on the leading Spokane Indians.
The Caps lost Thursday night in Salem to big Bill Bevans 6-5 in 10 innings, thereby losing another game in their hunt for the WIL baseball lead. But that was just a minor item.
The injuries are still popping up. Latest to fall victim to the bugaboo which seems to insist on playing patsy with the Caps is John Ritchey, the league’s leading hitter.
John was hit in the groin with a foul tip Wednesday night. At the time, it wasn’t thought to be series, but John had to be benched last night when soreness developed.
How long he will be out won’t be known until he is examined today.
The Caps play Victoria tonight at Cap Stadium, the opening of a week-long stand which also sees them play the A’s twice Saturday night. Either Vernon Kindsfather or Sandy Robertson will pitch for the Caps.
Last night Caps collected 13 hits off ex-New York Yankee great Bill Bevans but he kep them fairly well scattered. George Nicholas started for Vancouver, gave way to Bob McLean in the fifth, who gave way to Carl Gunnarson without getting a man out.
Gunnarson was charged with the loss.
- - -
Bevens won his own game when he singled in a run to break a 5-5 deadlock after Jim McKeegan doubled with two out in the tenth.
The win was Bevens’ 19th of the season.
Vancouver opened its scoring in the second inning with a run on a walk, a stolen base by Charlie Mead and a single by Jim Moore. It added two on three hits in the sixth and two more on three hits in the seventh.
Gunnarson replaced McLean after walking two Salem batters in the sixth, and held Salem scoreless until the end of the game.
A crowd of 1,754 was on hand leaving Salem only 188 paid customers short of the 100,000 mark.
Vancouver .... 010 002 200 0—5-13-2
Salem ........... 002 210 000 1—6-11-3
Nicholas, McLean (6), Gunnarson (6) and Cheso; Bevens and McKeegan.
WENATCHEE [Victoria Colonist, Aug. 17]—Victoria Athletics, complete with a catcher for the first time in five games, got back in the battle for a W.I.L. playoff berth at Wenatchee last night by edging the Chiefs, 7-6.
The win gave the A’s the important series, 2-1, and left them four games out of the first division. Ben Lorino got credit for his third win, balancing his season’s record at Victoria, but he had to have help from Jim Propst to save the day. Propst came on with the tying run on third base and two out and forced the dangerous Will Hafey to ground to shortstop Jim Clark for the game-ending out.
In action for the first time in the W.I.L. was Rocco Cardinale, the new Victoria catcher, courtesy of Stockton’s California State League entry. Cardinale failed to hit in four trips and was charged with two errors but had just completed a bus trip from Portland.
LORINO HELPS SELF
Lorino, tagged with 12 hits, helped himself at the plate, singling in two runs in the sixth and later scoring the winning run on Don Pries’ single. Losing pitcher was Tom Breisinger, an old Victoria nemesis.
Pries, well out of his batting slump, and Bill White paced the A’s offensively with three hits each. White returned to right field with Ben Jeffey moving in to take over at first base for Hal Jackson.
Victoria ....... 003 013 000—7-12-2
Wenatchee .. 200 001 102—6-12-1
Lorino, Propst (9) and Cardinale; Breisinger and Roberson.
KENNEWICK, [Tri-City Herald, Aug. 17]—The veteran hurler Lou McCollum accomplished two important things last night, First he halted the Yakima Bears 5-3 to salvage the final contest in the three-game series and secondly he became the first Tri-City Brave hurler to win more than 10 games. McCollum's decision gave him a total of 11 victories for the sason. Thus, the lanky right hander has beaten Yakima every time he has faced them here.
And it was a tough one for Larry Powell of Yakima to lose. Of the five runs the Braves scored, only one was charged to the Bear southpaw. The other four were the direct result of the three bobbles his teammates made behind him.
Tonight Tri-City leaves for a weekend series in Spokane and will return home Tuesday for a pair of games against the Spokes before hitting the road again for another week.
The two bat boys of the Braves will also make the trip to Spokane with the baseball team.
The two boys are Jackie Dale Lee and Dennis Allen Garrett.
They will take the place of the visiting bat boys during the entire Spokane series.
Tri-City's single earned run came in the first inning when Vic Buccola walked, moved to third on Buddy Peterson's single and crossed the plate when Clint Cameron slapped a one baser into left field.
The Braves really iced the game in the fifth when the Bears kicked it away. Bill Edelstein started it off with a free pass. McCollum laid down a sacrifice bunt and was safe at first when Bear catcher will Tiesiera threw the ball into right field, Al Spaeter followed with a single that scored Edelstein. Buccola then rapped a sharp one to Al Jacinto at second, but Jacinto threw wildly to the keystone in an attempt to get Spaeter and McCollum scored. Peterson followed with an infield roller to the shortstop and Spaeter scored. Cameron then went out second to first to end the inning.
Bill Andring paced the Bear attack with a double and a triple. After slamming his two-baser in the first he scored on Jacinto's single. He also scored after tripling in the seventh.
Last right's crowd of 401 was the smallest in the two-year history of the park. The previously reported smallest attendance was 444.
Boy Scouts from Tri-City troops presented a colorful flag raising ceremony in pre-game ceremonies which was followed by the pledge of allegiance to the flag. The Scouts trooped to the center field flag pole carryingtheir troop insignia and American flags.
Yakima ...... 100 001 100—3-13-3
Tri-City ..... 100 030 01x—5- 6-0
Powell and Tiesiera; McCollum and Pesut.
WESTERN INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE(Including games of Wednesday, Aug. 15)
AB H RBI Ave
Ritchey, Van ....... 385 138 70 .359
Sinovic, Van ....... 471 156 97 .352
Chorlton, Tac ...... 291 99 34 .340
Baxes, Yak ......... 450 132 57 .338
Richardson, Spo .... 364 120 82 .330
Peterson, T-C ...... 418 137 68 .328
IT BEATS ME
By Jim Tang [from the Victoria Colonist, Aug. 17, 1951]
What with the B.C. government not tolerating opposition of any kind in the gambling business, the Victoria Baseball and Athletic Co. Ltd. suddenly finds itself in a dilemma. Instead of an expect profit, which was to have been used for the thoroughly laudable purpose of paying off indebtedness incurred during the previous two seasons, the club finds itself with an unexpected and unwelcome expense item and the problem of returning the money to those who purchased a membership for the dual purpose of helping the A’s and getting a chance to win a brand-new auto.
Just what to do is something that is puzzling club officials at the moment. Many fans who are openly resentful of government action have phoned to state they are not interested in getting their money back. Few are worried over the dollar they spent but some method must have been devised so that all who purchased tickets can have their money refunded or get value received in some other manner.
Approximately 3,000 tickets have been sold and it will cost the club over $700 if 3,000 refunds are made. With most baseball fans feeling the way they do, there could be an alternative.
As a suggestion, another special night, which would well be called “Fan Depreciation Night” could be held on the final night of the season. Gate prizes could be given away as is the case each season on “Fan Appreciation Night” and all who purchased tickets on the car would be entitled to attend the game without further charge. In any event, almost everyone would get value received and the club may manage to break even on the deal.
As a final thought, what kind of reasoning makes it legal to gamble at a race track after paying admission for the privilege of losing money, a crime to bet off-track, and illegal to conduct an honest lottery. It must be that 21 per cent rake-off.
Random Harvest
For those who have been critical, Art Thrasher was not the property of the A’s and was subject to recall. When Sacramento was left without a catcher, it was only natural that Thrasher would be recalled . . . Tacoma must feel the same way Victoria did last season when Seattle Rainiers recalled K Chorlton and kept him on the bench. This time, Chorlton goes to rival Vancouver . . . Bill Prior will fly to Vancouver this morning to be with the A’s for the three-game series against the Capilanos. He will also get a chance to be a home-game pitcher next year—if there is a next year . . . If the present ownership can start another W.I.L. season in Victoria, it could do worse than offer Bob Sturgeon a chance to start the 1951 season as manager.
Just what to do is something that is puzzling club officials at the moment. Many fans who are openly resentful of government action have phoned to state they are not interested in getting their money back. Few are worried over the dollar they spent but some method must have been devised so that all who purchased tickets can have their money refunded or get value received in some other manner.
Approximately 3,000 tickets have been sold and it will cost the club over $700 if 3,000 refunds are made. With most baseball fans feeling the way they do, there could be an alternative.
As a suggestion, another special night, which would well be called “Fan Depreciation Night” could be held on the final night of the season. Gate prizes could be given away as is the case each season on “Fan Appreciation Night” and all who purchased tickets on the car would be entitled to attend the game without further charge. In any event, almost everyone would get value received and the club may manage to break even on the deal.
As a final thought, what kind of reasoning makes it legal to gamble at a race track after paying admission for the privilege of losing money, a crime to bet off-track, and illegal to conduct an honest lottery. It must be that 21 per cent rake-off.
Random Harvest
For those who have been critical, Art Thrasher was not the property of the A’s and was subject to recall. When Sacramento was left without a catcher, it was only natural that Thrasher would be recalled . . . Tacoma must feel the same way Victoria did last season when Seattle Rainiers recalled K Chorlton and kept him on the bench. This time, Chorlton goes to rival Vancouver . . . Bill Prior will fly to Vancouver this morning to be with the A’s for the three-game series against the Capilanos. He will also get a chance to be a home-game pitcher next year—if there is a next year . . . If the present ownership can start another W.I.L. season in Victoria, it could do worse than offer Bob Sturgeon a chance to start the 1951 season as manager.
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