Bob Sturgeon

SURPRISING LAST STOP
Athletics Boss Has Confidence
By DAN EKMAN [Vancouver Sun, July 25, 1951]
When you’ve been 14 years in baseball, the hard, uncompromising code of the business is something you’ve come to accept and live with.
You know your years are few, that even the “fixtures” really don’t last long. When you’re fighting your way up from the deep bush, time is on your side; but even when you make it to the majors, you know that younger ball players, fast and hard-hitting, are ready to take your job.
Sooner of later, someone does. And when you start the long slide back to the bushes, you neither ask for nor expect any favors. You simply figure to play out the string and call it a career.
And that’s exactly how it was on June the fourth with Bobby Sturgeon. As a handsome, almost boyish-looking 31, he was an old man in baseball who’d reported to the Victoria Athletics, mostly to fill out a half-finished season; full-time work in the radio-television sales field back home in Long Beach, California, looked like his next stop.
But three weeks later things suddenly began to happen. With the A’s just half a game out of the Western International League basement, and with slumping crowds forcing them to the financial wall, the front office decided on drastic changes. They fired manager Dick Barrett and named “old man” Sturgeon to take his place. Bobby’s still recovering from the shock.
• • •
But the rigors of convalescence apparently haven’t marred his baseball wisdom. Since he took over on June 25, the A’s have staged at least a mild comeback, winning 16 of their 31 starts and getting into sixth place. If they can continue to play .500 ball on the tour [unreadable] which started here last night, Sturgeon believes they have a good chance to make the first division.
Nobody in Victoria has the articulate, candid Californian whether he’ll be back next year, but he’s grateful even for this stopgap appointment.
“I’d always hope to wind up as a manager,” he confesses, “and I guess that hope was all that kept me in the game these last few years.”
• • •
“But boy, never expected it to happen in Victoria! I was sure this was a routine job that I didn’t even bring my wife and young son along. I wish now that I had, because quite frankly I like the feeling of being a manager, and I’d like them to share in it.”
Sturgeon’s three-year Navy hitch was the only interruption to a baseball career which started back in 1937. He was a stripling 16-year-old when he reported to Albuquerque of the Arizona-Texas League, but he hit a man-sized .335. That average was good enough to send him to Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League and thereafter he moved up quickly through Columbus of the American Association and Jersey City of the International League.
• • •
In 1941, he made it with the Chicago Cubs and stayed through 1947. “I was never a star, or anything close to it, in the majors,” he’ll tell you matter-of-factly. “But I did have a good year with Chicago in 1946, when I hit .296.”
There are more desirable talks of management than coming in cold to take over a seventh-plate club. But Sturgeon has no complaints; in fact, he’s “very, very pleased.
“I’ve got a fine bunch of fellows,” he says. “Many of them are almost my own age, but they’re all willing to learn, and they’ve shown me every courtesy. I couldn’t ask for more.”
• • •
His theories on management? “Well, the longer you’re in baseball the more you learn, but common sense is still your best guide. I believe in percentage baseball, and I also think you must let your players know you have confidence in them.
“One more thing—I think hustle makes up for a lot of deficiencies. I know I always worked hard at playing baseball, and it paid off for me. I feel sure it’s going to pay off for our club this year, too.”

Kewpie Dick Fired

Athletics Fire Barrett; Sturgeon New Manager
By JIM TANG [Victoria Colonist, June 26, 1951]
In a sudden if not unexpected move, Victoria Athletics yesterday morning removed Dick Barrett as manager and replaced him with Bob Sturgeon, former major and Coast League infielder who joined the club June 8.
The decision was made Sunday night when club directors were polled individually at the request of Club president J.V. Johnson, who was attending the W.I.L. meeting at Spokane. Directors voted unanimously for the change.
It has been felt before this that the managerial situation would be discussed at a meeting of directors yesterday afternoon and those close to the club were certain that Barrett would be asked to resign. Johnson’s move from Spokane was unexpected and, although he refuses to discuss the reason, it is reported it was prompted by with other club owners at the league meeting.
TWO MONTH TRY
Barrett was removed after a two-month tenure in his first try at managing. He left the club with a 26-40 record and only a half-game out of the basement. While the club did not perform up to expectations for the former Coast League star, there were other circumstances which helped bring about his dismissal.
Chief of these was probably his failure to get into shape to fulfill his obligation as a playing manager. A popular performer in his playing days, Barrett also failed to win fan support and his impromptu talk to the paying customers last week when a good crowd turned out to honor Lilio Marcucci was a big factor. Directors felt that at least part of the drop in attendance was the fault of their manager.
SIXTH IN SIX YEARS
Sturgeon, who could turn out to be an excellent choice, becomes the sixth manager of the A’s in the six years of existence and the third to take over in mid-season. Laurel Harney was replaced by Ted Norbert after a few weeks of the 1946 season, and was in return replaced by Earl Bolyard mid-way through the 1948 season. Marty Krug was at the helm last season.

IT BEATS ME

By JIM TANG [Colonist, June 26]
Replacement of Dick Barrett as manager of the Victoria Athletics yesterday highlights the singular lack of success enjoyed (?) by the Victoria Baseball and Athletic Co. Ltd. in its choice of field leadership.
Barrett became the fifth manager in six seasons when he was signed last year. Although results are not in yet on the sixth, only Ted Norbert proved to be at least close to a success and his firing, dictated by the New York Yankees, may have been a mistake. The big fellow didn’t win any pennants but he was at least the most personally popular field manager the club has had up to Bob Sturgeon. Many fans have been clamouring for his return since early season.
Just why the A’s shouldn’t do better at selecting their managers is a matter for conjecture and there has been plenty of that. Business manager Reg Patterson has been roundly blamed in many quarters but it should be pointed out that he could no reason to think that Marty Krug was to run into fan resistance or that Barrett wouldn’t fill the bill. Both had good baseball background and both came highly recommended.
It should be said in Patterson’s defence here that whatever mistakes can be attributed to him, he has not interfered with management of the club on the field, reports to the contrary notwithstanding. In fact, the reverse has been sometimes true.
Letting Barrett go was a tough decision. The club is in financial difficulties and a change is going to cost money. But after considerable thought, the directors believed it would cost them more if they didn’t make the change.
A popular and colorful figure as a player, Barrett could not win over the fans as a manager. They felt that the A’s were a better club than their record indicated and they blamed the manager. There was considerable resentment at Barrett’s failure to be a playing manager and considerable criticism of his handling of pitchers. Rightly or wrongly, many customers believe that more could have been done with John Marshall, who reported badly out of condition and remained that way until the day the club grabbed at the chance to get their investment back.
There had been thought of a change for the past two weeks. The club thought of bringing in another playing manager and gave some consideration to bringing back Norbert. However, in Sturgeon they had a player with the necessary experience and a fellow who made a fine impression with his attitude on a losing club. With the full support of the players and the fans, Sturgeon can prove the right answer.
Random Harvest
Art Thrasher, the A’s new catcher, will join the club today or tomorrow. He will be a welcome addition, but will have quite a fight on his hands to unseat Milt Martin, who has filled in nobly since Lilio Marcucci left. Including last night’s game, the husky youngster has batted .370 in his role as first-stringer and his receiving has improved with his batting average. . . . John Nenezich, no favorite of Victoria fans, is now umpiring in the Coast League . . . Jim Moore, second baseman of the A’s last season, saw his first action with Vancouver Capilanos on Sunday.

Monday, June 4, 1951

               W  L  PCT GB
Vancouver ... 33 12 .733 —
Spokane ..... 30 17 .638 4
Salem ....... 21 23 .477 11½
Yakima ...... 19 24 .442 13
Tri-City .... 18 24 .429 13½
Wenatchee ... 20 27 .426 14
Victoria .... 19 26 .422 14
Tacoma ...... 19 26 .422 14

VANCOUVER, B.C., June 4—Both pitchers hit homers here Monday night as Tri-City Braves trod on the toes of the Western International league leading Vancouver Capilanos, 11-4. The victory gave the Braves a 2-2 split on the series.
Cy Greenlaw gave up 11 hits to Vancouver but never allowed more than two in an inning. He whacked two homers and a single to drive in four runs. Vic Buccola smashed another round-tripper for Tri-City.
Tri-City combed three Vancouver pitchers for 16 hits, eight of them off the starter and loser, Pete Hernandez. Hernandez homered for Vancouver in the fourth with a mate on.
- - - -
VANCOUVER, B. C., June 5 [Herald] — Cy Greenlaw cranked up his aging arm here Monday night and baffled the league leaders of the Western International league 11 to 4 to earn a split in the series.
But he made no mistake about the victory. . .Cy also slammed two over the fence, each time with a man on base.
Not that creaking Cy showed the Caps a blazing fast ball. He didn't. In all, the Caps got to him for 11 hits. But apart from a home run by pitcher Pete Harnandez the other Cap blows were of the one base variety and well spaced.
At bat Greenlaw really shone. He hit two home runs and a single and batted in four runs. The sage who suggested pitchers are weak with the willow obviously never heard of Mr. Greenlaw. When Greenlaw wasn't pounding three Cap pitchers to bits' the rest of the Tri-City Braves were.
They accounted for 13 hits including a home run by Vic Buccola his seventh, and doubles by Neil Bryant and Buccola. Considerable support was given Greenlaw in the field, third baseman Sam Kanelos in particular made two neat plays and Buccola and Artie Wilson chipped in with others which helped old grandad, past the rough spots.
On the Caps side of the ledger only Dick Sinovic was his usual larruping self. He notched three hits in four tries and added a run-batter in to his league leading total. Hernandez started for the Caps but an ailing wing and lack of cooperation from the Tri-City hurler sent him shower-wards after five innings.
In his place came Jim Olsen, the 240-pound right hander, the Caps purchased from Tri-City. The Braves took one look at Olsen and greeted him like a lost millionaire uncle. He stayed around two and two-thirds innings and was reached for seven hits and six runs.
He might have fared better had he not pitched a half hour of pre-game batting practice.
Tri-City ....... 001 403 030—11 16 0
Vancouver ... 011 200 000— 4 11 2
Greenlaw and Pesut; Hernandez, Olsen (6), King (7) and Ritchie.

VICTORIA, B.C., June 4—Victoria Athletics took the series finale from Wenatchee Chiefs here Monday night, winning 7-3 behind the steady pitching of Bill Osborn. Victoria won the series 3-1.
Osborn scattered 10 hits effectively running into trouble only in the fifth and sixth innings when the Chiefs picked up six of their hits and all of their runs.
A 2-2 tie was broken in the sixth when Bill White's pop fly behind short fell for a hit with two put and runners on second and third.
The A's put together a walk, three singles and a wild pitch for three more runs in the eighth. White and catcher Milt Martin led the 12-hit Victoria attack on Mike Kanshin, each getting three hits.
Wenatchee .... 000 021 000—3 10 0
Victoria ......... 020 002 03x—7 12 1
Kanshin and Neal; Osborn and Martin.

A’s Sign Bob Sturgeon As Infield Reinforcement
[Victoria Colonist, June 5, 1951]
Victoria Athletics yesterday announced they had come to terms with Bob Sturgeon, former major and Coast League infielder, and they expect Sturgeon will be in the line-up tonight when Tri-City Braves open a two-game series.
Sturgeon will likely be installed at shortstop immediately with Gene Thompson moving back to the outfield. When shortstop Bill Dunn gets back in action some time next week, Sturgeon will move to third base with Lilio Marcucci returning to his usual post behind the plate.
Acquisition of Sturgeon was a surprise even to business manager Reg Patterson, who was searching everywhere for a needed infielder. Released by Los Angeles last week, Sturgeon phoned Patterson Sunday night to say he was available and terms were agreed to at once,
Although he never hit in the higher brackets in major or Coast League baseball, Sturgeon should find W.I.L. pitching much easier. Defensively, he is highly rated and is doubly valuable because he can do—and has done—a workmanlike job at third and second bases and shortstop, his regular position.
Sturgeon’s best season was in 1946, when he hit .296 in 100 games for the Chicago Clubs—72 at shortstop and 21 at second base. He played three infield positions for the Cubs in 1947, appearing in 87 games and batting .254. He was with the Boston Braves in 1948 and came to Seattle in 1949. The Rainiers traded him to Los Angeles for Bill Schuster and he wound up that season with a .272 batting average in 152 games—73 with Seattle and 79 with Los Angeles. He got into 100 games for the Angels last season.
Sturgeon becomes the second new player to join the A’s this week. Outfielder Orrin Snyder reported yesterday and was in left field for last night’s game against Wenatchee. He hit a single and drew a walk in four trips. Just which of the four outfielders will be in the dugout tonight if Sturgeon plays will be up to Dick Barrett.
Barrett, incidentally, may soon have more problems of a similar nature. The A’s are determined to find talent which will bring the club up in the race and a second infield addition is possible in the near future with Portland promising to option a player if he can be signed. A trade is also a possibility with the A’s in position to offer a “package” for the right type of player.

Marcucci Replaces Buccola As WIL Batting Leader
TACOMA, June 5—Lilio Marcucci, slugging Victoria catcher-infielder, has replaced Tri-City's Vic Buccola as the Western International league batting leader, it was revealed today in statistics released by the office of Robert B. Abel, W-I president.
Marcucci collected 15 hits in 34 times at bat last week to hoist his average 17 points to .374. Buccola, meanwhile, was the victim of a 5rfor-3-0 week and he dropped 45 points to .355 and fourth place behind Victoria's Don Pries-at .363 and Vancouver's Dick Sinovic at .359.
Slnovic surrendered the runs-batted-in lead to a teammate Reno Cheso, who has belted. 43 tallies across to Sinovic's 41. Jim Wert and Ken Richardson of Spokane are third with 36 apiece.
Bill White of Victoria remains the home run leader with seven, while Buccola has six. Tied for third with five apiece are Marcucci, Will Hafey of Wenatchee, Jerry Zuvela of Yakima and Ed Nulty of Spokane.
The leaders: Western International league batting. (Includes games of Sunday, June 3, for all players except pitchers batting less than .200).
                     G  AB H RBI HR Avg.
Marcucci, Vic ..... 42 163 61 29 5 .374
Pries, Vic ........ 43 160 58 20 2 .363
Sinovic, Van ...... 43 170 61 41 3 .359
Buccola, T-C ...... 41 155 55 26 6 .355
Vanni, Spok ....... 47 209 74 20 1 .354
Palmer, Wen ....... 33 122 43 21 0 .353
Moran, Tac ........ 45 182 64 35 1 .352
Zuvela, Yak ....... 39 161 56 30 5 .348
Mead, Van ......... 30 102 35 15 3 .343
Len Neal, Wen ..... 44 155 53 15 2 .342

ON THE INSIDE
By DON BECKER, Herald Sports Editor [from June 5/51]

VANCOUVER, BC.—It was quite a home coming for Bob Costello here Friday night. Not only did he win his first ball game but he also got his first base hits of the season . . . two of them at that. Long, lean, and lanky Cos got a terrific hand the first time he came to bat, and to the surprise of no ono was promptly fanned by Carl Gunnarson. But the next time up he laced one over the first baseman's head for a single and followed that with another single over second base his third time up. . . after that the Cap fans weren't very enthuastic about Cos.
This was our first look at the Capilano stadium and if if you've never seen it you won't have the chance to see another like it after the 15th of this month, when they move to the new one. They say it's 275 feet to the right field wall and 330 to the left. Before we leave we're going to pace them both off because it certainly looks a lot shorter than that both ways. Well, here's an idea of how short the right field fence is. The fielder out there plays so close in that it isn't unusual for a batter to be thrown out at first on what in other parks would be a single. They say that one fellow was thrown out four successive times.
THEY LOOK A LOT DIFFERENT
This certainly isn't the same Braves team we saw leave the Tri-Cities. Now they have three third baseman with the arrival of Sam Kanelos. Kanelos is on third, Artie Wilson in left and Neil Bryant in right field. Mel Reeves was turned back to San Jose. Charlie Petersen took a $300 look and decided Reeves wouldn't do following
the Wenatchee series. He was highly touted by the Cardinals as being fleet afoot and murderous with the bat. And that may have well been the case in the Class "C" California State league but Reeves wasn't able to hit those curves he saw in the WIL.
One old face turned up in an unfarrm:iar uniform here Friday night when we spotted Jim Olsen working with Vancouver. Jim is here with the Caps for a cup of coffee. Then if he shows he can help them he'll stick around. Vancouver is supposed to be weak on pitching but it's hard to find a Cap hurler with a losing record. However, Billy Schuster may be looking to the season ahead.
LOOKING FOR DEALS
Meanwhile Charlie Petersen is trying to finagle a deal for outfielders and pitchers if he can find any better than what he has. Naturally he'd like to land Dick Sinovic from Vancouver but they feel the same way about the fence busting outfielder . . . they want him too.
Another new face on the Tri-City club is that of Jack Brewer, a pitcher. Brewer throw batting practice Friday night and will probably first appear in the regular lineup as a reliefer. At least that's the indication from the skipper. Brewer wants to bring his arm around gradually after a two-week layoff. He hurt his arm a year ago and doesn't want a repeat.
THEY CAN HARDLY WAIT
Vancouver, and by that we mean the fans, are getting impatient for the opening for their new stadium. It's a miniature of Seattle's and cost in the neighborhood of a half million. Bob Brown is going to lift the sod from the old park and move it to the new one. That's rather interesting too, because Brown had that sod moved into the old park years and years ago. "For all I know that sod is older than I am," he said . . . and he's fast pushing 80.

Can He Field?
MONTGOMERY, Ala., June 4—Attention Boston.
The outfielder named Dick Greco that the Red Sox recently sold outright for a small sum has made Montgomery fans doubt Beantown businessmen's ability.
Sunday the 25-year-old. 220-pounder hit his 10th home run in 16 games. He has come to bat 82 times, driven in 27 runs and has a batting average of .370.
The South Atlantic league-leading Montgomery team has won 16 of its last 18 games—10 in a row. When Greco, formerly with Tacoma in the Western International league, arrived the club was in seventh place.