Tacoma 35 19 .649
Wenatchee 32 26 .552
Yakima 30 27 .526
Tri-City 30 29 .508
Salem 27 29 .482
Victoria 26 33 .441
Spokane 26 33 .441
Vancouver 23 33 .411
TACOMA, June 16—Orin (Babe) Hollingbery night in Tacoma was a huge success as far as the Tri-City Braves were concerned, with the Pasco-Kennewick-Richland entry knocking off the front-running Tacoma Tigers 8-4 in the opener of their Western International baseball league series here Friday night.
Some 1,500 fans braved threatening weather to honor the former Washington state college football coach who is now part owner of the Tri-City club, and a one-time WSC pitching great, Lou McCollum, contributed his bit to the occasion by shackeling the Tigers with four hits.
Principal victim of the Braves' 12-hit assault was Bob Kerrigan, Tacoma's erstwhile league-leading pitcher, who gave up seven bingles and six runs before being lifted for a pmch-hitter in the fifth. The Tri-City club finished up on Clint Hufford with two more in the seventh.
It was Kerrigan's second successive defeat after he had chalked up 10 straight wins.
Tri-City ........ 030 030 200—8 12 1
Tacoma ........ 020 000 002—4 4 3
McCollum and Pesut; Kerrigan, Hufford (6), Carter (9) and Fischer.
YAKIMA, June 16 — Lloyd Dickey scattered seven hits and his mates collected 14 off two Spokane pitchers as the Bears won the second game of a twin bill from the Tribe, 12-1, here Friday night. Yakima won the first game, 7-0, as Teddy Savarese scattered four hits and belted two doubles.
FIRST GAME
Spokane ......... 000 000 0—0 4 1
Yakima ........... 000 070 x—7 13 0
Holder and Courage; Savarese and Tornay.
SECOND GAME
Spokane .... 000 000 100—1 7 3
Yakima ..... 411 003 03x—12 14 0
Bishop, Neeley (4) and Rossi, Courage (2); Dickey and Tiesiera.
VANCOUVER, [Erwin M. Swangard, Province, June 17, 1950]—In the throes of adversity, Manager Bill Brenner of the Vancouver Capilanos called upon veteran George Nicholas Friday night, as the stocky little righthander responded magnificently for his seventh victory of the season.
As a result of George’s superlative effort—on the mound and at the plate—Caps face the hustling Chiefs twice more today with a fair to middling chance of pulling their five-game [Western] International Baseball League series out of the fire.
If Capilanos and their supporters ever needed a lift in morale, they needed it Friday night—and they got it.
NO TROUBLE
Nicholas, who pitched the lone perfect [sic] WIL game of the season not so long ago in Spokane at the U.S. city, was in command all the way.
Only twice did he appear in a little trouble and both times he took personal charge. After one run, the tying one, had scored in the sixth inning, George had two on and two out. He fielded Walt Pocekay’s smash to the box flawlessly to retire the side.
Bud Hjelmaa, one of the top hitters in the league but somewhat subdued in the current Vancouver stay, opened the ninth with a long single to the right field wall. George again took care of the situation. He picked up Gerry Ballard’s sharp grounder to initiate a lightening-fast double play.
ALSO BATTING
That much for George’s fielding. He allowed seven hits, which including only one extra base blow, a double by Sciarra. He struck out four and walked only three.
Offensively, he had two for four including a double in the seventh which scored the winning run. So far as Cap Stadium is concerned, Friday, June 16, 1950 [unreadable] can be known from now on as George Nicholas Day.
It was jst as well that Nick had another good day for Al Treichel, the tall Wenatchee righthander, was not in liberal mood either. Treichel gave up only seven hits, including that one double by Nicholas. He struck out three and walked five. Four of the walks however [unreadable] were instrumental in two Vancoiuver runs.
SLEEPY HOLLOW
The eighth could have been much more disastrous for Treichel. However, Charlie Mead was having a cheerful siesta near second base and got picked off in the most embarrassing fashion. The bases were loaded at the time with none out. Customers near third base are still blushing after listening to Manager Brenner’s rather colorful remarks as a very sheepish Mr. Mead trotted into the protection of the dugout.
Caps scored their first run in the most original manner. Reg Clarkson singled in the first inning, stole second, went to third on Catcher Pocekay’s bad throw to second and came home on a wild pitch.
Wenatchee tied the game in the sixth as Hank Sciarra tripled to left with one out and Treichel singled.
THE CLINCHER
Nicholas won his own game by doubling home Bob McLean in the seventh after the latter had reached base on Treichel’s error.
Like Thursday’s doiubleheader which they won 3-1 and 14-9, the Chiefs showed a lot of hustle Friday—hustle which robbed them of at least three normal base hits. The old college try paid off for Sciarra, Hjelmaa and Ballard. Len Tran, the second base wizard, was the fielding star for the Caps.
PS—At that Charlie Mead did a big job at bat, hitting three for four.
Wenatchee ........ 000 010 000—1 7 2
Vancouver ........ 100 000 12x—4 7 0
Treichel and Pocekay; Nicholas and Heisner, Brenner (8).
VICTORIA [Colonist, June 17]—Big John Marshall was sitting in the Athletics’ dressing room at Athletics Park last night, wiping the perspiration from his thinning locks after pitching Victoria to a 6-3 decision over Salem Senators.
John was happy in his sad sort of way for he had just hurled his eighth straight triumph , after dropping his first start of the season. Victoria had notched its third consecutive Western International League win and its 18th in 28 games and moved into a sixth-place tie with Spokane Indians.
“My arm was tired tonight,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything but flip that horsehide up to the plate.”
FANS COULDN’T SEE IT
If his arm was ailing, it wasn’t apparent to most of the 2,700 spectators who sat in on the routine contest. Marshall, who was thumbed out of Thursday’s game I the third inning, was wide of the plate often enough to give up five bases on balls and got himself into trouble on several occasions.
But that was like the Marshall the fans were accustomed to watching. For, when he found himself in difficulties he simply shifted that man-sized chaw a little further back in his left cheek and broke off his slider a little sharper to leave eight potential Salem runs stranded on the bath paths.
ALSO GETS HIT
To make his evening complete, the Bellingham righthander even contributed one of his rare base hits to join in the 13-hit Victoria assault off Starter John Burak and Gene valentine, who came on in the sixth after Burak bowed out for a pinch-hitter.
Gene Thompson, still hustling like a rookie, was the lone Athletic who failed to garner a safety. K. Chorlton hammered out three hits in four trips, including a double—Victoria’s only extra-base blow. Al Ronning, showing a livelier interest in his catching chores, was stroking the ball with authority and added three well-tagging singles in four appearances. The first one drove in Chorlton to break a 1-1 tie in the second frame, sending the Athletics in front to stay.
ADDED MORE RUNS
The A’s added single runs in the fourth and sixth inning and scored apair in the fifth while the Senators sent one runner across the plate in each of the fifth and seventh innings.
Don Alfano, the newest of the A’s, was covering a lot of acreage from his shortstop position last night. Although he made a wild toss to second based that set the stage for an unearned Salem run in the second inning, he contributed the fielding gem of the game in the seventh when he went deep behind second base to gather in Catcher Bill Beard’s hid for a single and forced Mel Wasley on a backhand flip to Jimmy Moore.
MISHASEK CHOSEN
Manager Marty Krug plans to send Joe Mishasek ton the mound this afternoon in an attempt to prolong the Athletics’ latest winning streak. In the evening contest, his choice will be either Lefty Jim Hedgecock or Warren Noyes.
Ad Liska, struggling to get his Senators back into winning ways, expects to give the pitching chores to Dick Waibel and Bill Osborn, with the former appearing in the daylight tilt.
Salem ......... 010 010 100—3 8 4
Victoria ...... 101 121 00x—6 13 2
Burak, Valentine (6) and Beard; Marshall and Ronning.
Alf Cottrell
[Vancouver Province, June 17, 1950]
As the Capilanos continue to limp along like a four-to-five shot at Lansdowne our thoughts, or what occasionally passes for thought, keep shooting back to spring training at Penticton.
When we were experting from that baseball base we blared that you could blame the dismal appearance of the club (and it was really dismal) on the Okanagan weather.
Between times, when the sun shone, we said that all the club needed was a couple of good hitters.
• • •
Well, the club went out and got that extra punch when it acquired Ray Tran and Dick Sinovic, two guys who assay four quarts of punch to the gallon. And instead of the club getting better it got worse.
The fact is that getting to the seat of the trouble is like digging up a weeping willow. Just when you think you are at the bottom of things, you find there are still 300 lineal yards of root to come out.
Anyone can see a number of things that are wrong. There is a serious shortage of arms in the outfield, for one thing. The ratio runs one in three. The willowy old pro, Charlie Mead, still packs that shotgun, whether he is heaving them from centre field or right. But when runners are making the big bend around third base Reg Clarkson and Dick Sinovic get about as much distance as a man sorting anvils.
• • •
It’s right to say some the boys aren’t hustling. It is always hard to hustle on a tail-ender. Yet it is equally true that a fellow loafing with a loser is a guy operating with sharp skates on very thin ice.
Jimmy Robinson is having his fielding lapses at third base. And his shell pink ears catch coarse cannonades of boos. Robby, when he has a [unreadable] night at bat, looks twice as bad because of habitual nonchalance. Yet he can play for my club any day. He can hit, in this league anyway. He can outrun a Boston bull pup with a bell tied to its tail. And behind the scenes he hustles his infield mates, and pitchers toward the right station on the and the correct play.
• • •
I’m that way about Clarkson, too, because he can hit and because he hates to lose. Yet some of his recent baserunning reminds you of Babe Herman. Especially of the tale when someone asked Rogers Hornsby, “Is this play possible? The home team is leading 2-1, two out in the ninth, Babe Herman on first.” And Hornsby interjected, “Hold it! With Herman on first, anything is possible.”
The way it is with the Caps, you plug one rathole and the rodent jumps out of another. No wonder manager Bill Brenner, a man endowed with monumental charm and a generous measure of courage, looks puzzled. He is like the apartment dweller who has just won a calf in a raffle.
• • •
I would say the trouble, almost the whole trouble, is pitching. Or rather the wholesale lack of it. Other weaknesses hurt, but they don’t kill you. And when several once reliable veteran pitchers collapse all together in a heap, boys are brought in for the man-sized errand. They may be the best on the market, but if the market stays thus-like, the Caps are really in it.
With pitching like that, every time you get going the ground breaks from under and you’re back where you commenced. Which is where the Caps are now.
When we were experting from that baseball base we blared that you could blame the dismal appearance of the club (and it was really dismal) on the Okanagan weather.
Between times, when the sun shone, we said that all the club needed was a couple of good hitters.
• • •
Well, the club went out and got that extra punch when it acquired Ray Tran and Dick Sinovic, two guys who assay four quarts of punch to the gallon. And instead of the club getting better it got worse.
The fact is that getting to the seat of the trouble is like digging up a weeping willow. Just when you think you are at the bottom of things, you find there are still 300 lineal yards of root to come out.
Anyone can see a number of things that are wrong. There is a serious shortage of arms in the outfield, for one thing. The ratio runs one in three. The willowy old pro, Charlie Mead, still packs that shotgun, whether he is heaving them from centre field or right. But when runners are making the big bend around third base Reg Clarkson and Dick Sinovic get about as much distance as a man sorting anvils.
• • •
It’s right to say some the boys aren’t hustling. It is always hard to hustle on a tail-ender. Yet it is equally true that a fellow loafing with a loser is a guy operating with sharp skates on very thin ice.
Jimmy Robinson is having his fielding lapses at third base. And his shell pink ears catch coarse cannonades of boos. Robby, when he has a [unreadable] night at bat, looks twice as bad because of habitual nonchalance. Yet he can play for my club any day. He can hit, in this league anyway. He can outrun a Boston bull pup with a bell tied to its tail. And behind the scenes he hustles his infield mates, and pitchers toward the right station on the and the correct play.
• • •
I’m that way about Clarkson, too, because he can hit and because he hates to lose. Yet some of his recent baserunning reminds you of Babe Herman. Especially of the tale when someone asked Rogers Hornsby, “Is this play possible? The home team is leading 2-1, two out in the ninth, Babe Herman on first.” And Hornsby interjected, “Hold it! With Herman on first, anything is possible.”
The way it is with the Caps, you plug one rathole and the rodent jumps out of another. No wonder manager Bill Brenner, a man endowed with monumental charm and a generous measure of courage, looks puzzled. He is like the apartment dweller who has just won a calf in a raffle.
• • •
I would say the trouble, almost the whole trouble, is pitching. Or rather the wholesale lack of it. Other weaknesses hurt, but they don’t kill you. And when several once reliable veteran pitchers collapse all together in a heap, boys are brought in for the man-sized errand. They may be the best on the market, but if the market stays thus-like, the Caps are really in it.
With pitching like that, every time you get going the ground breaks from under and you’re back where you commenced. Which is where the Caps are now.
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