Saturday, May 13, 1950

W L Pct GB
Tacoma ..... 17 7 .708 —
Salem ...... 16 8 .667 1
Wenatchee .. 14 11 .560 3½
Yakima ..... 14 11 .560 3½
Tri-City ... 12 14 .462 6
Spokane .... 10 15 .400 7½
Vancouver ... 8 15 .348 8½
Victoria .... 7 17 .292 10

VANCOUVER [Tri-City Herald, May 14]—The Tri-City Braves blasted their road jinx by winning four out of their seven contests on their swing into Canada.
They capped their victory parade by winning two yesterday and one Friday at Vancouver.
Last night they took a 20-6 victory from the Capilanos, the third in their four-game series.
In the afternoon, Jim Olson, newly purchased hurler from Victoria climaxed his first victory for the Braves by belting two home runs over the fence and driving in six runs.
Score was 8-4 for the Braves.
The 4-3 decision that the Tri-City team chalked up on this road trip marked the first successful trip the team has had this year.
Clint Cameron climaxed last night's lop-sided tilt by smashing a home run with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. This was Cameron's second grand slam circuit clout of the year. He drove in a total of seven runs.
The Braves batting averages took a rapid climb last night as the Vancouver Capilanos' manager, Bill Brenner, sent three hurlers into the game in an attempt to halt the flood of base hits. In addition to his home run, Cameron also collected a double, as did Vic Buccola, Jim Warner, Artie Wilson and Jim Faber. Every Brave that came to bat collected at least two hits.
For Lou McCollum it was his fourth victory against three losses and today's twin bill was the first time the Tri-City Braves have appeared in their original line-up since April 23 when Cameron was sidelined with injuries.
In the afternoon game Jim Olson won his own ball game as the Braves bumped Vancouver 8-4. The bespectacled righthander smashed two home runs and a single in three trips to the plate. Olson had replaced “Smokey Joe” Orrell on the mound after two Cap runs in the first frame.
The star of his own show, Olson, batted in six runs with his two homers.
First Game
Tri-City ............. 100 203 020—8 9 3
Vancouver ......... 300 001 000—4 8 1
Orrell, Olson (2) and Pesut; Costello and Brenner.
Second Game
Tri-City .......... 002 303 507—20-24-2
Vancouver ...... 003 003 000— 6-15-0
McCollum and Pesut; Brenner, King (6), Gunnarson (7), Spurlock (8), and Heisner.

YAKIMA, May 13—Don Ferrarese tossed a two-hitter as the Chiefs handed the Bears a second straight defeat 5-2, in a league game here Saturday night.
Ferrarese issued ten walks which kept him in constant trouble. Control trouble also bothered Yakima's Lloyd Dickey, who was reached for only four hits, but lost when his wildness and errors gave the Chiefs four runs in the late innings.
The loss was the fifth straight for the Bears.
Wenatchee ....... 010 000 220—5 4 2
Yakima ............. 000 000 200—2 2 3
Ferrarese and Fiscalini; Dickey and Tornay.

SALEM, May 13—Salem's Senators unloaded 15 hits and southpaw Kenny Wyatt twirled a five-hitter as the Solons whipped the Spokane Indians, 9-3, Saturday night to even the club's series at one game each.
Spokane ...... 000 100 002—3 5 1
Salem .......... 004 000 32x—9 15 0
Neeley, Yerkes (4) and Rossi, Courage (8); Wyatt and McMillan.

VICTORIA [Colonist, May 13]—One of the few good breaks the Victoria Baseball and Athletic Co. has had this season was San Diego’s decision to turn John Marshall back to the Victoria Athletics after claiming him in the draft. Not only did the popular righthander come up with his second victory of the season last night as the A’s salvaged the series final with Tacoma, 8-6, but he also must be credited also with the rather surprising turnout of 2,500 at Royal Athletic Park.
Close to 1,800 fans showed up for the afternoon encounter of the usual Saturday split double-header and went home disappointed when the Tigers came back after losing a 7-0 lead to cop the verdict, 9-7, for their third straight triumph.
NEAR FREE-FOR-ALL
Both games proved to be exciting, but the arclight fixture packed most of the thrills as Marshall, coning back after only two days of rest, pitched valiantly in the clutch to leave 14 runners and opposing players nearly engaged in a sixth inning free-for-all which ended with only one fight.
Jim Brillheart, Tacoma manager, was mainly responsible for the rhubarb. Marshall hit Larry Lee with a pitched ball and Lee came up with some choice remarks when he reached first base. Marshall started for the bag and was having hit saw when Brillheart charged over from the third-base coaching lines and gave the Victoria pitcher a push. This emptied both dug-outs in a hurry with catcher Al Ronning leading the Victoria rush. Ronning and Red Fisher, second string Tacoma catcher who was coaching at first base, took and instant dislike to each other and finally fought their way through the milling mob of players to come to grips. Cooler headers averted any serious damage and order was soon restored with no one banished, but it did set the stage for the tense moments to follow.
PUNCH UNCOVERED
Showing some real punch for the first time this season, the A’s picked up two hits in each of the first four innings and wound up with 14 safeties, including two home runs, a pair of triples and three doubles.
Ahead, 2-0, Marshall lost the lead when four hits and two bases on balls gave the Tigers four runs in the fourth. Ronning’s triple and Edo Vanni’s single cut the margin to half in the Victoria fourth and the A’s went ahead in the seventh when Vanni his the second home run of his W.I.L. career with a drive to the right-field corner, and K Chorlton pounded his first of the season over the fence.
MARSHALL STARTS RALLY
Marshall, an easy out in the three previous innings, started what proved to be the winning rally in the eighth when he drove a ball into left field and received credit for a double when it bounced over Glen Stetter’s head. Another bad hop on Edo Vanni’s ground ball to second baseman Ron Gifford kept it alive, and Marshall scored when Gifford failed to come up with Jim Moore’s blooper in short centre. Chorlton then came through with a triple for two more runs which proved to be the margin of victory when Chorlton’s two errors gave the losers two unearned runs in the ninth.
HIT STREAK ENDED
Vanni, with a double and two singles in addition to his home run, and Chorlton with a home run, triple and two singles and four runs batter in, led the winning attack. Gene Thompson, who doubled on his last trip in the first game, saw his hitting streak end at 16 games when he became ill in the seventh and had to be replaced, He had gone hitless in three swings at that and missed two.
A lot of little things cost Victoria the first game as the pitching again failed. Trying to pitch despite a bad back, Aldon Wilkie looked bad for the first time this year as the Tigers took an early 7-0 lead with Dick Greco batting in five of the runs with two doubles and an outfield fly. Two of the Tacoma runs resulted when Plate Umpire Ray French appeared to muff a third strike on Stetter.
WERT HOMERS AGAIN
After the A’s had scored once in the fifth, Jim Wert touched off a sixth-inning rally which tied the score when he hit his second inside-the-park home run in two days, after Thompson and Joe Morjoseph had walked. Three more bases on balls and two singles sent in three runs and the rally might have put the game out of reach had it not been cut short by bad base running. Bernie Clarkson was cut down at third trying to go from first on Vanni’s hit and Chorlton was picked off first for the third out.
Bob Kerrigan came on in the last two innings to protect the Tacoma lead after Bob Jensen, who still isn’t firing his fastball, was tagged for the game-winning runs in the eighth. The clubs used a total of 28 players, believed to be a new high for W.I.L. baseball in Victoria.
The A’s now rest until Tuesday, when they open a three-game series at Tri-City. They finish the week at Yakima and then return home to play Yakima, a week from Tuesday.
First Game
Tacoma ........ 102 130 020—9 11 0
Victoria ........ 000 016 000—7 7 0
Lazor, Hufford (6), Loust (7), Kerrigan (8) and Fischer, Wilkie, Hedgecock (5), Jensen (7), Smith, (9) and Weatherwax.
Second Game
Tacoma ....... 000 400 002— 6 10 2
Victoria ....... 101 100 23x— 8 14 3
Carter and Sheets; Marshall and Ronning.

ON THE INSIDE
By Don Becker, Herald Sports Editor

[Monday, May 15, 1950]

Now Charlie would be the first to tell you, should you ask him, that he's not in the Dizzy Dean class when it comes to pitching. But Charlie does have a theory which he put to the acid test against Vancouver. In view of what happened it would probably be fairer to call it a “proved theory.”
If you're expecting a long dissertation on the use of curves, fast balls, habits of the hitters, and a sidelight on how to throw the screw ball . . . stop right here. Charlie's method embodies a few of those in slight degrees, but his basic idea can be boiled down to these words, “throw the ball over the plate.” That's all . . . nothing more nothing less. Get the ball in there and make the batter swing at it or walk back to the dugout ... but don't let him walk to first.
Of course the manager of the Braves doesn't mean to throw a big, fat one in there. You'd be fielding your head instead of the ball long about the second inning if you did that. But Charlie goes on the theory that there are seven other players out in front or the batter, and figuring the law of averages, they're going to get some of the hits.
And that's the way it worked when he chukked that nine-hitter at Vancouver to break a three game losing streak. So effectively did he break the jinx that the Braves took the next two also, and thus won more than they lost on their second road trip of the season. And that's something you can't say about that first out-of-town swing.
DESERVES A BIG HAND
The Braves latest mound acquisition, Jim Olsen, is bound to got a rousing reception the first time he makes an appearance here. Win, lose, or draw, Olsen got off to a big lead in the fan's affections when he not only pitched a victory but slammed two home runs in the game.
WHAT THEY SAY THERE
A more intimate view of Petersen's mound victory comes to us from a Vancouver newspaper, Erwin M. Swangard writing. “At Cap Stadium Friday night, it was strictly a case of 'They all laughed when I sat down at the piano but when I started to play' . . .”
There were great many grins of expectancy among the home town crowd when ancient Charlie Petersen took the mound for the Tri-City Braves against the Capilanos, but by the time the ninth inning had rolled around the only one still laughing was the same venerable Mr. Petersen.”

Further it seems that it wasn't just Pete's nothing ball that was baffling the Caps, but also the amount of time he was consuming between pitches. The Caps were literally gnawing on their bats as Pete slowly cranked up and tossed the ball into the plate.
WANTS TO DROP BALK RULE
Bob Brown, general manager of the Vancouver club, would like to get rid of the balk rule in the WIL. Right now he's plumping for a meeting of the league directors to take up the matter. Biggest hitch to the proposal is tnat the majors and coast league still have it. Thus any pitchers likely to go up would have to unlearn and then learn the rule all over again.

But Brown's suggestion shows that the balk rule is definitely on the "must go" list. Meanwhile, the umpires are calling the balk rule according to the book these past games. It could be that this will be the very thing that will help erase it . . . and perhaps that's why they're doing it. Certainly it isn't a success with the players or fans.

NON-WIL MINOR LEAGUE NEWS

Senators Sign Joe Di Maggio But Not Real Yankee Clipper
BY JOE IVES
WASHINGTON, May 14 (AP)—If you read the next paragraph fast you'll think the Washington Senators pulled the biggest deal in all baseball yesterday.
The club obtained Joe DiMaggio and farmed him out to their Concord, N. C.; club.
After a pause to let the shock settle in, the Senators' Farm Director Ossie Bluege added:
“We didn't get the Yankee Clipper himself, we got the second best thing—his second cousin.”
That, of course, also makes him a second cousin to Dom DiMaggio, Boston's great centerfielder, and also former star Vince.
The new Di Mag is an 18-year-old outfielder from Monterey, Calif. He's a carbon copy of the 35-year-old New York great. Like his namesake, he stands 6 feet 2 inches. Young Joe weighs 185 against 195 for Joe senior. He bats and throws righthanded and there's a strong facial resemblance.
Washington Scout Eddie Holly signed the new Joe whose real first name is Bartola—his second and the one he uses is Joe—at Lou Haines' baseball school in Peckskill, N.Y.
“He's got that same instinctive baseball sense that both Dom and Joe have,” he told Bluege. “He looks and acts like a ballplayer. He's got a very good arm and shows every indication of really being a hitter.”
“If he's just one-third as good,” Bluege said, “we'll be satisfied.” Ossie said young Joe was signed to a Charlotte, N. C., club contract and then optioned down to Concord in the Class D North Carolina State league. “If he comes along fast we might move him up to Charlotte this year, and then Chattanooga or Augusta.”
In a telephone interview from the Concord Nats clubhouse today, young Joe said “it's a real thrill for me to be with the Senators. I think with a lot of teaching I'll come along okay but don't expect another Dom or Joe—that's asking too much.”
Young Joe said he's one of seven brothers and like Joe's father use to be, his dad is a fisherman. “I've also got two sisters,” he added, “but I'm the only one who plays baseball in the family.”
In high school at Monterey, young Joe played centerfield and pitched. He hit .312 as a junior and .322 last year. He was graduated in June, 1949. The youngster pitched his senior year in school. He came up with a 13-2 record, finishing all the 15 games he started.