Saturday 11 August 2007

Sunday, May 7, 1950






               W  L PCT. GB
Tacoma ...... 13  6 .684 —
Yakima ...... 12  6 .667 ½
Wenatchee ... 11  7 .611 1½
Salem ....... 10  7 .588 2
Tri-City ..... 8 11 .421 5
Spokane ...... 7 11 .389 5
Vancouver .... 7 11 .389 5½
Victoria ..... 4 13 .235 8


KENNEWICK, Mon., May 8—Yakima Bears picked up a pair of victories, 13-10 and 16-1, from the Tri-City Braves over the weekend after losing Friday night 4-3. The 13-10 decision was sewed up in a seven-inning affair Saturday night.
The biggest shellacking of the season came Sunday afternoon when Yakima hammered and walked to their lopsided 16-1 victory. It was a ball game until the eighth inning opened. That was when the Bears notched 10 runs on six hits and two pitchers. Included in the debacle of statistics were two doubles and four singles.
Fourteen Bear batters went to the plate and all of them scored at least once with Jim Westlake counting twice. To add the comic book touch there were two outs before the roof began to creak and then collapsed with a resounding crash that sent Dick Stone to left field and brought Ken Kleasner in from same.
PLENTY WALKS AND HITS
Stone issued four walks, two doubles and a single before Kleasner got the high sign and walked to the mound. But he promptly ran into plenty of trouble by giving up three successive singles. Then Stone dropped a fly ball before Dick Larner, Yakima hurler, lined out Neil Bryant at shortstop. The Bears also collected two runs each in the second and ninth, and one apiece in the fourth and seventh.
The Braves single run came when Al Spaeter's double was followed by a like blow off the bat of Vic Buccola in the third.
A total of 2,165 fans were on hand for the Sunday slaughter amd 1,465 crowded into Sanders Field Saturday night.
RELEASE ONE PITCHER; SOLONS SENDING HELP
Dick Richards, business manager of the Tri-City Braves, said today that pitcher Chuck Stiglich had been released. The young left-hander was released outright, Richards added.
At the same time the front office boss of the Braves said that at least one pitcher is expected to report to the club this week. The new hurler, a right hander, is being sent to the Braves by the Sacramento team of the Pacific Coast league. Richards also hinted that another deal to further strengthen the club is now in the making.
Tonight the Braves open a three game series with Victoria to be followed by four tilts with Vancouver. And Charlie Petersen, Braves manager, wasn't too optimistic over the possible outcome of the road games.
NEED MORE PITCHERS
The pitching staff is so riddled Petersen said, that he declined to name a possible starter for tonight's game. However, it was quite likely that either Cy Greenlaw or Joe Orrell would get the call, if not tonight, then to start the other two games with Victoria. That would Lou McCollum on Vancouver opener, put tap for the with “anything goes” from there.
To further complicate the picture Vic Buccola, first baseman, has been suffering from stomach flu and consequently his hitting has gone into a slump. Nick Pesut's finger is still far from healed and outfielder Clint Cameron's leg is acting up again after that seven inning trial run he gave it Saturday night.
Thus the Braves take to the road for a seven-game series with every likelihood of continuing to use two pitchers in the outfield and a second string catcher behind the plate. Dick Faber, the other regular outfielder with Cameron, is expected to join the team on the road.
Yakima ..... 020 100 1(10)2—16-14-2
Tri-City .... 001 000 000— 1- 7-5
Larner and Tornay; Stone, Kleasner (8) and McKeegan.
- - - -
KENNEWICK, May 7 (AP)—The bats of the Yakima Bears boomed mightily Sunday as the Western International League defending champion drubbed the Tri-City Braves 16 to 1.
The Braves pounded out 14 hits during the nine-inning fray. Their big inning—the eighth—saw 10 Yakima runners cross the plate, pushed by four walks and six hits.
The Braves, who scored their single run in the third, started promising rallies in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings. These uprisings were quelled by three Yakima double-plays.
The second game of Saturday night's double-bill between the two teams was called at the end of the fifth inning because of the lateness of the hour. The score stood 9 to 8 in favor of Yakima when play ended.
The team managers agreed to finish that game at the next meeting of the two teams at the Tri-City park. The Bears are scheduled to start another series here July 4th.
Yakima .......... 020 100 1(10)2—16 14 2
Tri-City ......... 001 000 000— 1 7 5
Lamer and Tornay; Stone, Klesner (8) and McKeegan.

TACOMA, May 7 — After overcoming a five-run deficit to win the opener 11-9, the front-running Tacoma Tigers dropped a 7-2 decision to the last-place Victoria Athletics here Sunday.
The Tigers drove the veteran Jake Mooty to cover with four runs after two were out in the second inning of the first game, but the Athletics came back in the third to push across all nine of their tallies with the aid of seven walks issued by starter Mel Knezovich and Gil Loust.
Back came the Tigers with seven counters in the sixth, however, as 13 men went to the plate and collected five hits, which, coupled with four walks and a hit batsman, accounted for the runs. Ronnie Smith, the third Victoria hurler, came on the scene in time to give up two of the blows and a walk without retiring a batter and was charged with the defeat.
Smith broke even for the day, however, going the distance in the nightcap as the Athletics broke a four-game losing streak while chopping off a Tacoma win streak of the same length. A walk, Gene Thompson's triple and Al Smith's single gave Victoria two runs and a 3-2 edge in the sixth, and insurance in the form of four more tallies was acquired in the seventh on two walks, K Chorlton's double and Al Ronning's triple.
First Game
Victoria ....... 009 000 000—9 6 0
Tacoma ....... 040 007 00x—11 11 6
Mooty, Hedgecock (3), R. Smith (6), Olson (6) and Ronning; Knezovich, Loust (3), Hufford (7) and Sheets.
Second Game
Victoria ....... 010 002 4—7 5 2
Tacoma ....... 010 100 0—2 7 3
R. Smith and Weatherwax; Carter and Fischer.

WENATCHEE, May 7 — Successive ninth inning home runs by Manager Bill Brenner and left fielder Art Lucchesi gave Vancouver a 3-2 win over Wenatchee here Sunday afternoon.
Right hander Joe Blankenship was the victim of the attack. He had pitched six-hit ball up until that point.
The Vancouver victory enabled the Capilanos to gain a split of the four-game series.
Vancouver ....... 100 000 002—3 8 2
Wenatchee ...... 000 020 000-2 9 0
Snyder and Brenner; Blankenship and Len Neal.

SPOKANE, May 7 — The Spokane Indians snapped a seven-game losing streak by defeating the Salem Senators 9 to 0 in the first game of a double-header, but they resumed their old ways in the second tilt, dropping it 7 to 3.
The Indians banged seven hits for seven runs in the fourth inning and added two more counters in the seventh to win the opener.
Spokane's Ward Hockey blanked Salem with a three-hit effort.
In the nightcap, Mel Wasley, Senator left fielder, lifted a home run over the right field fence with two men on in the extra eighth inning to give the men from Salem their margin.
First Game
Salem ......... 000 000 000—0 3 4
Spokane ...... 000 700 02x—9 11 0
Stevenson, Gilson (4) and Beard; Rockey and Rossi.
Second Game
Salem ......... 101 100 04—7 12 0
Spokane ...... 020 001 00—3 8 0
Wyatt, Waibel (6) and McMillan; Neeley, Holder (6), Brock (7), Conant (8) and Rossi.

Chiefs Player Hurt
WENATCHEE, Wash., May 8—(UP)—Larry Neal, 19-year-old rookie infielder with the Wenatchee Chiefs of the Western International League, received a split ear last night in the game against Vancouver.
A wild throw to first base by Vancouver's Len Tran hit Neal on the head and sent him to the hospital with a split ear, officials reported.

ON THE INSIDE
By DON BECKER, Herald Sports Editor
[May 8, 1950]
Do baseball fans ever outflgure the front office brass? You bet they do friend, and Sunday was a prime example of what we mean. Both Dick Richards, business manager, and Vern Johnson, club secretary of the Braves had been looking plenty of askance at the idea of Sabbath afternoon baseball. That is, they were looking with some disbelief until they saw 2,165 fans stream into Sanders Field yesterday afternoon.
The fans wanted Sunday afternoon games, and when we itemed our readers to drop the Braves a line if they wanted their games then, it turned loose a big flood of letters, cards and phone calls . . . quite a few of which even wound up on our desk. The fans have a lot to say about their club, so whenever you have something to say, a suggestion to make, let the front office hear from you, you might be surprised at what will happen.
NOT STALLING
Quite a few of the fans at the Saturday night game thought that maybe Joe Orengo was stalling. It did seem that Orengo spent more time on the mound than most of his hurlers. But, stalling or not, and that's a hard decision to make, there is little that the umpires can do about it. The manager of a club has the right to go out and talk to his pitcher as much as he likes. Of course some of the journeys he makes may be just to take up time to let his hurler in the bull pen get heated up. But until the manager, or a team, begins to make a farce out of a game the umpires can only rely on the sportsmanship of the manager, and his team, to keep the game moving.
If you want to come right down to it a team could drag a regulation game out to six hours if they felt like it. Let's say the pitcher took'quite a few throws to those bases occupied by runners. Or maybe he would step into the box and then back out of it. Countless maneuvers like this and you'd have a game going on until only the players and umpires were left. . .and such things are possible.
While we're on the subject of the Yakima baseball team it isn't true that you have to be of Italian ancestry to get a berth with the Bears. One fan was heard to remark that Jim Westlake and Dick Steinhauer should be investigated because of their names. Actually the reason is very simple. Yakima is owned by the San Francisco Seals. And, as you know when you hear the name DiMaggio, there are a lot of good ball players from the Bay region with Italian sounding names. . .make good ball players too.
CAPLINGER NOT TO RETURN
Bill “Cappy” Caplinger, portsider, screwball pitching artist won't be with the Braves this year. That's definite. Cappy told the front offices that a federal job he has been trying to land finally jelled and he's dropping baseball. . .for the moment at least. The loss of Caplinger hurts. There's no question that the Braves pitching staff is the weakest link in the club. We've got the hitters, but a total of 21 bases on balls given up in 16 innings is pretty rough. . .and that's the count of the last two full games. If you care to add in that five inning incompleted game Saturday night the figure rises to 29 free passes in 21 innings. . . quite a hefty total.
By the way that five-inning game caused quite a bit of comment both from the Associated Press and the Bears manager, Joe Orengo. Sunday afternoon Orengo told us he didn't know of any rule that required resumption of a game that had gone five innings. The AP apparently was under the same impression for they called for a verification. So Dick Richards hustled out to the park and checked the files.
IT'S THE CURFEW RULE
The rule covering this situation is covered by a letter signed by Robert C. Abel as president of the league and dated April 1950. The letter says in part that the WIL will follow the curfew rule during 1950 and: (referring to Saturday night games.)
1. No inning shall start after 11:50.
2. All play must cease at 11:59.
The letter further states that the game will be resumed from the point at which it was halted the following night, or at the next meeting of the two teams, at the home field, or as ordered by the president.
DON'T ASK US HOW
Some mathematical wizard sat down the other day and figured out that the odds against getting a hit are 37-1. These odds are based on the position of the eight players in ront o the batter and the area open to a ball hit by him.
Now comes the question, well then how do some of these players sport an average of say, .300 or more. Frankly we don't know and when we looked for an answer fiom some of those whom we figured would know, they couldn't figure it out either. If you can come up with the answer drop us a line will you please? We'd be mighty interested in hearing the solution to this one.
MIGHTY LONG BLOW
When Jim Warner socked that home run Saturday night there was a fellow out there to pick up the ball. He says the ball traveled 150 feet past the left field fence before it hit the ground. If so that blow was good for a total distance of about 470 feet. . .which must be another new record for Sanders Field. This fellow by the way, delivered the ball to Warner after the game. That's how interested he was in that four-master.

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