W L Pct GB
Yakima ...... 71 45 .612 —
Tacoma ...... 65 46 .586 3½
Wenatchee ... 64 51 .577 6½
Tri City .... 62 52 .544 8
Vancouver ... 49 63 .438 20
Victoria .... 50 66 .435 21
Salem ....... 47 65 .420 22
Spokane ..... 46 66 .411 23
Yakima Edge Is Whittled
By FRANK VAILLE
Associated Press Sportswriter
Someone, somewhere, at some time, must have said that the team with the most hits and least errors will win the ball game. Western International League opponents did their best to disprove it.
Each of the night's four contests was won by the team getting the fewest hits. Two of them went to the team with the most errors.
TACOMA, Wash., Aug 8—Tacoma was outhit by Yakima 18-11 for the second night in a row, but won again 7-6 in 11 innings, cutting the Bears' league lead over the Tigers to 3½ games.
Tacoma's edge over Yakima moved the Tigers back into title contention. Arnold (Red) Fischer's two away single scored Jose Bache with the winning run after Yakima sent the game into extra innings two frames before.
Four double plays by the Tacoma infield offset the Yakima batting power.
Hunk Anderson, who relieved Mel Knezovich in the fourthj, was the winner.
Yakima ....... 020 300 001 00—6-18-2
Tacoma ...... 022 010 100 01—7-11-1
Domenichelli, Soriano (7), Savarese (9) and Tornay, Tiesiera (9); Knezovich, Anderson (4) and Fischer.
SPOKANE, Aug. 7—Spokane's cellar occupants nosed out Wenatchee 5-1 tonight although getting but 10 blows to 11 for the Chiefs and committing two bobbles to none for the losers.
Spokane turned in four twin killings and scored all five of its runs before the Chiefs came to life with a futile four-run assault in the seventh.
Joe Rossi, Eddie Murphy and Frank Matoh batted in the first three Spokane runs, one in each of first three innings. In the sixth, Murphy knocked in Jim Wert for Spokane and Leon Mohr drove in Davis for the winning score.
Wenatchee ....... 000 000 400—4-11-0
Spokane ........... 111 002 00x—5-10-2
Dahle, Blankenship (7) and Neal; Rockey and Rossi.
VICTORIA, B. C., Aug. 7 — Tri-City Braves evened their series with Victoria Athletics Tuesday night, scoring a 5-3 victory as they took full advantage of Jim Hedgecock's lack of control.
The Braves scored two runs in the first inning when Bud Peterson doubled after Jim Warner singled and Clint Cameron was hit by a pitched ball when the pair had pulled a double steal. Hedgecock walked three men in the fourth and, along with an error and Peterson's second double, this produced another pair of runs.
Victoria could do little against Cy Greenlaw until the eighth although three singles produced a tally in the second. Lou Novikoff and Gene Thompson hit successive home runs to lead off the eighth and Greenlaw was derricked for Jim Olsen who set the side down m order that inning and got out of a dangerous situation in the ninth when Novikoff skied out with the tying and winning runs aboard.
- - - - -
VICTORIA, B.C., Aug. 8 (Herald) — The Tri-City Braves evened their series with the Victoria Athletics last night when a battle of left handed pitchers went to Cy Greenlaw and the Braves 5-3. The two teams play the rubber match tonight, with the Braves scheduled to move over to Vancouver for a four-same series before returning to their home port Sanders Field.
Greenlaw got a timely assist from shortstop Buddy Peterson who laced out a pair of doubles that accouned for three of the victors' runs.
The Victoria bats got to Greenlaw with a pair of home runs in the bottom of the eighth. And that was enough. Charlie Peterson, manager of the Braves, called in his ace fireman Jim Olsen to put out the fire. Olsen promptly forced the next three to go down in order.
Neil Bryant drew a free pass in the top of the ninth with the bases loaded to give the Braves another and their last run of the game. Losing hurler Jim Hedgecock, who had been having trouble finding the plate all night, missed again with the count three and two on the Brave third sacker. The walk brought in Jim Warner who had also drawn one of the eight 'gifts' that Hedgecock gave up last night.
Jim Warner, who started his terrific hitting spree last Saturday, was still at it. The husky centerfielder rapped the ball three times in his four appearances.
Hedgecock's wildness also accounted for the two Tri-City runs in the third. The lefthander walked three and the Braves put together a single and Peterson's second double of the night to cleat the plate twice.
Gene Roenspie who was ejected from the game in the first inning Tuesday night, stayed around a little longer last night. But he did get to the showers before the rest of the club when umpire Jerrv Mathieu gave him the thumb in the sixth.
Tri-City ...... 202 000 001—5- 9-5
Victoria ...... 010 000 020—3-10-2
Greenlaw, Olsen (8) and Pesut; Hedgecock and Danielson.
VANCOUVER, Aug. 8—Vancouver Capilanos, outhit 11-9, made it two in a row over Salem Senators by a 7-4 count tonight and replaced Victoria in fifth place.
Vancouver's sharp fielding, with Al Drew the principal victim, snuffed out several Salem threats. Drew had an apparent double in the third inning only to have Reg Clarkson haul in the fly ball just before he crashed into the fence. Two innings later, Ray Tran speared Drew's drive over short and turned it into a double play. Each time, the fielding gems came with two men on base.
Bob Goldstein, thrown out at first base by right fielder Jim Keating earlier in the game, homered for the losers in the seventh.
- - - -
VANCOUVER, [Erwin M. Swangard, Province, Aug. 9]—It was anti-climax night at Cap Stadium Tuesday as only 1200 fans turned out after the 3200 who watch Sandy Robertson hurl his record-tying 12th victory Monday.
But the 1200 who came out were amply rewarded with one of the best-played games this season.
The Caps, in scoring their second consecutive win over Salem Senators, did a lot of things exceptionally well.
THIRD STRAIGHT WIN
Bob Bruenner pitched his first complete game on home ground and his third successive victory to make his season’s average read three won and six lost.
Cap defensive play was simply out of this world with Jim Keating, Reg Clarkson, Charlie Mead and Ray Tran doing the nearly impossible.
Alert base-running and timely hitting allowed the Caps to win despite the fact they were outhit 11-9 by the visitors.
PROVES HIS SALT
A special word of praise must go to 22-year-old Bob who is beginning to justify the faith put in him by general manager Bob Brown and manager Bill Brenner, despite early season failure.
Bruenner showed a lot of stuff and pitched the nine inning with a big blister on his index finger of his pitching hand. As Brenner remarked after the game, “Every pitch must have hurt Bob.”
Caps rolled into a 2-0 lead in the first inning by sheer good baseball as two singles, a base on balls and two stolen bases were enough to break the ice.
They went into a 5-0 lead with a three-run rally in the third and never looked back. The biggest blow of the night was struck by Salem’s first baseman Bob Goldstein, who homered with one aboard in the seventh.
Tonight, veteran George Nicholas will take the mound for the homesters in an endeavor to prolong the winning streak.
Salem .............. 000 100 201—4-11-1
Vancouver ........ 203 000 20x—7- 9-0
Lineberger, Ballantyne (7) and Beard; Bruenner and Heisner.
Stay-At-Home Pitcher Ties WIL Record
By STEWART MCNEILL
VANCOUVER, B. C. (UP) — A lot of people have to leave home before they find success.
But not so with Edward Alastair (Sandy) Robertson, the “stay-at-home” pitcher of Vancouver of the Western International league.
Sandy has found the home town ballyard so much to his liking this season that he has led the WIL record of 12 straight victories, equaling the mark set in 1948 by Frank Nelson of Spokane, now with Oakland of the Pacific Coast league.
Robertson, the leading hurler in trip WIL loop, has a unique contract with the Caps. A part-time employee, the slender 27-year-old righthander finds his civil engineering job too profitable to foresake for toil in baseball's minors. But at every home stand, Sandy is out at the ball yard taking his cuts, working on the mound once a week and sometimes pinch-hitting or even playing the outfield.
Robertson has beaten every club in the league at least once. He has set down Spokane three times and Salem twice. He has yet to be defeated this season and has not been relieved for a pinchhitter.
Although floundering in the second division all season, Vancouver seems to play better ball when Robertson is on the mound He inspires confidence and the Caps seem to respond with sharper hitting and fielding than behind other twlrlers.
Sandy has an easy motion with a medium kick and smooth overhand delivery. Occasionally he fires sidearm “to confuse 'em,” he says. He juggles his sharp breaking curve ball with a blazing fast one, but control is his main forte.
“Control has done it, I think,” he said, “but I get a nice long rest while the club is on the road and that helps a lot, too.
“I never thought about the record till I got up to ten,” he said. “I felt nervous and didn't have a thing for the first innings Monday against Salem (No. 12) and I guess I'll be jumpy for number 13 Saturday night.”
WILfan note: these are the league stats, taken from The Sporting News of August 16, 1950. For some reason, there are players with more at bats in the league stats up to Sunday than these ones, which include games up to the following Tuesday.
Western International League
(Including games of August 7)
Compiled by Howe News Bureau
Player-Club G AB H HR RBI Pct
Stetter, Tac.-Spo. 109 367 135 12 82 .368
Greco, Tac. ...... 109 418 151 27 114 .361
Tornay, Yak. ...... 68 211 75 1 36 .355
McCawley, Vic.-Spo. 71 268 95 4 52 .354
Vanni, Vic.-Spo. .. 84 346 115 3 45 .332
Davis, Spokane ... 110 299 98 0 44 .328
Thompson, Victoria 111 426 139 18 86 .326
Cheso, Yakima .... 114 417 135 5 91 .324
Rossi, Spokane ... 106 373 121 15 73 .324
Warner, Tri-City . 109 401 129 15 92 .322
Sinovic, Vanc'ver . 88 328 105 5 66 .320
Pitcher-Club G IP SO W L Pct
Robertson, Vanc'ver .. 12 93 43 12 0 1.000
Greenlaw, Tri-City ... 18 86 31 7 2 .778
Kerrigan, Tacoma ..... 35 155 79 16 6 .727
Roenspie, Tri-City ... 20 105 60 8 4 .667
Ragni, Wenatchee ..... 23 177 121 15 8 .652
Powell, Yakima ....... 22 126 57 11 6 .647
Stone, Tri-City ...... 22 111 37 9 5 .643
Dominichelli, Yak. ... 22 109 41 9 5 .643
Larner, Yakima ....... 27 207 92 14 8 .636
Olsen, Vic.-Tri-City . 30 112 29 7 4 .636
IT BEATS ME
By Jim Tang [from Colonist, Aug. 9, 1950]
It’s about time that the Western International Baseball League began to conduct itself like the fastest class “B” league in baseball or quit making the claim that it is. A good way to start would be to prevent fiascos like that of Monday evening by punishing clubs which make a farce out of losing the game on the road.
There was no reasonable excuse for Charlie Petersen, manager of the Tri-City Braves, using an outfielder and a catcher as pitchers as early as the second inning just because he didn’t want to use up another pitcher. It’s bad enough for Victoria fans to be saddled with a second-division club that has had more than its share of bad breaks without opposing managers making it even tougher. It was only grim justice that the Braves might have won it if Petersen hadn’t quit so soon.
Nor is Petersen alone in this kind of managing although he has probably been guilty more often than any other manager. From memory, I recall that Catcher Joe Rossi, Spokane; Outfielder Lou Novikoff, when he was with Yakima, and Manager Bill Brenner, Vancouver, have all had a shot at pitching chores and there are other instances too numerous to mention.
It is admittedly tough for manager to play it straight with the W.I.L. club owners short-sightedly trying to cram a major league schedule into a season about six weeks shorter than the big leagues. There are times when there is no one left to pitch. But never in the second inning. Victoria is a good baseball town but its difficult to sell the game if fans are going to get that kind of baseball.
And while we’re on the subject of improving W.I.L. baseball, it would not be amiss to say something about umpiring—or rather, the lack of it—in the league this season. Good umpiring makes good baseball and the reverse is also true. Too many games are being spoiled by officiating which at times borders on the ridiculous. League officials claim they can’t afford to pay more for their umpires. It’s hard to see how they can afford not to. Another $5,000 a season for better umpires would pay for itself many times over by the extra bans the resultant better umpiring would attract. To repeat, too many games are not being decided by the merits of the respective teams.
RANDOM HARVEST
It is understood that one director of the Victoria Baseball & Athletic Co. Ltd. gave Victoria newspapers a verbal blasting recent for what he termed a “lack” of publicity. He is hardly likely to get too much support on that score but he might be reminded he could give the newspapers more to write about. . . . Manager Marty Krug, Gene Thompson, Aldon Wilkie and John Marshall were all fined for a difference of opinion with the umpires at Tri-City last week which resulted in the quartet getting an early shower. . . . According to one Vancouver sports columnist, Victoria is “breathless” because Detroit Tigers have shown an interest in Rookie-Pitcher John Brkich.
By Jim Tang [from Colonist, Aug. 9, 1950]
It’s about time that the Western International Baseball League began to conduct itself like the fastest class “B” league in baseball or quit making the claim that it is. A good way to start would be to prevent fiascos like that of Monday evening by punishing clubs which make a farce out of losing the game on the road.
There was no reasonable excuse for Charlie Petersen, manager of the Tri-City Braves, using an outfielder and a catcher as pitchers as early as the second inning just because he didn’t want to use up another pitcher. It’s bad enough for Victoria fans to be saddled with a second-division club that has had more than its share of bad breaks without opposing managers making it even tougher. It was only grim justice that the Braves might have won it if Petersen hadn’t quit so soon.
Nor is Petersen alone in this kind of managing although he has probably been guilty more often than any other manager. From memory, I recall that Catcher Joe Rossi, Spokane; Outfielder Lou Novikoff, when he was with Yakima, and Manager Bill Brenner, Vancouver, have all had a shot at pitching chores and there are other instances too numerous to mention.
It is admittedly tough for manager to play it straight with the W.I.L. club owners short-sightedly trying to cram a major league schedule into a season about six weeks shorter than the big leagues. There are times when there is no one left to pitch. But never in the second inning. Victoria is a good baseball town but its difficult to sell the game if fans are going to get that kind of baseball.
And while we’re on the subject of improving W.I.L. baseball, it would not be amiss to say something about umpiring—or rather, the lack of it—in the league this season. Good umpiring makes good baseball and the reverse is also true. Too many games are being spoiled by officiating which at times borders on the ridiculous. League officials claim they can’t afford to pay more for their umpires. It’s hard to see how they can afford not to. Another $5,000 a season for better umpires would pay for itself many times over by the extra bans the resultant better umpiring would attract. To repeat, too many games are not being decided by the merits of the respective teams.
RANDOM HARVEST
It is understood that one director of the Victoria Baseball & Athletic Co. Ltd. gave Victoria newspapers a verbal blasting recent for what he termed a “lack” of publicity. He is hardly likely to get too much support on that score but he might be reminded he could give the newspapers more to write about. . . . Manager Marty Krug, Gene Thompson, Aldon Wilkie and John Marshall were all fined for a difference of opinion with the umpires at Tri-City last week which resulted in the quartet getting an early shower. . . . According to one Vancouver sports columnist, Victoria is “breathless” because Detroit Tigers have shown an interest in Rookie-Pitcher John Brkich.
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