Sunday 2 September 2007

All Stars and Attendance

W-I Circuit Names All-Star Ball Team
TACOMA, Sept. 16—The runner-up Tacoma Tigers dominated the Western International league all-star team announced here Saturday by Robert B. Abel, president of the circuit.
Four members or the Tacoma club—pitcher Bob Kerrigan, outfielder Dick Greco, first baseman Wimpy Quinn and second baseman Ronnie Gifford—were picked on the first team, while Jose Bache was a close second to Tri-City's Carl (Buddy) Peterson in the balloting on the shortstop position.
Greco was a near unanimous choice, gaining more votes than any other player.
Rounding out the first team were Don Fracchia, Wenatchee, third base; base; Gene Thompson, Victoria, and Jim Warner, Tri-City, outfielders; Joe Rossi Spokane, catcher; Lloyd Dickey, Yakima, second choice to Kerrigan among left-handed pitchers and John Marshall. Victoria, and Sandy Robertson, Vancouver, right hand pitchers.
The pennant - winning Yakima Bears provided most of the alternates—Jim Westlake, first base; Al Jacinto, second base; Reno Cheso, third base; Bill McCawley, outfielder and Nini Tornay, catcher. Other second choices, in addition to Bache at shortstop were Glen Stetter, Spokane and Walt Pocekay, Wenatchee, outfielders.
The first and second teams included every individual league-leader except Tri-City's Cy Greenlaw, who paced the W-I pitchers in won lost percentages with a 9-2 record.
Stetter won the batting crown with a 369 average, while Greco, second best sticker with a .362 mark, led the league in homers with 36, in runs-batted in with 154, largest hit total with 203 and total bases with 363 Warner led in runs scored with 143 and McCawley in triples with 14.
Kerrigan set a new league record by turning in 26 mound victories, as compared with the old mark of 25 set two years ago by Joe Blankenship of Victoria, and the Tiger
southpaw and Robertson both tied the W-I standard for consecutive triumphs by hanging up 12 in a row. The latter record was set by Frank Nelson of Spokane in 1948.

W.I.L. Attendance Holds, Total for Year 782,076
TACOMA, Sept. 16—In the face of a sharp decline in minor league baseball attendance during 1950, the Class “B” Western International attracted 782,076 paying customers, only 11,930 fewer than in 1949, it was disclosed in official figures released here today by Robert B. Abel, president of the circuit.
Gains registered this year at Tri-City, which replaced Bremerton in the league's 1950 lineup; at Wenatchee adt at Tacoma were more than offset by losses in five other W.I.L. cities.
Spokane, perennial league attendance leader, had its poorest season in the circuit's 11-year history, with the Indians playing to only 116,503 spectators as against a 1949 total of 186,648. Vancouver also experienced a sharp drop—from 137,611 to 97.276—and Yakima's league-leading 117,790 for a second-straight pennant-winning season followed a 1949 turnstile count of 133,917.
Tri-City drew 91,797 customers, as compared with the meagre 35,440 count at Bremerton in 1949; Wenatchee with a population far smaller than any other league city, achieved a 105,501 figure, up from 68,668 a year ago, and Tacoma drew 85,777 as against 49,673 in 1949.
Victoria held reasonably firm at 110,317, down from 114,544, while Salem dropped to 56,935 from 67,495.

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