Monday, July 24, 1950

               W  L  Pct GB
Yakima ...... 59 39 .602 —
Tacoma ...... 55 41 .573 3
Wenatchee ... 57 43 .570 3
Tri-City .... 54 45 .545 4½
Salem ....... 41 53 .436 16
Vancouver ... 42 55 .433 16½
Victoria .... 42 57 .424 17½
Spokane ..... 41 58 .414 18½

VANCOUVER, July 24 (Frank Vaille, AP)—The Canadian jinx claimed another Western International league victim tonight. Wenatchee came up with three double plays and a triple killing but lost to Vancouver 11-6 as Sandy Robertson twirled his 10th successive victory of the year.
The loss dropped Wenatchee into third place behind idle Tacoma.
Robertson, who pitches only when Vancouver plays at home, is now within two games from the league's consecutive win streak set at 12 games by Frank Nelson of Spokane in 1948. The Vancouver ace hasn't lost a game this year.
He had lots of support at the plate. In addition to his own home run, other round-trippers were garnered by Jim Keating and Dick Sinovic. Walt Pocekay wafted one over the fence in the last frame for Wenatchee.
The Chiefs' triple play came in the seventh inning. With Reg Clarkson on second and Sinovic on first, Len Tran grounded to Don Fraachia at third. Sinovic was forced at second, Tran nipped at first and Clarkson, attempting to score, was thrown out at the plate.
Don Ferrarese, the loser, gave up 11 hits 10 walks and made three wild pitches. Vancouver left only three men on the paths.
Wenatchee .... 003 010 002—6-10-2
Vancouver ..... 014 022 02x—11-11-0
Ferrarese and Len Neal; Robertson and Heisner.

VICTORIA, July 24—Victoria Athletics broke an eight-game losing streak and a seventh-place tie with Spokane Monday night when they handed the Indians a 9-6 defeat in the first game of a three-game series.
Jim Propst went the distance for the winners to get credit for his fourth win but was in trouble much of the way. The Indians failed to bunch their 11 hits while the A's made every hit count.
Marty Krug Jr. broke a 6-6 deadlock in the eighth inning cracked a two-run single to right and later scored the third run on Lou Novikoff's single. Novikoff made two hits in five trips in his first game for Victoria after being purchased from Yakima.
Al Ronning led Victoria batters with a triple and two singles in four trips.
For Spokane, Frank Matoh drove in four runs with a home run, double and single while Leon Mohr had three singles in five tries. Glen Stetter drove in two runs with a home run.
Spokane .... 102 001 200—6-11-2
Victoria ...... 014 001 03x—9- 9-1
Aubertin and Rossi; Propst and Ronning.

ONLY GAMES SCHEDULED

Spokane Indians Release Infielder
SPOKANE, July 24—The Spokane Indians of the Western International Baseball league gave Skip Rowland, infielder, his outright release Monday.
Rowland left immediately for his home in Riverside, Calif. The Indians had been attempting to send him to the Riverside class C club but the deal fell through, club officials said.
Rowland was the second Indian to be released in two days. Sunday, Murray O'Flynn was given his release.
The Indians are now our man under the limit of 17 active players.

TACOMA, July 25—Tacoma's Dick Greco continued to carry the big stick in the Western International League hit parade, figures released by the league office here Tuesday disclosed.
The big Tiger outfielder now holds leads in three divisions of the league's batting department, hitting, home runs and runs-batted in.
He maintained his steady .363 clip to take over the top spot in the circuit from Spokane's Glen Stetter who skidded from first to fourth place during the week as he checked in with a .353 average through games of Sunday, July 23. Bill McCawley, Yakima outfielder, surged toward the top, moving into the No. 2 spot with .360 which was two points better than Nini Tornay who had .358 for third place.
Greco connected for only one home run during the week to up his total to 21 but he held a four-run bulge over Victoria's Gene Thompson, who was in the runner-up spot with 17. Thompson connected for three circuit clouts over the weekend against the league-leading Yakima Bears to move ahead of Spokane's Joe Rossi who failed to find the range.
Greco also held a commanding lead in the runs-batted-in department with his total of 94 while the best runner-up Gene Thompson could do was 81. Tacoma's Wimpy Quinn trailed in the third slot with 80.
Averages of top 20 hitter who have appeared in 50 or more games through Sunday, July 23.
                    AB  H RBI Ave
Greco, Tac. ...... 366 133 94 .363
McCawley, Yak. ... 203  73 44 .360
Tornay, Yak. ..... 176  63 31 .358
Stetter, Spo. .... 317 112 65 .353
Thompson, Vic. ... 352 124 81 .352
Vanni, Spo. ...... 295 102 37 .346
Sinovic, Van. .... 273  89 50 .326
Rossi, Spo. ...... 332 108 67 .325
Ragni, Wen. ...... 163  53 26 .325
Zuvella, Yak. .... 213  69 33 .324
Cheso, Yak. ...... 353 113 74 .320
Pocekay, Wen. .... 373 119 71 .319
Gifford, Tac. .... 342 107 44 .313
Hjelmaa, Wen. .... 336 105 50 .313
L. Tran, Van. .... 294  91 53 .311
Clarkson, Van. ... 382 117 50 .306
Moore, Vic. ...... 376 115 48 .306
Unfried, Wen. .... 338 103 62 .305
Matoh, Spo. ...... 368 112 58 .304
Bryant, T-C ...... 380 114 70 .300

ON THE INSIDE

By DON BECKER, Herald Sports Editor [from July 25/50]
Operators of the concession stands at Sanders Field don't have to look at the scoreboard to tell how a game is going. Their answer comes in the number of customers. If the Braves have a big lead traffic is heavy. If they're behind, or the game is close, business is slower in coming than a cool breeze. And if the teams play a doubleheader with the Braves losing the first one, business is bad then also, But if they win, then it's Nellie-bar-the-gate.
There'll be an old familiar face in the Victoria lineup when the Braves meet them here after their current road trip Lou Novikoff joined the A's yesterday. However, the former major and coast leaguer isn't what he used to be Currently he's hitting .286, and has batted in 29 runs on 36 hits. But that RBI figure is a very respectable one.
MORE CURFEW TROUBLE
Now it's Spokane and Vancouver that have run afoul of the W. L L.'s curfew rule. Spokane has protested the second game of their Saturday night double-header on the grounds that the Vancouver team was at bat after midnight and the game should have been called at ll:59. The umpires working the game-were Jerry Mathieu and Perkins.
According to a check we made with the Braves front office that much of the curfew rule is still in effect. Hence with Vancouver scoring the winning runs after midnight then it would appear that Spokane had a case.
But the odd thing is that while talking to a set of umpires here last week we brought up this subject of the curfew rule. The question we asked was, how long can a game run under present league rules. That is, could it run past midnight. The answer given was to the effect the two teams could play right up to starting time of the following day's game if they needed to.
WHO MISSED THE BOAT
The point we want to make is this. That what Spokane says could very easily, and probably is, true. Yet, how can the umpires be blamed if they were not informed of this rule. Nearly everyone was under the impression that there was no curfew rule any more. Particularily after that last meeting in Salem several weeks ago. So if the umpires didn't know it then who can the responsibility be placed on.
WHAT DO THEY SAY
There's only one other place to turn and that's to the league president and to the club owners themselves. Somewhere along the line someone forgot to tell someone else what was going on. That same situation could have happened here had the circumstances been right. It's going to be an interesting, case to watch.

Sunday, July 23, 1950

               W  L  Pct GB
Yakima ...... 59 39 .598 —
Wenatchee ... 57 42 .576 2
Tacoma ...... 55 41 .573 3½
Tri-City .... 54 45 .545 5
Salem ....... 41 53 .436 15½
Vancouver ... 41 55 .427 16½
Victoria .... 41 57 .418 17½
Spokane ..... 41 57 .418 17½

YAKIMA, July 23 — Yakima's Bears, leaders of the Western International league won their sixth straight game Sunday night in the opener of a twin bill by defeating the Victoria Athletics, 5-4. By taking the nightcap 10-7 they made it seven straight.
The A's pitcher, Jim Hedgecock, walked in the winning run, in the last of tbe seventh after Yakima loaded the bases on doubles by Bill Andring and Al Jacinto and an intentional pass to Bill McCawley.
Gene Thompson accounted for all of Victoria's scoring with a two-run homer in the first inning and a triple with two aboard in tne fifth.
Lloyd Dickey went the route for the Bears for his 10th win of the season against six setbacks.
First Night Game (7 Innings)
Victoria ......... 200 020 0—4 6 1
Yakima .......... 022 000 1—5 11 1
Hedgecock and Danielson; Dickey and Tiesiera.
Second Game
Victoria ........ 100 002 031—7 11 2
Yakima ......... 004 042 00x—10 11 2
Marshall, Noyes (7) and Danielson; Savarese, Soriano (8) and Tornay.

WENATCHEE, July 23 — The Wenatchee Chiefs took the second game of a twin bill from the Salem Senators here Sunday night, 6 to 1, after winning the afternoon end of a twin bill, 7-0.
Big Al Treichel scattered seven hits for his tenth win of the season against seven defeats. Starter Ludwig Lew was the loser for Salem. Wenatchee took the Western International league series three games to two.
It was Blankenship's fourth straight triumph and his seventh in 12 starts. He set the league record of 25 with Victoria in 1948. He granted only three hits as Wenatchee evened the series with the Senators at two-all.
First Night Game (7 Innings)
Salem ............. 000 000 0—0 3 1
Wenatchee ...... 001 240 x—7 8 0
Costello, Valentine (6) and Beard; Blankenship and Len Neal.
Second Game
Salem .............. 000 001 000—1 7 1
Wenatchee ...... 000 040 02x—6 10 1
Lew, Tierney (6) and Beard; Treichel and Len Neal.

KENNEWICK, July 23 — Tacoma beat Tri-City 2 to 1 here Sunday in a single night game in the Western International baseball league.
Tri-City scored first in the second inning. They remained ahead until Dick Greco scored in the ninth to tie the game. A long fly ball to center field by Bill Sheets scored Wimpy Quinn to put Tacoma in the lead.
- - - - -
KENNEWICK, July 24 — [Don Becker, Herald] — Lou McCollum was within one strike and one out of his 15th victory last night before three machine gun Angles and a towering fly ball turned the tide against the Tri-City Braves. The three hits and fly gave Tacoma a 2-1 victory to split the four-game series even. But the 1,853 fans saw one of the best games of the series.
Brave hitting averages took a big nosedive. Bob Kerrigan the starter gave up but four hits in his seven inning stint and Gil Loust who took over in the eighth wasn't touched.
Neil Bryant's triple resulted in the single Tri-City run. Bryant smashed the ball deep into right field and then raced home from third when Dick Faber skied one into the same pasture.
McCollum had fashioned a neat five-hitter for the fans until the fatal ninth. He forced Ronnie Gifford to pop up and had two strikes on big Dick Greco. But the big Tiger gardener lined a fast ball through the box to set the stage. Wimpy Quinn pounded a curve and Dick Wanner lined another fast ball back through the box to score Greco with tieing run. Bill Sheets. Tacoma's catcher, blooped one into centerfield to Jim Warner and Quinn raced in from third after the catch.
ALMOST-NOT QUITE
As it was the run almost didn't count Buccola cut off Warner's throw to the plate and fired the bill to Buddy Peterson, to tag Wenner for the third out. But Quinn had crossed home plate a split second before the out was made.
Three of the Tri-City hits came in the first two innings. Their other lone bingle was Bryant's single in the seventh.
Only one Tiger had reached third and two second, going into the last stanza. McCollum's varied assortment of curves and high hard ones keeping Tacoma well in check. The veteran right hurler had struck out eight.
Today the two teams are idle but resume their battle Tuesday night in Waters Field. Tacoma for a three-game affair. Following that series the Tri-City team moves over to Salem for a four-game set-to and then returning home for a week-long stand.
Tacoma ...... 000 000 002—2 8 0
Tri-City ...... 010 000 000—1 4 0
Kerrigan, Loust (8) and Sheets; McCollum and Pesut.

SPOKANE, July 23 — The Vancouver Capilanos defeated the Spokane Indians, 8-1 here Sunday night.
This win gave the Capilanos the series, four to one and put them in seventh place ahead of the Indians.
Winning pitcher George Nicholas gave up just seven hits for his second win over the Indians. Last month he pitched a no-hit game against the Tribe.
Vancouver ..... 201 010 040—8 12 0
Spokane ........ 001 000 000—1 7 5
Nicholas and Heisner; Conant and Rossi.

WIL Notes
VICTORIA, B. C., July 23 (AP)—Lou Novikoff, the "Mad Russian" of baseball, may be on the move again.
Victoria Athletic Business Manager Reg Patterson said his WIL club had been offered Novikoff's contract but that no decision had been made yet. Novikoff currently works as an outfielder and relief pitcher for the Yakima Bears.
WENATCHEE, Wash., July 23 (UP) — Lil Arnerich, former Pacific Coast league player, was enroute to Memphis, Tenn., of the class 'AA" Southern Association today after being recalled from Wenatchee by the parent Oakland Oaks.
The Chiefs also announced the recall of Bob Barbeau from Globe-Miami of the Arizona-Texas league to replace Arnerich in the Chief outfield.

ON THE INSIDE

By DON BECKER, Herald Sports Editor [from July 24/50]
GET AWAY FAST
Know what the catcher says to the pitcher when he walks out to the mound during a game? Once in a while it may be a word of advice but more than likely the catcher is strolling out there to give his hurler a rest.
The convocation will usually run, “Come on let's get this guy out of here so we can get home early.” Of course it could happen like it did to Nick not too long ago.
The big guy walked out to the mound and told his pitcher to be sure and not throw a ball inside to the hitter. “He'll clobber it if you do,” said Nick. In comes the first one right at the letters and inside. “I knew I'd never have to catch that one,” said Nick wryly. It sailed right over the left field wall too.”

Saturday, July 22, 1950

S T A N D I N G S
               W  L  Pct GB
Yakima ...... 57 39 .594 —
Tacoma ...... 56 41 .568 2½
Wenatchee ... 55 42 .567 2½
Tri City .... 54 44 .551 4
Salem ....... 40 52 .435 14½
Victoria .... 41 55 .427 16
Spokane ..... 41 56 .423 16½
Vancouver ... 40 55 .421 16½

YAKIMA, July 22 — Southpaw Larry Powell fashioned a two-hitter here Saturday night as the Yakima Bears slugged out a 13-2 victory over the Victoria Athletics.
Working on his third one-hitter in 13 year of major league and coast league baseball, Powell served up a home run fast ball to Gene Thompson with two out and one man aboard in the ninth inning. The other hit came in the second inning when John Hack laced a hump-back single to centre field.
Dave Melton, rookie Yakima shortstop, hit his first home run in a Bear uniform in the second inning and the rest of the way two Victoria pitchers couldn't hold the hard-hitting Western International League pace-setters.
Bill Andering, Al Jacinto and Jim Westlake shared in nine of the 16 hits given up by Ron Smith and Warren Noyes.
- - - -
VICTORIA, [Colonist, July 23]—Victoria Athletics went tumbling to their fifth straight defeat at Yakima last night but tempered the bad news with the announcement that outfielder Lou Novikoff had been acquired from the Bears.
Business-Manaager Reg Patterson stated late last night that the former coast and major league slugger would probably accompany the A's home from Yakima tomorrow and that he will likely appear in the line-up tomorrow night, when Victoria hosts the Spokane Indians.
Novikoff's acquisition was made possible by the fineplay of Yakima's young outfielders—Bill Andering, Frank Mascaro, Bill McCawley and Jerry Zuvella. The big fellow, who should find Royal Athletic Park tailored to his straightaway hitting, was battin .286 in the latest Nowe News Bureau average but had batted in 29 runs with his 36 hits.
Victoria .......... 000 000 002—2-2-1
Yakima ........... 013 000 72x—13-16-3
Smith, Noyes (9) and Danielson; Powell and Tiesiera.

KENNEWICK, July 23 [Don Becker, Herald] — Tri-City's Dick Faber smashed a long triple to the wall to score Nick Pesut all the way from first base and defeat Tacoma 9-8 in the double-header at Sanders Field last night. Tacoma won the seven inning opener on a 3-2 count.
The owl game was deadlocked after the seventh inning when the Tigers shelled Brave starter Joe Orrell from the mound. Merle Frick, making his local debut as a hurler turned in a magnificent job turning back Tacoma with two hits and striking out five. Another reliefer, Hunk Anderson for Tacoma, was charged with the loss although he pitched but one inning plus.
A jammed packed crowd of 2,669 swelled the season's total to 59,251. The club seems a cinch to pass the 60,000 mark today when the two teams, finish out their four game series.
Brave manager Charlie Petersen is sending his right-handed ace, Lou McCollum (14-7) to get the series edge for the Tri-City team. Jim Brillheart, pilot of the Tigers had nominated Bob Kerrigan to turn back the Braves and try for a split in this crucial contest.
Both teams had a big inning in the nightcap. The Braves took theirs in the second when they cleated the plate six times on fivp hits. Singles by Faber and Orrell drove in Clint Cameron and Buddy Peterson for the first two. Then Al Spaeter singled to score Bryant. Orrell's double added two more and then Vic Buccola dropped a pitch high over the right field wall for three
more. That gave Tri-City a 6-1 bulge.
Tacoma pecked away at Orrell finally getting two in the fifth and five in the seventh to knot the count. A total of seven hits, including just one extra base blow, a double by Bill Fisher, catcher, accounted for all the scoring and also sent Orrell packing.
Cameron and Peterson teamed up with a double and triple respectively in the Tri-City fifth to get those runs. Warner scored on the double and Cameron had no traffic trouble getting from second to home on Peterson's mid-center field triple.
Tacoma paraded four pitchers to the mound in an effort to get the tie game of the series. Don Carter started and lasted until the opening of the sixth. Brillheart then sent in Gil Loust who worked one full stanza. The luckless Anderson opened the seventh and was derricked after the first man up in the eighth, Nick Pesut, singled. When Pesut scored Anderson got the loss. Kaber slashed his triple off a pitch set up by Mel Knezovich.
LOSES OWN GAME
Joe Nicholas, the Tri-City's submarine pitcher, lost his control in the seventh inning of the opener—and the ball game. He walked Catron, hit Bache and filled the bases by walking Israel. A long fly by Ronnie Gifford to Cameron in right field brought in Catron. The final score 3-2.
Tacoma's other two runs came on homers, Quinn's in the second and Greco's in the fourth.
Nicholas was in a bad hole in the sixth. The bases were loaded but Buddy Peterson, Brave shortstop, saved the day. He leaped high in the air and speared—just on the tip of his fingers, it appeared—Sheets' sizzling drive.
BUCCOLA SPEARS 2
Vic Buccola, Tri-City first sacker, came in for a share of the glory too. He made two well-near impossible catches of foul fly balls.
The Brave's first tally came in the second. With two out, Bryant singled. Two more singles, by Faber and Nicholas, pushed the third baseman across the plate.
Peterson tripled in the fourth inning. McKeegan singled to score him.
First Game
Tacoma ......... 010 100 1—3-6-1
Tri-City ......... 010 100 0—2-6-0
Kitt and Sheets; Nicholas and McKeegan.
Second Game
Tacoma ......... 100 020 500—8-14-1
Tri-City .......... 060 020 01x—9-11-1
Carter, Loust (7), Anderson (7), Knezovich (8) and Fisher; Orrell, Frick (7) and Pesut.

WENATCHEE, July 22—Salem's big Bob Goldstein tripled home the winning run in the eleventh inning here Saturday night to give the Senators a 3-2 win over the Wenatchee Chiefs.
Goldstein's long smash came with Gene Gaviglio on first base with a walk. Both are former Wenatchee players.
Salem .............. 020 000 000 01—3-6-0
Wenatchee ...... 101 000 000 00—2-9-0
Osborne and Beard; Breisinger and Len Neal.

SPOKANE, July 22—Vancouver pounded the Spokane Indians pitcher for 12 hits to win the first game of a double header 9-1 here Saturday night.
It was Rockey's first game since his suspension.
Vancouver's Snyder limited the Indians to four hits.
Rockey held Vancouver to two unearned runs until the sixth inning of the seven inning game. Then a home run by Jim Keating brought in Sinovic and Tran for 3.
In the eighth Vancouver scored four more on three singles, a double and two walks.
Keating also singled in the game, and slammed out a two-run double in the second game, which the Caps won 9-7.
Vancouver scored five runs in the ninth to give reliever Carl Gunnarson the victory.
First game (seven innings)
Vancouver .......... 200 003 4—9 12 0
Spokane ............. 000 010 0— 1 4 3
Snyder and Brenner; Rockey and Rossi.
Second Game
Vancouver .......... 001 000 035—9 12 3
Spokane ............. 111 300 001—7 16 1
Whyte, Alvari (6), Gunnarson (7) and Heisner, Brenner (?); Curran, Roberts (9), O'Flynn (9) and Courage.

IT BEATS ME
By Jim Tang
[from Victoria Colonist, July 23, 1950]
Thirteen games below .500 and 15 out of the lead as this is written, Victoria Athletics are going to have to move fast—and soon—if they are to wind up with something better than possible leadership of the second division of the W.I.L. How much different it might have been had not the Seattle Rainiers decided to bring in K. Chorlton.
It is seldom that one player can mean as much to a ball club as Chorlton did to the A’s. The fleet Seattle youngster was leading the club at the plate with a .333 average and his 42 runs batted in were more than any of his teammates had at the time of the recall. But those figures don’t tell the whole story.
The A’s lost most of their speed and much of their outfield defence when he left. Chorlton had stolen 17 bases in 19 attempts and was the only one of the A’s who could reasonably be counted on to get into scoring position in the clutch and the only one who could almost always score from first on a double and from second on any hit to the outfield. In the outfield, hardly a game passed that he didn’t cut off an extra-base hit with one of his many great catches. He was saving as many runs as he was batting in.
Look at the record. After a disastrous start, the A’s had won 20 out of 30 games and were definitely on the move when Chorlton was recalled. Since then they have won 13 and lost 21 and are only two games better off than their season’s lowest mark. Eleven of those 21 losses have been by one run. There can be little doubt but that the A’s would have been in the thick of the pennant scramble with Chorlton. His hitting, speed and defensive play could easily have reversed the result in those one-run losses.
No blame can be attached to the Seattle club for his recall. At the time the Rainiers were trying to get started and they ran into a situation where they needed immediate outfield protection, and their young farmhand was the logical, and probably the only player they could get. But they can, perhaps, be blamed for keeping him when their outfield troubles cleared up. Chorlton is not yet ready for Coast League pitching and he is seeing but little action. He should be back in the W.I.L.—in Victoria—where regular play will develop his fine potential. His immediate value to Seattle is hardly worth the risk of future loss incurred by having him sit on the bench.

Monday, June 5, 1950

               W  L  Pct GB
Tacoma ...... 31 15 .674 —
Yakima ...... 24 22 .522 7
Salem ....... 23 22 .511 7½
Wenatchee ... 23 23 .500 8
Tri City .... 24 25 .490 8½
Spokane ..... 23 25 .479 9
Vancouver ... 18 25 .432 11
Victoria .... 18 28 .391 13

SPOKANE, June 5—Tacoma's Bob Kerrigan gave Spokane three runs in the first inning Monday night but both Kerrigan and the Tigers finished strong to take a 10-4 Western International League decision.
Despite giving up 15 base hits, the strong-armed mound ace was touched for only one in the last eight innings. It was his 10th victory without a defeat.
Tacoma snatched the victory in the final inning, breaking out with seven hits—half their night's total—to score six runs, and were assisted by two Indians errors. The decision built the Tigers' league lead to seven full games over second place Yakima.
Despite Monday night's win, league-leading Tacoma ended up with the short end of the five-game series. Spokane won three.
The game, a make-up of an early season rain-out, was the only one on the night's program.
Tacoma ....111 100 006—10-14-1
Spokane ....300 000 100— 4-15-4
Kerrigan and Sheets; Holder, Conant (9) and Rossi.

Yakima Signs Lou Novikoff
YAKIMA, Wash., June 5 — Lou Novikoff, the rollicking Russian who once cavorted for the Seattle Rainiers comes back to the Northwest Tuesday night in the uniform of the Yakima Bears.
Lou, who started his baseballing as a sottball pitcher, has been playing the short-base game again this summer after a long career in the minors and majors.
Novikoff hit the headlines in 1940 when he batted .363 with Los Angeles to lead the Pacific Coast league. He then spent five years with the Chicago Cubs, with indifferent success. He went to Seattle in midseason 1946.
Last year Lou played with Newark, N.J.. and the start of this season found him playing in Chicago. He quit there, however, to return to softball. Yakima outbid several teams for the services of Novikoff who will play left field.

TACOMA, June 6—Yakima's Nini Tornay had vaulted into the leadership of the Western Interational league hit parade with a mark of .376, figures released by the league office here today disclosed.
The Yakima' catcher dropped 18 points off his pace of last week, but the league hurlers finally caught up with Tacoma's Glenn (Jeep) Stetter, last week's leader who skidded from .411 to .358.
Dick Greco, big Tacoma outfielder, slugged his way into the runner-up slot, boosting his total to .373 during the week while Gene Thompson, Victoria outfielder, coasted along in third place with .367.
Wimpy Quinn, Tacoma first baseman, slugged 14 runs across the plate to bring his runs-batted-in total to 52, which easily stood up for the top mark in the R.B.I. chase.
Big Joe Rossi continued to pace the circuit's long distance hitters, clouting three home runs during the week to bring his total to nine for the season.
The averages through games of Sunday, June 5 (includes player in 15 or more games except pitchers hitting below .200):
                       AB H RBI  Ave
Tornay, Yakima ...... 117 44 23 .376
Greco, Tacoma ....... 169 63 38 .373
G. Thompson, Vict. .. 166 61 32 .367
Stetter, Tacoma ..... 159 57 38 .358
Lee, Tacoma .......... 67 24  9 .358
Hjelmaa, Tacoma ..... 137 47 28 .343
Len Neal, Wenatchee . 100 33  8 .330
Zuvela, Yakima ....... 76 25 12 .329
Chorlton, Victoria .. 192 63 40 .328
Rossi, Spokane ...... 167 54 37 .323
Ragni, Wenatchee .... 101 32 18 .317
Wasley, Salem ....... 158 50 25 .316
Conant, Spokane ...... 35 11  5 .314
Larry Neal, Wen ..... 159 49 17 .308
Robinson, Vancouver . 199 60 20 .302
Clarkson, Vancouver . 173 32 18 .301
Bryant, Tri-City .... 193 58 38 .301
Wert, Victoria ...... 143 43 30 .301
Vanni, Victoria ..... 153 46 21 .301

ON THE INSIDE
By DON BECKER, Herald Sports Editor
[from column of June 6/50]

NO CORNERS
One of the reasons this is a hitter's league, says Mike Budnick of the Braves, is the corners. Mike explained that he was shooting for the corners hard with his 'slider' last wesk in Salem but wasn't getting credit for them from the umpire. As a matter of fact Mike tells us that the ump even went so far as to ask him what kind of a pitch he was using. The arbiter said he hadn't seen that kind of a ball in this league before.
A slider in case you're interasted is thrown in much the same manner as is the 'out' curve by a right handed pitcher. Only instead of snapping the wrist, it is held stiff and there is no downward motion of the hand. Or to put it another way, it's very similiar in action to passing a football.
Mlke contends that It's the loss of those extra inches by the pitcher, forcing him to come in more toward the middle of the plate that is robbing the pitchers of their just dues. And as an ex-big leaguer he should know whereof he speaks. He's pitched a lot of ball and seen a lot of umpires work.