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, June 25, 1950

              W  L Pct. GB
Tacoma ..... 39 25 .609 —
Wenatchee .. 38 29 .567 2½
Yakima ..... 37 29 .561 3
Tri-City ... 36 31 .537 4½
Salem ...... 30 34 .469 9
Spokane .... 30 38 .441 11
Victoria ... 29 39 .426 12
Vancouver .. 25 39 .403 14

SPOKANE, June 25—Spokane's Indians edged the Tri-City Braves 7 to 6 Sunday night to sweep a Western International league split double-header.
The Indians took the first tilt 8 to 4.
Lou McCollum, Brave starter in the afternoon game here, served up a home run ball that practically wrote the story of that game. With the bases loaded in the Spokane first, big Joe Rossi, Indian backstop, smacked one out of the park. McCollum was derricked in third when Glen Stetter doubled to score Leon Mohr. A pair of singles by Frank Matoh and Chuck Davis drove in two more for the winners.
Jim Olsen, who checked in at the mound for McCollum, did all the scoring for the Braves. He hit his third home run of the season scoring Al Spaeter in front of him in the fifth, and his double in the eighth drove in Neil Bryant and Spaeter. Olson gave up but three hits in the five innings he worked.
The Brave out hit the Indians 14 to 10 in the nightcap. Spokane's new double-play combination, Chuck Davis to Leon Mohr to Norm Grabar, clicked in the top of the ninth to end the game with a seventh Tri-City run not counting.
Spokane scored its runs in the first four innings—three in the first, two in tie second and fourth —while the Braves registered three in the third, two in the eighth and one in the ninth.
First Game
Tri City ...... 000 020 000— 4 9 3
Spokane ..... 403 000 01x— 8 11 0
McCollum, Olsen (3) and Pesut; Holder and Beard.
Second Game
Tri-City ....... 003 000 021— 6 14 1
Spokane ...... 320 200 00x— 7 10 2
Stone, Felizzatto (2) and Pesut; Bishop and Rossi.

SALEM, June 25—Salem's Senators put all their punch into a five-run first inning here Sunday night to take the second game of a Western International league doubleheader, 6-3, and gain an even split in their four game series with the Yakima Bears. Yakima won the opener, 2-0.
First Game
Yakima ...... 000 000 000—2 7 1
Salem ......... 000 000 000—0 6 2
Domenichelli and Tiesiera; McNulty and Beard.
Second Game
Yakima ....... 000 012 0—3 9 3
Salem .......... 500 010 x—6 7 0
Dickey and Tiesiera; Tierney and Beard.

TACOMA, June 25 — Tacoma's front-running Tigers took both ends of a Western International league baseball doubleheader from the last-place Vancouver Capilanos here Sunday, 11-6 and 3-2, to register a sweep of their four-game series.
A five-run seventh inning broke up the opener, the Tigers bunching three hits, two walks and a Vancouver error in erasing a 6-all tie. Dick Greco homered for the winners.
Bob Kerrigan, Tiger hurler, notched his 12th win against three defeats in hurling 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief ball in the second game.
First Game
Vancouver ..... 100 320 000—6 13 2
Tacoma .......... 303 000 50x—11 11 1
Snyder, Costello (7), Owen (8) and Brenner, Heisner (8); Walden, Carter (5) and Fischer.
Second Game
Vancouver ..... 110 000 00—2 7 0
Tacoma .......... 010 010 01—3 10 1
Alvari, Bruenner (8) and Heisner; Loust, Kerrigan (6) and Sheets.

WENATCHEE, June 25—The Wenatchee Chiefs shut out the Victoria Athletics in the second game of a Western International League doubleheader Sunday, 5-0.
Righthander Joe Blankenship scattered seven hits for the win.
It gave Wenatchee a sweep of the twin-bill and also a sweep of the four-game series.
Lefthander Jim Propst walked the first three men up for Wenatchee in the first and third baseman Don Fracchia cleaned the sacks with a double.
Wenatchee won the opening game 8-7 in two innings of overtime play in a scheduled seven-inning contest. Reliefer Tom Breisinger won his own game, tripling with two away in the ninth and scoring as Lil Arnerich crossed up Victoria with a base hit bunt.
First Game
Victoria .......... 011 041 000—7 12 2
Wenatchee ..... 005 200 001—8 12 1
Mishasek and Weatherwax; Treichel, Dahle (6), Breisinger (8) and Spurgeon.
Second Game
Victoria ........... 000 000 000—0 7 0
Wenatchee ...... 310 000 10x—5 6 0
Propst, Noyes (1) and Weatherwax; Blankenship and Spurgeon.

Indians Sign Clown For Hurling Job
SPOKANE, June 25—The Spokane Indians have signed a former clown—but it's not because they find anything to laugh about in their present hold on sixth place in the Western International league.
The new acquisition is A. Murry O'Flynn, who in addition to biding a comedian, is something of a curve ball artist. He played with the Indians prior to the war, posting a 12-6 record in 1940 and gave with the laughs during the 1948 and 1949 season.
Manager Alan Strange said O'Flynn would replace Bob Roberts, a righthanded relief pitcher who has been placed on the inactive list because of the flu.

NON WIL MINOR LEAGUE NEWS
BALK-FLAVORED RHUBARB FEATURED IN PCL TILT
By JIM COOPER
SAN FRANCISCO, June 26. (U.P.)—Fans, at the Los Angeles-Oakland baseball sideshow yesterday were served the choicest dish of rhubarb pie yet seen this season in the
Pacific Coast league. At Emeryville Park things were going well for tall, grey-eyed Bob Muncrief. Of course the Angels had dropped the opener to the Oaks 11 to 1, but this nightcap was a different thing.
The 34-year-old righthander, who has seen his share of major league play, had a 5 to:4 lead-,'going into the bottom half of the sixth, and if the old arm held out, Muncrief would collect his l0th win.
Not Disastrous
But George Metkovich tripled to send home Mel Duezabou and Artie Wilson with the tieing and leading runs. That was bad, but not disastrous, because the lead had been switching back and forth all afternoon, Muncrief threw the next-pitch and then heard the most-hated word in the umpire vocabulary, "Balk!" Muncrief objected mildly. He had committed only two this balk-batty season, and this one just wasn't another, he said. But with calm authority Umpire Pat Orr sent Metkovich home to score.
Secure In the Oakland dugout, Metkovich was suddenly confronted with greetings from Umps Bill Doran and Ed Runge. Back to third, they ordered. "That there wasn't no balk." Back to third went weary George.
Metkovich wanted to get back to the dugout hideaway, so on the next pitch he stole home-ward, Muncrief whipped the ball to Catcher Rube Novotney, who tagged George out.
Two Solemn Nods
"Balk!" Plate Umpire Doran screamed. He glanced at the stone countenances of Orr and Runge They nodded solemnly. So again Metkovlch's score flashed on the boards.
Swarms of Seraphs clustered around the firm gentlemen in the tight plack suits. Cries of anguish from Angelic throats. Tears fell on cherubic Cheeks. Surely, the gentlemen were joking.
But with the solidity of silent redwoods, the umpires stood unmoved.
It was a balk. With the starch gone from their wings, the Angels folded and Oakland won the second game, 7 to 5.
WILFan note: This wasn't the first time Metkovich, who played for the '56 Vancouver Mounties, won a game on a balk. See this blog's listing for July 31st.

ON THE INSIDE
By DON BECKER, Herald Sports Editor
[from column of June 26/50]
When you haven't a .300 hitter on the team and you manage to win 11 out of 12 games, as the Braves have going into Sunday, then it's time to admit that the pitchers are carrying their full share of the load. . .and perhaps a bit more.
On the other hand if you happened to check the linescore of some of the Tacoma games last week you might have noticed that one Dick Greco was listed as a pitcher. Why? Well, it could be that Jim Brillheart's Tigers were no longer able to go the full route. And if you checked those same linescores a bit more closely you'd have seen the same names pitching with as much as one or two dlays rest.
Pitching is 95 percent of baseball and any time a manager for any reason starts to force his throwers to work out of turn, something happens and usually it's pretty bad. But that is what was happening at Tacoma. Pitchers like Bob Kerrigan were starting one day and two days later were relieving. It just couldn't go on, and it didn t. The Tigers fell apart like the one-hoss shay.
REMEMBER WHEN
Yet it wasn't too long ago the wolves were howling when Braves pilot Charlie Peterson refused to pull a pitcher even when it was apparent that the man was in serious trouble. But had Peterson listened to those wild calls where would the Braves be today? It's a good bet they wouldn't be where they are now.
Here's a concrete example of what we mean. Not too long ago Pete looked over his staff and found only Joe Orrell on the ready list. Yet it wasn't the Bullet's turn and Pete refused to ask the veteran to pitch out of turn. The result. The following night Orrell went out and turned in one of his best performances of the season.
It's only been because Petersen was strong enough to withstand the blasts from the stands that the Braves are getting the pitching they are. We say all this because there was a lot dinned into our ears when the Braves were losing. At that time we took the matter up with Petersen and we're happy to say that things have turned out the way he said they would. “I won't hurt my pitchers” he said then, “if I start forcing them we're never going to win. But as soon as we get and of some sore arms we'll get our share.” Should we say. . .he told you so.