HE’S A CAPILANO NOW
Vanni A Nuisance, But To Opposition
By CLANCY LORANGER [Vancouver Province, Feb 20]
It may take Vancouver baseball fans a little while to get used to it, but Edo Vanni will be on our side this year.
Vanni, long one of the Western International League’s best all-around performers—and for just as long one of the most roughly-raspberried of the Capilanos’ opposition—has signed with the local Class A team, Cap general manager Bob Brown said today,
Voted most valuable player on the pennant-winning Spokane Indians last year, Vanni, under terms of his contract, recently was given his release, and Brown said he outbid “four other WIL clubs—including Spokane,” trying to sign the smart, speedy outfielder.
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“Edo’s wanted to play for us for quite a while,” said Bob, “and he came to see me the last two times I was in Seattle. We finally got together. I’m very happy about it.”
He should be. In Vanni he gets a man who consistently hits above .300—.332 last year—is a most troublesome lead-off man, a creditable outfielder, and former holder of the league’s base-stealing record. “He had the rest with more than 80 one year before Eddie Murphy (Spokane outfielder too) broke it with over 100,” Brown said.
But a big part of the Seattle man’s worth doesn’t show in the record books. His “nuisance value” is tremendous—with his crouching stance at bat, his ability to come up with important hits, his skill on the bases, and the same sort of competitiveness that the majors’ Eddie Stanky has, he drives opposing pitchers—and rival fans—slightly nutty.
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Besides all that, he has brains—he once ran for Congress in Washington State—and Brown figures he’ll be a big help to manager Bill Schuster with the younger players.
There’s one other thing, too. Vanni, as a perennial free agent, picks his teams carefully—and he picked WIL pennant winners in 1950 and 1951. Maybe 1952?