Thursday, April 24, 1952

W L Pct. GB
Spokane ..... 3 0 1.000 —
Victoria .... 3 0 1.000 —
Lewiston .... 2 1 .667 1
Vancouver ... 2 1 .667 1
Wenatchee ... 1 2 .333 2
Tri-City .... 1 2 .333 2
Salem ....... 0 3 .000 3
Yakima ...... 0 3 .000 3

SPOKANE, April 24—Bill Chase pitched three-hit ball Thursday night to give Spokane a 5-1 decision over Salem and a clean sweep of their opening three-game Western International League series.
Chase walked eight men while striking out six.
The Indians scored the winning run in the fifth inning on two walks and two singles. Salem's lone run came two innings later when a deep single by Dick Bartle sent home Jim Dale, who had walked and then advanced on a wild pitch.
Salem ....... 000 000 100—1 3 2
Spokane ... 001 020 20x—5 5 0
Collins, Edmonds (7) and Nelson; Chase and Sheets.

YAKIMA, April 24—Victoria batters reached four Yakima hurlers for a total of 16 hits Thursday night for a 16-8 Western International League victory and a sweep of the three-game series here.
Trailing 6-2 going into the sixth, they erupted for seven runs and then made it safe with a five-run outburst in the seventh. Three fine catches by Gene Klinger in centre field kept the score from reaching box car figures.
A single by Don Pries, a long double off the wall by Granny Gladstone, and a single by Chuck Abernathy gave the Tyees a 2-2 tie in the fourth after the Bears had taken advantage of wildness from John Valerie to score two runs in the first.
Four bases on balls and four hits, one of them a three-run double from the bat of Pries, put the Tyees ahead to stay in the sixth.
The Bears moved close in their half of the sixth with two runs off George Randolph, who replaced Bill Wisneski after the latter was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the top half of the inning, but the Tyees came right back in their next turn.
Abernathy flew out but John Treece walked, bringing in a third Yakima pitcher. Milt Martin walked and Ben Lorino, who probably got credit for the win after relieving Randolph in the sixth, singled home Treece. Luther Branham singled and both Martin and Lorino scored when the ball got past outfielder Jerry Zuvela. Then Garriott delivered a 400-foot home run, the first of the season for the Tyees.
A base on balls to Pries, and singles by Branham, Moniz and Garriott, and Gladstone’s outfield fly completed the scoring in the ninth.
Each of the Tyees hit safely except Wisneski and Randolph, who did not bat. The first five men in the Victoria order—Branham, Moniz, Garriott, Pries, Gladstone and Abernathy—had two hits. Victoria has scored 35 runs on 39 hits in the first three games of the season.
Victoria ........ 000 207 502—16 16 4
Yakima ........ 200 402 000— 8 9 2
Valerie, Wisneski (5), Randolph (5), Lorino (6) and Martin; DelSarto, Stites (6), Donley (7), Dials (7) and Donahue.

WENATCHEE, April 24 — John Ritchey, last year's Western International
League batting champion, led his Vancouver teammates to a 17-hit, 12-4 rout of the Wenatchee Chiefs here Tnursday night to give the Capilanos a 2-1 edge in their Western International League series.
Ritchey hit two triples, a double and a single and was safe on an error in five official times at bat. Teammates Edo Vanni with 3 for 4, Jim Wert with 3 for 5 and Manager Billy Schuster with 3 for 6 also liked Wenatchee pitching.
Vancouver ........ 311 103 210—12 17 2
Wenatchee ...... 000 001 201— 4 4 4
Tisnerat, Guldborg (6) and Ritchey; Kanshin, Tierney (4) and Pocekay.

LEWISTON, Idaho, April 24—The wildness of three Tri-City pitchers in the sixth inning handed Lewiston seven runs and a 12-6 Western International League baseball triumph over the Braves Thursday night.
The win gave the Lewiston Broncs a 2-1 edge in their first WIL series.
Tri-City ......... 030 000 003— 6 9 5
Lewiston ........ 100 217 01x—12 8 4
Porto, Paine (6), Payne (6), Nicholas (7) and Pesut; Humphreys, Thompson (2) and Helmuth.

Third Catcher Joins Tyees; May Aid Trade
[Victoria Colonist, April 24, 1952]
Victoria Tyees acquired a third catcher yesterday.
Business manager Reg Patterson announced last night that his club had purchased the contract of Marion Watson from Stockton of the California League. Watson played 84 games with Tacoma last season, batting .279 and driving in 42 runs with his assortment of nine doubles, one triple, a home run and 61 singles. In 21 games with Stockton, he hit .342. He is a lefthanded hitter.
Whether or not Watson will replace either Milt Martin or John Willburn as one of the two catchers remains to be seen. However, a deal is brewing with the New York Yankees organization in which the Tyees would receive a pitcher if they can supply the Yankees’ Boise Club with a catcher and it will be up to manager Cece Garriott to decide who goes.
Sale of tickets for the Victoria opener against Wenatchee on Tuesday continued brisk yesterday as fans started to warm up to their club after its two opening wins. Tickets go on sale daily from 10 to 5 at the Home Furniture Co., 825 Fort Street.

DON CARLSON
[Vancouver Province, April 25, 1952]
Pennant for Caps?
(With interest in pro baseball apparently at an all-time high here, and everybody asking “How good are the Capilanos?” I asked baseball writer Clancy Loranger, just back from the Caps opening stand, to evaluate the 1953 team. Take it away, Clancy!)
This is the sort of thing I do very well—about Aug. 1. So many things can go wrong with a team that’s a world-beater on paper, or have you forgotten the Cap teams of 1948 and 1950?
Having recorded my alibi for release at a more convenient time, I’ll now put this on the record: the 1952 team SHOULD be better than the 1951 team, which finished half a game out of first place. You can draw your own conclusions as to where that will leave them.
Last year’s club led the WIL most of the way with a team that had a first baseman who didn’t hit like a first baseman should; an outfielder, Gordie Brunswick, playing third half the season after Bill Schuster was hurt; a .260 hitter in left field; and an old man in right. And until Vern Kindsfather and Bud Beasley showed up late in the season, they had three pitchers carrying the major hurling load.
● ● ●
This year? Jim Wert and Jesse Williams should outhit and outfield Chuck Abernathy and Jimmy Moore at first and second; Schuster’s trick knee is coming around and he’s guarding third in big league style; Edo Vanni and Joe Scalise ought to make up with their bats what they give away in the field to Bob McGuire and Charley Mead. In centre field, we lose, whether Bob Duretto can go get ‘em, or Gordie Brunswick play there. You just don’t find players like Dick Sinovic every year.
You’ve probably heard that pitching is the big question mark. Well, it is alright, but it’s a much smaller question mark than it was before Bob Brown acquired Jim Hedgecock and Bud Gulborg. Hedgecock won 14 games last year, and though I haven’t seen Gulborg work, he was a great prospect two years ago. Schuster says he’s got “great stuff,” and Brown says “he’ll win 20.”
● ● ●
Eddie Locke, who likes lots of work, and Harry Butts looks solid, and Van Fletcher’s three innings of hitless ball were impressive Wednesday. If Don Tisnerat and Jerry Barta come through consistently—and both have shown signs they might—the pitching staff could be a much better balanced one than last year, even though there isn’t likely to be a 27-game winner like Bob Snyder on it.
And if Pete Hernandez is returned by Seattle, I’m ready to waive all rights and say: The Caps are the team to beat.

Choukalos to Feature Extra Base Hitting
[Idaho State Journal, Pocatello, April 25, 1952]
You don't have to look far if you want to find the Pocatello baseball club's most colorful player.
Standing out like a neon light is Ernie Choukalos, the club's catcher and the longest ball hitter now on the roster.
Big Ernie, who hits 220 pounds and stands six-feet-two, is the life of the team. Always wearing a smile on his face, the Canadian backstop ace always has that right answer and right joke when the proper time rolls around.
STAND OUT
Much of Pocatello's heavy stick work will fall on Choukalos' shoulders this season. During spring drills in Redding, Calif., it was Choukalos' base knocks that sparked Pocatello in several exhibition games. So, from this corner it looks like the saying will be, "So goes Choukalos, so will go the Bannocks."
Choukalos, who is of Greek, Scotch, Dutch and English descent, is 23 years old. He tosses horsehide hide with his right arm, but bats 'em from the left side.
Ernie hails from Penticton British Columbia and during the off season holds down a guard berth with a professional Canadian football squad.
GOOD RECORD
The Bannock catcher began his baseball career with a semi pro club in Canada. In 1949 Choukalos went to Vancouver of the Western International circuit and clouted a home run the first time he stepped to the plate. Although playing in only 20 games last season, Choukalos hit a hot .400. In 1950 he moved over to Redding of the Far West circuit and hit a neat .297. Included in the average were four grand slam homers.
Although playing with an injured and most of the 1951 season, the giant catcher finished with a .245 average as a member of the Aberdeen club of the Northern league.
Choukalos, who someday would like to enter the hotel business, takes in every musical movie possible. He likes sports clothes and home cooking.