Victoria .... 79 40 .664 —
Spokane ..... 71 54 .568 11
Vancouver ... 60 54 .522 16½
Salem ....... 57 63 .475 22½
Yakima ...... 56 65 .463 24
Lewiston .... 56 66 .459 24½
Tri-City .... 52 67 .437 27
Wenatchee ... 49 71 .408 31½
VANCOUVER [Keith Matthews, News-Herald, Aug. 19]—The Capilanos took off across the Rockies Monday on the first leg of a suicide schedule which might well make or break their chances of regaining second place in the WIL.
It took them just one hour and 40 minutes last night to subdue Wenatchee 5-2 in one of the better-played games of the year. It was a family night crowd and 2760 which watched this; about 1225 of these paid but all of them enjoying it.
But more about this “suicide schedule.” Vancouver meets Salem twice tonight, then they “dog it” with only a single game Wednesday. There will be another doubleheader Thursday, a long haul to Victoria and a single game Friday and two on the Island Saturday. It adds up to eight games in five days, and by the time this weekend is reached every one of the Caps is liable to be seeing baseballs in his slumber.
COULD BE GOOD
With just a little but of a break, the club could make it a glorious road trip. It they start off right so that Edo Vanni doesn’t have to ruin his pitching itinerary, they’ll be almost as good as in second place, for although they are six games behind, Spokane is fumbling around badly.
Last night, the old pro, Bob Snyder, snapped his string of three straight losses and hung up his 11th win of the campaign. Wenatchee got almost twice as many hits as the caps—it was 11-6 in that department—but the Caps came back with three, mostly on Jim Wert’s triple way down in the right field corner, scoring Vanni and Len Tran.
Vancouver got a couple more in the second on Ed Locke’s triple, a walk, error, Snyder’s single and Len Tran’s infield out. Then it was up to Snyder.
Bob wasn’t in too great trouble at any time, for he lived by the old adage of getting the first man out in every inning. After that he allowed the Wenatchees to have a little fun on the bases, but as soon as somebody reached third, the party ended.
DIAMOND DUST—Both the new rookies, Jim Meyers and catcher Jim Leavitt, will see plenty of action on this tough road haul … Edo Vanni was in Seattle Sunday to see his new baby and while there visited the Seattle ball park and asked both Bill Sweeney and Earl Sheely to let him have a couple of players this coming Monday … After Monday the 17-player limit is over and clubs can carry any amount of material … Vanni would particularly like to have K. Chorlton down to finish out the season.
Wenatchee ..... 100 001 000—2 11 1
Vancouver ...... 320 000 00x—5 8 0
Stites and Pocekay: Snyder and Ritchey
The Sports Herald
KEITH MATTHEWS
[Vancouver News-Herald, August 19, 1952]
About eccentric people…
We had mentioned to Edo Vanni that Bud Guldborg might be a little eccentric. The Vancouver pitcher had just been relieved in the late innings of a game with Wenatchee and had run off the field as if his wife had given him the night out.
“He probably has a touch of it at that,” Edo consented, “maybe just the slightest touch. But let me tell you about a fellow who was really eccentric.”
The fellow, it turned out, was named Bill Schuster. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. He had a long Coast League career with Los Angeles and Seattle. He played a few years for the Chicago Cubs, then when the string ran out on him, be became a minor league manager. In a city named Vancouver, we believed it was.
In 1939, and ’40, we had great ball clubs under Jack Lelivelt,” Vanni began. “Jack died suddenly in the winter of ’41 after winning two pennants. Some people said it was Schuster who drove Jack to an early grave, but I thought Lelivelt always handled Bill pretty well.
“Bill Skiff inherited out third great club in ’41, and though he’d been in baseball all his life, he apparently never ran across a man like Schuster. Skiff could never figure him out.
“There was a succession of events, all prompted by Schuster, which made Skiff believe he was in a three-ring circus instead of a ball park.
Hasn’t changed a bit…
It started one day in Hollywood when Schuster was on first base and Babe Herman, then in the twilight of his careers, was holding the bag. There was a throw over to first and Herman dropped the ball. Before he was able to bend over and pick it up, Schuster had grabbed the thing, put it in his pocket and started running around the bases. As he reached home plate, he held up the ball for the umpire to see and chuckled, ‘See what I got, ump!’ The umpire didn’t appreciate the humor of it. He kicked Bill out.
A short while later, Schuster was sitting on our bench when we were at bat and there was a close play at the third. The umpire called the runner out, and Schuster leaped off the bench like a shot.
He travelled in a straight line for the ump, then just before he got to him, slid at his feet. What Bill didn’t know, however, was the grass was wet, and when he slid, he took right off and dumped the umpire on his backside. The fellow had to go to hospital for there days, and Schuster was tossed out once more.
“Skiff was getting pretty impatient with all this, but he didn’t crack until one day, when we were leading by about 10 runs, Schuster hit an easy tap back to the mount. Then, instead of running for first, Bill lit out for third.
“I thought Skiff was going to drop with surprise. By the time Bill got close to the third base coaching box, Skiff had recovered. He told Bill he had better go all the way around because it was going to cost him $25, and he had better make it worthwhile.
Kept it in the family…
“These things kept happening until Schuster had been tossed out of eight ball games in a row! It was probably a Pacific Coast League, Pete Coscarart, our utility infielder, had played 12 games all year [ ], and nine of them were for Schuster after he’d been ejected.
On the ninth day, we built a terrific early league. Schuster had been particularly docile and we figured he was going to break his streak of getting the thumb at eight in a row.
“In a way, I suppose you could say he did,” Vanni offered. “He was in the on-deck batter’s circle late in the game when the umpire called a doubtful strike on the hitter. Schuster walked up to protest and got a few hot words. He almost nearly warmed up, when Skiff arrived at the plate and tapped Schuster on the shoulder.
“Bill,” he said, “go on back to the dugout.”
“I can’t, I’m up next,” Schuster protested. “Did you see what this blind soandso called on us?”
“I saw everything,” Skiff squawked. “Now go on back to the dugout. You’re not batting next.”
”Whaddya’ mean!” Schuster yelped. “The ump hasn’t kicked me out.”
“No, but I have,” Skiff grinned. “You going to get it from somebody pretty soon, so I might as well kick you out and fine you, too. That way we’ll keep the money in the family.”
”There,” Vanni concluded, “was a real eccentric fellow.”
“He probably has a touch of it at that,” Edo consented, “maybe just the slightest touch. But let me tell you about a fellow who was really eccentric.”
The fellow, it turned out, was named Bill Schuster. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. He had a long Coast League career with Los Angeles and Seattle. He played a few years for the Chicago Cubs, then when the string ran out on him, be became a minor league manager. In a city named Vancouver, we believed it was.
In 1939, and ’40, we had great ball clubs under Jack Lelivelt,” Vanni began. “Jack died suddenly in the winter of ’41 after winning two pennants. Some people said it was Schuster who drove Jack to an early grave, but I thought Lelivelt always handled Bill pretty well.
“Bill Skiff inherited out third great club in ’41, and though he’d been in baseball all his life, he apparently never ran across a man like Schuster. Skiff could never figure him out.
“There was a succession of events, all prompted by Schuster, which made Skiff believe he was in a three-ring circus instead of a ball park.
Hasn’t changed a bit…
It started one day in Hollywood when Schuster was on first base and Babe Herman, then in the twilight of his careers, was holding the bag. There was a throw over to first and Herman dropped the ball. Before he was able to bend over and pick it up, Schuster had grabbed the thing, put it in his pocket and started running around the bases. As he reached home plate, he held up the ball for the umpire to see and chuckled, ‘See what I got, ump!’ The umpire didn’t appreciate the humor of it. He kicked Bill out.
A short while later, Schuster was sitting on our bench when we were at bat and there was a close play at the third. The umpire called the runner out, and Schuster leaped off the bench like a shot.
He travelled in a straight line for the ump, then just before he got to him, slid at his feet. What Bill didn’t know, however, was the grass was wet, and when he slid, he took right off and dumped the umpire on his backside. The fellow had to go to hospital for there days, and Schuster was tossed out once more.
“Skiff was getting pretty impatient with all this, but he didn’t crack until one day, when we were leading by about 10 runs, Schuster hit an easy tap back to the mount. Then, instead of running for first, Bill lit out for third.
“I thought Skiff was going to drop with surprise. By the time Bill got close to the third base coaching box, Skiff had recovered. He told Bill he had better go all the way around because it was going to cost him $25, and he had better make it worthwhile.
Kept it in the family…
“These things kept happening until Schuster had been tossed out of eight ball games in a row! It was probably a Pacific Coast League, Pete Coscarart, our utility infielder, had played 12 games all year [ ], and nine of them were for Schuster after he’d been ejected.
On the ninth day, we built a terrific early league. Schuster had been particularly docile and we figured he was going to break his streak of getting the thumb at eight in a row.
“In a way, I suppose you could say he did,” Vanni offered. “He was in the on-deck batter’s circle late in the game when the umpire called a doubtful strike on the hitter. Schuster walked up to protest and got a few hot words. He almost nearly warmed up, when Skiff arrived at the plate and tapped Schuster on the shoulder.
“Bill,” he said, “go on back to the dugout.”
“I can’t, I’m up next,” Schuster protested. “Did you see what this blind soandso called on us?”
“I saw everything,” Skiff squawked. “Now go on back to the dugout. You’re not batting next.”
”Whaddya’ mean!” Schuster yelped. “The ump hasn’t kicked me out.”
“No, but I have,” Skiff grinned. “You going to get it from somebody pretty soon, so I might as well kick you out and fine you, too. That way we’ll keep the money in the family.”
”There,” Vanni concluded, “was a real eccentric fellow.”
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