Tuesday, September 2, 1952

W L Pct. GB
Victoria .... 87 48 .644 —
Spokane ..... 84 59 .587 7
Vancouver ... 67 64 .511 18
Salem ....... 68 71 .489 21
Lewiston .... 66 75 .468 24
Yakima ...... 64 75 .460 25
Tri-City .... 60 75 .444 27
Wenatchee ... 55 84 .396 34

SPOKANE, Sept. 2 — The Western International league bunting looked a little closer for Spokane Tuesday night after they took a tightly-pitched 2-1 decision from Victoria in the first game of a crucial series.
The win was Spokane's ninth straight and cut Victoria's first-place margin to seven games.
The Indians, who passed Vancouver in the closing weeks last year to take the pennant, retained a mathematical chance of repeating against Victoria in 1952. Both the Indians and the Tyees have 13 games on their schedule, six of them against each other. Spokane also must play last place Wenatchee and third place Vancouver.
Victoria has games with Salem and Lewiston, in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Jehosie Heard started for Victoria but was relieved in the eighth by Bill Prior.
Spokane won the game in that inning when Prior hit Wilbur Johnson with the bases loaded to force in the deciding marker.
Heard pitched six-hit ball during his stint on the mound, while John Conant, picking up his 17th win, allowed only five safeties.
Victoria ...... 000 000 010—1 5 1
Spokane ..... 100 000 01x—2 6 0
Heard, Pryor (8) and Bottler, Martin (8); Conant and Sheets.

LEWISTON [Vancouver News-Herald, Sept. 3]—The Capilanos have already mathematically blown themselves out of a chance for the 1952 WIL championship and the day of reckoning is close at hand when they no longer will be able to reach second place. At least that’s what the arithmetic says.
Tuesday’s 7-6 loss to Lewiston, brought about when the Broncs rallied for three runs in the eighth, placed the Caps 10 full games behind Spokane with but 13 left on the schedule.
Therefore, a combination of four Vancouver losses or Spokane victories will settle the second place issue beyond doubt. That is unless the Caps are able to make up any of their nine rained out home games and with the schedule such a tightly fitting pattern, it seems inconceivable.
HOLD OFF SALEM
Right now, Edo Vanni and his boss, Bob Brown, are mainly concerned with holding off the Salem challenge and finishing in third place.
The Senators are just three games behind now, and the Caps have the worst of the schedule. Vancouver plays here tonight again and Thursday moves on to Tri-City for the weekend, then returns home next week for a tough week against Lewiston and Spokane.
Last night, Tom Lovrich looked well away for his ninth win of the season.
HAD EARLY LEAD
The Caps got him an early lead when they went to work on Jim Clancy and scored four runs in the first two innings. Even when the Broncs rallied with two in the third and two in the fourth, Vancouver surged ahead and were leading 6-4 in the eighth. But that’s when it happened.
Lovrich got into some self-made trouble in the eighth and Ed Locke came in to bail him out. Then in the eighth, the Broncs struck for three quick runs off Locke, making him a loser for the 12th time this season.
Vancouver ...... 310 010 010—6 11 2
Lewiston ........ 020 200 03x—7 12 3
Lovrich, Locke (7) and Ritchey; Clancy, Nicholas (9) and Lundberg.

SALEM, Sept. 2—When Fred Merkle of the New York Giants failed to touch a base and helped lose a pennant, he was a goat. Dick Bartle of the Salem Senators missed a base Tuesday night but wound up a hero.
With the bases loaded in the first inning, Bartle blasted a triple—except that he forgot to touch second. However, he chased home three runs to help Salem take a 4-2 decision over the Tri-City Braves.
Tri-City's first run came in the sixth inning on successive singles by Don Lopes, Ray Hamrich and Des Charouhas. In the eighth inning Lopes singled and Hamrich doubled for another run.
Tri-City .... 000 001 010—2 8 2
Salem ...... 300 000 10x—4 7 1
Romero and Pesut; DeBiasi and Nelson.

WENATCHEE, Sept. 2—Hitting safely four limes in five trips, including an inside-the-park homer, Len Noren was the big thorn in the side of the Wenatchee Chiefs as the Yakima Bears won their Western International League series opener here Tuesday night, 5-1.
Noren's round-tripper, with Jerry Zuvela on base, capped the Yakima scoring and accounted for the final pair of runs in the seventh.
He lashed the ball down the left field line, and it rolled to the wall as Bud Hjelmaa made a flying dive and missed.
Yakima .......... 101 100 200—5 10 1
Wenatchee .... 000 010 000—1 8 0
Shandor and Donahue; Bauhofer and Pocekay.

PCL Recalls 15 On Option
SEATTLE, Sept. 1 — Fifteen optioned farm hands including seven now playing in the Western International League are being recalled by the Pacific Coast League SeattLe Rainiers, General Manager Earl Sheely said Wednesday.
Five are to report before the Coast League season ends Sept. 21 and three others to report next spring.
They are Gordon Brunswick, outfielder; Van Fletcher and Tom Lovrich, pitchers and Don Lundberg, catcher, all with Vancouver in the WIL League, and George Vico, first baseman with Indianapolis in the American Association.
Others to report next spring include Dale Thomason, pitcher for Lewiston in the WI league; and Len Tran, infielder, and Jim Meyers, both with Vancouver.

Thursday, August 14, 1952

W L Pct. GB
Victoria .... 77 39 .664 —
Spokane ..... 69 51 .575 10
Vancouver ... 58 52 .527 16
Salem ....... 54 61 .470 22½
Yakima ...... 55 63 .468 23
Lewiston .... 54 64 .458 24
Tri-City .... 50 65 .435 26½
Wenatchee ... 47 69 .405 31

VANCOUVER [Keith Matthews, News-Herald, Aug. 15]—Bob Snyder found that the amazing succession of scoreless innings the Capilanos were tossing at Victoria was bound to an abrupt end sooner or later. And it did with Bob the victim—Thursday at the Stadium, as the Tyees won 3-1.
It was a game where one pitch meant the difference one way or the other. As luck would have it—bad luck for Robert—Snyder was a victim of the one pitch, a seventh inning “gopher ball” which he served up to Cece Garriott and which was good for two runs.
Garriott gave it quite a ride, about 350 feet over the right field wall, and it was the ball game right then and there.
ANOTHER 5-HITTER
Snyder pitched another of his masterpieces, and lots it. There times this year he has pitched five-hitters and lost. Last night’s was the third and Bob can lay blame for his 11th defeat to just about the same fact—his attack bogged down.
Carl Gunnarson was as cunning as ever for the Tyees. He gave up only one run when John Ritchey and Gordie Brunswick singled and Len Tran drove in the former on a fly ball. Then the “Gunner” was as tight as old man Scrooge the rest of the way.
All of the news from Cap Stadium wasn’t bad last night, however.
NEW PITCHER
After weeks and weeks of searching the Caps finally came up with a new pitcher to aid their badly overworked staff. He is a left-hander, Jim Meyers from Seattle. Just a youngster, the boy has never been in pro ball before, but he has been pitching for Mike Budnick’s semi-pro club down there. The boy comes on Rainier vice-president Torchy Torrance’s recommendation and he’ll be worked into the Capilano lineup just as soon as Edo Vanni has a chance to see what he’s liable to do.
Tonight it’s going to be Van Fletcher going for the Caps as they move into new series with Wenatchee. “Fletch” missed his turn last night in order to get an extra night’s rest, the theory being the big fellow hasn’t been working well on his routine of every four days on the mound, so why not change the routine?
DIAMOND DUST—Wenatchee and the Caps play the regular Saturday night doubleheader and then hold over for a single game Monday … The latter will be “family night” at the Stadium … Pop, as usual, pays but the rest of the gang gets in free.
- - -
VANCOUVER, B. C., Aug. 14 — Manager Cecil Garriott led his Victoria Tyees to a 3-1 Western International League baseball win over the Vancouver Capilanos Thursday night with a seventh-inning homer.
The Tyees were trailing 1-0 in the seventh when Lu Branham doubled. Then, with one out, Garriott broke a long hitless streak by knocking the ball over the right field wall.
Victoria added to its margin with a run in the ninth. The Victoria win ended the four-game series a two games apiece.
Victoria ........ 000 000 201—3 5 0
Vancouver .... 000 001 000—1 8 0
Gunnarson and Bottler, Martin (8); Snyder and Ritchey.

LEWISTON, Aug. 14 — The Spokane Indians kept up their end-of-the-season surge Thursday night as they swept a four-game series with the Lewiston Broncs by taking the final game 7-5.
Although Lewiston managed to get 12 base hits as compared with nine for Spokane, the Broncs fumbled away the win on five miscues. Bronc manager Bill Brenner started on the mound and took the loss as Spokane talled two runs in the first inning, one in the seventh and one in the ninth on a series of errors combined with scattered hits.
The Indians' second baseman, Jimmy Brown, was the big bat for the Tribe as he rapped out two singles and drove in three runs in four trips.
Spokane ...... 201 001 301—7 9 0
Lewiston ..... 000 410 000—5 12 5
Bishop, Roberts (S) and Sheets; Brenner, Powell (9) and Lundberg.
WP—Roberts. LP—Brenner.

YAK1MA, Aug. 14 — The Yakima Bears scored twice in the final inning to take a 2-1 Western International League baseball decision from the Salem Senators Thursday night.
Salem hurler Ray McNulty saw his neat four-hitter melt away when Yakima batsmen came alive after trailing 1-0 since the third inning.
Yakima's Earl Richmond opened the ninth with a single to center. Jerry Zuvela followed with another single to right field wihich got by Bill Spseter and rolled to the fence. Richmond romped home to tie it at 1-1.
McNulty purposely passed the next two batsmen and Ken Richardson hit into a double play. However, Salem catcher Bob Nelson hobbled a pitched ball, allowing
Len Noran in with the winning run.
Salem scored its lone tally in the third when Nelson walked and came home on a double by Gene Tanselli.
Salem ..... 001 000 000—1 6 3
Yakima .... 000 000 002—2 4 0
McNulty, and Nelson; Thompson and Donahue.

WENATCHEE, Aug. 14 — The Wenatchee Chiefs staged a five-run outburst in the sixth inning Thursday night to edge the Tri-City Braves 9-8 in the wrap-up game of a West
ern International League baseball series.
The Chiefs took the series 2-1 as Ed Kapp earned his first win of the season. Kapp took the mound in the fifth after Charlie Oubre pulled a muscle in his pitching arm.
Tri-City started early chalking up two runs in the first on two singles and an error A single by Walt Pocekay and another by Buddy Hjelmaa set up Wenatchee scores in the second, Pocekay tallying on a wild pitch and Hjelmaa on a long fly.
Five hits including a two-on circuit clout put Tri-City ahead with five runs across the plate in the third, and two singles and an error scored another Brave run in the fourth.
Three straight bases on balls by Bob Greenwood set up a two-run single by Ben Guerrero in the fifth for Wenatchee.
With one away in the sixth Wenatchee manager Dick Adams poled an inside pitch for a 390-foot home run and set the stage for the Chiefs' scoring splurge. Greenwood yielded five straight walks and two more runs before Adolph Satalich took over the mound. Pocekay singled to drive in another counter and tie the score and Hjelmaa walked to put the Chiefs out in front.
Tri-City ......... 205 100 000—3 15 0
Wenatchee .... 020 025 00x—9 7 2
Greenwood, Satalich (6) and Pesut: Oubre, Kapp (5) and Pocekay.
WP—Kipp. LP—Greenwood.

Pay Deadline Met by Chiefs
WENATCHEE, Aug. 14 — Wenatchee's Western International League baseball club will meet its Aug. 15 payroll, thanks to donations of more than $2,600 by local ball fans.
A "Keep the Chiefs" drive was in high gear Thursday after a meeting of 300 fans heard a report on the financial difficulties of the eighth place club.
Mayor Arthur H. Pohlman, president of the locally-owned team, said in addition to needing $3,000 to meet Friday's payroll, the club is $14,000 in the red.
Fans responded with cash and cheques, and then formed a One Dollar A Year club to continue the remainder of the season. Tacoma and Bellingham were reportedly interested in the franchise, if Wenatchee should fold.
"All debts must be paid by the first of the year or we are out of business," Pohlman said.

Note: portions of the column below are unreadable due to the newspapers being bound and the left-hand side of the column being in the gutter when a picture was taken of the paper.

The Sports Herald
KEITH MATTHEWS
[Vancouver News-Herald, Aug. 15, 1952]
Not Acting Any Longer

Bob Brown paused long enough to say that it would be quite all right to deduct the “acting” from Edo Vanni’s [] as acting manager of the Capilano ball players. In other words, Vanni is now the manager, lock, stock and [] barrelful.
[]wasn’t to say, Mr. Brown hastened to add, that Vanni had necessarily become the new leader, too. But there are enough hints in the connection to lead us to believe that this may well turn out to be the case.
Before, it left us with an [] of what had gone before [] what might happen in the future. An analysis, you might say, whether this appointment would be good or bad thing for the Capilanos.
Almost since his reign began, he has killed his Capilanos with kindness. He frequently calls his players “my kids” and offers the suggestion that they are hustling better than any other club in the league. The term “my kids,” we might add, is applied to Jesse Williams, Bob Snyder and Ray Tran as well as the others, proving that age isn’t everything.
Vanni has kept no doghouse such as Schuster did. Bill usually had his full; or at least always managed to have one tenant.

It Was Well Kept Doghouse
Ray Tran constantly found himself in the doghouse. Nobody found out why, but he was there. John Ritchey had his turn and Bud Guldborg and Len Tran all managed to sneak in for the weekend. It wasn’t the best way to run a happy home, and there are those who will tell you that it was certainly never dull.
Undoubtedly, Schuster mishandled the duties of his management. He was hired to teach the youngsters the fundamentals and provide the winning [] for everybody to ride [] to a championship.When [] neither, he was allowed [] his vacation in Buffalo.
Vanni, since he has come along, has been running a glorified baseball clinic, in which he claims everybody is learning the right way to play baseball. “If we lose a game,” he explained, “we hold a meeting and try to determine why, so it won’t happen again. My kids are learning, and so am I. It’s fun, really.”
Frequently, Schuster aimed for the ‘big inning’ in spacious Capilano Stadium because, possibly, he had read the papers and noticed he had a powerhouse of sorts.
Vanni disbelieves this theory, though he hastens to add that this is not a criticism of Schuster’s tactics. “Bill would have been our manager today if he’d been able to get into the lineup each day.”
Another Great Emancipator?
However, when Edo got the job, he took one look at the fences (335, 415 and 335 respectively from left to right) and decided that one run would be good enough most of the time to win. Thus, he [] parlayed the hit-and-run, the sacrifice and the steal into a single run and found that more often than not he come up with two or three.
None of this, of course, could have been accomplished without the resurgence of Gordie Brunswick and Len Tran, particularly, and the arrival of Tom Lovrich. The first two have either drive in or scored [] runs while the latter has treated them with as fine a [] of pitching jobs as you’d [] in Yankee Stadium of Allie Reynold’s turn.
The fact is neither Tran, Brunswick, nor Lovrich were doing much of anything under Schuster and they are producing in spades now. Vanni’s “kids”, in other words, must have something.
There was the thought once that Vanni was being too careful with his players and that he would die the same death that most “nice guys” do in this cut-throat game. That was before the Paul Jones Case.
Vanni might well turn out to be the Great Emancipator for the Capilanos, just as Marty Marion was when he relieved Rogers (Legree) Hornsby in St. Loo. However, look what has since!