Friday, July 20, 2007

Fire in Spokane

Western Int League Field to Be Rebuilt
By Bob Johnson.
Spokane, Wash.

Ferris Field, home of the Spokane Indians of the Western International League was destroyed by fire the night of October 29 with damage estimated at approximately $100,000.
It was the second time in three years that tragedy had struck at Spokane, holder of the Class B attendance record of 287,185 in 1947. In June, 1946, the Spokane team was virtually wiped out in a bus crash in the Cascade Mountains. Enroute to Bremerton, Wash., the bus carrying 15 players crashed through a guard railing and plunged 350 feet, taking nine players to their deaths and seriously injuring the others.
J. Lamar Butler, part owner of the Indians, said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles immediately after the fire that the Spokane park would be rebuilt of concrete and steel “so that another such fire will be impossible.”
Firemen were unable to determine the cause of the blaze. The entire wooden structure took fire with such rapidity that it was impossible to save more than a small section of the right and left field bleachers.
The park had seating accommodations for 7,223. Earlier this year, Butler had said he planned to increase the seating capacity to 11,000 but a shortage of construction materials prevented the project.
The entire structure was covered by insurance, Butler said.
The park was built in 1934 at the cost of $40,000, but had underground several major improvements in the past 24 years. It was named after George Ferris, city corporation counsel, who was a member of the Spokane Indians in the old Northwest League at the turn of the century.
Butler and Co-Owner Buddy Ryan of Sacramento purchased the club from Sam Collins at the end of the 1947 season. This year, working independently, the Indians captured the league crown, coming from nine games off the pace during the last month of the season to edge out Bremerton in the final week of the season with 102 wins and 64 defeats. There were no playoffs in the league.
- TSN, Nov. 10, 1948

Monday, July 16, 2007

Post-Season Stuff

CAMILLI WON'T BUY SPOKANE
Dolph Camilli has decided against purchasing the Spokane club, but said that he was going to the minors’ convention in December “and see what I can find.” The former major league first baseman, who finished the season as Spokane manager and led the club to the Western International League pennant, also denied rumors that he might pilot Sacramention of the Coast league next year. Dolph revealed that his Mendociono (Calif.) ranch is up for sale and that he hopes to buy a ranch in the vicinity of Santa Rosa.
- TSN, Oct. 20, 1948

BEARD NEW MANAGER
Replacing Jack Wilson, who has entered private business, Bill Beard, reserve catcher of the Salem Western International League Senators. He was with Salem in 1947. Beard had a trial with Washington in the spring of 1938 after leaving the University of Willamette, and played with numerous minor league clubs, except for three years in the service.
-TSN, Nov. 24, 1948

San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League purchased controlling interest in the Yakima Western International League club, November 18. Dave [sic] Soriano, one of the Seals' pitchers is slated to become president and general manager.
- TSN, Nov. 24, 1948

ORENGO MAY DIRECT SEALS’ FARM
Joe Orengo, released as manager of the Sacramento (Pacific Coast) Solons on September 27, has been offered a position with the San Francisco Seals as director of their farm system. Joe recently entered a candy manufacturing business in partnership with his brother in San Francisco and the berth with the Seals would not interfere. The San Francisco club is building up a farm system. Yakima in the Western International was purchased recently, working agreements with Salt Lake City in the Pioneer and Clovis in the West Texas-New Mexico League are in effect and another affiliate is to be added. Orengo would have a year-round job, handling player personel for the farms and serving as general trouble shooter.
- TSN, Dec. 1, 1948
[“May” turned out to be correct. Orengo spent 1949 managing Yakima.]

SPOKANE DEAL COMPLETED
Ownership troubles of the Spokane (Western International) club officially ended with the completion of the deal whereby Roy Hotchkiss, Spokane sportsman, purchased the interests of John (Buddy) Ryan and became co-owner with J. Lamar Butler of Los Angeles. Pending, however, is a settlement of a $252,000 insurance claim for destruction of the park last October. The extent of reconstruction depends on the amount received.
- TSN, Mar. 9, 1949

BUDDY RYAN FINED $500
John (Buddy) Ryan, who recently sold his part interest in the Spokane (Western International) club, was fined $500 and player Eugene Petralli made a free agent by President George M. Trautman of the National Association in a contract irregularity, called to his attention by the youngster’s mother. It was charged and admitted by Ryan that the player was given $1,500 for signing on April 1 of last year and was to be paid 50 per cent of his sale price, none of which considerations appears on the filed contract. Ryan was made ineligible to return to Organized Ball until the $500 fine is paid and the Spokane club and any with which Ryan may be connected were forbidden to contract Petralli for three years. Pending expiration of a 30-day appeal period, other clubs are also forbidden to negotiate for the player’s services.
-TSN, March 23, 1949

Edo Vanni

Vanni Returns To 'His' Club
SEATTLE, Sept. 22—Edo Vanni, fleet-footed outfielder who scampered to a new stolen base record in the Western International league this season, once more is wearing the
uniform of the Seattle Rainiers—"his club"—for six years.
Wednesday night at San Francisco, Vanni's single figured in a three-run seventh inning Rainier rally that tied the score in the second game of the final series with the Seals. An earlier double had gone to waste.
The nimble flychaser was signed as a free agent by Seattle last Sunday to help plug a gap left by the Boston Red Sox's immediate recall of Neill Sheridan.
Cut loose by Seattle early in 1947, Vanni played in the south that year and then joined the Spokane Indians of the W.I.L. circuit at the start of the '48 campaign. His base running and always dangerous bat were a major factor in the Tribe's stretch drive to a pennant.
Last week Vanni asked and got his release from Spokane. He suited up with the Rainiers the same day he signed here and saw action in the second game of a Sunday twin bill with Los Angeles. He went hitless in three trips.
Then he rode the bench until being named to Wednesday night's starting lineup.
Vanni has made no secret of the fact he feels this is his chance to "show his stuff" and again become a regular with the Rainiers.
Because he was added to the Seattle roster after the August 1 deadline, Vanni will not be eligible to compete in the PCL Governor's cup playoffs.
His six seasons with the Rainiers began in 1939 and were interrupted during the war years. He was Seattle's leading hitter in 1940 and 1946.

Mysterious Death

OK, this has only a tenuous link with the Western International League; Spencer Harris left Yakima to manage in the Far West League toward the end of this season. But this tale is an interesting one, so I include it on this blog.
Just one note — some of the wire stories make it out that Wera managed Oroville that year, others say he was the business manager. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball lists someone else as field manager.

Sleeping Pills Fatal To Ex-Major Leaguer
Oroville, Calif., Sept. 13 — (AP) — Julian Wera, 38-year-old baseball club manager and former big leaguer, took an overdose of sleeping pills early today, wrote farewell notes to his estranged wife, then slumped dead over his telephone as he started to make a call, Sheriff Herb Forward said.
The sheriff said the notes indicated Wera was despondent over his separation from his wife, Ruth, and their daughter, Jerry.
Wera, a former New York Yankee in the American Baseball league and a San Francisco Pacific Coast league player, was a Boston Redsox scout and a business manager of the Oroville club in the Far West baseball league. He played briefly for the Yankees in 1927. In his first major league game at the age of 16, he clouted Walter Johnson for a home run.

Julian Wera Confused at Report of Own Suicide
ROCHESTER, Minn., Sept. 14—(AP)—The man known here as Julian V. Wera, 45, former big league baseball player, was mystified Tuesday over the similar identity given a man whom police said committed suicide in Oroville, Calif.
The Rochester man said someone might have assumed his name "in order to gain my reputation as a ball player."
West coast officials of the Boston Red Sox said the dead man had been with the Boston Red Sox farm organization since the war.
Police Chief A.F. Kessler of Oroville, said Monday night a man who had given the name of Julian Wera, 39, business manager of the Sox' farm organization there, committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping tablets.
The Oroville man had given the press to understand he had played with the New York Yankees in 1927, that he had been with the Three Eye league and the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast league.
The man in Rochester told how he had played with the Yankees in 1927, had played with the Seals from 1931-35 and in the Three Eye league with Peoria, Ill., in about 1920, He said he had three brothers in Winona.
The Red Sox farm director, George Toporcer, said that "apparently we were misled."
Toporcer said the identity of the dead man in Oroville hasn't been positively established, "but friends of his in California telephoned me that he was William Wera, a cousin of Julian."
A year ago Toporcer said, he sent a manager to the Oroville team "on the assumption that he was Julian Wera of the Yankees.
All arrangements were carried on by a west coast representative of the Sox and Toporcer didn't see the candidate.
"I knew Julian. We played together with Syracuse. But when I said I didn't recognize the picture it was explained to me that Wera had a terrific war record and his face was all cracked up in the war," Toporcer explained.

This Is Wera, Wera Peculiar, But He Was Good Man
Oroville, Calif., Sept. 15.—(AP)—Some angles in the death of a minor league baseball manager continued to mystify officials today, but a couple of items were clear:
1. He was posed as Julian Wera, representing himself as a former New York Yankee and third baseman for the San. Francisco Seals. But the real Julian Wera is in Rochester, Minn., operating a food store.
2. Whatever the man's name really was, he did a good job managing the Oroville club in the Far West league, a farm of the Boston Red Sox. Oroville won the pennant this year.
Sheriff-Coroner W. H. Forward said the Oroville manger took an overdose of sleeping pills Monday after writing farewell notes to his estranged wife.
Posing as Wera, he was hired as Oroville's manager a year ago. Jerry
Donovan, president of the Far West League, explained the circumstances:
"I played outfield when Julian Wera played third base with the Seals in 1931. This fellow came out here and said a mine had blown up in his face during the war and he had a lot of plastic surgery done on it.
"I wouldn't have recognized him, but he stood up and said 'Hello.' His face sure looked different, but he talked as if he were the real Julian Wera. It's hard to believe."
In Boston, the Red Sox farm director, George Toporcer, said "apparently
we were misled."

Suicide Reveals Cousin Posing as Former Yankee
Oroville, Cal., Sept. 15—(U.P.)—Mrs. Ruth Wera, whose husband committed suicide after posing as a former New York baseball star for several years, admitted Wednesday that he had been secretive about details of his past life.
But she said she was confident that her late husband actually was a cousin of the famed Yankee infielder, Julian Wera.
Mrs. Wera said she thought her husband's true name was William J. Wera.
Her husband was business manager of the Oroville Red Sox. The hoax was revealed Monday after the baseball executive died of a lethal dote of sleeping tablets.
Officials of the Far West league also admitted they were taken in by "Wera." Jerry Donovan, president of the league, said many baseball
men who knew the real Wera during his playing days — including himself — had been fooled by the impostor for more than a year.
Meanwhile, the "real" Julian Wera, in Rochester, Minn., insisted he is "very much alive." He is now 45 years old and manager of a meat market
Mrs. Wera explained that she married the impostor, believing him to be the former major leaguer. She had no doubt of his identity until the genuine Wera revealed he was alive, she said.
The impostor claimed he had been wounded in Italy during the war, and said plastic surgery changed his features beyond recognition.
However, Sheriff-Coroner W. H. Forward said Wera's claims of a brilliant war record proved to be a fabrication by a check with military records.
Donovan revealed that "some doubt" as to whether the Oroville manager was the Yankees' Wera was raised several months ago by old friends.
"We decided to let it go," he said, "because he was doing a good job and that's all that really mattered."
But this suicide changed things embarrassingly, he added.
Records of the Oroville team,owned by the Boston Red Sox were found to be clear, with all funds accounted for. A suicide note hinted at domestic troubles.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Wednesday, September 15, 1948

FINAL STANDINGS
               W  L  Pct.  GB
Spokane .... 102  64 .614  —
Bremerton ... 95  62 .605  2½
Victoria .... 93  68 .578  6½
Tacoma ...... 84  73 .535  13½
Vancouver ... 67  80 .456  25½
Salem ....... 73  88 .453  26½
Wenatchee ... 69  91 .431  30
Yakima ...... 52 109 .323  47½


SPOKANE, Sept. 15—The Spokane Indians won the Western International League championship tonigth by shutting out the Tacoma Tigers, 4-0, in the first game of a doiuble-header.
The championship climaxes an amazing late season driv ethat netted the Indians 45 victories in 56 games. It is the first time the league pennant has rested in Spokane Park since 1941.
Pitcher Frank Nelson earned his 24th victory of the season in administering the whitewashing. More than 9,000 fans roared in unison as second baseman George Valine gatherd in a pop fly for the final out that meant the league crown.
The sparking stretch drive for the championship has been largely engineered by manager Dolph Camilli who took over the club August 3 with the team in fourth place. Camilli replaced Buddy Ryan who was ordered away for a rest by his doctor.
Tacoma won the second half of the double-header, 10-9, in a wild affair that saw pitchers playing in most of the positions in the field.
Shortstop Leo Thomas was named “most valuable player” in a poll among fans during the last week. Thomas was transferred from third base to short in mid-season and turned in a high grade job in the field and at the plate.
First game
Tacoma ....... 000 000 0—0 3 2
Spokane ...... 010 003 x—4 5 0
Martineau and Kuper; Nelson and Sheely.
Second game
Tacoma ...... 002 350 0—10 12 4
Spokane ..... 001 401 2—9 13 4
Hargadon and Kuper, DeVito (3); Rossi, Hedington (4), Valine (6) and Descalso.

BREMERTON, Sept. 15—Bremerton Bluejackets divided a pair of 1-0 shutouts with Wenatchee Chiefs to finish two and a half games behind the Indians.
John Conant pitched his eighth shutout for the Jackets to set a league record. The previous mark of seven was made by Hub Kittle last year. The win was Conant's 23rd of the season.
Chiefs note — Glen Lierman won his first game since being called up to Sacramento tonight, 2-1 over Hollywood.
First game
Wenatchee ....... 000 000 0—0 2 1
Bremerton ......... 000 100 x—1 4 2
McCollum and Gardner; Conant and Ronning.
Second game
Wenatchee ....... 000 000 010—1 5 0
Bremerton ......... 000 000 000—0 3 0
Stevens and Dalrymple; Marshall, Hittle (9) and Volpi.

SALEM, Sept. 15—Victoria Athletics dropped a 5-4 decision to the Salem Senators tongiht in a farcical ending to tehir season. The result gave the Solons their ninth win in 23 clashes with the A's this season.
Salem used seven pitchers—the bulk of them infielders—in the finale. The oddly-assorted hurling battalion combined to hold the A's to nine blows while the Solons blasted Lou Kubiak—an outfielder—for 16 hits.
Salem sewed up the game with a four.hit burst in the ninth that produced two runs.
Bill Harmsen, playing in the outfield, banged in three runs for the A's with a triple in the fourth.
Victoria ........ 000 310 000—4 9 0
Salem .......... 001 010 102—5 16 0
Kubiak and Morgan, Balassi (6), McNulty, Samhammer (3), Nunes (4), Barr (6), Sinovic (7), Wert (8), Spaeter (9) and Brown.

YAKIMA, Sept. 15—Rookie Vern Kindsfather pitched five-hit ball, and rapped out a single, a double and a triple, as the Vancouver Capilanos encased the Yakima Packers, 16-4, in the Western International League season closer.
Vancouver ..... 213 410 320—16 19 0
Yakima .......... 100 010 020—4 5 6
Kindsfather and Choukalas; Freeman, Drilling (3) and Peterson.

Tuesday, September 14, 1948

STANDINGS
               W  L  Pct. GB
Spokane .... 101  63 .616 —
Bremerton ... 94  61 .606 2½
Victoria .... 93  67 .581 6
Tacoma ...... 83  72 .535 16½
Vancouver ... 66  80 .452 26
Salem ....... 72  88 .450 27
Wenatchee ... 68  90 .430 30
Yakima ...... 52 108 .325 47


SPOKANE, Sept. 14—Spokane's amazing Indians are virtually in.
The Spokes measured their flagpole for the Western International League pennant tonight by sweeping a doubleheader from Tacoma on the strength of John Cordell's iron-man act.
The rubber-armed hurler set the Tigers down with six hits in each game as the Indians seized 6-3 and 15-1 victories. The wins opened Spokane's margin over rain idle Bremerton to two and a half games.
First game
Tacoma ....... 101 000 1—3 6 0
Spokane ...... 030 030 x—6 8 1
Clary and Hargadon; Cordell and Sheely.
Second game
Tacoma ....... 000 001 000—1 6 0
Spokane ...... 301 062 03x—15 16 2
Lazor, Clary (5), Lewis (6) and Kuper; Cordell and Sheely.

SALEM, Sept. 14—Joe Blankenship cracked the all-time Western International League win record tonight in a 12-inning, 4-3 victory obver the Salem Senators.
It was his 25th triumph of the season against ten losses, breaking the mark of 24 set by Oscar "Red" Miller of Yakima in 1937.
Lou Kubiak and Del Owens singled in the 12th and Kubiak dashed home from third after a foul-out to first sacker Jim Wert. Wert fell down and was unable to throw out the runner.
Blankenship would have won the game in regulation time except for an error by Russ Walseth with two out in the ninth. That filled the bases and Wert followed with a two-run single to tie the score.
Victoria ...... 000 110 010 001—4 11 2
Salem ........ 000 010 002 000—3 7 3
Blankenship and Recca; Olson and Samhammer.

YAKIMA, Sept. 14—Charlie Peterson played an inning at each position for the Packers—the only highlight for Yakima fans tonight as their Western International League club was thumped 13-2 by the Vancouver Capilanos.
Peterson wound up his trip around the field in the ninth inning on the mound, where he gave up no runs.
Vancouver mashed Max Strait and replacement Dick Drilling for ten runs in second and third inning.
Charlie Mead, Orrin Snyder and Joe Kaney had three hits apiece, while Len Tran batted in three runs and Buddy Hjelmaa, two.
Vancouver ..... 046 001 200—13 17 2
Yakima .......... 010 000 010—2 10 4
Snyder and Choukoulas; Strait, D. Drilling (3), Peterson (9) and Constantino, Peterson (8) and Orteig (9).

Wenatchee and Bremerton, halted by rain after an inning.

Monday, September 13, 1948

STANDINGS
               W  L  Pct. GB
Spokane ..... 99  63 .611 —
Bremerton ... 94  61 .606 1½
Victoria .... 92  67 .579 5½
Tacoma ...... 83  70 .542 11½
Salem ....... 72  87 .453 25½
Vancouver ... 65  80 .448 25½
Wenatchee ... 68  90 .420 29½
Yakima ...... 52 107 .327 45½


SALEM, Sept. 13—Victoria Athletics got only four hits tonight but took advantage of six Salem errors to defeat the Senators, 6-3, in the opening game of their final Western International League series here. The victory was the fifth straight for the A's.
Al Goot started on the mound for the Athletics and spotted the Solons a three-run lead. He took control after the third and went the route for the first time to notch his third triumph against as many defeats.
The A's knotted the count with a three-run rally on a like number of Salem miscues in the fourth and wound up the scoring in the sixth on singles by Sal Recca, Babe Jensen and a Solon error.
The Norbertmen were the victims of a triple killing by the Senators in the eighth—the first in Salem history.
Victoria ..... 000 303 000—6 4 0
Salem ....... 102 000 000—3 6 6
Goot and Morgan; Foster and Samhammer.

BREMERTON, Sept. 13—The Wenatchee Chiefs edged the Bremerton Bluejackets, 4-3. Two Bremerton errors and a pair of walks gave Wenatchee four runs—all the Chiefs needed—in the fourth inning as the Tars dropped a game and a half and five percentage points behind the Indians.
Wenatchee ........ 000 400 000—4 6 2
Bremerton .......... 030 000 000—3 9 3
McCollum and Dalrymple; Hittle, Conant (9) and Volpi.

Vancouver ..... 500 002 100—8 10 3
Yakima .......... 024 102 00x—9 10 3
Manier, Costello (4) and Choukalas; Ford, B. Drilling (9) and Constantino, Peterson ( ).

First game
Tacoma ......... 000 100 0—1 3 1
Spokane ........ 102 000 x—3 5 0
Fortier and Hargadon; Orphal and Rossi.
Second game
Tacoma ........ 104 030 O12—11 17 5
Spokane ....... 103 500 001—10 11 2
Fortier, Clary (4), Tran (5) and Kuper; Teagan, Babbitt (3), Orphal (9), Werbowski (9) and Rossi.

Sunday, September 12, 1948

STANDINGS
               W  L  Pct. GB
Spokane ..... 98  62 .613 —
Bremerton ... 94  60 .610 1
Victoria .... 91  67 .576 6
Tacoma ...... 82  69 .543 11½
Salem ....... 72  86 .456 25
Vancouver ... 65  79 .451 25
Wenatchee ... 67  90 .427 29½
Yakima ...... 51 107 .323 46


BREMERTON, Sept. 12—Leftfielder Al Ronning hit a double, triple and an inside-the-park home run in the second game to drive in six runs as the Bremerton Bluejackets won 19-1 and swept a pair of Sunday games from the Vancouver Capilanos.
Ed Samcoff unloaded an inside-the-park grand-slam in the third inning. He batted in five runs during the game, while picther John Marshall, a former Capilano, had three hits and drove in three runs.
Joe Sullivan won the opener, 8-1, and batted in a pair of runs, as did Jay Ragni and Al Maul.
Buddy Hjelmaa's single accounted for the Caps' run.
First game
Vancouver ..... 000 001 0—1 5 1
Bremerton ...... 205 001 x—8 11 0
Anderson, Costello (3) and Brenner, Choukalos (6); Sullivan and Ronning.
Second game
Vancouver .... 000 100 000—1 6 1
Bremerton ..... 244 07 02x—19 14 2
Hedgecock, Kindsfather (2), Gunnarson (4), Brenner(6) and Choukalos; Marshall and Volpi.

First game
Wenatchee .... 000 000 300—3 7 3
Tacoma ......... 411 000 11x—8 8 1
Bryant, Gardner (1), Gardner and Dalrymple; Nicholas and Kuper.
Second game
Wenatchee .... 101 000 1—3 6 1
Tacoma ......... 004 100 x—5 9 3
Stevens, Stenman (4) and Dalrymple; Martineau and Kuper, Hargadon (4),

Salem ....... 100 031 011—7 11 1
Spokane .... 103 000 202—8 12 3
Sporer, Peterson (9) and Samhammer; Nelson, Babbitt (9) and Rossi.

Victoria at Yakima, postponed.

Saturday, September 11, 1948

STANDINGS
               W  L  Pct. GB
Spokane ..... 97  62 .610 —
Bremerton ... 92  60 .605 1½
Victoria .... 91  67 .576 5½
Tacoma ...... 80  69 .537 12
Salem ....... 72  85 .459 24
Vancouver ... 65  77 .458 23½
Wenatchee ... 67  88 .432 28
Yakima ...... 51 107 .323 45½


VICTORIA, Sept. 11—Victoria's 1948 home baseball season came to an end four innings ahead of time tonight when a heavy fog halted the second game of a split twin bill with the A's at the long end of a 10-0 count to Yakima in the fifth inning. The A's won the afternoon game, 8-3, to take their final home series four game to one.
Lefty Jim Propst made one mistake in the opener as he set the Packers down with five hits while striking out 15. He grooved a pitch to Bill Barisoff in the sixth inning, which was hammered over the fence for a three-run homer.
The A's opened the scoring with a single run in the first inning when Jack Palmer's double drove in Charlie Balassi, added a single one on Babe Jensen's double and Russ Walseth's single in the second and put the result beyond all doubt with a four-run clusterin the third. They would ip scoring a pair of runs in the eighth.
Hub Kittle was hammered in the first inning of the nightcap, as 11 Athletics went to the plate in the first inning. He was reached for six singles, two by Balassi, good for six runs. The A's added single runs in the second and third and completed their scoring with three runs in the fifth on Del Owens' double and successive triples by Vic Buccola, Sal Recca and Archie Wilson before the fog rolled in to halt the game with two out.
About 2,100 fans turned out for the final game to swell the season's attendfance to 147,746, more than last year's previous high by 17,000.
A's notes — During the half-hour delay before the game was called, Kittle favoured the fans with some songs in a rich bass voice - "They Hit Me Hard," "Old Man River," and "Wagon Wheels." Vic Buccola did his human seal act, balancing a ball and a bat, and Len kasparovitch enacted his parody of "Casey at the Bat."
First game
Yakima ........ 000 003 000—3 5 3
Victoria ....... 114 000 02x—8 12 1
Freeman and Constantino; Propst and Recca.
Second game
Yakima ........ 000 00—0 2 1
Victoria ....... 610 03—10 13 0
Kittle and Estrada; Owens and Morgan.

Spokane ....... 211 220 030—11 17 4
Salem .......... 000 052 032—12 13 0
Stevenson, Peterson (5) and Samhammer; Holmes, Babbitt (2), Orphal (5), Werbowski (9) and Rossi, Sheely (8)

VANCOUVER, Sept. 11—John Conant shut out the Vancouver Capilanos on seven hits in the second gave of a twin-bill here, as the Bremerton Bluejackets rescued the second game with a 3-0 win.
Conant struck out three and walked none.
Al Maul helped him with three hits, including a double and an RBI, while Ed Murphy doubled and batted in a run and Lyle Palmer singled in the other.
In the opener, Vancouver doubled the Tars 6-3, as Carl Gunnarson and Vern Kindsfather held them to six hits.
Len Tran, Jack Hjelmaa and Bill Brenner each had a pair of hits for the winners.
First game
Bremerton ......... 021 000 000—3 6 1
Vancouver ........ 040 001 10x—6 11 2
Lee, Pirack (7) and Volpi; Gunnarson, Kindsfather (7) and Brenner.
Second game
Bremerton ......... 002 000 001—3 15 1
Vancouver ........ 000 000 000—0 7 2
Conant and Ronning; Robertson and Brenner.

Wenatchee ........ 001 000 010—2 8 1
Tacoma ............ 006 010 00x—7 13 2
Gilson, Cronin (4) and Dalrymple; Lazor and Kuper.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Friday, September 10, 1948

STANDINGS
               W  L  Pct. GB
Spokane ..... 96  62 .608 —
Bremerton ... 91  59 .607 1
Victoria .... 89  67 .571 6
Tacoma ...... 79  69 .534 12
Salem ....... 72  84 .462 23
Vancouver ... 64  76 .457 23
Wenatchee ... 67  86 .425 26½
Yakima ...... 51 105 .327 44


SPOKANE, Sept. 10—Spokane bounced into the Western International League lead by a single percentage point tonight on the strength of 9-4 decision over Salem.
Bill Werbowski recorded his 15th victory for Spokane as the Indians breezed to their 17th win in their last 18 games.
Salem ........... 010 000 300—4 8 6
Spokane ........ 007 010 10x—9 12 4
Sporer, Foster (8) and Brown; Werbowski and Rossi.

VANCOUVER, Sept. 10—The Bremerton Bluejackets dropped out of first place in the Western International League after being trashed 20-6 tonight by the Vancouver Capilanos.
The Caps batted through the order and halfway through it again in the first inning to score ten times. The first four Caps reached base and Keith Simon was pulled after only two were out. Merve Allan came in to be greeted by a three-run homer by Frank Mullens, his 21st.
Bob Snyder picked up his 15th win.
Tars manager Alan Strange basically gave up after four more runs scored in the sixth. He pitched Eddie Samcoff and Eddie Murphy in the eighth inning, Murphy moving from centre field to second base to the mound. Pitcher Lloyd Hittle saw some duty in left field.
Jay Ragni homered twice and brought in four of Bremerton's runs.
Caps notes —Jack Hjelmaa, Buddy's brother, made his debut at short, as injuries have sidelined Joe Kaney and Bill Reese. He was with the Mount Vernon, Wash., semi-pro team that went to Wichita where he made the all-star team.
Bremerton ...... 111 001 200—6 7 2
Vancouver ...... (10)00 004 06x—20 17 4
Simon, Allen (1), Barnise (6), Samcoff (8), Murphy (8) and Volpi, Ronning (6); Snyder and Brenner.

VICTORIA, Sept. 10—Joe Blankenship tied the Western International League record for victories tonight with his 24th as he limited the Yakima Packers to six hits to gain an 8-3 decision.
The A's scored four runs in the first inning with three boots figuring prominently along with Babe Jensen's triple and singles by Jack Palmer and Archie Wilson.
Suceessive singles by Palmer, Wilson, Jensen and Sal Recca plated two more in the third and Vic Buccola's singles and doubles by Palmer and Jensen accounted for the final runs in the sixth.
A's note—Groundskeeper Slim Hunt was honoured in a pre-game ceremony at home plate with a radio-gramophone and other gifts. Charlie Balassi received an engraved watch as the team's most popular player, as voted by the fans.
Yakima ........ 000 101 001—3 6 5
Victoria ....... 402 002 00x—8 14 2
Dick Drilling, Peterson (7) and Constantino; Blankenship and Recca.

Wenatchee ...... 142 020 000 0—9 11 3
Tacoma .......... 300 010 410 1—10 13 4
Conover, McCollum (7) and Gardner; Fortier, Hargadon (3) and Kuper.

Thursday, September 9, 1948

STANDINGS
                W  L  Pct. GB
Bremerton .... 91  58 .611 —
Spokane ...... 95  62 .605 —
Victoria ..... 88  67 .563 6
Tacoma ....... 78  69 .531 12
Salem ........ 72  83 .465 22
Vancouver .... 63  76 .453 23
Wenatchee .... 67  86 .438 26
Yakima ....... 54 104 .329 41½


VANCOUVER, Sept. 9—The Vancouver Capilanos made five errors that coupled with 14 hits to add up to a 9-3 win by the Bremerton Bluejackets at Capilano Stadium.
But the Jackets didn't pull away from co-leading Spokane as the Indians won. Six percentage points separate the clubs.
Four runs in the third inning, aided by two Vancouver errors, had the Tars sailing home. They added three more runs off southpaw Jim Hedgecock in the fourth and fifth innings before Hunk Anderson came on to allow two more runs the rest of the way.
Ed Samcoff paced assault with a triple, two doubles and a single in six trips. One of his blows hit Joe Kaney in the face and forced the Cap second-sacker to leave the game.
Lloyd Hittle allowed eight hits in his 18th win.
Caps notes — Bill Brenner was named Most Popular Player and then drew the name of a fan out of a box for a wristwatch. The winner was Jo-Anne Hatch, a niece of Carl Gunnarson.
Bremerton ......... 004 120 011—9 14 0
Vancouver ......... 000 100 200—3 8 5
L. Hittle and Volpi; Hedgecock, Anderson (5) and Brenner.

TACOMA, Sept. 9—Spokane Indians maintained their first-place tie with Bremerton and swept their three-game series with Tacoma by defeating the Tigers, 5-4.
Frank Nelson notched his 23rd victory of the season, a two-hit job. It put him a tie with Joe Blankenship of Victoria and only one short of the league record of 24, established by Oscar (Red) Miller, of Yakima, in 1937.
The Indians showed signs of the strain of their terrific stretch burst by committing five errors. The ragged Spokane fielding kept Tacoma in contention until the ninth when the winners pushed across one tally on a double, single and an infield out.
Tacoma ended the game by checking in with their 166th double play of the season.
Spokane ......... 000 201 101—5 10 5
Tacoma .......... 010 001 200—4 2 0
Nelson and Sheely, Rossi (9); Kipp, Clary (7) and Kuper.

VICTORIA, Sept. 9—A heavy smoke rolled into Royal Athletic Park, leading to four Yakima runs in the fifth inning of the opener of a twin-bill as the Packers defeated the Victoria Athletics, 5-1.
Back-to-back doubles by Russ Walseth and Al Goot in the fourth inning gave Victoria their run. Then, the sky over the diamond became black — in more ways than one. Goot filled the bases in the fifth on Max Strait's single and two walks. With two out, Lou Estes stayed alive when Vic Buccola at first lost his foul pop up in the smoke. He walked to force in a run. Bill Barisoff followed with a high fly to left centre that Lou Kubiak was unable to find in the haze. It fell for a single and three runs scored.
The Packers finished the scoring with a single off reliever Len Kasparovitch in the seventh.
In the second game, Charlie Balassi's fifth hit of the game broke a tie in the tenth inning to give Victoria a 6-5 win.
The A's were leading 2-0 entering the eighth inning due to Archie Wilson's double that scored Balassi and Buccola, who singled in the third inning. Frank Logue had a two-hit shutout at that point, but Yakima came up with a five-run rally. A walk, singles by Gene Gaviglio and Bill Barisoff, Gene Thompson's double and three Victoria errors produced the tallies.
Victoria came back to knot the game in their half of the inning. Kubiak walked, Russ Walseth sigles and Balassi hammered his third double of the game to score them both. Buccola followed with a triple down the right field foul line.
Balassi won it in the tenth when he bounced a single over second to drive in Kubiak just as the curfew was about to be imposed.
First game
Yakima ......... 000 040 1—5 7 1
Victoria ........ 000 100 0—1 6 3
Strait and Estada; Goot, Kasparovitch (7) and Morgan.
Second game
Yakima ......... 000 000 050 0—5 9 2
Victoria ........ 002 000 030 1—6 12 3
B. Drilling, Estrada; Logue, Kasparovitch (9) and Recca.

WENATCHEE, Sept. 9—Wenatchee Chiefs closed out their home season by trimming Salem, 9-7. Bill Wilson was named the team's most popular player and added his 33rd home run of the seasson.
The Wenatchee season attendance was announced as 81,721, nearly 10,000 more than a year ago.
Salem ............ 000 204 100—7 10 2
Wenatchee ..... 300 051 00x—9 8 4
McNulty, Wilson (6) and Samhammer; McCollum, Lierman (6), Stenman (7) and Gardner, Dalrymple (7).

Wednesday, September 8, 1948

STANDINGS
               W  L  Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 90  58 .608 —
Spokane ..... 94  63 .603 —
Victoria .... 87  66 .569 4½
Tacoma ...... 78  68 .534 11
Salem ....... 72  82 .468 26
Vancouver ... 63  75 .457 27
Wenatchee ... 66  86 .434 31
Yakima ...... 50 103 .327 42½


VANCOUVER, Sept. 8—The Yakima Packers and Vancouver Capilanos played the second overtime game in a row, and this time it was the Packers who came out on top, 8-7.
Orrin Snyder dropped an infield throw at first base to open the 10th and Bill Freeman, third of the Yakima pitchers, was able to score the winner on a double by Gene Thompson.
Prior to this it had been another close, free-hitting contest, with sore-armed Bob Costello sustaining his 13th loss against 14 wins. With the score tied at five-all in the fifth, Vancouver twice tied it to force overtime.
Charlie Mead walloped a pair of homers, his 22nd and 23rd. Ernie Choukalous collected a double and a single to raise his average to .500. But the Packers stole eight bases off him and advanced on two passed balls.
Yakima ......... 110 031 100 1—8 12 1
Vancouver .... 203 001 100 0—7 12 3
Johnson, Peterson (6), Freeman (9) and Constantino; Anderson, Costello (6) and Choukalous.

VICTORIA, Sept. 8—John Marshall's effective curve struck out 12 batters tonight as he led the Bremerton Bluejackets to a 10-2 victory over the Victoria Athletics, and hung onto a share of top spot in the Western International League.
Two of the hits were bunt singles by Vic Buccola, the other was credited to Archie Wilson in the eighth when Don Stanford played an infield hop badly.
The Tars unloaded for seven runs in the third off Del Owens, who managed to get out of a jam with only one run in the first, when he walked in a run, but then retired the next five batters on strikes.
Ed Samcoff drew a walk to start off, Al Maul singled and Samcoff came in on Lyle Palmer's double. Then, Jay Ragni's lashing liner to right took a wicked hop over Charlie Balassi for a three-run, insider-the-park homer. Singles by Stanford and Lil Arnerich, another walk, and Babe Jensen's low throw on Ed Murphy's ground ball sent in three more runs.
The winners added singles in the sixth and seventh, while Marshall missed a shutout on account of treason in the eighth when the inner guard committed three errors.
Bremerton ..... 107 001 100—10 16 4
Victoria ........ 000 000 020—2 3 3
Marshall and Volpi; Owens, Harmsen (3) and Recca.

TACOMA, Sept. 8—The pennant-frenzied Spokane Indians kept their flag hopes burning with a 11-5 win tonight over the Tacoma Tigers.
They iced the game with a six-run burst in the second frame and coasted in. They wore
the batboy to a frazzle sending him up to the pressbox to find out how Bremerton was doing at Victoria.
Spokane ....... 060 102 200—11 6 1
Tacoma ........ 211 000 100—5 7 0
Cordell and Sheely; Lazor, Gleason (6) and Hargadon.

WENATCHEE, Sept. 8—Wenatchee Chiefs edged visitng Salem Senators tonight, 3-2, although out-hit 11-6. The win evened the series at one each.
Salem ............. 000 000 200—2 11 3
Wenatchee ...... 011 001 00x—3 6 3
Foster, Saltzman (7) and Samhammer; Stevens and Gardner.

Tuesday, September 7, 1948

Western International League
               W  L  Pct. GB
Spokane ..... 89  58 .605 —
Bremerton ... 93  62 .600 —
Victoria .... 87  65 .572 4½
Spokane ..... 78  67 .538 10
Salem ....... 72  81 .471 20
Vancouver ... 63  74 .460 22
Wenatchee ... 65  86 .430 26
Yakima ...... 49 103 .322 42½


VICTORIA, Sept. 7—Bremerton needed six early runs tonight as they held on for a 7-6 win over the Victoria Athletics to remain in a first-place tie in the Western International League with Spokane.
Eddie Murphy opened the game with a triple off Len Kasparovitch. Ed Samcoff's double and a single by Allan Maul sent two runners across. Bremerton added another pair in the second, thanks partly to errors by Jack Palmer and Charlie Balassi, then Frank Volpi's home run, followed by a boot by Palmer gave the Jackets two more in the third. What proved to be the winning tally came home in the sixth.
Sal Recca led off the Victoria second with a home run and then Dick Morgan doubled in Babe Jensen doubled and Archie Wilson in the third. Singles by Wilson and Recca were sanwiched around Jensen's triple in the seventh to make the count 7-5. Jensen homered in the ninth to complete the scoring after Wilson was called out on a close play at first base.
Bremerton ...... 222 001 000—7 12 2
Victoria ......... 012 000 201—6 12 5
Conant, Hittle (9) and Volpi; Kasparovitch, Harmsen (9) and Recca.

VANCOUVER, Sept. 7—Ernie Choukalous, known more for his football playing with the Winnipeg Bluebombers, went after the first pitch her saw and jomered over the right field wall. He went on from there to collect three hits in six tries and score the winning run as the Vancouver Capilanos outlasted the Yakima Packers, 8-7, in 12 innings.
Choukalous opened the 12th with a single and was sacrificed to second by Orrin Snyder. Sandy Robertson was intentionally walked and Bill Brenner, pinch-hitting for Larry Manier, worked a walk from Garth Ford. Len Tran laid down a bunt and Choukalous tore toward the dish with time to spare.
The game was tied on four different occasions, as the Caps batted aroun for four runs in the fifth only to have the foes turn four hits into three tallies and a 6-all score in the sixth. They went ahead in the seventh and were caught again in the ninth.
Yakima ......... 010 141 000 000—7 14 3
Vancouver .... 011 013 001 001—8 17 3
Ford and Constantino; Manier and Choukalous.

Spokane ...... 000 032 020—7 9 3
Tacoma ....... 111 000 200—5 13 3
Teagan and Rossi; Nicholas and Haragdon.

Salem ............ 231 010 120—16 16 2
Wenatchee ..... 103 100 000—5 8 3
Olson and Samhammer; Lierman, Conover (2), Gilson (5) and Gardner.

Monday, September 6, 1948

STANDINGS
               W  L  Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 88  58 .603 —
Spokane ..... 92  62 .597 —
Victoria .... 87  64 .578 3½
Tacoma ...... 78  66 .542 9
Salem ....... 71  81 .467 20
Vancouver ... 62  74 .456 21
Wenatchee ... 65  85 .433 25
Yakima ...... 49 102 .329 41½


VANCOUVER, Sept. 6—Three hits in the ninth, including two doubles, ruined Bob Snyder's shutout bid, but the two runs that scored weren't enough and the Vancouver Capilanos came up with a 3-2 win over the Tacoma Tigers.
The Bengals won the night game, 9-7, after batting around in the first inning to chase Carl Gunnarson and again in the fourth.
Charlie Mead hit his 20th home run of the year in the opener.
First game
Tacoma ....... 000 000 002—2 8 1
Vancouver .... 010 011 00x—3 7 0
Fortier and Kuper; Snyder and Brenner.
Second game
Tacoma ......... 400 004 100—9 10 3
Vancouver ...... 200 003 020—7 9 4
Clary and Hargadon; Gunnarson, Kindsfather (1) and Brenner, Choukalos (7).

VICTORIA, Sept. 6—Bremerton dropped into a first-place tie with Spokane in the Western International League tonight as the Bluejackets lost twice to the Victoria Athletics, 8-3 and 16-3. Victoria clustered all their hits, including homers by Jack Palmer and Archie Wilson, into the third inning to score all their runs in the opener.
They retained their batting eyes through the nightcap, walloping 19 hits, good for 36 bases, off three Bremerton hurlers. Included were two homers, one a grand slam blow by Sal Recca, and four-baggers by Vic Buccola and Wilson.
First game
Bremerton ...... 101 100 000—3 8 3
Victoria .......... 008 000 00x—8 8 1
Pirack, Lee (3) and Volpi; Propst and Recca.
Second game
Bremerton ...... 000 020 100—3 9 0
Victoria .......... 107 120 50x—16 19 2
Simon, Allan (5), Barnise (8) and Ronning, Blankenship and Recca.

First game
Salem .......... 015 035 3—17 17 0
Yakima ......... 020 000 2—4 10 3
Stevenson and Samhammer; D. Driling, Strait (3), Barisoff (5), Estes (6) and Constantino.
Second game
Salem .......... 020 100 101—5 13 1
Yakima ......... 010 001 200—4 9 3
Sporer and Brown; Freeman and Estrada.

First game
Wenatchee ...... 000 012 1—4 12 6
Spokane .......... 120 012 x—6 6 0
Stenman, Gilson (6) and Dalrymple; Holmes, Babbitt (6) and Sheely.
Second game
Wenatchee ...... 010 100 000—2 6 1
Spokane .......... 202 002 10x—7 9 2
Rose and Gardner; Orphal and Sheely.

Sunday, September 5, 1948

STANDINGS
               W  L  Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 88  56 .611 —
Spokane ..... 90  62 .592 2
Victoria .... 85  64 .570 6
Tacoma ...... 77  65 .542 10
Salem ....... 69  81 .460 22
Vancouver ... 61  73 .455 22
Wenatchee ... 65  83 .439 25
Yakima ...... 49 100 .329 41½


First game
Wenatchee ....... 100 000 0—1 7 3
Spokane ........... 202 024 x—10 11 2
Stevens, Wilson (6) and Dalrymple; Nelson and Sheely.
Second game
Wenatchee ...... 100 000 000 01—2 8 5
Spokane .......... 000 000 010 00—1 7 3
McCollum and Gardner; Werbowski and Sheely.

First game
Salem ............. 003 000 5— 8 10 2
Yakima .......... 000 041 0—5 7 2
G. Peterson, Sporer (7) and Samhammer; Strait, C. Peterson (5) and Constantino.
Second game
Salem ............ 010 001 023—9 12 0
Yakima ......... 020 020 010—5 12 3
Saltzman, McNulty (8) and Brown, Samhammer (8); Kittle, B. Drilling (8) and Constantino.

(only games scheduled)

Seattle Purchases Warren
VANCOUVER, Sept. 4—The Vancouver Capilanos will finish the Western International League season without hard-hitting catcher Jack Warren, who has been sold to the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League.
The Caps have received Ernie Choukalous from Great Falls as a replacement.

Camilli Likes Job as Pilot For Spokane
By Bill Johnston
SPOKANE, Sept. 5—If the seven little Camillis are wondering what happened to Daddy Dolph, he's sitting up with a sick friends's ball club.
The friend is recovering, thanks, but not as fast as the ball club.
And Camilli likes his nursing chores so well he thinks he might buy a chunk of the Spokane baseball team and stick around permanently.
The former “most valuable player” of the National league hasn't been in the baseball news much since he stopped managing Oakland's Pacific Coast league team in 1945.
About that time he decided to settle down on his 1,722-acre ranch at Laytonville, Calif., and drive in cattle instead of runs.
“I found I wasn't happy out of baseball, though,” Camilli admitted.
Nobody was surprised that Camilli should prefer horsehide to cowhide.
Big Dolph was clouting baseballs as a kid in San Francisco. He sent them sailing for Logan and Salt Lake City in the old Utah-Idaho league. He broke into the Pacific Coast league under Manager Buddy Ryan at Sacramento in 1925.
Reached Big Leagues
Camilli reached the majors in 1933 and stayed there 11 years. He played for Chicago, Philadelphia and Brooklyn in the National league and spent three months with the Boston Red Sox. When Brooklyn won the pennant in 1941 the Dodger first baseman led the circuit with 122 runs batted in and 34 home runs. He was named the league's most valuable player that year.
That's how he got the baseball habit and ranch life couldn't break it.
Wide-eyed high school boys and players on the Laytonville town team soon were getting big league instruction from a rancher who found 1,722 acres more confining than a baseball diamond.
Ryan Called Him
Then Camilli got a call from Buddy Ryan, the man he credits with starting him up the baseball ladder.
Ryan and J. Lamar Butler had purchased Spokane's franchise in the class B Western International league. Ryan had been ordered by his doctor to quit managing the team for a while. Could Camilli help?
Dolph taxied his private plane onto his ranch runway and took off.
He found a “stop-and-go” ball club in Spokane. He took over “cold” August 1 with the Indians in fourth place and the team got hot. It won 30 of its next 39 games to jump into second place and put the pressure on front-running Bremerton.
The Spokane players like Camilli's knack of teaching major league tricks. The owners like his habit of winning ball games. Camilli likes baseball.
So it wasn't too surprising when Camilli announced:
“I might buy into the club as a third partner. I have had a good offer here and it looks like I might make a permanent tie-up with this ball club.”
Fans Approved
It was the best news of many a hard-luck season for Spokane fans. The Indian team was almost wiped out in a bus crash two years ago and lost the league title last year by one percentage point.
“The set-up here looks good,” Camilli said. “I think it's a fine opportunity to develop young ball players and send them up to the majors.
“I like the league. I like Spokane. I like the chance to help young players.”
But mostly, of course, he likes baseball.

Saturday, September 4, 1948

STANDINGS
               W  L Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 88 56 .611 —
Spokane ..... 89 61 .593 2
Victoria .... 85 64 .570 6
Tacoma ...... 77 65 .542 10
Vancouver ... 61 73 .455 22
Salem ....... 67 81 .453 23
Wenatchee ... 64 82 .438 25
Yakima ...... 49 98 .333 40½


VANCOUVER, Sept. 3—The Vancouver Capilanos split a pair with the Tacoma Tigers, losing the opener 4-3, but thumping out a 15-2 win in the nightcap.
Charlie Mead smacked a two-run homer in the ninth inning of the opener but the rally fell short.
Cy Greenlaw, normally a pitcher, played in right field for the Tigers and smacked in three runs with a triple and a single.
The night game featured an eight-run eighth inning for the Caps.
Frank Mullens homered and he and Orrin Snyder each batted in three runs.
First game
Tacoma ......... 000 101 020—4 11 3
Vancouver ..... 100 000 002—3 7 2
Kipp and Kuper; Robertson and Brenner.
Second game
Tacoma ......... 000 100 010—2 7 6
Vancouver ..... 101 023 08x—15 14 1
Gleason, Clary (8), Hargadon (8) and Hargadon, Kuper (8); Anderson and Brenner.

VICTORIA, Sept. 3—Cooled off by a 16-hit Bremerton attack in the afternoon game, the Victoria Athletics rebounded behind the effective hurling of Del Owens to trim the Bluejackets, 6-1, in the nightcap.
After spotting the Tars to a one-run lead on a walk, fielder's choice and Al Ronning's triple in the second in the nightcap, the A's came back to knot the count in their half of the inning on Babe Jensen's single and the first of two doubles by Sal Recca.
Lloyd Hittle and Owens then hooked up in a classy pitching duel until the Athletics broke up the game in the sixth. A double by Owens and singles by Archie Wilson, Jensen, Lou Kubiak, Charlie Balassi and Vic Buccola were spaced around three errors by the Bremerton outfield to give the A's five runs and drive Hittle from the mound.
In the opener, Eddie Samcoff and Frank Volpi homered and they, and Eddie Murphy, each batted in three runs.
Victoria scored three in the fourth on singles by Jack Palmer and Russ Walseth, Recca's double and Wilson's 25th triple. They added a run on Palmer's double in the fifth, scoring Buccola, and Balassi's tenth homer in the ninth.
The teams played to a combined attendance of over 4,600 that raised the season mark to 132,013, surpassing last year's total.
A's notes — Archie Wilson broke three records. His triple in the afternoon game was his 25th, breaking his own record. His total base production is 380, breaking his own record set when he cracked Smead Jolley's old mark of 356, established in 1940. And it was his 225 hit, breaking Jolley's mark set in 1940.
First game
Bremerton ....... 050 010 033—12 16 0
Victoria .......... 000 310 001—5 11 1
Marshall and Volpi; Blankenship, Harmsen (5), Logue (9) and Recca.
Second game
Bremerton ....... 010 000 000—1 9 4
Victoria .......... 010 005 00x—6 10 0
Hittle, Allen (6) and Ronning; Owens and Recca.

Wenatchee ....... 200 041 000—7 7 4
Spokane ........... 100 052 11x—10 10 3
Conover, Stenman (5), Cronin (5) and Dalrymple; Cordell, Babbitt (6) and Rossi; Sheehy (5).

Salem ........ 000 000 000—0 5 0
Yakima ....... 003 004 02x—9 12 0
Foster, McNulty (7), Olson (8) and Brown; Bob Drilling and Constantino.

Friday, September 3, 1948

W.I.L. STANDINGS
               W  L Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 87 55 .613 —
Spokane ..... 88 61 .591 2½
Victoria .... 84 63 .571 5½
Tacoma ...... 76 64 .543 11½
Vancouver ... 60 72 .455 22
Salem ....... 67 80 .456 22½
Wenatchee ... 64 81 .441 24½
Yakima ...... 48 98 .329 41


BREMERTON, Wash., Sept. 3—The Bremerton Bluejackets dropped their second straight game to the Victoria Athletics, 9-2, tonight, and saw their lead in the Western International League fall to 2½ games over Spokane.
John Conant gave up 13 hits and allowed three runs in the fourth and another trio in the sixth while Len Kasparovitch blanked his teammates until the seventh inning.
Third baseman Babe Jensen was hit by a pitch in the fourth inning and later scored the first run of the game. Apparently still irate, Jensen provided the last two runs for the winners in the ninth by clouting his 12th home run with a man aboard. Lou Kubiak drove in the other two runs with a triple and a single.
Victoria ......... 000 303 102—9 13 1
Bremerton ...... 000 000 101—2 13 6
Kasparovitch and Recca; Conant, Allen (7), Lee (8) and Volpi.

WENATCHEE, Sept. 3—Spokane continued their dizzy pace toward the Western International League pennant as George Valine's ninth-inning home run broke a 2-2 tie to give the Indians a 3-2 win over the Wenatchee Chiefs.
Wenatchee ........ 001 010 000—2 7 6
Spokane ............ 010 000 101—3 7 4
Lierman and Gardner; Teagan, Babbitt (6) and Sheely.

TACOMA, Sept. 3—Tacoma Tigers all but mathematically clinched fourth place in the final Western International League baseball standings by taking both ends of a double-header over the fifth-place Vancouver Capilanos, 4-2 and 7-3.
The double verdict put the Tigers 12 games ahead of Vancouver with two weeks of the season remaining.
Southpaw Jim Hedgecock, who relieved the sore-armed Bob Costello in the second inning of the first game, limited the Tigers two four hits in his five innings on the hill, but the home force bunched the blows with sufficient effectiveness to make Vince Lazor's seven-hit mound effort a winning one.
George Nicholas, burly Tiger right-hander, yielded only five hits to account for the victory in the nightcap.
Three of the Vancouver blows were combined with a walk in the fourth inning to give the Caps all three of their runs, but after being nicked for the tallies the Tacoma hurler retired the last 17 men to face him.
First game
Vancouver ..... 000 001 1—2 7 2
Tacoma ........ 010 210 x—4 4 0
Costello, Hedgecock (2) and Brenner; Lazor and Kuper.
Second game
Vancouver ..... 000 300 000—3 5 4
Tacoma ........ 001 211 20x—7 10 2
Manier and Warren, Brenner (7); Nicholas and Hargadon.

Yakima ........ 042 000 000—8 8 2
Salem ......... 220 000 030—7 13 4
Ford, Peterson (8) and Constantino; Olson, McNulty (2) and Samhammer.

Thursday, September 2, 1948

STANDINGS
               W  L Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 87 54 .617 —
Spokane ..... 87 61 .588 3½
Victoria .... 83 63 .568 6½
Tacoma ...... 74 64 .536 11½
Vancouver ... 60 70 .462 21½
Salem ....... 67 79 .459 22½
Wenatchee ... 64 80 .444 24½
Yakima ...... 47 98 .324 42


BREMERTON, Sept. 2—Jim Probst hurled a five-hitter as the Victoria Athletics blanked the Bremerton Bluejackets, leaders of the Western International League, tonight, 4-0.
The win was Probst's tenth of the season against eight defeats and his first shutout. He struck out nine and was backed up by flawless fielding.
Keith Simon struck out ten for Bremerton but gave up seven hits to Propst's five. It was his ninth loss aghainst 18 wins.
The first two runs came in the third inning when Sal Recca and Propst worked Simon for walks. Charlie Balassi singled in one run and the other came after the catch of Vic Buccola's outfield fly. Singles by Babe Jensen, Dick Morgan and Recca provided the third run in the fourth and Jack Palmer's double was converted by Jensen's single in the fifth to wind up the scoring.
Victoria ......... 002 110 000—4 7 0
Bremerton ..... 000 000 000—0 5 1
Propst and Recca; Simon and Volpi.

SPOKANE, Sept. 2—Pitcher Frank Nelson had his 21st win tonight as the Spokane Indians beat the Wenatchee Chiefs 5-0 for their fifth straight victory. He homered for his club's first run in the sixth inning. Leo Thomas followed with a two-run circuit clout and the Indians added a pair in the eighth.
Wenatchee ...... 000 000 000—0 3 1
Spokane .......... 000 003 02x—5 8 2
Rose, Gilson (8) and Gardner; Nelson and Sheely.

SALEM, Sept. 2—Salem's Senators got another good pitching performance as they topped the Yakima Packers, 6-2 , behind the five-hit flinging of Bob Stevenson.
Yakima ........ 020 000 000-2 5 0
Salem ......... 005 001 00x—5 7 3
Freeman and Constantino; Stevenson and Samhammer.

Vancouver at Tacoma, postponed rain.

Wednesday, September 1, 1948

STANDINGS
               W  L Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 87 53 .621 —
Spokane ..... 86 61 .585 4½
Victoria .... 82 63 .566 7½
Tacoma ...... 74 64 .536 12
Vancouver ... 60 70 .462 22
Salem ....... 66 79 .455 23½
Wenatchee ... 64 79 .448 24½
Yakima ...... 47 97 .326 42


BREMERTON, Sept. 1—The Bremerton Bluejackets salvaged their Western International League baseball series with Vancouver three games to two Wednesday by defeating the Capilanos, 7-4.
Four triples helped make Bremerton's 10 hits more effective than Vancouver's 13. The three-basers were hit by Jay Ragni, Lyle Palmer, Don Stanford and Lil Arnerich.
It took Vancouver five innings to solve the left-handed stuff of veteran Joe Sullivan. The Caps scored three times that inning, then once more in the sixth.
They had a rally going in the seventh, but with the bases loaded and two out, Lloyd Hittle came on to relieve Sullivan and struck out Joe Kaney to retired the side.
Buddy Hjelmaa, with a double and two singles, and Jack Warren with a double and a single, paced the Vancouver hitting.
Vancouver ..... 005 031 000—4 13 2
Bremerton ..... 022 001 20x—7 10 0
Anderson, Kindsfather (7) and Warren; Sullivan, Hittle (7) and Ronning.

SPOKANE, Sept. 1—The sizzling Spokane Indians keep pounding at the door of the Western International League penthouse. They moved to four and a half games behind Bremerton with a double win over the Wenatchee Chiefs, 5-4 and 6-3.
John Orphal spun a four-hitter in the night game, while the Indians needed an extra inning in the regulation seven-inning opener. The winning run scored on Neil Bryant's overthrow at first.
Wenatchee manager Chuck Cronin gave up eighth hits in the first game, none of them by Leo Thomas, thus stopping the Indian third-sacker's hitting streak at 20 games. Reliefer Gene Babbitt was the winner. It was the Indians' fourth straight over the Chiefs.
First game
Wenatchee ..... 201 100 00—4 9 3
Spokane ......... 201 001 01—5 8 2
Cronin and Dalrymple; Werbowski, Babbitt (4) and Sheely.
Second game
Wenatchee ..... 100 200 000—3 4 1
Spokane ......... 022 010 010—6 10 3
McCollum and Gardner; Orphal and Sheely.

TACOMA, Sept. 1—Singles by Bernie Hargadon, Ray Fortier and Danny Permutter resulted in a 12th inning run as Tacoma defeated Victoria, 8-7, tonight.
The teams matched scoring throughout the game with each club scoring once in the first, twice in the second, three times in the fifth and once in the ninth. The Tigers squared the count in the bottom of the ninth when Buddy Lewis singled, and completed the circuit on Ray Tran's single.
Frank Logue, bidding for the Western International Legaue won-loss percentage honours, went the route for the A's and suffered his sixth setback in 14 victories.
Victoria ......... 120 030 001 000—7 11 3
Tacoma ........ 120 030 001 001—8 13 3
Logue and Morgan; Fortier and Hargadon, Kuper (10).

SALEM, Sept. 1—Bud Sporer muted the Yakima bats on three hits as Salem strolled to a leisurely 9-0 win over the cellar tenants. The win moved the Senators into sixth place, a game ahead of Wenatchee.
Yakima ........ 000 000 000—0 3 2
Salem ......... 000 600 03x—9 8 1
D. Drilling, Kittle (6) and Constantino; Sporer and Burgher.

Tuesday, August 31, 1948

W.I.L. STANDINGS
               W  L Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 86 53 .619 —
Spokane ..... 84 61 .579 5
Victoria .... 82 62 .569 6
Tacoma ...... 73 64 .533 12
Vancouver ... 60 69 .465 16
Wenatchee ... 64 77 .454 23½
Salem ....... 65 79 .451 23½
Yakima ...... 47 96 .329 41

BREMERTON, Wash., Aug. 31—Vancouver Capilanos squared their Western International League series with the Bremerton Bluejackets at two games apiece Tuesday by defeating the league leaders 4-3.
The Caps scored the winning runs in their half of the ninth and then choked off a Bremerton rally in the bottom half to cinch the win.
Catcher Jack Warren drove in three runs to spark the Vancouver offense. They came on a triple, a double and a single.
The triple, a long one to the centre field fence, brought in the winning run with two out in the ninth. It drove in Frank Mullens, who had walked.
The win was Bob Snyder's 13th against five losses.
Vancouver ......... 101 100 001—4 7 1
Bremerton ......... 000 200 001—3 5 3
Snyder and Warren; Barnise, Allen (7), Marshall (9) and Ronning.

TACOMA, Aug 31—The Victoria Athletics wild ran on the bases, stealing second five times in six attempts, and then blasted Tacoma for 14 hits in a 12-2 win in the second game of a double-header.
Joe Blankenship held the Tigers to six hits and racked up his 22nd win — a league record. Blankenship's total gives him one more than Spokane's Bob Kinnaman and Vancouver's Bob Osborne piled up in 1922. This was the record which Bob Costello, then of Spokane, and Jim Hedgecock of the Capilanos tied last season with 21 victories.
The game was over in the first inning as the A's plated four runs. They added three more in the second and came up with a second four-run rally in the seventh.
In the opener, Del Owens had a shutout going until the sixth inning and allowed only three hits in a 5-1, seven-inning win.
The A's were held scoreless for three innings by Jim Gleason but got a run in the fourth when Archie Wilson singled to centre, stole second and scored on Babe Jensen's one-baser to left.
One hit was good for three runs in the fifth. Lou Kubiak walked, stole second and went to third as catcher Earl Kuper threw wild. Ray Tran bobbled Russ Walseth's grounder and Kubiak scored. Walseth then stole second and scored on Charlie Balassi's long triple. Balassi scored when Vito DeVito made a bad throw on Vic Buccola's ground ball.
Victoria added a final run in the seventh and Owens picked up his 14th triumph.
(First game)
Victoria .......... 000 130 1—5 7 0
Tacoma ......... 000 001 0—1 3 3
Owens and Morgan; Cirason and Kuper,Hargadon (7).
(Second game)
Victoria ......... 430 000 401—12 14 0
Tacoma ........ 010 100 000—2 6 5
Blankenship and Hecca; Clary, Lazor (2), Martineau (3) and Hargadon.

SPOKANE, Aug. 31—Spokane Indians gained a game in their battle to catch Bremerton by blanking the Wenatchee Chiefs, 10-0 behind the five-hit tossing of Del Holmes.
Leo Thomas, Spokane infielder, hit safely for his 20th consecutive game, getting his bingle in the eighth after his mated had batted around to give him another chance.
Wenatchee ....... 000 000 000—0 5 0
Spokane ........... 100 103 05x—10 9 0
Stevens, Gildon (8) and Gardner; Holmes and Rossi.

SALEM, Aug. 31—Dick Sinovic's long outfield fly in the ninth enabled the winning run to score from third as Salem Senators defeated the Yakima Packers, 7-2.
Yakima ......... 200 010 003—6 10 0
Salem .......... 040 000 201—7 8 0
Strait, Kittle (9) and Constantino; McIrvin, Peterson (9) and Burgher.

NON-WIL MINOR LEAGUE NEWS
No-Hit Game Results in Loss
WELLSVILLE, N.Y., Aug. 31—The league-leading Lockport Reds of the Class "D" Pony League went hitless in an 11-inning game with the Wellsville Red Sox tonight but won 7-3.
The Reds scored three runs in the third on five walks and an error. The Sox deadlocked the contest in the seventh, 3-3. In the 11th the Reds pushed across four more runs on four errors, three walks, a fielder's choice and a hit batter.
Meanwhile, at Jamestown, Jerry Kleinsmith fanned 12 and walked five while holding Hamilton Cardinals hitless as Jamestown won 15-0. It was the 19-year-old right-hander's 15th victory against seven losses.

Monday, August 30, 1948

STANDINGS
               W  L Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 86 52 .623 —
Spokane ..... 83 61 .576 6
Victoria .... 80 62 .563 8
Tacoma ...... 73 62 .541 11½
Vancouver ... 59 69 .461 17
Wenatchee ... 64 76 .457 23
Salem ....... 64 79 .448 24½
Yakima ...... 47 95 .331 41


BREMERTON, Aug. 30—Bremerton scored three times in the eighth inning after two men were out on their way to a 5-3 victory over the Vancouver Capilanos tonight.
The win was the 20th of the year for John Conant.
The Jackets were outhit 11-7 by the Caps but five of the blows given up by Jim Hedgecock were for extra bases.
He ran into trouble in the eighth inning when he was leading 3-2. A pair of walks to Eddie Samcoff and Al Ronning and Jay Ragni's triple beat Vancouver with two out.
Vancouver ....... 000 021 000—3 11 1
Bremerton ....... 100 010 03x—5 7 1
Hedgecock and Brenner; Conant and Volpi.

SPOKANE, Aug. 30—Spokane increased its second-place margin to two full games by turning back the Wenatchee Chiefs, 9-4. Big John Cordell went the route for the Indians to chalk up his 13th victory of the season.
Wenatchee ..... 100 021 000—4 8 2
Spokane ......... 120 023 10x—9 14 1
Conover and Gardner; Cordell and Rossi.

SALEM, Aug, 30—Frank Constantino's long outfield fly in the 10th inning scored Lou Estes from third to give Yakima a 3-2 decision over the Salem Senators and break up a pitching duel between Bob Drilling and rookie Jim Foster of the Solons.
Yakima ....... 200 000 000 1—3 7 2
Salem ........ 010 000 010 0—2 8 0
B. Drilling and Constantino; Foster and Burgher.

Victoria at Tacoma, postponed, wet grounds.

Sunday, August 29, 1948

W.I.L STANDINGS
W L Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 85 52 .620 —
Spokane ..... 82 61 .573 6
Victoria .... 80 62 .563 7½
Tacoma ...... 73 62 .541 11
Vancouver ... 59 68 .466 21
Wenatchee ... 64 75 .460 22
Salem ....... 64 78 .451 23½
Yakima ...... 46 95 .317 41


First game
Spokane ......... 000 010 0—1 8 1
Salem ............. 000 000 0—0 2 0
Nelson and Sheely; Olson and Burgher.
Second game
Spokane ......... 000 221 410—10 9 0
Salem ............. 002 120 010—6 17 4
Teagan, Orphal (5) and Rossi; Saltzman, McNulty (9) and Samhammer.

First game
Victoria ........... 200 000 000—2 10 0
Tacoma ........... 012 040 00x—7 12 2
Kasparovitch, Goot (5) and Recca; Nicholas and Hargadon.
Second game
Victoria ........... 100 031 0—5 7 1
Tacoma ........... 000 400 2—6 7 2
Propst, Harmsen (5), Blankenship (7) and Morgan; Kipp and Hargadon.

First game
Wenatchee .......... 020 200 0—4 8 0
Yakima ............... 110 000 0—2 5 1
Rose and Gardner; Freeman and Constantino.
Second game
Wenatchee .......... 002 102 200—7 11 1
Yakima ................ 000 002 000—2 8 4
Lierman and Dalrymple; Ford, Kittle (7) and Constantino.

BREMERTON, Aug. 29—Jack Warren tripled and came home on Buddy Hjelmaa's single in the eight inning as the Vancouver Capilanos pulled off a 2-1 win over Bremerton in the first of two Sunday games. The Bluejackets won the night contest, 3-2, with a tie-breaking run in the fifth inning.
Frank Volpi singled in Jay Ragni of the fourth inning of the opener to put the game into extra innings.
In the night, Lloyd Hittle doubled in one run for the Tars, while Lyle Palmer brought in the other two without the benefit of a hit.
First game
Vancouver ......... 001 000 01—2 7 2
Bremerton .......... 000 100 00—1 10 0
Gunnarson and Brenner; Marshall and Volpi.
Second game
Vancouver ......... 000 200 000—2 7 0
Bremerton .......... 002 010 00x—3 6 2
Costello and Brenner; Hittle and Ronning.

Saturday, August 28, 1948

W.I.L STANDINGS
W L Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 84 51 .622 —
Victoria .... 80 60 .571 6½
Spokane ..... 80 61 .567 7
Tacoma ...... 71 62 .534 12
Vancouver ... 58 67 .464 21
Salem ....... 64 76 .457 22½
Wenatchee ... 62 75 .452 23
Yakima ...... 46 93 .331 40


TACOMA, Aug. 28—Bremerton Bluejackets showed no signs of losing their big lead atop the Western International League standings as they took both ends of a double-header from the Tacoma Tigers, 8-4 and 8-3.
The Tars sent eight runners across the plate in the second inning of the opener for all their runs and then scored six times in the ninth frame of the nightcap to turn a 3-2 deficit into victory.
First game
Bremerton ....... 080 000 0—8 12 2
Tacoma .......... 100 001 2—4 7 3
Simon, Conant (7) and Ronning; Clary, Fortier (2) and Hargadon.
Second game
Bremerton ....... 110 000 006—8 9 2
Tacoma .......... 100 020 000—3 7 3
Pirack and Volpi; Lazor, Gleason (8) and Hargadon.

VICTORIA, Aug. 28—The Vancouver Capilanos and Victoria Athletics exchanged a pair of 7-0 games today, with Larry Manier tossing a seven-hit shutout for Vancouver in the opener, and Frank Logue doing the same in the night game for Victoria.
The A's only got five hits in the night game, but made good use of the offerings. With two out in the third, Charlie Balassi blasted a 3-1 pitch over the centre field fence. Vic Buccola walked, Buddy Hjelmaa booted a double play ball and Jack Palmer was safe and then Archie Wilson walked. Babe Jensen then singled in two runs and Hunk Anderson was replaced on the mound with Bob Snyder, who was greeted by a line single down the third base by Dick Morgan to bring in a fourth run.
In the seventh, a walk, another error by Hjelmaa and a hit batter loaded the bases before Morgan cleared them with a double.
In the opener, Bill Brenner welcomed lefthander Wally Eads to the Western International League with a first-inning, grand-slam homer. It was the only hit Eads allowed in the inning. He walked three, hit a batter and tossed a wild pitch to bring in one run before that.
First game
Vancouver ....... 510 000 100—7 9 0
Victoria ........... 000 000 000—0 7 2
Manier and Brenner; Eads, Harmsen (2) and Recca.
Second game
Vancouver ....... 000 000 000—0 7 3
Victoria ........... 004 000 30x—7 5 0
Anderson, Snyder (3) and Warren; Logue and Morgan.

SALEM, Aug. 28—Spokane Indians nosed out the Salem Senators, 3-1, tonight behind the fine twirling of Bill Werbowski. All the scoring came in the last inning. Bob Hedington's double, Werbowski's single, a triple by George Valine and a single by Leo Thomas scored the Spokane runs.
Spokane ........ 000 000 003—3 10 1
Salem ........... 000 000 001—1 6 1
Werbowski and Sheely; Stevenson and Burgher.

YAKIMA, Aug. 28—The lagging Yakima Packers won their second successive 11-inning game from Wenatchee Chiefs, this time, 4-3. Bill Wilson's 32nd home run with a mate aboard tied the count in the sixth and forced extra time.
The game was featured by a battle between Fern Paredes of Wenatchee and Gene Gaviglio. The fracas started when Gaviglio sneaked in behind first base to pick Parades off. The latter responded with a hard left hook to his tormentor's nose, which put Gaviglio out of action.
Wenatchee ....... 100 002 000 00—3 6 0
Yakima ............. 003 000 000 01—4 11 2
Cronin, Stedman (7) and Dalrymple, Gardner (7); D. Drilling and Constantino.

Friday, August 27, 1948

STANDINGS
W L Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 82 51 .617 —
Victoria .... 79 59 .572 5½
Spokane ..... 79 61 .564 6½
Tacoma ...... 71 60 .542 10
Vancouver ... 57 66 .463 20
Salem ....... 64 75 .460 20
Wenatchee ... 62 74 .456 21½
Yakima ...... 45 93 .326 39½


VICTORIA, Aug. 27—4,500 fans who turned out for Fan Appreciation Night at Royal Athletic Park tonight didn't go away disappointed. The Athletics extended their winning streak to eight games with a 6-2 triumph over the Vancouver Capilanos.
Del Owens only allowed a drag bunt to Frank Mullens in the first inning before running into a jam with two out in the sixth. Joe Kaney doubled and Mullens connected for a home run. Jack Warren cloued a double but Vic Buccola nabbed Charlie Mead's liner for the out.
Archie Wilson's double scored Jack Palmer for Victoria's first run in the first inning, then Jim Hedgecock was given an early shower with a four-run outburst in the fourth, two walks and two doubles doing the damage, the last by Charlie Balassi scoring two. Vern Kindfather came in to relieve and took seven A's on strikes, using the sharpest and fastest curve seen here for some time. He got into trouble in the eigthh when two singles and as many walks put over the final run.
A's notes — The pre-game entertainment featured Vic Buccola dressed as Frank Sinatra doing 'Night and Day,' Len Kasparovitch and pseudo-Hawaiians Al Goot, Archie Wilson and Jack Palmer doing a pseudo-hula, Charlie Balassi and his steed with some Western entertainment, and Sal Recca with a fine solo, and teaming with his wife in a special Hawaiian number honouring umpire Bill Husband and his wife of a few hours.
Vancouver ........ 000 002 000—2 8 3
Victoria ............ 100 400 01x—6 8 0
Hedgecock, Kindsfather (4) and Warren; Owens and Recca.

Spokane .......... 000 012 110—5 6 3
Salem .............. 004 001 01x—6 12 1
Orphal, Babbitt (3) and Sheely; Peterson and Burgher.

Wenatchee ....... 010 000 000 00—1 5 0
Yakima ............. 100 000 000 01—2 8 1
McCollum and Gardner; Strait and Constantino.

Bremerton at Tacoma, postponed, rain.

Thursday, August 26, 1948

W.I.L. STANDINGS
W L Pct GB
Bremerton ... 82 51 .617 —
Victoria .... 78 59 .569 6
Spokane ..... 79 60 .568 6
Tacoma ...... 71 60 .542 10
Vancouver ... 57 65 .467 19½
Wenatchee ... 62 73 .459 21
Salem ....... 63 75 .457 21½
Yakima ...... 44 93 .321 40


TACOMA, Aug. 26—Ed Murphy's two-run single in the sixth inning provided the margin of victory at Tacoma tonight, as Bremerton's stubborn Bluejackets refused to yield any more ground in the Western International League race. The Tars edged the Tigers, 8-7, in a free-hutting affair to retain their six-and-a-half game lead over Victoria. John Marshall, hurling well in relief, gained credit for the win.
Bremerton .......... 204 002 000—8 11 3
Tacoma ............. 002 311 000—7 12 2
Sullivan, Allen (3), Marshall (5) and Volpi; Fortier, Kipp (3), Gleason (4) and Hargadon, Kuper (4).

VICTORIA, Aug, 26—Joe Blankenship won his 21st game of the season, blanking the Vancouver Capilanos, 5-0, on four hits, two of them of the scratch variety.
He walked on and struck out six. Orrin Snyder's single and Charlie Mead's double where the only sold hits off his delivery and only a half-dozen balls were hit hard.
Mead received credit for a single when Lou Kubiak slipped in the muddy outfield. The fourth hit was a drag bunt by Frank Mullens.
Blankenship also lent a hand offensively, clouting a double in the third to plate Dick Morgan, who had walked, with the first run of the game.
Vic Buccola started a two-run rally in the fourth by beating out a bunt. Archie Wilson followed with a single to right and Babe Jensen sacrificed them along. Recca flied out to score Mullens before Dick Morgan doubled.
In the eight, Buccola drove in Charlie Balassi, who had singled and reached third on Mead's error and a long fly to right by Russ Walseth. He scored the final run.
Vancouver .......... 000 000 000—0 4 3
Victoria .............. 001 200 02x—5 7 1
Snyder and Warren; Blankenship and Recca.

SPOKANE, Aug. 26—Spokane Indians squeaked past Yakima Packers, 7-6, tonight after tying the game in the eighth and winning on George Valine's long single in the ninth.
Bob Drilling went the route for the losers, and took his 21st setback.
Yakima ........... 100 002 300—6 11 1
Spokane ......... 200 012 011—7 10 0
B. Drilling and Constantino; Cordell, Babbitt (8) and Sheely.

WENATCHEE, Aug. 26—Wenatchee Chiefs moved past Salem into sixth place by handing the Senators a 6-2 trimming behind the steady twirling of Dick Conover. Bill Wilson added to his league-leading home run mark by clouting No. 31.
Salem .............. 020 000 000—2 5 3
Wenatchee ....... 300 001 02x—6 10 2
McIrvin and Samhammer, Burgher (6); Conover and Gardner.

San Diego, Tacoma Exchange Players
SAN DIEGO, Calif. Aug 26,—The San Diego Baseball Club replaced veteran Vince Shupe with a new first baseman last night in an attempt to check its Coast League losing streak.
Larry Lee, brought from the Tacoma club of the Western International League, will replace Shupe.
Manager Jim Brillheart also announced that pitcher Angelo Venturelli had been called from Tacoma and that infielder Hank Vallee was being returned there.

Chetkovich Charged With Embezzlement
PHOENIX, Ariz., Aug. 26—Extradition of Mitchell (Mitch) Chetkovich, pitcher-manager of the Bisbee-Douglas Miners of the Arizona-Texas League, to Tacoma, Wash., was asked here yesterday.
Polcie said Chetkovich was accused of embezzing $70 from the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
Chetkovich said the charge grew out of his oversight in forgetting to account for some raffle tickets he sold for the Tacoma lodge.
Chetkovich was a relief pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1939. He signed with the Tacoma Tigers in 1947.

NON-WIL MINOR LEAGUE NEWS
Umps Need More Padding
By Tom Aden
DENVER, Aug. 27—If the present trend continues Western League umpires may have to start wearing padding behind as well as in front.
At first it was only the fiery pilots like Pueblo's Jack Fitzpatrick and some of the more vociferous players who blew their tops at the decisions of the men in blue.
Fitzpatrick has engaged in so many rhubarbs that he's finished almost as many games in the dressing room as his starting pitchers.
Now however the fans are getting in on the fun with seat cushions and any other ammunition that happens to be at hand.
The Denver fans got so incensed about a close double play decision by Gerald Van Keuren recently that they let fly with cushions, rocks and pop bottles. One of the bottles caught Van Keuren in the eye.
The same thing happened to Umpire Joe Cibulka at Pueblo in the same week. Cops escorted him from the field after the game ended.
What's the solution? Better umpires, thinks Frank Reeves, president of Pueblo's parent club, the Fort Worth Cats in the Texas League.
Reeves was in Pueblo just after the cushion-throwing spree. He made suggestions for improving officiating and thought the National Association of Professional Baseball clubs should consider them at its fall meeting. They included putting all minor league umpires under the association president, having a spring training program for umpires with instructions provided by the association and grading the umpires on the basis of ability and physical condition.

Wednesday, August 25, 1948

W.I.L. STANDINGS
W L Pct GB
Bremerton ... 81 51 .614 —
Victoria .... 77 59 .566 6
Spokane ..... 78 60 .565 6
Tacoma ...... 71 59 .541 9
Vancouver ... 57 64 .471 18½
Salem ....... 63 74 .460 20½
Wenatchee ... 61 73 .455 21
Yakima ...... 44 92 .323 39


TACOMA, Aug. 25—The Tacoma Tigers squeezed through for a 12-inning, 5-4, verdict over Bremerton as Dick Greco, who previously had two doubles and a single, batted in the winning run with an outfield fly.
George Nicholas pitched eight scoreless innings of relief ball, twice stopping the Tars with the bases loaded and none out.
Bremerton .......... 000 220 000 000—4 11 1
Tacoma ............. 300 100 000 001—5 12 1
Conant and Volpi; Greenlaw, Nicholas (5) and Hargadon.

VANCOUVER, Aug. 25—Sal Recca singled in Archie Wilson in the seventh inning, then brought in Vic Buccola with a fly ball in the 13th as Victoria shaded Vancouver 2-1 in the opener of a double-header at Capilano Stadium. The A's won the second game, 6-2, in five innings, as the game ran afoul of the time limit.
Vancouver had taken a 1-0 lead in the opener's fourth inning on a couple of hits and an error on Charlie Mead's ball. The Caps could have won it in the 12th when they got men on second and third with one one. Buddy Hjelmaa could have stolen home but slowed up for the called squeeze play. Hunk Anderson reached for the high outside pitch and popped up to Vic Buccola at first, who threw to third for the double-play.
Victoria picked up the win when Buccola singled and was sacrificed to second. Archie Wilson was walked, and with Babe Jensen at the plate, manager Ted Norbert called for the double steal. It worked, though Vancouver claimed interference. Jensen walked to load the bases and Recca soon came through with the game-winning fly.
Jim Propst got the win, holding Vancouver to eight hits.
Len Kasparovitch limited the Caps to five hits in gaining his 16th victory in the night contest. It was agreed no inning could start after 11 p.m. to enable both clubs to catch the boat for Victoria, and the fifth didn't start until three minutes before the time-limit.
Lou Kubiak had two hits in as many trips to the plate, while Buccola, Kasparovitch and Dick Morgan also had a pair of hits. Wilson and Buccola put together anothe double steal.
First game
Victoria .......... 000 000 100 000 1—2 5 1
Vancouver ...... 000 100 000 000 0—1 8 3
Propst and Recca; Costello, Anderson (9) and Brenner.
Second game
Victoria .......... 001 14—6 10 0
Vancouver ...... 001 01—2 5 1
Kasparovitch and Morgan; Robertson and Warren.

SPOKANE, Aug. 25—A crowd of 5,644 turned out at Spokane to see the Indians defeat the last-place Packers, 7-4, for Frank Nelson's 19th win.
Yakima ........... 102 000 010—4 11 4
Spokane ......... 200 201 02x—7 7 2
Ford and Constantino; Nelson and Sheely.

WENATCHEE, Aug. 25—Wenatchee trounced Salem, 18-5, tonight as Tom Rose scored his 15th victory of the season and Bill Wilson clouted his 30th home run.
Salem ............... 010 003 100—5 8 1
Wenatchee ........ 010 247 31x—18 16 0
Saltzaman, Dewitt (6), Whitt (6) and Burgher; Rose and Gardner.

Rain-Outs Cost Caps $30,000
The Caps are losing more than their share of WIL baseball games these days, but they're losing something else which hurts even more—money.
The recent seige of rain-out games (five days in a row without game) brought the total number of home games washed out to 20.
Of these the Caps have made up three, which leaves them with 17 yet to account for.
Figuring on an average of 2000 fans per game, which was the average per game paid attendance before the bad weather set in, and there are something like 34,000 fans who are missing from Bob Brown's front office attendance totals.
The cash value of these 34,000 absentees comes to something like $30,000.
Now the question is, which is worse, a second-division finish for the Caps, or the $30,000 which is missing from the local baseball till.
- Sun, Thursday, Aug, 26, 1948

Tuesday, August 24, 1948

W.I.L. STANDINGS
W L Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 81 50 .618 —
Spokane ..... 77 60 .562 7
Victoria .... 75 59 .560 7½
Tacoma ...... 70 59 .543 10
Vancouver ... 57 62 .479 18
Salem ....... 63 73 .462 20½
Wenatchee ... 60 73 .451 22
Yakima ...... 44 91 .326 39


SPOKANE, Aug. 24—The Spokane Indians moved into second place in the Western International League and downed the visiting Yakima Packers twice, 9-8 and 3-0.
Joe Rossi sparked the Spokane victory in the first game, hitting a three-run double as a pinch-hitter in a fifth-inning rally and then stealing home with a fourth run. The six-run outburst brought the Indians from behind. Two runs in the next inning eventually proved to be the winning margin as a Yakima rally was cut short in the seventh.
The second game went to the Indians, 3-0, with Bill Werbowski outlasting Hub Kittle in a game shortened by the time limit.
First game
Yakima ......... 102 220 2—8 14 1
Spokane ....... 100 062 x—9 9 4
D. Drilling, Freeman (5) and Constantino, Peterson (6); Teagan, Babbitt (7) and Sheely, Rossi (5).
Second game
Yakima .......... 000 000 0—0 4 1
Spokane ........ 100 110 x—3 7 1
Kittle and Peterson, Werbowski and Rossi.

WENATCHEE, Aug, 24—Wenatchee Chiefs outscored Salem Senators, 13-10, in a free-hitting affair which produced 30 hits, evenly divided. Shortstop Neil Bryant led the way for the winners, picking up a home run, double and two singles, and driving in four runs to help Glen Lierman to his 12th victory.
Buzz Sporer was the loser.
Salem ............ 040 003 030—10 15 3
Wenatchee ..... 311 330 020—13 15 4
Sporer, McNulty (5) and Burgher; Lierman and Gardner.

Victoria at Vancouver, postponed, rain.
Tacoma at Bremerton, postponed, rain.

Monday, August 23, 1948

STANDINGS
W L Pct GB.
Bremerton ... 81 50 .618 —
Victoria .... 75 59 .560 7½
Spokane ..... 75 60 .556 8
Tacoma ...... 70 59 .543 10
Vancouver ... 57 62 .479 18
Salem ....... 63 72 .467 20
Wenatchee ... 59 73 .447 22½
Yakima ...... 44 89 .331 38


SPOKANE, Aug. 23—Salem Senators, infuriated by two Sabbath shellacquings, rose and bludgeoned their tormentors tonight with a 13-6 hammering of the Spokane Indians.
The loss dropped Spokane into third place, half a game behind Victoria's rained-out Athletics.
Three Indian hurlers were sentenced to the slab during the evening. Bob Hedington left his usual post at third base to do duty on the mound, but found the hill as torrid as the hot corner.
The visitors touched him for four tallies in the ninth. Starter Jim Olson was the winner.
Cal Mclrvin, who has been masquerading as a pitcher, put on outfielder's livery for Salem and rapped four safeties, including a homer, to pace the 19-hit assault.
Salem .......... 201 410 014—13 19 2
Spokane ....... 041 001 000—6 9 1
Olson, Peterson (7) and Burgher; Orpha, Babbitt (4), Hedington (8) and Sheely.

WENATCHEE, Aug. 23—The Yakima Packers had to go 10 innings tonight to nip the home team Wenatchee Chiefs, 11-9.
The Chiefs came from behind with four runs in the seventh and one—Jess McWilliams' homer—in the ninth to knot the count Lou Estes doubled home Larry Orteig and later scored on Snag Moore's single in the overtime. Leroy Stevens was the losing pitcher.
Yakima .......... 221 210 100 2—11 17 3
Wenatchee ..... 003 010 401 0—9 18 2
B. Drilling and Constantino; Cronin, Gilson (3), McCollum (3), Stevens (8), Conover (10) and Dalrymple, Gardner (10).

Victoria at Vancouver, postponed, rain.
Tacoma at Bremerton, postponed, rain.

Sunday, August 22, 1948

W.I.L. STANDINGS
               W  L Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 81 50 .618 —
Spokane ..... 77 59 .566 6½
Victoria .... 75 59 .560 7½
Tacoma ...... 70 59 .543 10
Vancouver ... 57 62 .479 18
Salem ....... 62 72 .463 20½
Wenatchee ... 59 72 .450 22
Yakima ...... 43 89 .326 38½


First game
Tacoma ........ 000 000 2—2 6 1
Bremerton ..... 101 001 x—3 4 0
Venturelli and Kuper; Marshall and Volpi.
Second game
Tacoma ........ 000 200 07—9 12 3
Bremerton ..... 200 500 00—7 11 5
Lazor, Clary (4) and Hargadon; Hittle, Simon (8), Allen (8) and Ronning, Volpi.

First game
Yakima ........ 040 010 0—5 11 1
Wenatchee ..... 020 010 0—3 5 1
Freeman and Constantino; Stevens, Gilson (5) and Dalrymple.
Second game
Yakima ........ 010 111 000—4 12 2
Wenatchee ..... 100 001 300—5 6 1
Strait, Peterson (8) and Constantino; McCollum, Rose (7) and Gardner.

First game
Salem ......... 011 100 020—5 10 3
Spokane ....... 420 201 36x—18 21 0
Stevenson, Wilson (8) and Brugher; Nelson and Sheely.
Second game
Salem ......... 200 002 000—4 10 4
Spokane ....... 033 320 15x—17 23 1
Whitt and Burgher; Cordell and Rossi.

(only games scheduled)

Saturday, August 21, 1948

W.I.L. STANDINGS
               W  L Pct. GB
Bremerton ... 80 49 .620 —
Victoria .... 75 59 .560 7½
Spokane ..... 73 59 .553 8½
Tacoma ...... 69 58 .543 10
Vancouver ... 57 62 .479 18
Salem ....... 62 70 .470 19½
Wenatchee ... 58 71 .450 22
Yakima ...... 42 88 .323 38½


VICTORIA, Aug. 21—The Victoria Athletics moved into second place in the Western International League by supplanting Tacoma in a double-header sweep of the Tigers on Saturday.
The A's hammered their way to an 11-10 win in the opener to hand Joe Blankenship his 20th win of the season, then pulled off a 5-2 win in the finale.
Four home runs—two by Vic Buccola and one each from Babe Jensen and Jack Palmer—plated eight of the Victoria runs, but it was Sal Recca's double in the sixth inning which accounted for the tying and winning markers.
Four runs in the first, with Jensen scoring three of them with his 11th home run, gave the A's an early lead. Buccola hit the first of his two-run homers in the fourth and Palmer followed with his 17th to restore the Victoria lead after Tacoma scored three in their half of the inning.
Bill Harmsen was pulled for Blankenship in the sixtgh after two singles and Vito DeVito's home run were followed by a walk. A sacrifice hit, two singles and Archie Wilson's bobble of an easy fly ball brought in four more runs, three of them unearned.
Buccola started things in the Victoria half with his second homer and eighth of the year. Jensen followed with his game-winning blow off the fence.
In the second game, Wilson banged out his 22nd home run of the season with Buccola on first to give Victoria a first-inning lead.
In the third, a walk to Charlie Balassi, a sacrifice and an error by Ray Tran brought in a run, then two walks and singles by Del Owens and Balassi completed the Victoria scoring.
Tacoma had runners on the bags in every inning except the scond but could only break throguh with single runs in the fourth and eighth. Owens pitched out of every jam to gain his 12th win.
First game
Tacoma ....... 000 307 000—10 15 3
Victoria ....... 400 304 00x—11 12 1
Gleason, Clary (6) and Kuper; Harmsen, Blankenship (6) and Recca.
Second game
Tacoma ....... 000 100 010—2 9 1
Victoria ........ 201 200 00x—5 7 1
Nicolas and Hargadon; Owens and Recca.

SPOKANE, Aug. 21—Eddie Sanclemente drove out a long single with the bases loaded in the ninth inning tonight to give the Spokane Indians a 7-6 Western International League victory over Salem Senators and third place in the standings.
Sanclemente's blow came with none out, off Cal McIrvin.
Edo Vanni broke the Western International League stolen base record of 52 set by Vic Buccola out Spokane in 1942. His theft of second base early in the game was his 53rd of the season.
Indians note — Vanni's teammates plan to present him with a watch for his accomplishments on Sunday at Ferris Field.
Salem ............. 003 000 030—6 9 2
Spokane ......... 020 220 001—7 13 1
McIrvin and Samhammer; Werbowski, Babbitt (8) and Rossi.

WENATCHEE, Aug. 21—Bill Wilson slammed his third home run in two nights and 28th of the season as Wenatchee Chiefs mauled Yakima Packers 12-1 in a Western International League game tonight.
Righthander Tom Rose won his 1th game of the yaer for Wenatchee.
The win gave Wenatchee a 2-0 lead on the five-game series.
Yakima ........... 000 100 000—1 8 3
Wenatchee ..... 400 014 12x—12 15 0
Ford and Constantino, Rose and Gardner.

Bremerton at Vancouver, rained out.