Friday, May 22, 1953

W L Pct. GB
Lewiston .... 19 7 .731 —
Vancouver ... 15 11 .577 4
Wenatchee ... 13 14 .481 6½
Calgary ..... 13 14 .481 6½
Salem ....... 10 11 .476 6½
Tri-City .... 12 14 .462 7
Spokane ..... 12 14 .462 7
Yakima ...... 13 16 .448 7½
Victoria .... 12 15 .444 7½
Edmonton .... 11 14 .440 7½

LEWISTON, Idaho — The Lewiston Broncs were ahead 10-1 going into the ninth inning, but squeaked to a 12-11 Western International League victory as the Victoria Tyees exploded for ten runs in the final inning Friday night.
Manager Cec Garriott started things moving by drawing a base on balls. Chuck Abernathy singled and Garriott scored as Nap Gully hit the first of two ninth-inning doubles. Gale Taylor struck out but Milt Martin kept things alive by singling in Abernathy.
Sam Brusa batted for Don Hopp, who had replaced starter Bill Bottler, and drew a walk. The strategy seemed to be working when Jim Clark popped up for the second out with the Tyees needing seven runs for a tie.
They had just started. Bob Moniz made it 10-5 by singling in Gully and Martin. Mike Williams walked to load the bases and Garriott strolled for the second time to force in Brusa. More was to come. Abernathy drove in Moniz with his second hit, Gully came through with a three-run double to tie the score and Taylor followed with a single which plated Gully with the go-ahead run.
It finally ended as Taylor was out trying to get to second base on the throw to the plate.
Bob Drilling was entrusted with the task of holding the lead but he failed, helping himself to his fourth defeat by making a bad throw.
Clint Cameron opened the Lewiston ninth with a single and Larry Brown laid down a bunt. Drilling threw wild to first to put runners on third and second. Dangerous Ken Richardson waas walked to load the bases but the Tyees then had to contend with another hard-hitting veteran, Bob Williams.
Williams, who started the game with a .417 average and who had previously hit a double and two singles (good for three runs), made it five runs batted in when he doubled in Cameron and Brown.
The win went to Lewiston manager Bill Brenner, who took over in the hectic Victoria ninth inning.
Victoria ..... 100 000 00(10)—11 11 2
Lewiston ..... 200 003 502—12 10 2
Bottler, Hopp (8), Drilling (9) and Martin; Marshall, Dollins (9), Brenner (9) and Cameron.

YAKIMA —The Yakima Bears clubbed out eight hits Friday night to down the Salem Senators. 7-3 in a Western International League baseball game and hand Bob Collins his first loss of the season.
Salem ......... 210 000 000 - 3 6 3
Yakima ...... 010 203 10x - 7 6 3
Collins, Strombach (8), Peterson (8) and Nelson; Flinn, Thompson (6) and Novick.

WENATCHEE — Vancouver took advantage of the wildness of two Wenatchee pitchers to win a Western International League baseball game Friday night. 5-4.
The Chiefs held a 4-2 lead going into the seven inning. Something happened to the pitching and the Caps took advantage of six walks to tie the game.
Little Pete Hernandez helped win his own game in the eighth inning. Pitcher Peter slapped a line-drive single into left field, moved along a base on K Chorlton´s infield out and hit the scoreboard on Jimmy Wert's centre field single.
Vancouver ... 000 011 230— 5 5 1
Wenatchee ... 000 040 000 — 4 10 0
P. Hernandez and Lundberg; Botelho, Monroe (7) and Bartolomei.

SPOKANE—Bill Franks pitched a two-hitter and then singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday night as Spokane blanked Tri-City 1-0 in the first game of their four-game Western International League baseball series.
Franks pitched no-hit ball until the fifth inning when Terry Carroll hit a blooper to right field and then Len Tran bunted down the third base line.
Tri-City .... 000 000 000—0 2 1
Spokane ..... 000 000 001—1 7 0
Nicholson and Pesut; Franks and Sheets.

Edmonton at Calgary, postponed, wet grounds.

Calgary optioned outfielder Bob Sangster to Ventura of the California League and pitcher Harold Norris to Grand Forks of the Northern League.

Tyees’ Home Stand Needs Fan Support
By Jim Tang
[Victoria Colonist, May 23, 1953]
Professional baseball will remain in Victoria for at least one more week but its future after the next home stand, starting Monday, depends on fan support for the next seven home games.
That was the gist of a statement released by club officials last night after an emergency directors’ meeting.
After the meeting club officials issued the following statement:
”The affairs of the company were thoroughly gone into and we find that we are experiencing financial difficulties through the lack of attendance at our games.
“In the first 14 games of this year, the attendance has been approximately 12,000 as compared with about 27,000 for the same period last year. This means a net loss of about $8,0000 to the club and, in addition, an extra loss at the concessions.
“The club will return home on Monday for three games against Wenatchee and four against Yakima. If the attendance has not improved materially and if other financial assistance is not received, then it will be necessary for the directors to hold a further meeting at the end of next week to further consider our position.”
The implications in the statement are obvious. Unless there is increased fan support for next week’s games, it would seem that the Tyees have no alternative. They will have to drop out of the Western International Baseball League. There is practically no possibility the league could “carry” the Victoria franchise or that it could be sold to someone willing to take over current indebtedness.
The only chance for survival if attendance fails to pick up is for city business firms to contribute to a fund to keep the club going, Club officials, who saw the franchise saved by fans last season in the “Save Baseball” fund drive, feel that the fans cannot again be asked to contribute.
However, they are still hoping that fans will rally to the cause by turning out in much bigger numbers next week. They agree that bad weather has been the main reason for the disappointing average of about 850 fans per game.
No figures were set as to the attendance necessary to keep the Tyees alive but the current average will almost have to be doubled if the next home stand is to furnish enough money to continue operation until the following home stand.
So, once again, it’s up to the fans, If they wish to keep baseball here they will have to show up at Royal Athletic Park far more often than they have.


today’s fanfare
The Old Men of Lewiston Toss Away the Crutches
By Eric Whitehead
[Vancouver Province, May 23, 1953]
Capilano baseball fans will be glad to know that subscription lists are now open for a fund to send Bill Brenner and his Lewiston Broncs to Outer Mongolia.
Charter subscribers to the fund are Dewey Soriano and Harvey Storey, two gentlemen who must realize by now that on the success of this fund hinge their chances at a WIL pennant. As we write this, the Caps are winless in five tries against the Broncs, a record that would stamp our locals as a horrific ball club—if it were not for the Caps’ excellent record against the rest of the circuit.
If this fund had been started sometime in early April and the Broncs had thus been confined to lick the old salt time, your Capilanos would now boast a record of 14 wins and six losses, instead of the current 14-11.
All of which must tickle the sadistic streak in the soul of Lewiston boss Bill Brenner, the one-time Cap leader who was exiled four years ago by Bob Brown.
Bill Puts Age Before Beauty
There was a parting, incidentally, that brought a lot of sweet sorrow to Vancouver fans. Brenner being an extremely likeable guy greatly admired for his dexterity with his war club and giant chaws of plug tobacco. At times, Bill was the spitting image of the ideal field leader.
The break with Brown came over a series of minor differences known around Reno and Las Vegas as “domestic incompatibility,” which was partly based on Brenner’s unwillingness to develop youngsters. Not that Brenner gave rookies a bad deal, but he was noted for his partiality to experienced veterans, and the youngsters had to learn pretty well on their own.
This “star in the hand is worth two in the bush” idea may or may not be a standard Brenner theory, but the fact is that he is practicing it to the hilt with his current Lewiston club, which is easily the oldest in the WIL. Starting with pitcher Mannie Perez, who broke in with Carl Gunnarson’s father, the Broncs’ roster reads like an exerpt from the current issue of “Who’s Has-Been.”
No Quarrel With Youth
Whereupon Brenner will merely move his chaw from port to starboard, point to the top of the WIL standings, ring up a sale on the nearest brass cuspidor, and grin, “So what?”
Makes a fellow stop and ponder just what’s best for the fans’ diet: A squad of cunning veterans who are going no place except to the top of this league, or a squad of eager youngsters gambling for a shot at higher employment and maybe a pennant incidental along the way.
Personally, we’ll go for the latter, as exemplified by the Vancouver roster. There are few fans who will criticize Soriano’s current young (ave. age about 24) hustling replacement for last year’s squad, which was settling deep into the old boys’ pattern.
Win, lose or draw against the Broncs—and to date there’s no choice—the current Vancouver crew is a pleasing, attractive ball club.
Some Help Wanted
Of course, it does take a 37-year-old veteran to keep them that way.
If it weren’t for Old Man Storey’s booming war club, we’d probably be down playing tic-tac-toe deep in the second division instead of holding down second place.
His lusty .391 average has taken up the horrendous slack left by the hitting failure of K. Chorlton and Jim Wert, a couple of comparative youngsters who are wallowing well down below the .200 mark. In fact, it’s a king-sized tribute to the power of Storey, helped by 24-year-old Frank Mascaro’s .354 that the Caps are up where they are, what with two out of the first four batters in the lineup hitting so dismally.
But Chorlton and Wert, on their past records, should come along much better anytime now, as should Dick Briskey, the No. 5 man in the batting order who has just recently topped the .200 mark.
If the Caps youth movement gets rolling as it should to help Dad Storey (already rolling, pitcher Pete Hernandez, with his neat 3-0 record), we might yet give Brenner’s Lewiston Home for the Aged a run for its arnica.