Hockey Player Signs for Baseball, Spokane Snowed

Baseball Star Gus Kyle Signs Calgary Contract
CALGARY, March 20—It will be just a case of switch in uniforms for Gus Kyle when the hockey season winds up this spring.
The rugged rearguard of Calgary Stampeders of the Western Hockey League signed a contract Thursday with the Stampeders of the Western International Baseball League.
He will join the team in the south about April 12.
A catcher, Kyle got his start in baseball in 1940 with Father Murray's Notre Dame team in Saskatchewan. In 1942-43-44 he was with Saint John of the Maritime League. He returned west in 1945 and has played with Regina Caps of the Western Canada league since that time. In his first year with Caps he won the batting championship with an average of .552 and repeated in 1952 with a .368 average.
Kyle, 29, weighs 214.

Indians May Open Grind at Lewiston
SPOKANE, March 20—The Spokane Club of the Western International Baseball League will have to open spring training at Lewiston, Idaho, if the weather doesn’t improve fast, manager Don Osborn said Friday.
Three inches of snow that fell early Friday morning forced the interruption of work on the Indians’ home park at Ferris Field, he said. However, if the Indians do have to begin their training at Lewiston next Tuesday, they will return to Spokane as soon as the home field is in shape, he said.

Hafey Is Signed By Spokane Nine
SPOKANE, March 20—The Spokane Indians announced Friday the signing of Wilbert Hafey, the 1951 home run king of the Western International League who played off and on with San Francisco last year.
Hafey was signed as a free agent and will be in the outfield for the Tribe. He led the WIL in homers with 24 while with Wenatchee two years ago. He’ll report April 1.
Manager Don Osborn said pitchers and catchers will start workouts at Ferris Field here next Tuesday—weather permitting.

EDMONTON, March 20 — The Edmonton Eskimos of the Western International Baseball League announced Friday that promising young Catcher Vince Pisani has been optioned to the club by New York Yankees.
Pisani, fresh from university and a hitch in the United States Army, attended the Glendale, Calif. advance camp for top Yankee prospects last month and was observed there by Eskimo playing Manager Bob Sturgeon.
Pisani is a graduate of California's Santa Clara University.