Pre-Season, Salem

Solons Need 1st Baseman; Rest of Team Suits Boss
By CHRIS KOWITZ, Jr.
Salem Capitol Journal Writer
CALISTOGA, Calif., April 16—Wanted: First baseman. Prefer left-handed hitter with experience, but will consider anybody. Apply Salem Senators spring training camp at Calistoga, Calif.
Manager Hugh Luby hasn't resorted to such an ad in the help wanted columns yet, but he's tried nearly everything else in an effort to find somebody to hold down first base for the Senators. Luby has been playing at first himself in spring training exhibition games.
Except for a first baseman, the Solons are pretty well set for the opening of the 1953 Western International League campaign April 24 at home against Calgary.
Outfield Looks Good
The rest of the infield and the outfield look good, the catching excellent and the pitching staff untried but promising. Luby considers his team strong in the lifting department.
Five capable infielders are carried on the current Salem roster. They are Luby, Gene Tanselli, Lou Scrivens, Freddy Haller and Dick Sabatini. Luby and Tanselli were with Salem last year. Scrivens is a rookie out of Willamette University, while Haller and Sabatini are veteran baseballers making their first appearance with a WIL club.
Don Taylor, Connie Perez and Les Witherspoon will probably comprise the outfield, with rookie Bill Nelson as utility fly-chaser. Perez led the Salem club in home runs, with 11, last year, while Taylor and Witherspoon come to the Senators from other leagues.
Nelson Returns
Veteran Bob Nelson, Salem's No. 1 catcher last season, is back this year. The other Senator catcher is Don Masterson, just released from the Army. Masterson played in the California State league a few years ago.
Bill Bevins [sic], former New York Yankee, who made history in the 1947 world series when he lost a one-hitter to Brooklyn, is serving as coach for the Salem pitching staff, and will also take a regular turn on the mound.
Other Salem pitchers are Jim McGee, Jack Hemphill, Bob Collins, Wayne Rick and Dick Strombach. Rick and Strombach are rookies. Larry Borst, a Forest Grove, Ore., youth trying out with the club may be signed soon, making three rookies on the Solon pitching staff. Collins is the only left-hander in the lot. Another lefty, Ernie Telles, is trying to land a berth on the team, but has not yet been signed.