Sunday 16 March 2008

Saturday, May 23, 1953

W L Pct. GB
Lewiston .... 19  7 .731 —
Vancouver ... 16 11 .593 3½
Spokane ..... 14 14 .500 6
Salem ....... 11 11 .500 6
Edmonton .... 13 14 .481 6½
Wenatchee ... 13 15 .464 7
Calgary ..... 13 16 .448 7½
Victoria .... 12 15 .444 7½
Yakima ...... 13 17 .433 8
Tri-City .... 12 16 .429 8


WENATCHEE — Van Fletcher scattered seven hits to pick up his fifth win in the Vancouver Capilanos 5-1 victory Saturday over the Wenatchee Chiefs.
Fletcher got a lot of help from bespectacled young Jack Bukowatz, making his first start of the season. He smacked two hits as his took over from erratic Chuck Davis at shortstop.
General Manager Dewey Soriano praised Bukowatz for making an impossible catch of a sure base hit that cleared Harvey Storey´s head at third and was heading for left field.
Soriano also revealed he is trying to acquire outfielder Gordie Brunswick from the Coast League's Seattle Rainiers. But Brunswick may not have any desire to play baseball after the death of his young son last week due to leukaemia.
Vancouver ..... 000 200 003—5 10 0
Wenatchee ..... 000 001 000—1 7 0
Fletcher and Lundberg; Ragni, Klein (5), and Bartolomei.

CALGARY — story unavailable
(First Game)
Edmonton ..... 042 120 2—11 13 1
Calgary ...... 010 000 0—1 3 2
McNulty and Morgan; Hittner, Roberts (5) and Bricker.
(2nd Game)
Edmonton .... 100 131 013—10 14 2
Calgary ..... 022 002 000—6 11 0
Widner and Prentice; Orrell, Bricker (3), Schulte (9), Francis (9) and Lillard.

SPOKANE — The Spokane Indians, the WIL's most-improved club, moved into fourth place with 9-5 and 12-5 wins over Tri-City. That made it six straight for the Indians, who started the week in the cellar.
(1st Game)
Tri-City ..... 000 100 030—5 8 3
Spokane ...... 000 420 30x—9 12 2
Bloom, Rolfe (7) and Warren; Spring and Sheets.
(2nd Game)
Tri-City .... 210 002 000—5 6 0
Spokane ..... 200 091 00x—12 15 4
Tanner, Piedmonte (5), Hockaday (8) and Pesut; Romero and Weatherwax.

YAKIMA — Story unavailble
Salem .... 310 002 000—6 12 2
Yakima ... 002 300 000—5 9 2
Bevens, Borst (5) and Masterton; Rios and Novick.

Victoria at Lewiston, split double-header, rained out.

WIL AVERAGES Through May 23
compiled by Howe News Bureau
                       AB  R H RBI Pct.
L. Tran (TC) ........ 105 32 43 28 .410
Noren (Yak) ......... 122 21 49 21 .402
Warren (TC) ......... 109 21 42 48 .385
Storey (Van) ......... 94 12 36 19 .383
Morgan (Edm) ......... 92 17 33  9 .359
Witherspoon (Sal) .... 85 17 30 13 .357
Weaver (Edm) ......... 99 13 24 33 .343
Mascaro (Van) ....... 112 16 38 15 .339
Wilson (Lew) ........ 100 16 33 28 .330
Abernathy (Vic) ...... 76 13 25 16 .329
Branham (Vic) ........ 91 18 29  8 .319
Taylor (Vic) ......... 85 12 27 17 .318
Mead (Cal) .......... 101 29 32 23 .317
Perez (Sal) .......... 99 15 31 16 .313
M. McCormick (Wen) ... 80 15 25 13 .313
Tedesco (Cal) ....... 118 16 36 27 .305
Doubles, Cec Garriott, Victoria, 11
Triples, Chuck Abernathy, Victoria, 5
Home Runs, Charlie Mead, Calgary, 7
Stolen Bases, Andy Skurski, Edmonton, 8
Runs Batted In, Tran, Jack Warren, Tri-City and Art Wilson, Lewiston, 28.


Professional Baseball at Crossroads in Victoria
By Jim Tang
[Victoria Colonist, May 24, 1953]
“What can we do? Can’t you think of something that will help? What about calling it ‘Baseball Week’ this week?”
The questions come from Reg Patterson during the course of a telephone conversation from Qualicum Beach, where the harried and worried general manager of the Victoria Tyees had fled for the weekend to escape a jingling telephone which has given him few spare moments since the financial situation of the Victoria baseball club reached the dangerous stage.
That it will be “Baseball Week” in Victoria this week is certain. At the moment, there seems little that can be done for the club except to hope for warm weather and that baseball fans will indicate their desire of retaining professional baseball by turning out in larger numbers for the seven-game home stand which starts tomorrow.
Although the club has managed to cut its liabilities by more than 50 per cent during the past year, the situation is grave because it has no operating capital to meet necessary expenses. With another player payday due at the end of the month, the club has to depend on its take during the next seven games to stay in operation. If the attendance this week fails to show a sharp increase over the 850 average for the first 14 home games, there seems little hope.
Only alternative in the event that attendance fails to pick up would be to get cash from city businessmen or to sell one of more of the club’s better players. The latter would alleviate the situation temporarily but Patterson rightly feels that any such move would be unwise. In fact, despite the rather grim situation, he is working on plans to strengthen the Tyees.
Although he admitted that he had no reason to think so, the ever-optimistic general manager maintained that he believed that “Somehow, I don’t think we are going to fold. I’m sure the people of Victoria want baseball, and I think they’ll help us keep it.”
Patterson was unable to name names but stated that there would be several player changes within the next few days. A pitcher and an infielder may be going to Edmonton, either in trade or for cash, and a southpaw pitcher will be added. The Edmonton club is not only willing, but anxious, to lay out a sizeable sum for a third player long sought by manager Bob Sturgeon but the Tyees feel this move would hardly be wise unless there is no other alternative.
So there the matter stands. If Victoria wants baseball it will have to be indicated this week by paying customers. It should be pointed out here that the club is not badly off at the moment although it has so far failed to click and is in ninth place. It is only three games below the .500 mark and only a two or three-game winning streak out of third place. If it’s worth keeping, be at Royal Athletic Park as often as you can this week. It’s the improved Wenatchee Chiefs tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, the hard-hitting Yakima Bears Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and Saturday afternoon. Tickets are on sale daily at the sporting goods department of the T. Eaton Co. and at the park before game time. How about it?

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