Tuesday, August 18, 1953

W L Pct. GB
Spokane ..... 34 20 .630 —
Salem ....... 31 20 .608 1½
Vancouver ... 31 24 .564 3½
Lewiston .... 27 22 .551 4½
Yakima ...... 26 24 .520 6
Edmonton .... 24 26 .480 8
Calgary ..... 22 27 .449 9½
Wenatchee ... 21 29 .420 11
Victoria .... 22 31 .415 11½
Tri-City .... 20 33 .377 13½
AP has different standings for Lew, Edm and Vic

EDMONTON [News-Herald, Aug. 19]—The Capilanos made an awful lot of good hitting make up for a lack of good pitching Tuesday as they clubbed the Edmonton Eskimos for the second straight time, 8-5.
Their bats humming a busy tune as of late, the Capilanos drummed up a crescendo of 16 hits—eight of them for extra bases—in beating the crippled Esks.
Lonnie Myers, with a helping hand from Carl Gunnarson in the ninth, picked up win No. 10 though he was no puzzle to the Edmonton attack himself. Lon was touched for 16 hits, too.
The Caps broke a scoreless ball game wide open in the third with three runs off their former team-mate, Don Tisnerat. Four straight doubles by Myers, K. Chorlton, Jack Bukowatz and Harvey Storey, plus Jim Clark’s infield out, accounted for the runs.
Vancouver came back with some more of that extra base power in the fifth and scored three more. Frank Mascaro tripled and Myers single him home. That kayoed Tisnerat and in came Jack Widner. K. Chorlton greeted the reliever with a triple and Jack Bukowatz drove K home with an outfield fly.
Edmonton scored four times in their half of the fourth. Six hits, with Don Herman’s triple the longest, accounted for them.
Myers got by fairly well after that. He kept his bases on balls down to three while striking out four.
It wasn’t until the ninth that Lonnie was troubled again. Three hits scored one run and when left-hander Don Meisner stepped in at the plate as the potential tying run, Storey waved southpaw Carl Gunnarson in from the bullpen. Carl had a job to do and make it as short as possible. He threw three pitches as Meisner, Don swung at every one and got nothing but air.
Tonight the clubs play the final game in the series with Van Fletcher (14-9), who pitched an almost perfect no-hitter last time out, going for the Capilanos.
Vancouver ........... 003 310 100—8 16 2
Edmonton ............ 000 400 001—5 16 3
Myers, Gunnarson (9) and Duretto; Tisnerat, Widner (4) Manier (8) and Prentice.

CALGARY—Victoria Tyees edged Calgary Stampeders 7-5 in Western International Baseball League game here Tuesday night.
Stampeders jumped into a three-run lead in the first inning, but Tyees tied the count on Granny Gladstone's three-run homer in the third. Tyees gained a 5-4 lead in the fifth and stayed ahead.
Gladstone added the insurance run with his second homer of the game in the top of the ninth. Bob Drilling picked up the victory, while Joe Orrell was tagged with the loss.
Victoria ........... 003 002 101—7 15 2
Calgary ........... 300 100 100—5 11 2
Drilling and Martin; Orrell and Brickell, Lillard (2).

LEWISTON, Idaho—Larry Barton stepped to the plate in the ninth inning Tuesday night and hit the second pitch out of the park to give Lewiston a 5-4 Western International League win over Spokane.
Barton's blast ended Lewision a comeback against the league leaders who had tied the game in the eighth inning on two walks and a home run by Will Hafey. Spokane had scored once in the sixth on a double by Jim Command and a single by Hafey, who had all of the Indians' RBI's for the night.
Lewiston broke into the scoring column first in the fifth inning, when Mel Wasley hit a home run with one on base. Singles by Glen Tuckett and Ken Richardson drove in runs for the Broncs in the sixth and seventh innings.
Spokane ..... 000 001 030—4 8 1
Lewiston ..... 000 021 101—5 9 0
Spring, Romero (7) and Sheets; Kine, Marshall (7) and Cameron.

WENATCHEE, Wash.—Righthander Keith Bowman pitched a three-hitter to lead Wenatchee duets to a 5-1 victory over Yakima Bears here Tuesday night.
Bob Wellman's line single leading off the sixth inning was the only safety until the final inning.
A walk, a single by pinch-hitter Danny Rios and a single by Phil Steinberg in the ninth accounted for Yakima's only run.
Jerry Green collected four hits in five times at bat, to lend the Wenatchee attack.
Bowman struck out seven Bears batters and walked four. His teammates supported him with three double plays.
Yakima ............. 000 000 001—1 3 0
Wenatchee ....... 020 021 00x—5 13 0
Del Sarto, Edmunds (5) and Albini; Bowman and Bartolomei.

SALEM, Ore. — Joe Nicholas set an all-time Salem record Tuesday night when he pitched his 21st win of the season as Senators defeated Tri-City 11-0.
Nicholas also became the first player of the Western International League to pitch 21 wins this year.
He was in trouble several times but managed to pitch his way out. He struck out five, walked five and gave up seven hits —two of them to Des Charouhas.
Salem's only extra base hit was Jim Deyo's double with the bases loaded in the fourth inning.
Tri-City .............. 000 000 000— 0 7 4
Salem ................ 004 600 10x—11 14 1
Snyder, Michelson (4) and Pesut; Nicholas and Masterson.

BLUE SERGE HARNESS
Umpire Nenezich Again Arbitrates WIL Issues
By KEITH MATTHEWS [News-Herald, Aug. 19, 1953]
WIL president Bob Brown announced Tuesday he had signed umpire Johnny Nenezich to finish out the season with the league’s umpiring teams.
Ordinarily, announcements of this kind are greeted with a “so what” attitude. But Nenezich is not just an ordinary umpire.
It’s been four years since Johnny last pulled on his blue serge in the Western International. However, he has never been forgotten.
John was always former president Bob Abel’s trouble-shooter. Whenever a riot would rear its ugly head in one of the league’s cities, in would come Mr. Nenezich to put of the fire. Some said he was a better fireman than old Hugh Casey.
Once in Spokane, after Alan Strange had pulled his team off the field and the game had been forfeited, Abel sent a hurried wire to Nenezich which said: “Trouble in Spokane. Get down there immediately and take over as umpire in chief.”
For John, A Tossed Salad
Johnny went. The minute he stepped on the field, he was greeted with a shower of fruit and vegetables from the fans which made he think he stepped into One Long Pan’s warehouse. Nenezich cutely returned Abel’s wire: “Thanks for the assignment. I sold the fruit and vegetables for $20.”
Two years ago Nenezich got a chance in the Pacific Coast League. He did well, but there again an old habit of liking the ball players too much and trying to associate with them, cost him his job.
Two items brought about Nenezich’s re-hiring. One is the fact that Mel Steiner soon will have to leave the league staff. His father is seriously ill and not expected to live.
The other is John Luksik, whom Mr. Brown fired last week.
Saga Of Luckless Mr. Luksik
John has been on the WIL’s umpiring staff since the opening of the season. Last week, however he was involved in a hot argument in Edmonton, in which the Eskimos’ manager, Bob Sturgeon, said he was playing the game under protest.
Luksik refused to announce the protest and further, he refused to report it to league headquarter.
Several days later Brown heard about it. He wired Luksik immediately: “It is my understanding that I am still president of this league and must be informed of all protest games. Wire me immediately night letter, not more than 50 words an explanation of your actions.”
“He wired me all right,” Bob groaned. “It was quite an explanation. It cost me $14 for the telegram.
Mr. Luksik is with us no longer.


Spokane Could Lose Pro Ball If More Fans Don't Turn Out
SPOKANE, Wash., Aug. 19 — Spokane, the city that filled Ferris Field with 287,185 fans in 1947 to break Minor League attendance records, may be without a professional baseball team in 1954 if the turnstiles don't start clicking soon.
Roy Hotchkiss, owner of the Western International League team, said Tuesday that he can't continue to operate with the slumping attendance and if an average of 4,000 fans don't turn up for the remaining home games he may have to give up.
Winning Club
Hotchkiss, a dairy farmer who has owned Indians since 1949, said he thought all the city needed to keep the park full was a winning club. But last year, when Indians were second all season, the attendance was 104,600 the lowest in years.
This year, with Spokane on top in the second half of the WIL split season, the team has pulled in only 68,400 paying customers for 56 playing dates.
"I didn't expect to make any money out of baseball when I took over the Indians in 1949. Still, they must come closer to breaking even—otherwise I can't afford to carry on," he said.
If Spokane drew 4,000 for the remaining nine home dates, total attendance for 1953 would be 104,400, approximately the same as last year.
Couldn't Break Even
Hotchkiss said even that attendance figure wouldn't allow him to break even, "but at least that kind of support would indicate to me that the people of Spokane are interested in keeping baseball here."
Spokane, the traditional attendance leader of the WIL, drew the record gate as a class B club in 1947.
It outdrew every B team in the nation, and had better attendance than 10 class A leagues and eight AAA teams.
The Indians' home park Ferris Field, burned in 1948, before Hotchkiss bought the team. He rebuilt it but admits the stands may not be as comfortable as before.