Dasso New B.M.
WENATCHEE, Sept. 24—Veteran pitcher Frankie Dasso was hired today as temporary business manager of Wenatchee’s financially-tottering Western International League baseball team.
Mayor Arthur H. Pohlman, president of the club, said Dasso would concentrate for the next two months on promotion and fund-raising efforts.
He said the team has a $16,000 deficit from this season’s operation. It drew only 55,000 fans at home and finished last in the pennant race.
League directors have scheduled a meeting in Seattle Friday amid reports that shifting of the franchise to Calgary and Edmonton, Alta., may be considered.
Monday, 10 March 2008
Cal McIrvin
Spokes Get Cal
PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 23—Portland Beavers of the Coast League announced today that pitcher Cal McIrvin was being turned over to Spokane Indians of the Western International League.
General manager Bill Mulligan said that completes a deal by which Portland acquired Joe Rossi from Spokane in 1951. McIrvin, a left-handed pitcher who can also play first base, performed mostly for Victoria in the W.I.L. this year, compiling a 13-4 record there.
PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 23—Portland Beavers of the Coast League announced today that pitcher Cal McIrvin was being turned over to Spokane Indians of the Western International League.
General manager Bill Mulligan said that completes a deal by which Portland acquired Joe Rossi from Spokane in 1951. McIrvin, a left-handed pitcher who can also play first base, performed mostly for Victoria in the W.I.L. this year, compiling a 13-4 record there.
Why Calgary & Edmonton Now?
IT BEATS ME
By Jim Tang
By Jim Tang
[Victoria Colonist, Sept. 21, 1952]
Like drowning clutching at straws, W.I.L. owners are buoyed up with the hope that Calgary and Edmonton will save them from going under. Faced with a situation so serious that there is nothing unreasonable in the belief that the league might not be able to operate next season, they are now almost unanimous in the opinion that the Alberta cities would make fine additions.
It’s an excellent idea. The only trouble is that the late converts saw the light about two seasons too late.
That Calgary and Edmonton would be fine additions despite geographical, weather and schedule difficulties seems obvious. That Calgary and Edmonton might want to join a league as shaky as the W.I.L. is today another thought.
Take a look at the record. It is doubtful if Tri-City and Wenatchee can raise enough money to pay their bills and have enough left over to start next season. The same situation exists in Victoria despite all the whistling in the park. Lewiston is ready for 1953 but no one can be certain that the Idaho city can stand another bad year.
That’s half the league in the extremely doubtful class and one wonders how much longer Yakima and Salem can go on taking financial setbacks. Vancouver and Spokane, the league’s two largest population centres, are also unable to show a profit. In fact, Spokane reported a $35,000 loss this season, Vancouver must have lost almost as much, if not more, after a 1951 season in which it is reported to have shown as $50,000 deficit.
Any way you look at it, it doesn’t look at all hopeful. Sure, Calgary and Edmonton would help, but they are in the driver’s seat and know it. The W.I.L., led by Vancouver’s Bob Brown and Spokane’s Roy Hotchkiss, both recent converts, though it a ridiculous idea when the Alberta centres approached the W.I.L. three years ago. Now the W.I.L. has to come with hat in hand and it will consider itself fortunate if it can give away two franchises. There is little hope that they can be sold.
Owners to Blame
Minor-league baseball at its best is a financial risk and it is true that the W.I.L. has its problems with an unbalanced league which has more than half the population centred in two cities but there is no good reason why matters should be as bad as they are. No reason except club owners themselves.
League-president Bob Abel has taken the brunt of the blame and he, it must be admitted, has shown no firm hand in guiding the league. But is must be remembered that he is only a part-time president getting a part-time salary and that the biggest reason he has held the job for so long is that the owners actually didn’t want anyone with convictions of his own.
For instance, two of the big problems in the W.I.L. are bad scheduling and bad umpiring. Both have been with the league ever since it was organized in 1946 and both are the fault of the owners.
The W.I.L. schedule is always a joke. This season, for instance, Spokane played 155 games, Vancouver played 141. This, too, is the fault of the owners. As soon as a scheule is accepted they get together to make private deals and rearrange everything. At least six games were added this season after the “official” schedule was mailed out because certain clubs thought they saw a chance to make a little extra by passing up an off day. Then when bad weather, which must always be expected, forced numerous postponements, these same owners, Victoria included, refused to try to make up these games. And they hollered that the schedule was too long—after lengthening it themselves.
Bad umpiring has cost a lot of fans but the only thing that club owners have done about it in six tears is to get on the telephone every time they think their cause has been hurt by a game official and raise merry cain with Abel. At least there is no evidence of any other move.
Public relations are bad in most cities, almost non-existent in some. Too many club officials have no idea of what constitutes public relations. And too many club officials could never have any. It’s the little things that count, which brings to mind a recent example of what is meant. A Victoria restaurant owner tossed a dinner for the Tyees near the end of the season. Only most of the players attended. Neither the field manager or the business manager was there. That does more harm than a losing season.
The W.I.L. can stay in business—but only if the club owners will go out and get someone to run their business for them. So far, they haven’t been able to do it themselves.
Like drowning clutching at straws, W.I.L. owners are buoyed up with the hope that Calgary and Edmonton will save them from going under. Faced with a situation so serious that there is nothing unreasonable in the belief that the league might not be able to operate next season, they are now almost unanimous in the opinion that the Alberta cities would make fine additions.
It’s an excellent idea. The only trouble is that the late converts saw the light about two seasons too late.
That Calgary and Edmonton would be fine additions despite geographical, weather and schedule difficulties seems obvious. That Calgary and Edmonton might want to join a league as shaky as the W.I.L. is today another thought.
Take a look at the record. It is doubtful if Tri-City and Wenatchee can raise enough money to pay their bills and have enough left over to start next season. The same situation exists in Victoria despite all the whistling in the park. Lewiston is ready for 1953 but no one can be certain that the Idaho city can stand another bad year.
That’s half the league in the extremely doubtful class and one wonders how much longer Yakima and Salem can go on taking financial setbacks. Vancouver and Spokane, the league’s two largest population centres, are also unable to show a profit. In fact, Spokane reported a $35,000 loss this season, Vancouver must have lost almost as much, if not more, after a 1951 season in which it is reported to have shown as $50,000 deficit.
Any way you look at it, it doesn’t look at all hopeful. Sure, Calgary and Edmonton would help, but they are in the driver’s seat and know it. The W.I.L., led by Vancouver’s Bob Brown and Spokane’s Roy Hotchkiss, both recent converts, though it a ridiculous idea when the Alberta centres approached the W.I.L. three years ago. Now the W.I.L. has to come with hat in hand and it will consider itself fortunate if it can give away two franchises. There is little hope that they can be sold.
Owners to Blame
Minor-league baseball at its best is a financial risk and it is true that the W.I.L. has its problems with an unbalanced league which has more than half the population centred in two cities but there is no good reason why matters should be as bad as they are. No reason except club owners themselves.
League-president Bob Abel has taken the brunt of the blame and he, it must be admitted, has shown no firm hand in guiding the league. But is must be remembered that he is only a part-time president getting a part-time salary and that the biggest reason he has held the job for so long is that the owners actually didn’t want anyone with convictions of his own.
For instance, two of the big problems in the W.I.L. are bad scheduling and bad umpiring. Both have been with the league ever since it was organized in 1946 and both are the fault of the owners.
The W.I.L. schedule is always a joke. This season, for instance, Spokane played 155 games, Vancouver played 141. This, too, is the fault of the owners. As soon as a scheule is accepted they get together to make private deals and rearrange everything. At least six games were added this season after the “official” schedule was mailed out because certain clubs thought they saw a chance to make a little extra by passing up an off day. Then when bad weather, which must always be expected, forced numerous postponements, these same owners, Victoria included, refused to try to make up these games. And they hollered that the schedule was too long—after lengthening it themselves.
Bad umpiring has cost a lot of fans but the only thing that club owners have done about it in six tears is to get on the telephone every time they think their cause has been hurt by a game official and raise merry cain with Abel. At least there is no evidence of any other move.
Public relations are bad in most cities, almost non-existent in some. Too many club officials have no idea of what constitutes public relations. And too many club officials could never have any. It’s the little things that count, which brings to mind a recent example of what is meant. A Victoria restaurant owner tossed a dinner for the Tyees near the end of the season. Only most of the players attended. Neither the field manager or the business manager was there. That does more harm than a losing season.
The W.I.L. can stay in business—but only if the club owners will go out and get someone to run their business for them. So far, they haven’t been able to do it themselves.
Ducey Says WIL Poses Problems
Prairie Cities Prepared to Enter W.I.L. Baseball
EDMONTON, Sept. 19—Edmonton and Calgary baseball moguls are interested in catching berths in the Western International Baseball League.
“Calgary and Edmonton are pretty well agreed the step we want to make is to the Western International,” said John Ducey, lessee of Renfrew Park and long-time aspirant for an Edmonton franchise in organized baseball.
“But first of all, certain geographical problems would have to be ironed out,” Ducey said. “If we can’t see our way clear to go into that league, then we’ll revive the old Calgary-Edmonton Big Four for one year. Eventually, though, it’s our intention to move into organized ball.”
DISTRICT LEAGUES
This year the two cities had their own district senior leagues, the winners playing off for the Alberta arc-light championship.
Yesterday, owner Roy Hotchkiss of the Spokane club of the W.I.L. predicted that Calgary and Edmonton would be members of the class “A” circuit next season.
The Spokane Chronicle said rumors are that Tri-City and Wenatchee may be dropped to make room for them. It is understood that Ducey means Tri.City, Wenatchee and Lewiston when he refers to “certain geographical problems.”
OTHER INTEREST
Ducey now is in Great Falls, Mont., to see some playoff games of the class “C” Pioneer League, in which he has also shown previous interest.
“Alberta certainly is prepared for class A baseball and it would be great for both Edmonton and Calgary, although I’m only speaking for the foothills city, to have an opportunity to play in the Western International League,” said Sam Timmins of Calgary’s Buffalo Park.
He pointed out that Alberta is ready to boost the standard of baseball for diamond supporters and it should give the game a tremendous following.
EDMONTON, Sept. 19—Edmonton and Calgary baseball moguls are interested in catching berths in the Western International Baseball League.
“Calgary and Edmonton are pretty well agreed the step we want to make is to the Western International,” said John Ducey, lessee of Renfrew Park and long-time aspirant for an Edmonton franchise in organized baseball.
“But first of all, certain geographical problems would have to be ironed out,” Ducey said. “If we can’t see our way clear to go into that league, then we’ll revive the old Calgary-Edmonton Big Four for one year. Eventually, though, it’s our intention to move into organized ball.”
DISTRICT LEAGUES
This year the two cities had their own district senior leagues, the winners playing off for the Alberta arc-light championship.
Yesterday, owner Roy Hotchkiss of the Spokane club of the W.I.L. predicted that Calgary and Edmonton would be members of the class “A” circuit next season.
The Spokane Chronicle said rumors are that Tri-City and Wenatchee may be dropped to make room for them. It is understood that Ducey means Tri.City, Wenatchee and Lewiston when he refers to “certain geographical problems.”
OTHER INTEREST
Ducey now is in Great Falls, Mont., to see some playoff games of the class “C” Pioneer League, in which he has also shown previous interest.
“Alberta certainly is prepared for class A baseball and it would be great for both Edmonton and Calgary, although I’m only speaking for the foothills city, to have an opportunity to play in the Western International League,” said Sam Timmins of Calgary’s Buffalo Park.
He pointed out that Alberta is ready to boost the standard of baseball for diamond supporters and it should give the game a tremendous following.
Tri-City Meeting Planned
Group Calls Organizational Meeting
Pledge Sheets Also Called in By Matheson
[Tri-City Herald, Sept. 19, 1952]
The Tri-City Athletic Association has called for all present bond and stock holders, those who have signed pledges and others interested in the purchase of the Tri-City Baseball Club to meet Monday.
The time and place has not been set but those interested will be notified.
The meeting is being called to discuss the proposed organizational get-up. Plans will be made for the special Western International League meeting Sept. 29.
Harold Matheson, president of the association, also announced that all pledge sheets should be turned in immediately to a member of the association's board. The sheets can also be mailed to Matheson at Box 767, Pasco.
After the sheets are called in, the results will be tabulated by the association at present, there is about $15,000 known to be pledged.
Meanwhile at Spokane, Roy Hotchkiss reportedly predicted Thursday that Calgary and Edmonton, Alta. will be members of the league next year.
The Associated Press quoted him as saying it is necessary to put teams in the two cities if the WIL is to improve dropping attendance. He didn't say who would be placed but the rumors are that it would be Tri-City or Wenatchee.
However, athletic association members who have contacted Hotchkiss report that Hotchkiss denies saying anything about moving franchises to Canada.
The Spokane Chronicle said Hotchkiss lost $35,000 this year. The team drew more than 100,000 at the gate.
And at Yakima, the San Francisco Seals parent organization of the club there, offered to sell their 75 per cent interest in the Bears at a reasonable figure. The announcement was made by Frederick Mercy, president of the Bears. Mercy owns the other 25 per cent of the club.
He said he would like to have other Yakima men associated in the club and "I think they are giving the matter serious consideration.”
He is negotiating with Damon Miller, business manager of the Seals.
Pledge Sheets Also Called in By Matheson
[Tri-City Herald, Sept. 19, 1952]
The Tri-City Athletic Association has called for all present bond and stock holders, those who have signed pledges and others interested in the purchase of the Tri-City Baseball Club to meet Monday.
The time and place has not been set but those interested will be notified.
The meeting is being called to discuss the proposed organizational get-up. Plans will be made for the special Western International League meeting Sept. 29.
Harold Matheson, president of the association, also announced that all pledge sheets should be turned in immediately to a member of the association's board. The sheets can also be mailed to Matheson at Box 767, Pasco.
After the sheets are called in, the results will be tabulated by the association at present, there is about $15,000 known to be pledged.
Meanwhile at Spokane, Roy Hotchkiss reportedly predicted Thursday that Calgary and Edmonton, Alta. will be members of the league next year.
The Associated Press quoted him as saying it is necessary to put teams in the two cities if the WIL is to improve dropping attendance. He didn't say who would be placed but the rumors are that it would be Tri-City or Wenatchee.
However, athletic association members who have contacted Hotchkiss report that Hotchkiss denies saying anything about moving franchises to Canada.
The Spokane Chronicle said Hotchkiss lost $35,000 this year. The team drew more than 100,000 at the gate.
And at Yakima, the San Francisco Seals parent organization of the club there, offered to sell their 75 per cent interest in the Bears at a reasonable figure. The announcement was made by Frederick Mercy, president of the Bears. Mercy owns the other 25 per cent of the club.
He said he would like to have other Yakima men associated in the club and "I think they are giving the matter serious consideration.”
He is negotiating with Damon Miller, business manager of the Seals.
Calgary & Edmonton Closer
Spokes Owner Predicts Prairie Cities in WIL
SPOKANE, Sept. 18—The owner of the Spokane Indians baseball club predicted Thursday that Calgary and Edmonton will be members of the Class A Western International League next season.
Roy Hotchkiss said it is necessary to put league teams in the two Canadian cities if the WIL is to improve dropping attendance.
Hotchkiss’ announcement came as a complete surprise as he had been a leading opponant to previous attempt to give the Prairie cities franchises.
Victoria, Vancouver, Salem and Yakima are reported to be in favor of the new setup and Lewiston is not expected to voice an objection. Tri-City and Wenatchee, which suffered drastic financial losses this season, are rumored to be the clubs which will be replaced.
League directors will meet in Seattle a week from tomorrow to discuss possible changes.
If Edmonton and Calgary should replace Tri-City and Wenatchee, it would divide the W.I.L. into four territorial divisions—Victoria and Vancouver; Edmonton and Calgary; Spokane and Lewiston, and Salem and Yakima.
Hotchkiss reported a $35,000 loss at Spokane this year. The Indians, usual leaders at the gate, drew slightly more than 100,000—a drop of 40,000—this year.
SPOKANE, Sept. 18—The owner of the Spokane Indians baseball club predicted Thursday that Calgary and Edmonton will be members of the Class A Western International League next season.
Roy Hotchkiss said it is necessary to put league teams in the two Canadian cities if the WIL is to improve dropping attendance.
Hotchkiss’ announcement came as a complete surprise as he had been a leading opponant to previous attempt to give the Prairie cities franchises.
Victoria, Vancouver, Salem and Yakima are reported to be in favor of the new setup and Lewiston is not expected to voice an objection. Tri-City and Wenatchee, which suffered drastic financial losses this season, are rumored to be the clubs which will be replaced.
League directors will meet in Seattle a week from tomorrow to discuss possible changes.
If Edmonton and Calgary should replace Tri-City and Wenatchee, it would divide the W.I.L. into four territorial divisions—Victoria and Vancouver; Edmonton and Calgary; Spokane and Lewiston, and Salem and Yakima.
Hotchkiss reported a $35,000 loss at Spokane this year. The Indians, usual leaders at the gate, drew slightly more than 100,000—a drop of 40,000—this year.
Life of a Trainier
Braves' Trainer Doc Leaves For Home
[Tri-City Herald, Sept. 18, 1952]
The last of the Tri-City Braves left the Tri-City area last night and headed for home to spend the off season.
He is Raymond C. Hoyt, the team’s trainer, better known as Doc among the boys. Doc is in the dugout every game but the spectators seldom get to see him. He came out a couple of times this year—once when Des Charouhas crashed into the centerfield wall and was knocked out and when Ray Hamrick’s forearm was slashed by a player’s spikes.
But Doc’s big job is taking care of sore muscles and conditioning players before and after the game.
Doc drifted into the business of being a trainer a little at a time. It started when he was in the Medical Corps of the Canadian army.
From there he went to Washington State and used his first aid knowledge to patch up the fraternity boys around the Lambda Chi Apha [sic] house.
He had to leave the university because of illness and then worked on construction jobs through out the Northwest for a number of years. Here top, he was kind of a free medical aid to bashed up construction workers.
Doc eventually returned to his home in Sedro Woolley, Wash., where he worked as a machinist. As a hobby, he helped around the high school football teams as a trainer and that is what he plans to do during this fall and winter.
Doc found George New caused him the most work but he wishes the other pitchers would do the same.
He feels every pitcher should get a daily rubdown and George was always there for his. Bob Greenwood would show up some of the time.
Doc said that when he took over the job New's “curveball- muscle” in the forearm was giving New some trouble. It took a lot of work but finally the trouble was eliminated.
Doc says New's muscles were perfectly "toned" through the latter part of the season. He believes New’s control troubles were largely mental and on this point New agrees.
The one job Doc hated was getting rid of Tommy Marier’s charlie horse. Marier’s troubles began when the team was on the road during the mid-summer.
Doc tried the standard heating and rubbing treatments but the soreness continued in the heavy-muscled player's thigh. Finally, "ballbat treatment" was tried.
As Doc explains it, "I wouldn't me it on a dog I liked. It’s inhuman."
The procedure consists of rolling the bunched muscles with a bat.
Doc started to work and it brought tears to Marier's eyes.
Eventually the treatment worked and Marier played the rest of the season. To prevent a recurrence, Doc gave Marier leg stretching treatments twice a week the rest of the season.
Doc's job with the Braves was his first professional one.
Doc says he is getting up in years and machinists' jobs are getting a little harder to find. Therefore, he would like to continue as a professional trainer.
Like Manager Charlie Gassaway, he has been offered a job with the team if Dick Richards runs it again next year. But Doc would like to move to a higher league classification if he can. He will sound out the field when the Major League season ends.
[Tri-City Herald, Sept. 18, 1952]
The last of the Tri-City Braves left the Tri-City area last night and headed for home to spend the off season.
He is Raymond C. Hoyt, the team’s trainer, better known as Doc among the boys. Doc is in the dugout every game but the spectators seldom get to see him. He came out a couple of times this year—once when Des Charouhas crashed into the centerfield wall and was knocked out and when Ray Hamrick’s forearm was slashed by a player’s spikes.
But Doc’s big job is taking care of sore muscles and conditioning players before and after the game.
Doc drifted into the business of being a trainer a little at a time. It started when he was in the Medical Corps of the Canadian army.
From there he went to Washington State and used his first aid knowledge to patch up the fraternity boys around the Lambda Chi Apha [sic] house.
He had to leave the university because of illness and then worked on construction jobs through out the Northwest for a number of years. Here top, he was kind of a free medical aid to bashed up construction workers.
Doc eventually returned to his home in Sedro Woolley, Wash., where he worked as a machinist. As a hobby, he helped around the high school football teams as a trainer and that is what he plans to do during this fall and winter.
Doc found George New caused him the most work but he wishes the other pitchers would do the same.
He feels every pitcher should get a daily rubdown and George was always there for his. Bob Greenwood would show up some of the time.
Doc said that when he took over the job New's “curveball- muscle” in the forearm was giving New some trouble. It took a lot of work but finally the trouble was eliminated.
Doc says New's muscles were perfectly "toned" through the latter part of the season. He believes New’s control troubles were largely mental and on this point New agrees.
The one job Doc hated was getting rid of Tommy Marier’s charlie horse. Marier’s troubles began when the team was on the road during the mid-summer.
Doc tried the standard heating and rubbing treatments but the soreness continued in the heavy-muscled player's thigh. Finally, "ballbat treatment" was tried.
As Doc explains it, "I wouldn't me it on a dog I liked. It’s inhuman."
The procedure consists of rolling the bunched muscles with a bat.
Doc started to work and it brought tears to Marier's eyes.
Eventually the treatment worked and Marier played the rest of the season. To prevent a recurrence, Doc gave Marier leg stretching treatments twice a week the rest of the season.
Doc's job with the Braves was his first professional one.
Doc says he is getting up in years and machinists' jobs are getting a little harder to find. Therefore, he would like to continue as a professional trainer.
Like Manager Charlie Gassaway, he has been offered a job with the team if Dick Richards runs it again next year. But Doc would like to move to a higher league classification if he can. He will sound out the field when the Major League season ends.
Earl Sheely, RIP
FROM OUR TOWER
By DICK BEDDOES
[Vancouver Sun, Sept. 18, 1952]
Earl Homer Sheely was, in the narrowest sense of the term, a high-class baseball man. Among the executives of baseball clubs, high-class men form a tiny and dwindling group, a group that became smaller still yesterday with the death of the general manager of the Seattle Rainiers.
Baseball cannot afford to lose this kind of guy.
Earl Sheely rose from the ranks to become a successful front office executive. It was in that capacity that present day Vancouver fans got to know him, an honest and reliable guy who encouraged working agreements between the Capilanos and Rainiers.
But men touched with grey, men like Vancouver’s Bob Brown, recall ‘Whitey’ Sheely as one of the finest first-basemen in major league history. Brown recalls him even before that, in 1912, when Sheely was a raw-boned rookie out of Bushnell, Illinois, playing for Bob Brown’s Vancouver team.
Starred in a League of Stars
Sheely didn’t crash the major leagues until he was 27 and when he did make it with Chicago White Sox in 1921 an ankle injury nearly crashed his career.
Nut he recovered to star in a league loaded with stars like Earle Combs and Walter Johnson and Bucky Harris and Jimmy Foxx and Harry Heilman and Heinie Manush.
• • •
He was a consistent .300 hitter in a company of great hitters that included George Sisler and Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth and Goose Goslin and Eddie Collins.
In such company, Earl Sheely was among the best for eight summers. Later, in 1930, when he was a ripe 37, he was the best in the Coast League, pickling pitchers for a .403 average.
• • •
Earl Sheely could, with the exception of base-running, do all the things that stamp a major leaguer. He could hit and field and think, and genuine old-timers remember him as one of the greatest exponents of the ‘hit-and-run’ to ever hit behind a runner.
He Helped Gordie Brunswick
Wet-behind-the-ears newspaper men have no such recollection of Sheely. Us young-timers remember, instead, how happy he was to farm his son Bud out to Vancouver and later sell him to the modern Chicago White Sox.
He engineered several spectacular transactions at Seattle, one of them involving the sale of catcher Sammy White to the Boston Red Sox for $80,000 in cash and players.
• • •
Sheely’s hobby this past summer was to visit Vancouver and watch the young men he’d sent here to clout for the Capilanos. Young men like Gordie Brunswick, who is now clouting for Seattle.
Once, after a particularly disappointing evening at the plate, Brunswick said to him, bewildered-like: “Can’t figure out what’s wrong, Earl. I’m not hitting home runs like everybody says I should.”
By DICK BEDDOES
[Vancouver Sun, Sept. 18, 1952]
Earl Homer Sheely was, in the narrowest sense of the term, a high-class baseball man. Among the executives of baseball clubs, high-class men form a tiny and dwindling group, a group that became smaller still yesterday with the death of the general manager of the Seattle Rainiers.
Baseball cannot afford to lose this kind of guy.
Earl Sheely rose from the ranks to become a successful front office executive. It was in that capacity that present day Vancouver fans got to know him, an honest and reliable guy who encouraged working agreements between the Capilanos and Rainiers.
But men touched with grey, men like Vancouver’s Bob Brown, recall ‘Whitey’ Sheely as one of the finest first-basemen in major league history. Brown recalls him even before that, in 1912, when Sheely was a raw-boned rookie out of Bushnell, Illinois, playing for Bob Brown’s Vancouver team.
Starred in a League of Stars
Sheely didn’t crash the major leagues until he was 27 and when he did make it with Chicago White Sox in 1921 an ankle injury nearly crashed his career.
Nut he recovered to star in a league loaded with stars like Earle Combs and Walter Johnson and Bucky Harris and Jimmy Foxx and Harry Heilman and Heinie Manush.
• • •
He was a consistent .300 hitter in a company of great hitters that included George Sisler and Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth and Goose Goslin and Eddie Collins.
In such company, Earl Sheely was among the best for eight summers. Later, in 1930, when he was a ripe 37, he was the best in the Coast League, pickling pitchers for a .403 average.
• • •
Earl Sheely could, with the exception of base-running, do all the things that stamp a major leaguer. He could hit and field and think, and genuine old-timers remember him as one of the greatest exponents of the ‘hit-and-run’ to ever hit behind a runner.
He Helped Gordie Brunswick
Wet-behind-the-ears newspaper men have no such recollection of Sheely. Us young-timers remember, instead, how happy he was to farm his son Bud out to Vancouver and later sell him to the modern Chicago White Sox.
He engineered several spectacular transactions at Seattle, one of them involving the sale of catcher Sammy White to the Boston Red Sox for $80,000 in cash and players.
• • •
Sheely’s hobby this past summer was to visit Vancouver and watch the young men he’d sent here to clout for the Capilanos. Young men like Gordie Brunswick, who is now clouting for Seattle.
Once, after a particularly disappointing evening at the plate, Brunswick said to him, bewildered-like: “Can’t figure out what’s wrong, Earl. I’m not hitting home runs like everybody says I should.”
Bears Become Seals
Yakima Standouts Will Go to Seals
YAKIMA, Wash., Sept. 16, 1952 —The Yakima Bears of the Western International League announced that Bob Savage, optioned pitcher was recalled by the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League and that three other players will join the Seals on a look-see basis.
Joining righthander Savage were Tom Del Sarto, righthanded hurler and southpaw pitcher Tom De Sarto. The other player was centerfielder John Albini.
YAKIMA, Wash., Sept. 16, 1952 —The Yakima Bears of the Western International League announced that Bob Savage, optioned pitcher was recalled by the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League and that three other players will join the Seals on a look-see basis.
Joining righthander Savage were Tom Del Sarto, righthanded hurler and southpaw pitcher Tom De Sarto. The other player was centerfielder John Albini.
Monday, 4 February 2008
1953 Game Stories on Main Page
If you're looking for the game stories for the 1953, they're not here yet. You can find them on the main page.
To make a long story short, these blogs weren't intended to be a day-by-day look at every game in every season. I started with 1953 as a random year then just ended up adding games, then deciding to add seasons.
So, the 1953 season will get here when I finish working on the 1952 page, which will be in at least a month. I will also add a bunch more pre-season stuff.
To make a long story short, these blogs weren't intended to be a day-by-day look at every game in every season. I started with 1953 as a random year then just ended up adding games, then deciding to add seasons.
So, the 1953 season will get here when I finish working on the 1952 page, which will be in at least a month. I will also add a bunch more pre-season stuff.
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