Bremerton ...... 19 10 .655 --
Victoria ....... 18 11 .621 1
Spokane ........ 17 11 .697 1½
Vancouver ...... 16 11 .593 2
Salem .......... 17 13 .563 2½
Tacoma ......... 13 15 .464 5½
Yakima .......... 8 22 .267 11½
Wenatchee ....... 7 22 .241 12
VANCOUVER, May 16 — Victoria Athletics moved into second place in the hectic Western International League baseball race when they used one hit — a grand slam by Babe Jensen — to edge the Vancouver Capilanos 5-2 on Friday night.
Jensen's mighty blow — it went 360 feet over the left field wall — came in the sixth inning to give the A's their winning margin.
Vancouver opened the scoring in the second when catcher-manager Bill Brenner connected with one of Len Kasparovitch's heaves and sent it far over the left field wall. Victoria tied the game in the fifth when two singles and an outfield out pushed Bill White across the plate. John Cavalli was credited with driving the run in.
The fatal sixth saw John Hooper, Pat Patterson and then Joe Fontaine all hit singles to load the bases and set the stage for Jensen's base-clearing drive off Bob Snyder.
The Caps got the last run in the seventh when Lou Estes singled, went to second when Kasparovitch threw wild trying to nail him off first, then scored on Charlie Mead's drive off the right field barrier.
Snyder took the loss despite allowing six hits. He struck out nine and didn't walk a man.
Victoria ........ 000 014 000 – 5 6 1
Vancouver ....... 010 000 100 – 2 7 0
Kasparovitch and Mastro, Fontaine (2); Snyder and Brenner.
WENATCHEE, May 16 - Wenatchee Chiefs broke their five-game losing streak with an 11-5 victory over the Yakima Stars in the battle for the basement of the Western International League tonight.
Bob Williams for Wenatchee and Charlie Peterson for Yakima each hit home runs with no one on base.
Yakima ......... 021 000 011 – 5 11 3
Wenatchee ...... 000 304 13x – 11 12 1
Kilsura, Strait (6), Federmeyer (8) and Phillips; McCollum and Pesut.
SPOKANE, May 16 - One-hit pitching by Ken Wyatt and a grand slam homer by Al Spaeder featured the Salem Senators' 9-0 shutout of Spokane tonight in a Western International League series opener.
The ace lefthander was in perfect control of the situation throughout, holding the heavy-hitting Indians to a harmless single in the fourth inning.
In the second, Spaeder finished Spokane's demoralization by poling out a homer 370 feet over the left field fence, scoring three mates ahead of him.
Salem ....... 142 001 001 – 9 11 0
Spokane ..... 000 000 000 – 0 1 3
Wyatt and Beard; Simon, Zemitrovich (3) and Bufflap.
BREMERTON, May 16 - The Tacoma Tigers jumped on three Bremerton twirlers tonight to score a 7-3 victory over the Western International League leaders.
The Tigers had one big inning — the second — when they registered four markers on singles by Dick Greco and Pete Tedeshi and a double by Neil Clifford.
Tacoma ...... 041 001 001 – 7 8 1
Bremerton ... 000 000 030 – 3 7 2
Morgan and Clifford; Johnston, Logg (4), Ahearn (5) and Volpi.
THE HOME PLATE
By KEITH MATTHEWS
[Vancouver Sun, May 17, 1947]
All over the Western International League circuit, the press has taken off its wraps and fired savage verbal shots at President Robert B. Abel’s board of umpires. The shots were not 21-gun salutes, incidentally.
The umpire situation, as it now stands and has stood since spring, 1946, is deplorable. For a professional baseball league of Class B caliber, it leaves a great deal to be desired.
Before we go into detail it should be noted that the WIL’s board of umpires consists of Harole Regele and Amby Moran, Hugh Day and Martin Slavich, Frank DeHaney and Bill MacDonald and Messrs. Last and O’Loughlin.
DeHaney and MacDonald can be excluded from any left-handed compliments which might follow. DeHaney has years of International League experience behind him and has passed much of his vast sea of knowledge on to his young partner, MacDonald. They are a competent pair. as good as you will find on the Pacific Coast.
* * *
It is unfortunate that DeHaney and MacDonald must be mentioned in this piece. Players and others who know what’s what in baseball, have not accorded WIL umpires large orders of respect. What, then, is the reason?
Is it a lack of competence on the part of the official? A lost feeling of fellowship? Or maybe an inability to interpret the rules? From what has been shown over the year plus period, the trouble seems to be a combination of all these faults.
There are endless instances which could be cited were urnpires have looked out of place. There is neither the patience nor the space to-go into that in detail.
There is, however, one instance which stands out as significant. The umpire in question is Harold E. “Doc” Regele.
Regele, while working a game between Yakima and Wenatchee, called a close play at the plate. Yakima manager Harlond Clift didn’t agree with Regele’s decision and said so. Harlond ended his argument' by asking, “What are you anyway, Doc, an umpire or a sheep-herder?”
Regele tossed Clift out of the game. It was the second time in Clift’s career that he had been given the thumb. On both occasions he was lifted by Regele.
* * *
Clift did not like this treatment. He had not cussed at the umpire, not had he shoved him. So he wrote a long and discolored letter to league president Robert Abel which was printed in a Wenatchee paper: Regele, when the story was unfolded, looked as sheepish as that sheep-herder.
There have been rumors that Regele and Amby Moran are unable to get along as partners. It has been said, and in print, that Moran and Regele argue on the field, and dispute each other’s decisions.
It is not intended however, to single out Regele and offer him as the guinea pig. We would like to know, too why Amby Moran is not allowed to umpire in Vancouver. Perhaps a WIL official could enlighten us.
Last, O’Loughlin, Regele and Hugh Day do not, fall into the. category of capable umpires. Day’s partner, Martin Slavich, can be excluded along with DeHaney and MacDonald. Slavich has held his own nicely, pleasing both players and league officials.
Robert Abel as president of the league stands to suffer the most for his umpires’ mistakes. He is the head of the largest Class B loop in the country (by 1946 attendance counts). The WIL, then, should set some standard of umpiring.
Continual bickering is fine fun in its place. It does get a little tiring as a constant diet, though.
The umpire situation, as it now stands and has stood since spring, 1946, is deplorable. For a professional baseball league of Class B caliber, it leaves a great deal to be desired.
Before we go into detail it should be noted that the WIL’s board of umpires consists of Harole Regele and Amby Moran, Hugh Day and Martin Slavich, Frank DeHaney and Bill MacDonald and Messrs. Last and O’Loughlin.
DeHaney and MacDonald can be excluded from any left-handed compliments which might follow. DeHaney has years of International League experience behind him and has passed much of his vast sea of knowledge on to his young partner, MacDonald. They are a competent pair. as good as you will find on the Pacific Coast.
* * *
It is unfortunate that DeHaney and MacDonald must be mentioned in this piece. Players and others who know what’s what in baseball, have not accorded WIL umpires large orders of respect. What, then, is the reason?
Is it a lack of competence on the part of the official? A lost feeling of fellowship? Or maybe an inability to interpret the rules? From what has been shown over the year plus period, the trouble seems to be a combination of all these faults.
There are endless instances which could be cited were urnpires have looked out of place. There is neither the patience nor the space to-go into that in detail.
There is, however, one instance which stands out as significant. The umpire in question is Harold E. “Doc” Regele.
Regele, while working a game between Yakima and Wenatchee, called a close play at the plate. Yakima manager Harlond Clift didn’t agree with Regele’s decision and said so. Harlond ended his argument' by asking, “What are you anyway, Doc, an umpire or a sheep-herder?”
Regele tossed Clift out of the game. It was the second time in Clift’s career that he had been given the thumb. On both occasions he was lifted by Regele.
* * *
Clift did not like this treatment. He had not cussed at the umpire, not had he shoved him. So he wrote a long and discolored letter to league president Robert Abel which was printed in a Wenatchee paper: Regele, when the story was unfolded, looked as sheepish as that sheep-herder.
There have been rumors that Regele and Amby Moran are unable to get along as partners. It has been said, and in print, that Moran and Regele argue on the field, and dispute each other’s decisions.
It is not intended however, to single out Regele and offer him as the guinea pig. We would like to know, too why Amby Moran is not allowed to umpire in Vancouver. Perhaps a WIL official could enlighten us.
Last, O’Loughlin, Regele and Hugh Day do not, fall into the. category of capable umpires. Day’s partner, Martin Slavich, can be excluded along with DeHaney and MacDonald. Slavich has held his own nicely, pleasing both players and league officials.
Robert Abel as president of the league stands to suffer the most for his umpires’ mistakes. He is the head of the largest Class B loop in the country (by 1946 attendance counts). The WIL, then, should set some standard of umpiring.
Continual bickering is fine fun in its place. It does get a little tiring as a constant diet, though.
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