Okay, You Want Some P.C.L. Stuff....
The Vancouver
Pacific Coast League pages won’t be ready for a while. Sorry. But
just so it’s worth your while to stop by here, we’ll offer this.
These notes were written almost 20 years ago before there was an
internet or search engines. Today, you can find information about
the first Vancouver P.C.L. season on-line.
Brick Laws
looked at his ratty ballpark outside of Oakland, then looked at
the brand-new Capilano Stadium in Vancouver—and saw a gold
mine. So, in 1956, he moved the Oakland Oaks north of the
border.
Vancouver was quite happy
with the arrangement. It always considered itself worthy of a P.C.L.
team, as it has more in common with
Seattle than, say,
Kennewick or
Bremerton in the
poor-sister Western International League. And
Vancouver came in when the P.C.L. was still the real
P.C.L., before greedy major league owners turned it into just
another AAA league.
The
Vancouver Mounties played their
first-ever P.C.L. game on April 10,
1956 at Seals Stadium against San Francisco, their
former cross-bay rival:
Vancouver
.............. 010
020 000—3 5 2
San
Francisco ......... 211 110 00x—6 13
0
Locke,
Drummond (6), Herrera (6) and Neal; Casale, R.W. Smith (3) and
Sadowski.
It started like a promising game. Spider
Jorgenson, the old Brooklyn Dodger, led off and instantly got
the first-ever Mounties' hit, a single over third base. But the
inept play that would result in 98 losses during the season
showed up in the first inning. A ball stuck in second baseman Don
Leppert's glove, then he threw it away. Another ball dropped between
Leppert and shortstop Witty Quintana. Neither called it (and neither would
call Vancouver "home" by mid-season; they were shipped out). Two
run unearned runs came in as Charlie Locke couldn't get his
curve over. In the second, Quintana overcharged a grounder and ran right
past it. On top of that, rain fell in the fifth
inning (there was a nine-minute delay) and continued through the rest of the three
hour, nine minute game. The Mounties couldn't get a hit off
Missouri Bob Smith in the final four and two-thirds innings (Smith got
nothing for it, as saves hadn't been invented yet). The wet
contest drew a crowd of
14,401.
The
first P.C.L. home game in Vancouver was a Friday
night game April 27,
1956. Eddie Joost's Seals did them in
again:
San Francisco ............ 000 000
002—2 6
1
Vancouver
................. 100 000
000—1 6
1
Osborne, Henry (9) and Sullivan; Harrison and Neal.
Jack Osborne (2-0) was the winner for San Francisco; he had won 21
games in Class C in 1955. Bob Harrison (2-3) was the loser,
despite striking out ten. Each team had six hits. Bill Henry got the imaginary save,
as he hurled a scoreless ninth, though he put two Mounties on
base. 8,146 crammed
Cap Stadium, the largest crowd the park had ever
seen.
Vancouver’s
first-ever P.C.L. run
at home came on three singles in the first, with Bruce Edwards, the ex-big
league catcher, driving in Don Leppert from second base. And there it stood until
the top of the ninth.
So, what happened?
After Bob DiPietro grounded out, Joe Tanner singled. Pinch
hitter Larry DiPippo grounded to Edwards, who happened to be playing first
that day. Edwards threw to second to get Tanner for the force, but
was wide of the base and everyone was safe. Sal
Taormina came in to pinch hit and popped to short for the
second out. Gordon Windhorn then poked at a high,
hanging, inside curve and blasted it to the left field wall; considering the
dimensions of the park, it must have been to left centre, which
was maybe 380 feet in those days. It went for a double and Tanner
scored the tying run. DiPippo made a dash for the plate. George
Metkovich in left thought he had a chance to get him. He relayed
to Quintana at short, who threw to Len Neal behind the plate. The
throw beat DiPippo, but the ball took an awkward bounce, Lenny couldn't handle
it and the run scored.
The Caps’ line-up that night – Spider
Jorgenson, 3b; Leppert, 2b; Metkovich, lf; Jim Pisoni, cf; Edwards,
1b; Angelo Dagres, rf; Quintana, ss; Neal, c;
Harrison, p.
Frankie Austin (normally a catcher) struck out for Harrison in the
ninth.
The Mounties
made some cuts that day, too. Outfielder Armando Perez and pitcher
Dave Jordan were sent to Class C Stockton, catcher Don Masterson (2
for 7) was shipped to Topeka and pitcher Ted
Herrera caught a bus for Lubbock.
There was still
interest in Oakland concerning their former club, and the Trib Sports
Editor made
the trip north for the Mounties' opener. Some of his statements
still sound familiar today.
Laws'
Luck On Way Up
By ALAN WARD, Tribune Sports
Editor
VANCOUVER, April 28—C. L. (Brick) Laws, the
man who owned a Pacific Coast League baseball club in Oakland for
many years and recently moved it to Vancouver, believes his luck has
changed—and for the better.
Two incidents, both involving rain,
have given Brick reason to hope he has been kissed fondly on the
cheek by lady luck, and Brick, who blew a bundle running a ball club
in Oakland, can use good fortune in
abundance.
It rained here in
Vancouver Friday afternoon. It rained again
this morning. In Oakland the Friday night
game, a seasonal
opener, might have been called off. Ditto this afternoon, when not only rain but
sleet pounded the housetops less than four hours before the opening
pitch.
Weather in
Vancouver is somewhat different than that of
Oakland, and people here understanding the
weather refuse to become panicked by the
precipitation.
In the
Bay Area such rainfall usually is sustained for hours. In
Vancouver it
blows over quickly, the ground absorbs water, the sun begins to
shine and folks go on with their business as if nothing
happened.
The Friday night game was played, and against
the Seals, on schedule. So was this afternoon's contest. The
Vancouver Mounties, lost Friday night won Saturday, are
satisfied.
“Friday afternoon,” Laws told
visiting newsmen from the Bay Area, “I was ready to jump off Lion’s
Head Bridge here in
Vancouver.
“The downpour was tremendous. My
Vancouver friends smiled, said not to get
excited and wait for the sun to shine. It did. Nothing ever looked
quite so beautiful.”
Brick realizes he needs some luck to make PCL
baseball here a profitable business. He realizes also his club needs
help.
He probably will get
both.
This writer came to
Vancouver with the Seals not only to cover
the Bay Area club, but to learn first-hand the attitude of
Vancouver toward its first Coast League
club.
Many people—taxi drivers, bankers,
Mayor Fred Hume and the cute waitresses at the
Sylvia Hotel, temporary local home of the
Seals—were asked their views of their new baseball
team.
Ed MacPherson, public relations
officer for the Canadian Pacific Railway Co., seems a representative
Vancouver citizen in the matter of quotes.
MacPherson, an ardent baseball fan,
says:
“Vancouver is ready for Coast League baseball
and has been for a long time.”
“This is a great and growing community and we
want the best in sports. We feel Pacific Coast League ball is the
best available. We have no major league aspirations now and if that
ambition comes, it will be in proper
time.
“Give us a team which can hold its own and
we'll be happy. We don't expect
miracles.
“Already we are convinced the
club managed by Lefty O’Doul is hustling. It needs strengthening in
spots. O'Doul and Laws freely admit the fact they'll do everything
possible to strengthen the clnb and we can't ask for
more.
“We have a good park, Capilano Stadium, well
located. Some of our residents may require slight education about
Pacific Coast League ball—we had lesser leagues for a long time—but
they'll catch on quick.
“I feel confident
Vancouver will be a valued addition to the
league and Brick Laws never will regret having moved into
Canada.”
MacPherson’s views were expressed
in essence by any number of local people. It appears the Mounties,
if they hold together through the early weeks of the season, will
become a permanent part of the Vancouver sports
setup.
Cedric Tallis, Mounties’ general manager, has
done an exceptional job of baseball promotion and renovation of a
baseball park which until now was strictly Class
B.
Today it is a comfortable, compact and
picturesque plant, scenically among, the best in the
league.
Tallis
has worked hard for six months. He is optimistic about PCL baseball
here. He was encouraged by the enthusiasm exhibited Friday night by more than
8,000 fans, and by the excellent playing facilities provided at
Capilano Stadium, including a roof, which in addition to providing
warmth for the spectators, acts as a sounding board for cheers of
the spectators.
The roar of the grandstand crowd, which would
be lost at Seals Stadium, rolls across the playing field and into
far distances here.
Players on the field—Mounties
principally—say the sound is mask to their
ears.
O’Doul likes Vancouver, the people, the park
and his club.
“Give me the help I need,” Lefty
said today, “and I can give Vancouver a first division team. Not a real
contender this year, but 1957 will be another
season.”
Prediction: PCL baseball here will make the
grade, financially and artistically, unless the team falls apart at
the seams within the next two
weeks.
It probably
won't. |