Post Season - Tuesday, Sept. 20, 1949

Wenatchee to Seek Franchise of Bremerton
TACOMA, Sept. 20—The Tri-City area of Pasco, Kennewick and Richland, will have a baseball team in the Western International League next year if it can show within 30 days it can construct a suitable ball park, league president Robert Abel said today.
Abel also announced the formal withdrawl of Bremerton from the league with Eugene, Ore., and Wenatchee immediately seeking the franchise.
Present Wenatchee operators would run the Tri-City team. The application for the franchise was presented to WIL directors by Mayor U.L. Koelker of Kennewick.
A Wenatchee group, including Mayor Arthur Pohlman, former team president Joe Brownlow, and William B. Bell, opposed shifting the team and immediately applied for the Bremerton franchise. Also seeking the Bremerton club is Frank Burrell, Jr., San Jose, Calif., who would shift it to Eugene, Ore., where he has made tentative arrangements for a stadium.
Abel told Burrell his proposal would have to be sanctioned by six of the eight board members. A decision will be reached at a later date.
The Portland Pacific Coast League club informed directors it intended to maintain a team in the league next year. The Beavers have placed the Salem Senators on the selling block. Formal notice of the "For Sale" sign on the Tacoma club was given.
The directors met in closed session here.

Baseball Field is Underway
Les Babcock, president of the Tri-City Athletic association, now building a baseball park for the Wenatchee Chiefs answered the Western International League baseball president this morning by stating that "part of the evidence of our 'good faith' is now underway directly north of the Playland ballroom." (The WIL league prexy, in Tacoma, said yesterday that the Tri-Cities must show substantially good faith before the Wenatchee Chiefs franchise can be transfered here.)
"It appears to me this is just another move on the part of certain interests that do not want to see us get organized baseball here. There is only one answer to such a move. That is whole-hearted cooperation in pushing this thing as rapidly as possible during the next 30 days so that we can remove any doubts that anyone may have concerning the ability of this area not only to support and enjoy baseball, but also to prove to the doubting Thomases that the Tri-Cities is one of the best sports centers in the country."
Public sale of stock in the athletic association will be announced either today or tomorrow, the association said. Plans now call for each of the three cities to get an equal share of thc total block of the stock so that uniform representation will be made.
Babcock also said that the organizations by laws, now being drawn up, will require that at least one member of the board of officers must be from Richland and one must be from Pasco. "This doesn't set a maximum and will give us complete area representation," he said.
"I deplore this attempt to belittle our efforts to date," Babcock continued, "but from the reports we have received of the great amount of interest in baseball from Kennewick and Pasco, this may prove to be a great thing. Now we will have an opportunity to demonstrate forcefully just how great our interest is. My feeling is that the league will some day wonder why they ever thought they needed a demonstration of 'good faith'."
- Tri-City Herald, September 20, 1949

Wenatchee Preview

Wenatchee Has One of Best Teams In WIL
By STUART MAUS
United Press Correspondent
WENATCHEE, Wash., April 16 (UP)— Big things are expected this year from the Wenatchee Chiefs of the Western International league under the guidance of new head man Charlie Peterson.
Reports from the Chiefs' training camp indicated there would be some familiar faces in the lineup. Lou McCollum, the most dependable pitcher on last year's seventh place squad, will be back again. So will Tom Rose and Glen Lierman. New additions to the Mounds corps include Joe Orelle, who saw action with Detroit and in the coast loop; Hank Weaver and Cy Greenlaw.
Fighting to win berths on the squad are Pitchers Bob Bruce last year with Anaheim, Dale Hannan, a local sandlot product, and Arnold Bohringer, a 19-year-old Junior league graduate from Brewster, Wash.
Ex Chief Nick Pesut couldn’t quite make the grade with Sacramento, and has been purchased outright by the Chiefs. He will be Number One mask man with LeRoy Winter also on hand. Bob Goldstein, a Spokane boy on option from the Seattle Rainiers appeared set at first and is expected to make up for his lack of polish on the bag with some heavy hitting.
Best second base prospect is Russ Brodie, formerly with Charleston, W. Va. Newcomer Fred Monge and Neil Bryant of the ‘48 club are gunning for the shortstop job. Monge appeared to have the edge and if he wins, Brvant may be shifted to the outfield where his R.B.I. will stand to be counted. Joe Kronberg has been making a determined bid for the hot corner and his powerful hitting doesn't hurt his chances a bit.
Two spots appear to be nailed down in the outfield. Clint Cameron, down from Hollywood, and Dick Faber from last season's Chiefs, look good in left and center. The right garden may be filled on opening day by Bryant or Jim Warner. Warner, a member of the tribe's 1946 pennant winning club, was with the Solons last year.
One sore spot was the loss of Outfielder Bill Wilson who won home run honors and a trip to the Solons for the play last year. But the Wenatchee club has the speed, and the power and will be one of the top contenders for the high averages this season.