Update: 5/18/1931

	Averill

Oakland (20-11) remains in first place after a 3-3 week, but playing .500 ball is no way to hold onto a lead. Los Angeles (20-12) and Sacramento (19-12) are breathing down the Oaks’ necks, a half game out and a game out respectively. The Angels won five of six this week and the Solons won four of six.

Hollywood (17-15) is off to a modest start this season; the Stars currently reside on fourth place. Don’t blame left fielder Earl Averill, though; this week the Washington-reared slugger hit .458 with three home runs and eight runs batted in. Averill’s hitting .375 for the season, good enough for third-best in the league. His five home runs place him in a tie for second place, and his 23 RBI are fourth. Still just 28 years old, he’s already made his mark in the league’s record book: his .359 career average is the best in P.C.L. history.

Update: 5/11/1931

		Boone

Oakland (17-8) is off to a great start. This week they took three out of four against San Francisco and split a pair with Mission, led by by their new left fielder, 35-year-old Ike Boone. Boone hit .481 and drove in 12 runs on the week, also hitting his second home run of the campaign. His .386 average is second in the league and his 29 RBI are tops.

The Oaks are scoring 5.3 runs per game, the most on the league, and allowing just 3.7 runs per game, second best by a hair behind Sacramento’s 3.6. The Acorns lead the second-place Solons by two games and will be difficult to catch if they can maintain their present pace.

Los Angeles and Hollywood both are 15-11 and tied for third place, a half-game behind Sacramento and two and a half behind Oakland. The rest of the league is under .500 and at least five games out.

Update: 5/4/1931

	Statz

Los Angeles’ Jigger Statz is known more for his stellar play in center field than for his bat, but as his .295 career average attests, he gets his licks in now and again. This week he got them in to the tune of .407 with 2 home runs and 8 RBI, bringing his season’s average up to .325 and earning the Player of the Week award for the third time in his career.

It wasn’t as good a week for the Angels (11-9) as it was for Statz, however. In spite of Statz’ contributions they dropped four of seven games to fall to third place, two and a half games behind Oakland (13-6). The Oaks completed a six-game sweep of Seattle (6-14), dropping the Rainiers into the cellar, and then split the first two games of a six-game set with San Francisco (9-10). Mission (11-8) played just .500 this week and therefore fell two games behind the Oaks, but fell no further than second place. The Bells are two games behind Oakland; Sacramento (10-9) is three back. Hollywood (10-10) and the Seals are three and a half and four games back, respectively.

Update: 4/27/1931

		Lombardi

There’s a three-way tie atop the standings after two weeks. Los Angeles, Mission, and Oakland all have 8-5 records. Sacramento is a game back at 7-6; Hollywood and Seattle are each a game under .500 at 6-7, while San Francisco (5-8) and Portland (4-9) have started slowly.

The Seals and Angels battled all day long on Thursday, a game extended not only by each team’s inability to score but also by by a half-hour rain delay in the 13th inning. San Francisco finally won it, 3-2, on Freddie Muller’s RBI-single in the 16th.

Oakland catcher Ernie Lombardi is the Player of the Week, hitting an unbelievable .722 over the Oaks’ last seven games. Not surprisingly, he’s leading the league in hitting, with a .500 average in 42 at-bats.

Opening Week 1931

	Dihigo

Seattle finished strongly last season and the Rainiers are off to the league’s best start in 1931, beating World Champion Portland five times in six tries. The Rainiers hit .314 against the Beavers and outscored them 35-23.

Los Angeles and Mission got off to 4-2 starts, beating their park-mates, Hollywood and San Francisco, respectively. Oakland and Sacramento split their opening six-game set.

The Player of the Week is Mission’s Martín Dihigo, who blistered Seals pitching to the tune of .500 with 2 home runs, 6 RBI, and 7 runs scored. It’s the fourth time in his career that Dihigo has captured the honor. Dihigo is .315 career hitter with 141 home runs to his credit.

1930-1931 Off-Season

		Seals Stadium

The San Francisco Seals will unveil the sparkling new Seals Stadium on Opening Day. The ballpark, located at 16th and Bryant Streets, is a short six blocks from the club’s old home at Recreation Park, but in terms of aesthetics the modern 16,000-seat steel-and-concrete structure may as well be on another world. Immediately Los Angeles’ Wrigley Field and Portland’s Vaughn Street Park have another rival for the league’s most attractive venue.

The Seals have rarely had difficulty drawing crowds, so the Mission Bells, who will also take up residency in the new facility, may be the larger beneficiary. The Bells have had contending teams and exciting stars but still haven’t seemed to catch on in The City. Perhaps playing on the league’s newest stage will attract the customers that have been eluding them.

1930