Update: 7/10/1933
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Sheely |
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It’s Rivalry Week in the Pacific Coast League, as
teams square off against foes that are in some
cases, their park mates, and in others, their
closest neighbors. With the traditional July 4
doubleheader, the teams all played eight games in
seven days this week. The ten-game tourney
continues with games on Monday and Tuesday, and
then the same match ups will not recur until the
final week of the regular season.
The Player of the Week is 40-year-old Earl Sheely
of Portland. The veteran first baseman led the
Beavers (46-33) to six wins in eight games against
Seattle by hitting a cool .500 with three home
runs and thirteen runs batted in. Portland was
unable to gain ground on from-running Los Angeles
(51-38) but the Beavers now hold a six-game lead
over their closest followers, Mission (40-39). The
third-place Bells are two games ahead of Hollywood
(38-41). Oakland and San Francisco (both 37-42)
are tied for fifth, Sacramento (36-43) is in
seventh and Seattle (31-48) is in eighth.
Update: 7/3/1933
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Averill |
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Los Angeles (45-26) dropped their last two
games—both 6-5 losses to Oakland—but the Angels
had won four straight prior to that, and now lead
Portland (40-31) by five games and third-place
Hollywood (36-35) by nine. The Beavers lost four
of six this week and the Stars split their six
games. Hollywood is facing a make-or-break
opportunity to tighten the race, as they play
their next ten games against the front-running
Halos.
The Stars’ Earl Averill was having a relatively
pedestrian campaign, at least relative to his own
very high standards, but the 31-year-old center
fielder caught fire this week, hitting .481 with
two home runs and seven runs batted in. Averill is
hitting “just” .316 this year, with “just” 11 home
runs, but he’s on the tails of the RBI leaders;
with 58, he trails only Mission’s Rap Dixon (63)
and Los Angeles’ Wally Berger (62).
Mission (35-36) is in fourth place, ten games
behind Los Angeles, San Francisco (34-37) is a
game behind the Bells, Sacramento (33-38) is a
game behind the Seals, Oakland (32-39) is a game
behind the Solons, and Seattle (29-42) is three
games behind the Oaks.
Update: 6/26/1933
Mission’s Rap Dixon has been a solid performer
over the years, but the 30-year-old right fielder
seems to be coming into his own this season. This
week Dixon hit .476 with three home runs and ten
runs batted in to earn the Player of the Week
award as the Bells (33-32) picked up a game on
league-leading Los Angeles (41-24). Dixon tops the
trio of Bells who are currently 1-2-3 in the
league in batting: Dixon, .390, Cool Papa Bell,
.367, Ox Eckhardt, .356. Dixon also tops the loop
in RBI (59) and total bases (162).
Portland (38-27) also gained a game on the Angels
and trail the leaders by three. The Bells and
Hollywood (33-32) are tied for third, eight games
back, and Sacramento (30-35) and San Francisco
(30-35) are tied for fifth, eleven games out of
first and eight out of a postseason berth.
Update: 6/19/1933
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Berger |
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The heavy hitting of Wally Berger lifted Los
Angeles (39-20) to four wins in six games. Berger
hit safely in half of his at-bats this week
(11-for-22), adding two home runs and driving in
nine. The 27-year-old left fielder raised his
average to .325. His 13 home runs pace the circuit
and his 48 runs batted in are one off the league
lead. The Angels hold a four-game lead over
second-place Portland (35-24).
Elsewhere, Hollywood’s four wins in six tries
allowed the Stars (31-28) to pass Mission (30-29)
in the standings and move into third place,
picking up a game on the Beavers in the process.
Portland leads Hollywood by four and Mission by
five. Oakland, Sacramento, and San Francisco are
all tied for fifth at 26-33, nine games out of
second and 13 games out of first. Seattle (23-36)
is 12 games out of a postseason berth.
Update: 6/12/1933
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Hurst |
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The voters of the P.C.L. Player of the Week Award
usually focus on the outstanding performances of
every day players, but from time to time a pitcher
will grab their attention. This is one of those
times, as Sacramento’s Bobby Hurst was honored.
Hurst threw a five-hit shutout against Mission on
Tuesday, then made two relief appearances later in
the week against Seattle and picked up another
win. For the week he was 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA,
allowing just seven hits and one run in ten
innings of work.
Portland (32-21) picked up a game on
league-leading Los Angeles (35-18); the Beavers
trail the Angels by three. Mission (27-26) fell to
eight games off the pace, while Hollywood (also
27-26) gained ground on the Halos and are now tied
with the Bells for third.
Update: 6/5/1933
All P.C.L. pitchers seem to have one thing in
common: none of them can figure out how to get
Cool Papa Bell out.
The Mission center fielder is the Player of the
Week for the second time in a row and third time
in the last four weeks. This time he earned it by
hitting .538 and driving in six runs. Bell is now
hitting a league-leading .409 and is also leading
in runs scored with 42 and stolen bases with 29;
the latter figure is more than any four
players in the league combined.
The Bells (25-22) are keeping their heads above
water and picked up a half-game on second-place
Portland (28-19), but have fallen seven games
behind Los Angeles (32-15). The Angels are hot
right now, having won six of seven this week. San
Francisco (22-25) also had a good week, winning
five of six.
Update: 5/29/1933
It was another productive week for Cool Papa Bell
of Mission, who hit .500 (11-for-22) with four
runs batted in and four runs scored. Bell leads
the loop in hitting (.390) and currently has a
19-game hitting streak. Mission (22-19),
meanwhile, still trails Los Angeles (26-14) by
four and a half games and Portland (22-15) by
three and a half, but the Bells are keeping the
pressure on the front-runners. The Angels, Beavers
and Bells all won three of five games this week,
as did Sacramento and San Francisco (both 17-24),
who are tied for sixth place. Hollywood (20-20)
remains in fourth place, Oakland (19-22) is in
fifth, and Seattle (16-24) is back in the cellar.
Update: 5/22/1933
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Dixon |
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Rap Dixon of Mission (19-17) surged into the
league lead in batting this week, hitting .545
with a home run and eight runs batted in. Dixon’s
.379 edges his teammate Cool Papa Bell’s .373. The
Bells, who got off to a slow start (7-10 in April)
have been playing winning ball of late and are now
in third place, four and a half games behind Los
Angeles (23-12) and three and a half behind
Portland (22-13).
Another Bell, pitcher Frank Shellenback, hit a
milestone this week, winning his 200th Coast
League game. Actually, he did even better that
that; he also won his 201st, the latter in relief.
Shellenback, 201-164 in his P.C.L. career, has
more victories in this league than any other
pitcher. He’s also the loop’s all-time leader in
games, games started, innings pitched, and hits
allowed. He’s 3-5 with a 4.09 ERA so far this
year.
Update: 5/15/1933
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Bell |
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Mission’s Cool Papa Bell was a frequent
(six-time) winner of the Player of the Week award
during the 1920’s but the honor had eluded him
this decade until now. The man for whom many
believe the Bells were named hit .448 with five
runs scored and four runs batted in, leading
Mission (15-15) to five wins in seven games,
sufficient to even their record and vault them
into third place. Still just 29, the eleven-year
veteran is hitting .364 so far this year.
Los Angeles (21-9) has lost their last two games
but the Angels won four straight from Sacramento
(13-17) prior to that and sit atop the league
standings board with a two and a half game lead
over Portland (18-11). The Beavers struggled a bit
this week, losing three of five, but remain in
second place, three and a half games over third
place Mission. Hollywood (14-15) is a half-game
behind the Bells while Oakland, Sacramento, and
Seattle (all 13-17) are in a three-way tie for
fifth. San Francisco (12-18) is a game behind
them, in last place but just six and a half games
out of second.
Update: 5/8/1933
Oakland’s George Kelly is certainly enjoying his
second tour of the Coast League. The 37-year-old
San Francisco native has only been back for four
weeks and he’s been Player of the Week for half
that time. He earned the honor this week by
hitting .476 with four home runs and seven runs
batted in.
The race tightened up a bit, as both of the top
two teams in the league played less than .500 ball
this week. Los Angeles (17-7) has sole possession
of first place, but the Angels have lost three in
a row and went 3-4 overall. Portland (16-8) fared
even worse, winning two and losing five, so the
Beavers have dropped a game behind the Halos.
Sacramento (11-13) and Seattle (10-14) both went
5-2 and are riding three and five-game winning
streaks, respectively; the Solons have moved into
a fourth-place tie with Oakland (also 11-13), a
half-game behind third-place Hollywood (11-12) and
six games out of first, while the Rainiers have
climbed out of the cellar, and are seven games out
of first. Mission is 10-13 and San Francisco is
9-15.
Update: 5/1/1933
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Stearnes |
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The City of Angels fields two teams in the
P.C.L., Los Angeles and Hollywood, who between
them have made one postseason appearance (a loss)
since 1928. So there’s been a bit of a drought in
the Southland, but if this week is any indication,
the drought may be coming to an end; the Angels
and Stars both went 6-0. The Angels (14-3) swept
San Francisco (5-12) and have caught Portland
(14-3) for first place in spite of a 5-1 week for
the Beavers. The Stars (9-8) swept Oakland (8-9),
and edged past the Oaks into third place.
The Halos’ Turkey Stearnes was awarded both the
Player of the Week Award and the Batter of the
Month Award. For the week he hit .462 with two
home runs and six runs batted in; at the end of
April he is hitting .342 and leading the league in
both home runs (6) and RBI (19).
Update: 4/24/1933
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O’Doul |
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Last season Oscar Charleston, the Portland
Beavers’ longtime star and captain, was injured
early in the season, and the Beavers dropped out
of the race not long afterwards. This season has
started out slightly differently. Charleston has
gone on the disabled list again, but is expected
to return much sooner—and the Beavers (9-2) are
winning regardless. They’ve just taken four of the
first five games of a six-game series with
defending champions Sacramento (3-8) and sit atop
the standings board with a one-game lead over Los
Angeles (8-3). Charleston, nursing a severely
strained hamstring, is due back in about a week,
and will be returning to what appears to be a
highly-competitive team.
San Francisco (5-6) recovered from a rough
opening week, winning four of six this week,
largely due to the efforts of the ageless Lefty
O’Doul. O’Doul, 36, hit .520 with a home run and
four runs batted in, raising his season average to
.400 and his lifetime mark to .344.
Opening Week 1933
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Kelly |
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Los Angeles, Mission, and Portland are tied for
first place after a week’s play. The Angels and
Bells took four of five from their park-mates,
Hollywood and San Francisco, respectively, while
the Beavers did the same to their Northern
neighbors, Seattle.
37-year-old George Kelly of Oakland is the Player
of the Week. The longtime Seattle Rainier is back
in the Coast League after stints with Cincinnati
and Boston. “High Pockets” went 10-for-21 (.476)
with two home runs and seven runs batted in to
lead the Oaks to two wins in five games against
the defending champion Sacramento Solons.
Other standout performers from Opening Week
include the Oaks’ Buzz Arlett, who hit .529; the
Angels’ Turkey Stearnes, who hit three home runs;
and the Beavers’ Bob Johnson, who drove in nine
runs.
1932
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