So far, a roller coaster season
Ems shoot for smoother ride this half
By MICHAEL CONNELLY
Of the Emerald
As the Northwest League pas
ses the halfway point in scheduled
games, the Eugene Emeralds
have found the season to be more
like a roller-coaster ride than a
magic carpet. It’s been a series of
ups and downs for the hometown
Ems thus far this summer, as they
have sputtered to a mark of 18
wins against 17 defeats, while re
maining within striking distance of
the league leaders, just four
games off the pace.
Aside from outstanding indi
vidual performances by pitcher
Jose Brito and first baseman Greg
Jackson, about the only consis
tency the Ems have displayed has
been their ability to be inconsis
tent.
In the recently completed home
stand against Bellingham, for in
stance, the Ems might well have
swept the Mariners in three
straight had they been able to hit
the ball with the same gusto they
generally show. However, they
had to settle for two wins when
they failed to duplicate previous
hard-hitting performances.
Victim of non-support was
young Brito, as he was forced to
absorb his second heart-breaking
setback of the campaign, this one
a 1-0 decision to dose out the
most current homestand against
Bellingham. Brito’s record is now
4-2, the other defeat being a 2-1
loss to the same Mariner team.
Among the hurlers, Brito stands
head and shoulders above the
rest of coach John Underwood’s
starting corps, possessing a
stingy 2.38 Earned Run Average
while striking out 26 batters in 53
innings. No other Em starter has
an ERA of less than three-and
one-half runs per nine innings,
while the overall staff ERA hovers
around the 4.81 mark.
Vet, the batters must shoulder
as much of the blame for the Ems’
mediocre first half showing, as
Jackson and third baseman Tom
Kotchman are pretty much the
heart of the Em attack. Jackson,
who stands an excellent chance
of breaking the NWL short
season record for round-trippers,
has blasted ten home runs while
driving across 43 runs in the first
35 games. To go along with his
RBI total, Jackson has also
scored 28 runs and is batting a
lusty .353.
Kotchman, the other half of the
Ems hitting tandem, is currently
working on a 17-game hitting
streak while steadily raising his
average to the .336 level. How
ever, the 22-year-old native of
Seminole, Florida, has shown little
power (two home runs, 21 RBI’s)
or speed (one stolen base). In
fact, when it comes to power,
Jackson has twice as many home
runs and RBI’s as the next nearest
Em, who is second baseman Tom
Norko with five four-baggers and
22 RBI’s. Norko is batting a
measly .236.
If the Ems are to make a realis
tic run at the NWL crown this year,
they are going to have to assure
themselves of more balance in
their attack, as was painfully evi
dent in their 1-0 loss to Belling
ham.
With one out in the last frame,
winning Mariner hurler Ron Mus
selman was able to walk Jackson
and gamble that the telling run
would never cross the plate. As it
turned out, his gamble was a safe
bet as he retired the next two bat
ters without the ball getting out of
the infield.
Yet all this is not to say that Un
derwood and the Ems have not
made some smooth strides to
ward becoming a well-tuned ball
dub, for it is evident with each
game that the potential is there,
waiting to be tapped.
Jose Pimentel, who started out
the year as if he was scared of his
own shadow, has suddenly blos
somed into a first-rate baseman,
New field book makes Western
area tree identification easier
By E G. WHITE-SWIFT
Of the Emerald
Pseudotsuga menziesii is not a communicable
disease, it is Oregon’s most important tree species.
Indian tribes in Oregon used it in many ways.
Bark was boiled into a dye; pitch was used on sores;
pitch-tea served as a cold remedy. Boughs were
used to make steam in sweathouses, and one
Northwest tribe ceremoniously burned the cones to
stop the long winter rains.
Insects, squirrels and birds feast on its seeds.
Explorer David Douglas discovered it, and mistak
ingly identified the fir as a hemlock. (Hence the scien
tific name pseudotsuga — false hemlock. Menziesii
is in honor of Archibald Menzies, a noted 19th cen
tury Scottish botanist.)
Commercial foresters recognized that this fast
growing conifer had the potential to feed the sawmill
stomachs of the Northwest. They cultivated the
Douglas Fir for its use as a structural timber,
plywood, paper, pulp and particleboard.
Almost overnight, the Douglas Firr became the
standard tree of Oregon's horizon-to-clearcut-to
horizon forest. But as the average weekend
naturalist knows, there are other types of trees in the
forest.
The problem is learning to identify or separate
the vine maples (acer cirinatum) from the red alder
(alnus rubra). My bookshelf is littered with field
guides that are either written in a technical language
that intimidates all but the hard-core naturalist, or
weigh so much that a pack horse is needed to carry
the book on weekend hikes.
For years I have waited for a fail-safe fieldguide
on western trees. Apparently, I have had company in
my wait.
Portlanders Martha Stuckey and George
Palmer, outdoor enthusiasts who “simply got mad”
because they could not find a simple, compact tree
identification book to carry on hikes or camping trips,
have published one. Of course, it helps that they own
the Victoria House book publishing firm.
Their “Western Tree Book: A Field Guide for
Weekend Naturalists” (Victoria House, Portland,
Ore; softcover, $5.95, 145 pages) identifies and de
scribes 100 major native tree species found from the
Pacific Ocean east to Wyoming. In addition to the
botanical basics, it includes information on forest
ecology, commercial values of individual species
and Indian folklore.
It was designed and organized to make tree
identification easy for amateurs. Outline drawings of
leaves printed at the upper right-hand comers of the
pages serve as a quick index for non-scientists. Text
materials and full-page illustrations of the leaves,
cones or seeds are succinct aides for the novice tree
finder.
A unique graphic technique in Western
TreeBook is that toned, illustrative tree shapes are
super-imposed over the text descriptions of indi
vidual species. Although an expensive printing tech
nique, it is by far the best innovation in field guide
graphics in years.
Other guides designed into the book are scales
and explanations to measure height and width of
trees in the field. Other aides include a glossary of
“Scientific Vocabulary for Ordinary People," a bib
liography of additional tree books and a chapter on
how, where and why trees grow.
“Western TreeBook” is the fourth non-fiction
publication from Victoria House, which Stuckey and
Palmer founded two years ago. Previous publica
tions are “Green Plants for Gray Days,” “The Well
Fed Backpacker" and “Drought Gardening.”
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TO THOSE NOT CONVERSANT VtffTH THE
SUMMER CLASSIFIED
DEADLINES
Be adveed that 1 you wart an ad n a Thusday paper,
ts gotta be n tv 1 pm Tuesday. Conkariwoe. tor a
Tuesday, we have to have t by 1 pm Thursday The
tr itons tor placing ada reman toe same: EMU Man
Desk. Utnersly Bookstore, and toe Emerald Oftoas.
id floor of toe EMU.
So. there you have it in Mack and white.
having raised his average to a re
spectable .316 while pacing the
squad with 10 stolen bases. In ad
dition to his progress at the plate,
he is teaming to handle the tough
left field sun at Civic Stadium.
For the Ems, the second half of
the season should prove as excit
ing as it is challenging. For one
thing, they have a solid nucleus of
hitters in Kotchman and Jackson;
they have a reasonably solid de
fense and good depth in the catch
ing department.
Their outfield has been ham
pered by injuries, but both Pat
Ingraham (who was hitting .372 be
fore a sprained ankle rendered
him inoperable for nearly two
weeks) and George McPherson,
the veteran centerfielder, should
return soon to bolster the Ems in
their second half seige on both
Bellingham and Walla Walla.
Also, Underwood has gotten to
see his hurlers under all condi
tions and knows upon whom he
can rely in tight situations.
All of this experience, when
blended wisely with the apparent
abilities of these two dozen, young
Cincinnati Reds farm-hands,
should produce a three-way dog
fight for the right to wear the NWL
crown for 1977.
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