Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-19
SIXTH PLACE DOES NOT
SATISFY MCALEER'S MEN
Players Ambitious to Finish Higher in
-Race-Groom's Control Promises to
Make Most Successful Pitcher.

but three signs in use among the locals
on inside plays, and really but two OF
these are used regularly-one which indi-
Gates that the batter is going to bunt
and the other by which the batter starts
base runner to steal. McAleer is not a
believer in a system of signals which be-
comes burden to ball player. There
have been too many instances where
strong teams have been failures because
me payers were handicapped with an e&-
tensive signal code. McAleer, further
more. does not believe that any one man
should do the thinking for ball team
He encourages his players to do their
own thinking. If a player acts contrary
to Orders-say, for instance, he is told to
bunt and then switches the play and
hits-there Is no objection if he can give
fact. McAleer encourages this sort Of
base ball. He wants every player to
stand for himself He does not believe
that 1t is wise manager who will at
tempt to run his team like a lot of au-
tomatcns.
For the next four days the Nationals
Will be pitted against the st. Louis
Browns, an aggregation which has dis
played every weakness this spring and
has annexed but four victories to date.
On form. of course. it looks as if the
Nationals should have easy picking dur
Ing the stay Of the Browns in the city,
but that does not mean that the locals
of the visitors should not be considered
but every man on the local team should
get in and hustle to the best OF his abil-
ity. There is no such thing as an easy
proposition in base ball. and the Ma
tionals will have to fight just as hard
against the Browns as II they were play
ing the leaders in the race
1t looks like a grand chance to add vic
tories to the locals string. but it will
take good ball playing to do that.
Walter johnson is slated to pitch THIS
afternoon and again Monday. working
two games against the Browns Jim
McAleer says that one game is just as
good as another. and that he will work
Johnson in his turn against his old team
1t can, of course. be imagined that Jim
Is very much crestfalen over the poor
showing of the st. Louis team. and it
Nationals should make a clean sweep
against them.
What looks like the most important Sc
ries played in the American League this
spring Will be opened at Philadelphia to-
day. when the Detroit Tigers tackle the
Athletics. These two teams are opposed
to have the best chance for the flag this
year. and with long winning streak of
thirteen consecutive victories to the credit
of Connie Macks team the Tigers stand
chance today of giving the leaders a
set back. task. however. which will be
most difficult because of the splendid
form the Athletics have shown to date
1t Will be great series, and will in a
way give line on whether or not the IL
gers stand much of a chance to duplicate
their performance of last year and annex
the fourth pennant
Thanks to Mitchelrs wildness. which
gave the Nationals three Of their four
runs. the final game Of the series with
the Maps went to the locals by a score
Of to 3.
Groom pitched most effective ball keep
ing the eleven hits made off of him we'll
scattered, but muffed flies by Kiliifer and
Gessler gave the visitors a chance to
score all their runs.
Cleveland scored in the second on Lord S
double and killifers muff Of Perring' S
long fly. The locals tied 1t up in the
last half of this inning after two were
out. on a pass to Schaefer and hits by
Mcbride and Street They got two more
In the third on Milan's hit, pass to Kill
lifer and Turner's poor throw to catch
Milan at third on ElberfeIds grounder.
Gessler hit to I.ajoie, whose throw home
was too late to catch Milan. Schaefer's
sacrifice fly brought Killifer home Nc
! Brides double and two sacrifice plays
brought him home with the run which
won the game In the sixth
The Maps did not score again until the
| ninth. when Gessler dropped Lords fy
| and Perring hit to left for two bases.
| scoring on two infield put outs The score
tells the rest of IL