Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-27
asgon Team Has Been Entirely Changed Since the Season of 1907
TOM HUGHES ONLY PLAYER ON
LIST WHO WAS HERE IN 1907
Incompetents Have Been Succeeded by Real
Ball Players-Club Has Made Splendid
Progress to Build Up Winner.

! day. but he was through when Connie
Mack turned him over to the locals. His
playing was farce. Altizer and Per
| rine alternated at shortfield and it was
| the more incompetent. At second Joe
Schlahy. strictly minor Lacquer. was
covorting. while at first both John An
derson and Charley Hickman gave exhi-
billions.
AS for that outfield. there was not a
good player in it. Charley Jones showed
flashes. but he was not any sort OF a
hitter and inclined to lose his spirit on
the slightest occasion. Mil. Altizer. An
derson and Hickman all took a crack at
, playing the field with rather varied sue
cess.
Behind the bat were the two veterans
HeydOn and Warner and the least said
about their work the better Hughes and
ten was on the down grade. and besides
it required wonderful pitching to win
with such a team as support.
Several holes were plugged up the fol-
lowing year. when Mcbride was secured
and johnson added. and since then much
progress has been made, but the one link
which would change the team from a
loser to a winner has not yet been dis
covered, though McAleer may find it
when he takes his squad into training in
March.
AS q defensive team the Nationals COM
pare IaNOIaOiy WIFI any OIL their rivals.
but they are still weak extensively, and
for this reason the work of the local
pitchers is always decidedly hard. They
get into few games in which they can
take matters easy. for their teammates
are not Of the kind to get them cluster
Of runs to fall back on. Close scores
have marked most of the Nationals
games. Hitters are what McAleer needs
They don't have to be Of the Cobb
Lajoie type either. Just one or two of
them to compare with Milan would come
pretty near to turning the trick.
Though Doc Gessler is charged with
having a very bad season with the bat
in the last campaign. he nevertheless
led the team in matter Of driving in
runs, which. after all. is the way games
are usually won. Lanigan's statistics
published in Sundays Star give better
cial averages. Gessler, while by no
means playing up to his usual standard.
did better work in some respects than
any OF his teammates. This. at least.
should assure him another trial for 1t Is
just possible that he will come back and
show the form which made him so popu-
lar here while q member Of the Boston
team.
The Pittsburg Club has very wisely con-
cluded to hold on to Jack Flynn. When
one stops to examine F1ynn's record last
season he did about as well as could be
expected Of any young player seeing his
first year in fast company.
The fact that he drove in f1fty-seven
runs in less than one hundred games
shows him to be much too valuable a man
to allow to get away without another
trial.
The story that Pittsburg i'll use him
behind the bat depends of course on how
Hunter. the new first baseman secured
from Kansos City, will pan out There
are those who insist that Hunter will
never do in fast company. SO that it is
not unlikely that Flynn will be found on
the bag again next season.
But Flynn can hold his own as a
catcher. He caught several games for
St. Paul the year before he Joined the
Pirates and 1t was while so engaged that
Barney Dreyfuss got his first peep at
Flynn. and he thought him a mighty
good catcher then.