Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-02
BY J. ED GRILLo.

Jim McAleer did not have a consistent
pitching staff last season. but he should
be Much better fortified in this respect
itu ing the coming season
Johnson. of course. stands out in =
Hiss by himself, but he alone cannot
acid the team in the race He must have
a; least two more pitchers of class 20
t.!? hin: out. and the chances are tina;
!his pair has been found by McAleer.
Ton Hughes is expected to pitch wiz
mig ball and Dixie Walker should
nav. recovered his health by sTring and
o,. able TO take his regular turn on the
sIap If this trio works up to high
standard there is enough other pitching
material on hand to give these pitchers
nance to work regular turns without
being overworked.
Doc Resling is very handy man 10
have around. for he can always be eX-
90 tee To give a good account of him
self. IL is but natural that the patrons
Il Il o game here should not have much
CT GenCe in either Gray or Groom, for
ucijher has come up to expectations in
lie two years they have been here. There
{ q chance for Groom to improve. per-
mars, for he is youngSter and need Ou:
get over his nervousness to deliver, but
ii1N is we'll along in years and is not
III. To show any better form than he has.
There are several young pitchers on
he list who may surprise, but the best
Ooking one OIL the lot is Meyer. That
foungster. if he displays the same form
10 did in the two games he pitched for
he Nationals last fall. should be a whirl-
Wind in the spring. In the early games,
before the batterS eyes are we'll trained,
successful. and no doubt McAleer will
make much use of him if he gets a good
start.
team which is not blessed with strong
,atting must depend upon its pitchers,
md that is the situation so far as the
Nationals are concerned. If the slab
work is alright there is no better per-
'orming team in the league. but it has
Tot chance if the pitchers do anything
't high-class work For this reason
NcAleer will give much attention to his
writer's in the spring in the hope of get
ing staff which can start out at the
,utset of the season and do consistent
work.
Past performance naturally makes it
appear that the Athletics have the best
,itching staff. and if anything, it appears
hat it is even better fortified for the
coming season than it was last. OF
course. a lot of things may happen be-
.ween now and next summer. but on
1aper Mack has nothing to worry about
far as pitchers are concerned.
II there is any team which compares
'avorably with the champions in this re-
;pect. il is that New York aggregation.
In one respect the Highlanders' staff
mas the edge on the Athletics. for every
me of the New York twirlers is a
Foungster. while several of the Mack
stan have gotten to that stage of their
,areer where they are apt to start
Town grade.
Ford. Quinn. WARRIOR. Hughes. Vaughn
and Fisher are cracking good lot.
and the chances are that they will
show better next season than they did
asst. On paper Hal Chase seems to
rave been left better team than Stall
iings ever had. but it remains to be
seen if he can get much out of it.
Stallings got out of the American
i.eague. not because he was incapable.
For il is doubtful if there is a man i'm
barge of one of the teams in the John
'on league who knows the game better
9r has improved ideas of how to handle
ball players. StallingS showed this
the manner he handled Chase. All
he other managers had trouble with
'haSe. but not Stallings. Chase under
-tallings' regime was made to believe