Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-06-16
BY j. ED GRILLO.

The fact that a young bali player fails
to make good i'll a minor league fire.
quently does not lower his standing with
the major league club which OWNS him.
Johnny Priest. the local boy. for in
stance. did not come up to expectations
in Indianapolis and was sent back to
the New York club. to which he belongs.
Priest Is not being played regularly. but
Chase thinks well enough of the young
ster to carry him for utility purposes.
He figures that while Priest may not
be ready to hold down a position he will
gradually develop into a good ball player
and that it will pay the club to carry
him. This is merely another instance
which results from the scarcity of play
ing material. A club cannot afford to
let a player who shows any promise to
slip through its fingers. 1t pays club
to carry youngsters who may develop,
even though they are not played for sew
eral years. This system has been the Sc
cret of Mack's success in developing
youngsters for his team. and it is being
followed by more than one club now.
Taking into consideration that Clarence
Walker is virtually seeing his first year
in base ball and broke into the big league
with team which is going poorly, ms
showing in the five games he has played
here has exceeded the most sanguine ex-
pectations of the followers of the team
To date Walker has done everything that
he could have been asked to do and
though he has been here not quite a
week he is already showing great inn
provement. as the nervousness winch
naturally attends the change from a
small league into large wears on.
Mike Kahoe seems to have made no mis-
take i'm purchasing Walker. He gives
every promise of being A most valuable
man for the team. The fact that he al
ready shows Improvement means mucn,
for as he gets acquainted with conditlons
in the big league he is sure TO advance
still farther.
Kahoe believes that Outfielder Long,
whom he purchased from Gadsden. is
Walkers superior. and if that be true ne
has rendered the Washington club
splendid services this year. even though
he fails to secure another player.
Lou Criger is out of base ball. The
former battery partner of the famous
Cy Young, after being LET out by the
New York club. tried his hand at NIL
waukee but failed to make good there,
and has returned to his home yoWing
that he will make no further effort to
play base ball for a living. Criger in his
day was undoubtedly one of the greatest
catchers the game ever developed, but
poor health handicapped him. When the
Boston team won pennants much OF Its
success was attributed to the good work
of Crger behind the bat Crlgers major
league career started with Cleveland In
1896
What makes the great difference IN
pitching college or minor league ball ana
facing major league batsmen is the tact
that in this company the batters lnSlst
on getting the ball over the plate. Ihey
do not bite at anything that Is dished up
soon have a pitcher in the hole and when
he is forced to aim it over, of course no
difficulty is experienced in hitting him.
There are any number of no-hit games
pitched i'm college base ball and yet these
same pitchers would stand but slight
chance to make good in "A major league.
College teams do not hit much as rule
and an ordinary pitcher often looks like
a star i'm that company. The fact re-
mains that the college pitchers who
have made good in the big leagues have
come not from the big colleges but from
some of the more remote institutions.
Nothing is easier to start than a base
ball rumor. Mention any sort of a deal,
no matter how absurd and it will spread