Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-11
(60EHRIINENI @1nENT
EssHappenin$$sr Sportdom

put in an hour every day hitting at moth
ing but curves there is no doubt that he
would eventually master his weakness
and make himself valuable ball player.
Washington has been playing good ball
of late, Notwithstanding the fact that
it has lost most of its games. There Is
no doubt that the team has gone to its
limit, which. however, is not enough to
beat the other teams. which are much
stronger. Lack of playing strength Is
the Nationals fault. The players who
are wearing the uniform of the Wash
ington club are giving it their best serv-
ices OF that there is no doubt. but that
is not enough to win ball games from
much stronger teams. No sort OF STRAIT
egg can make a weak team outclass It's
stronger rivals, SO that the teams poor
showing should not be attributed to a
lack of judgment in handling the mate
rial on hand, but a manager can be held
responsible if in two years he falls to
produce material which benefits his team
True, the Nationals are not disgraced by
their work. They make the other teams
play to the last ditch to beat them. but
there is not much satisfaction i'm this.
a dispatch from Detroit. which appears
In another column Of this issue, would
indicate that there is going to be trouble
when the Tigers and Athletics clash to-
day in the first game of a four-same
series. 1t is very evident that there eN-
ers of the two teams which are battling
for the flag in the American League;
not only because of the closeness of the
present race, but because of the many
incidents which have happened i'm recent
years involving the members of these two
teams. Ball players on other teams do
not hesitate to charge the Philadelphia
pitchers with purposely hitting opposing
batsmen for the purpose of making them
timid at the plate. 1t is a noticeable
fact that in no game that the Athletics
play do their pitchers fail to hit one
more batsmen. This has naturally had
the effect of arousing a spirit of revenge
In other teams, and particularly among
the Detroit players, who realize that their
success this year depends largely on what
sort of a showing they make against the
champions. So with both teams on edge
and fully realizing the importance OF the
series to begin today there is apt to be
some excitement on the Detroit grounds
for the next few days.
So far as keeping his movements and
whereabouts secret, Jim McAleer's pres
ent scouting trip appears to be a full
hedged success. AS a rule when a mana
ger of his prominence drops into small
town to look over players his presence Is
made public. but to date there has not
been a single report from anywhere 10
indicate where McAleer Is plying his vo-
cation. Neither have the club officials
had any word from their manager so
that little or nothing is known concern
ing him since he left the team almost a
week ago
1t is most remarkable that though
ball players during the season are con-
stantly travelling from one end of the
country to another, there has been no
instance in which ball team has been
seriously injured in a railroad wreck.
The wreck Of the Federal express near
Bridgeport early this morning gave an
other illustration Of how fortunate ball
players are in this respect. Though
many lives were lost in this wreck. the
ST Louis National League club, which
occupied one of the sleepers on this
train, escaped without having a single
man injured. and the players were thus
able to lend valuable assistance to the
rescuerS.