Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-09
HIGH PRAISE FROM GRILLO
FOR SCfiAEFER AND HENRY
Believes the "Dutchman" Will Make the
Outfield and It Will Be Hard to
Keep John Off First Base.

7 Manager McAleer q good chance to judge
! Schaefer as a left fielder, position ne
will fill for his team. Schaefer will have
| a strong team.
| This will be it's lineup: Scilaefer, left
| field; Lelivelt, first base; Gessler, right
field; Swain, center field: Conroy. short
stop: Bunting, third: keefe. second; Ain
smith. catcher: while Johnson, Hughes
and Gray will do the pitching. The reg
ulars will be made up of Milan, Corbln
and Miller in the outfield. Henry or Som
field in the infield; while Street will
catch and Walker, Otey. Sherry and Bus
| sey will do the pitching. McAleer gave
| the Yannigans the best pitchers to make
j., by reason Of having inexperienced men
fill infield positions. and he figures that
| these games will prove great workouts
| for the players. There will be game
permits. There will also he the usual
workout from 1890 to that hour, so THAT
the real work will begin next week:
| With the strong pitching staff Schaef-
er's team will have 1T will be no easy
matter for the Regulars to beat their
rivals.
| Clyde Milan. who spent nearly a month
at Hot Springs with Schaefer, is OF the
opinion that Schaefer will win one of the
outfield berths. He says that Schaefer
| has greatly improved his fielding by prac-
tice at Hot Springs, and that he is faster
on his feet than he was at any time last
| year.
watch Schaefer in the outfeld this
season." said Milan. "He is faster than
ever and can cover as much ground as
any we have. not barring myself. 1 look
| for him to make good there He wants
| to play the outfield too, and that also
helps, for there is no sense in putting a
player where he does not want to play"
Regardless Of what the outcome of
~ =,
be this spring. 1 can say positively that
both Schaefer and COnroy will be carried
through the season. said Manager Nc
Aleer this morning. 'They are much
too valuable men to allow to get away
while We are trying to develop a ball
team. That is the way figure it and I
believe they will be of the greatest help
to us. Both have had years of experience
and are still far from being through, and
they are virtually invaluable to the team.
It seems to make no difference whether
1t is spring or fall to Walter johnson,
for he seems to pitch the same under all
conditions. He is in particularly fine
form this spring, the baths at Hot Springs
/. having put him on edge and the ease with
which he delivers the most marvellous
speed Is wonderful to players. He worked
against the batters this morning and
least he was showing the sphere toward
the plate so fast that it looked no big
ger than pea.
With 1t all Johnson is true. and the
players prefer to face him in batting
practice to any of the others. notwith-
standing his terrific speed. for it is a rare
thing for him to fail to get the ball right
over the plate johnson, like most of his
admirers. believes that this will be his
best year in base ball. and he is train
ing himself with this object in view
There is wonderful change in the ap-
pearance of Walker. He is the picture
Of health this spring, and he told Man
win more games than he lost this year
by comfortable margin. considering
that ] was not in good health at any
time last season. I think 1 made a re-
markable showing"
Said he: 81 am we'll and sound this
spring and should increase my effective
ness 20 per cent, which would put me
among the winning pitchers. There were
times last season when J did not have
strength enough to put the ball up to
the batter, but Just forced myself, and
no pitcher can do good work when he
is forcing himself to pitch But I. will
be there this year; you can rely on
that"
McAleer is giving his charges more bat
ting practice than ever before. Most
of the players time is spent in hitting
against pitching, and this will be con-
Mac. "Just as soon as the pitchers are
ready to cut loose they will be worked
in turn against the batters. They will
pitch as if it was championship game.
and even though the players grumble
about not being allowed to hit, they are
to face this sort Of pitching in the hope
of lettering their batting.
This thing of allowing players to hit
against pitchers who are merely tossing
the ball is not good thing for the bat
ting eye.
"Of course, early in the season before
the pitchers are ready to cut loose at the
speed there is no sense in forcing them,
but once they are ready they must pitch
at top speed to the batters. In this way
l believe we can improve our hitting. and
We will continue to do this for months
after the season is on. I believe there
against mediocre pitchers than are bene-
fitted by this sort of practice"
No one would suspect that Bob Groom
possessed extraordinary strength. and
yet, in the opinion of his teammates,
Some Of the big men have attempted
to wrestle with Groom, but he has proven
himself to be the champion in every in
stance. GroOm'S appearance is very de-
ceiving Though he does not look to be
| strong, he Is a wiry chap with whole
lot Of stamina.
The idea Of having the players work
but once day is bearing fruit Teams
which go to the ball park twice a day
a workout which does not amount to
much. but with the Nationals it is diff
ferent. Every man keeps on the hustle
during the time he is at the park for
he knows that he will have plenty of