The Washington herald., 1911-02-15
BY WILLIAM PEET.

] The official schedule for the 1911 season
of the American League, as adopted by
the club owners in Chicago yesterday
could hardly have favored Washington
! better had Manager McAleer himself
drawn it up.
| The season will open here on the
Florida avenue grounds April I2, with
the Boston Red Sox as opponents. -Four
games will be played. and then New
York appears for three games.
After the Boston and New York series
McAIeer's henchmen open the season in
Gotham against the Yankees, and will
meet all the Eastern clubs at home and
I Western circuit
There will be 154 games for the Ma
tionals, equally divided at home and
on the road Washington gets fourteen
Saturdays and Decoration Day at bone,
and plays. July in Boston and Labor
Day in Philadelphia.
/ Perhaps the best feature of the sched-
ule from a local standpoint is that
the club will be at home early and late
Practically the entire month of Septem-
ber. the wind-up of the season, Wash
ington will meet every club in the league
here, and as past records have shown the
Nationals to be good home team a
majority of the games should be won,
and this. together with the possibility of
a good start and a fair standing in
the percentage column about midseason,
should find McAleers hopefuls in a re-
spectacle position when the final curtain
drops
AS for the remainder of the schedule
Cleveland opens in ST. Louis and Chi
cago in Detroit. The season in the West
closes on Sunday October s, with Detroit
at st. Louis and Cleveland at Chicago.
The official schedule will be found IN
this issue.
In the spring of 1905 Hughey Jennings
went on record as saying:
1T will be a difficult task to find bet
ter working infield than we will have
this year (meaning 1909. Rossman. Schae-
fer. Coughlin, and OLeary are in the
prime of life, and ought to do as well as
they did last year. l feel confident that I
will not be forced TO touch this combina-
ton"
Jennings stuck To this winning combi-
nation until It became apparent that the
situation was alarming. The team was
losing. so Hughey deemed it advisable to
do some shifting. Had the team been
winning Jennings would not have con-
sidered changes.
Fans recall how the infeld went to
pieces in 1903. Red Killifer and Jerry
Downs came to Schaefer's aid at second,
Schaefer was switched to Bill Coughlin's
corner to help. as Bill was sliding faster
each succeeding day. Sam Crawford
played seventeen games on first base. and
near the close of the season DOME Bush
was injected into the fray at short, and
came at a time to bolster the team and
steady it through to a second penpant
Yet the winning combination of 1907
looked good for years
Evidently the American Association is
from the st. Paul Dispatch would seem.
to indicate:
Washington sport sCribes, in grinding
out their dope. have put Warren Gill.
the Minneapolis first sacker, down as a
probable National this year. The dentist
ball player, who covered the initial sack
so we'll for the Millers last season, would
prove big asset to McAleer's band. ac-
cording to the type Founders at the
Capital City, and Jimmy may have him
for the asking. OF course, Joe Can
tillon may have a thing or two to say
about this. but it is safe to wager that
the manager of the Association cham
pions would part with DR.. Gill IL the
right price were offered. The Wash
ington club is sadly in need of a first
Sacker, and the same is true of few
other American League clubs. but these
team. owners all passed up Tom Jones,
star performer. according to Ameri-
can League stars, allowing him to fall
into the minor league ring. From the