The Washington herald., 1911-06-12
Otey May Stay
With Nationals
McALeer Not Anxious to Part With Lanky South
paw-Likes Looks of WaLker-Other
Gossip and Comment.
BY WILLIAM PEET.

ny WILLIAM E6bLs
There is . possibility that Manager Nc
AIeer will hold onto Pitcher Bill Otey
after all. The lanky southpaw did not
look so bad in the Chicago game last Sat-
urday and appeared to have a lot Of
stuff.
Manager Jim said last night that he
was seriously considering the advisability
of keeping Otey a while longer.
As for young Walker, the SpartanbuTg
boy who created a mild furor Saturday,
McAIeer feels sure the youngster will de-
velop into a valuable player some day.
Said the manager last night: Walker
still has whole lot to learn, but he Is
willing and anxious and looks like a
fighter. His fine start Saturday should
give him confidence, which means every
thing to a youngster just breaking in.
Commenting on HerrelTs pitching. Nc
Aleer said the boy was scared to death
and could not do himself justice. He be-
lieves the next time Herrell goes in he
will do a whole lot better.
The Nationals will probably face their
old hoodoo, Doc White, to-day, and as they
hit him rather hard in Chicago last
month, it is an even money bet that with
alright twirling on the local end Wash
ington will get away with the game.
Last night Manager Jim said he would
pitch Dixie Walker in this afternoons s
battle, but he may change his mind and
order Walter Johnson to toe the slab.
June 8 must be set down in baseball
history as -with-the-bases-
Filled" day. Last Saturday, that being
June g. 1t will be recalled that with three
Chicago players resting on the sacks,
Frank Schultz stepped up to the bat and
knocked the bali into the right field
bleachers, beating the Giants Now. home
runs with the bases full are unusual,
but Just why June should be about the
only day We find the unusual happening
Is somewhat of a mystery If you look
over the past history of the national
game you will find that on June 3, 1902,
Mike ONeill, OF the st Louis Cardinals,
made a home run off Pittinger. of the
Pirates, when the bases were full. O'Netll
is now manager of the New Britain club
of the Connecticut League. Pittinger died
about two years ago, the victim Of con-
sumption. When June 8, 1909. rolled
around Pittsburg and Boston were play
ing, and when the Pirates succeeded in
getting the bases filled, Hans Wagner
brought in four runs with a home-run
crack off Pitcher Mattern. Almost every
June there have been home runs galore,
and in addition to Schultes long drive
there was no less than six other home
runs made in the other seven games last
Saturday. The date and the home runs
form a peculiar coincidence. Watch the
date next year and see what happens.
A dispatch from Detroit says the an
nouncement is sure to create a smile in
Detroit, where Eddie Gagnier was born
hiS in ha
ball season. Gagnier has probably been on
a big league teams roster more times
without donning a uniform than any
player known to the annals of the game.
The Washington deal is probably the fifth
time in which he has been sold up, y
but he has yet to smell powder. All his
prior sales have been followed by rele-
cation back to Lincoln, where he stars
annually Eddie. however, has been
seemingly content with his lot and opines
that it isn't every ball player who can
he . big-leaguer, even in the wintertme
when salaries aren't being paid.
A St Louis exchange notes that this
years crop of baseball recruits is going
to be a poor one, the scouts are already
shouting. Rather snap judgement con-
sidering that many minor leagues are
just getting under way. Most scouting,
however. appears to be Of the snap
variety, as. in fact, are the judgments
frequently passed upon players after a
trial in big company.
There would be more good players in
the game, and the big leagues would
not be so continually crying for more
capable players, If the young men hired
were given less perfunctory workouts.
1t takes time to make raw material into
finished product in any line of endeayor.
Just how, therefore, baseball can ex-
pect a man to become an accomplished
player just because he puts his name
to a big league parchment IS a mys-
terry. Managers do not want to waste
time teaching players the big league
game-that is poor managers don't.
That's just where they appear to make
a mistake. For 1t is the teachers of
the game who have been able to as
semble effective teams from time to
time and to bolster them up to winning
form again when decay seems in sight.
Connie Mack and John McGraw, both
eminent pedagogues of baseball are
seldom at want long for material to plug
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