Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-05-23
BY J. ED GRILLO.

II Is TO be hoped that the remarkable
reversal OF form shown by Dixie Walker
at Detroit yesterday is but the begin
ming Of a general revival OF the Ma
tionals' pitching staff. Up to yesterday
Walker had shown but little this season.
In but few games had he been allowed to
go the route because the opposing teams
had run up tallies at an alarming rate
at his expense. Rumors OF dissipation.
as usual when a player goes wrong. were
current regarding Walker. but these were
denied by McAleer who claimed that the
big pitche rwas suffering from some sort
of hitch in his arm which made 1t i'm
possible for him to do good work. This
seems to have left Walkers arm. how
ever. judged by his showing yesterday.
Perhaps he can be relied upon to do good
work from this out. johnson, too. is ex-
pected to be ready soon. and perhaps the
other twirlers will round into form from
this out. The Nationals principal failing
on the present trip has been their lack
of pitching. Not q single game prior to
the one Of yesterday has been worked In
good form by any member OF the stan,
and this has proved too serious q handi-
cap to overcome.
A correspondent who has perused the
batting averages of the O. and P. League
makes the discovery that Charley Conway.
who was with the Nationals this spring.
is leading that organization. with an
average of .480 In twenty games. and
gives 1t as his opinion that Conway was
not given a fair trial here and should
have been retained.
The local clubs experience with o. and
P. Leaguers this spring gave conclusive
evidence that there Is not much class to
that organization and that a player
picked up from there on the strength OF
his average is very apt to prove a fixzle.
Not one OF the men tried out this spring.
and most OF them came from the o. and p.
could make good in this company, and
Conway was not an exception. Conway
had a fairly good trial here. being played
in something like ten games, and he
hit the American League brand of pitch
ing. In addition to that. he could not
field. while a throw OF over fifty feet
seemed beyond him. There was nothing
being played regularly with the local
team. His average to date is truly re-
markable, but the fact should not be
overlooked that he is not up against much
Conway, Ralston and Corbin, three out
f1elders secured from that league last
fall all failed with the Nationals because
they could not gauge the American
League brand of twirlng. Conway, even
though he should be able to hit 300 in
this company. would have to become a
much better fielder and get a new throw
ing arm before he could make good.
Just how good a fielder Herman Schae-
fer is at first base Is not known here be-
cause he has never played here in that
position. but If he can keep up his pres
ent clip with the bat his fielding will be
good enough to keep him In the game
even though he be no star. In the five
games that Schaefer has played at first
base he has been hitting at a "A pace.
in addition to showing speed on the
bases and run-getting proclivities. To
date he has been by far the most sue
cessful man McAleer has tried on the
bag, so that the chances are that he will
be kept there until such time as he may
fall into slump.
A week ago 1t seemed that both the
New York Giants and the Cubs were not