Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-05-19
BY J. ED GRILLO.

Had 1t been John Henry'S good fortune
to get chance to play first base for a
winning team he would perhaps have
developed into star by this time But
on. team where every ounce of hitting
strength is needed it is but natural that
the man in charge should have much
patience with youngster who is not hit
ting the ball. and this explains why Henry
was benched after having played the bag
a couple of weeks.
But the fact remains that the Nationals
did their best work while Henry was on
the bag. OF all the experimenting that
has been done to date, no one has been
found who is his equal. somerlot is a
good fielder. but that lets him out Leli-
Welt and Schaefer will both outhit Henry,
but neither one of them can play the bag
as we'll as the Amherst boy. What Is
more Henry will improve with every
game. and it is unfortunate that McAleer
was not in a position to keep him on the
base regularly.
that there is but one position which Jack
Lelivelt can play satisfactorily, and that
is right field. For several years the eff
fort has been made TO make a left fielder
has consistently demonstrated that he
was never intended for that place. Ac-
cording to advices from Cleveland he
made mess of several things in left
yesterday. OF course, so long as Nc
Aleer hal, both Gessler and Lelivelt in the
outfield. there is nothing to choose be-
tween them so far as left field Is con-
cerned. though there is doubt that
Lelivelt is the better man for right.
This thing Of constantly switching the
dOPS
True. when a team is in the condition
that are the Nationals a manager is sure
to try everything to win ball game, but
in the long run 1t is questionable if any
thing is gained by playing player here
today and there tomorrow. Surely the
present slump of the Nationals has not
been halted by the numerous changes In
the lineup that have been made.
Umpire Jack Doyle's experience In Phil
| adelphia must have reminded him of the
good old days of the Baltimore Orioles
In those days Jack could start more
trouble on a ball field than any player
then In action, and numerous indeed are
the instances where he became entan-
gled with the umpire. But Jack Is an
umpire now, and he evidently is getting
dose of the medicine he used to delight
in handing out
Had the Washington ball club started
out four years ago to build up team OF
youngsters and adhered strictly to the
rule not to take the cast-offs of other
teams it might now be much better off
certainly no worse. 1t takes long while
to build up winner in this way. but
once you are successful you have a good
ball team for years.
But conditions here were peculiar
Washington has had a loser as long as
the old Inhabitants can remember, and
the desire to get a winner quickly un-
doubtedly has proven a handicap.
In an effort to strengthen players that
other clubs were willing to let go We're
grabbed up. In every instance IL was
necessary to pay enormous salaries &c
these men, because at some time in their
career they had delivered and their sal
aries had gone up accordingly. 1t was
not thought good policy to reduce their
pay when they came here, for this might
be discouraging. The trouble with pick
ing UP this class of players is that they