Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-25
BY j. ED GRILLO.

Jack Johnson is not to be blamed for
demanding as much money to fight Lang
ford as he was forced to give Burns when
he won the title from him. AS champion.
Johnson can make demands, and Incl
dentally this fact gives him chance to
avoid Langford. Johnson probably can
| beat the Boston fighter, but lie does not
relish the opportunity. Langford, under
any circumstances, would be a tough
customer and would have to be figured
having chance to win. Johnson knows
this, and so long as there is big crop
of white hopes" about he will prefer to
take them on one by one TO taking
chance with Langford.
Johnsons height and reach would give
him a great advantage over Langford.
there is no doubt of that, and yet this
Langford person has way of getting
| to these big fellows. a fact which Lang
had impressed on him the other night.
! But Johnson knows that If Langford
| can continue to beat the men he is meet
| ing there will eventually be so great a
demand for a bout between him and the
! Boston fighter that he will get his price
and that. it seems, is what he is holding
off for as much as anything else.
Bill Otey is the dark horse on McAleers
pitching staff. and McAleer believes that
! this young left-hander will prove the
| surprise of the season. providing he has
recovered his health. and there is every
indication that he has.
Otey, who is at Hot Springs. is being
given every chance to make good this
year because McAleer thinks he has the
making Of a good pitcher. Last spring
when Otey was with Norfolk he pitched
against the Nationals. and it was his per-
Torrance in this game that convinced
McAleer that he was pitcher of major
league caliber. He was taken i'll. how
ever. and was not in condition to do him.
self justice during his stay with the team
last fall
If Doc Gessler comes back. the local
outfield problem will have been solved.
With Doc WELDING the ash as he used
to. right field will be in competent
hands, and surely a left fielder can be
found out of the bunch of material Nc
Aleer has on hand.
Let Gessler have a good year with
the bat-and he is very apt to--and IT
will make lot of difference in the Ma
tionals' standing. Docs trouble last
year seemed to be that he waited the
pitchers out too long. He is naturally
free hitter. but for some unaccountable
reason he took strikes last season, with
the result that he was frequently In the
hole Doc is to take a clout in the com
ing campaign whenever the ball is over.
and in this way he is expected to show
his old form with the bat.
1t was supposed that with the major
league meeting matter OF history
suggestions for changes in the rules
would be kept on the shelf for a year
or SO at least. But Hugh Duffy of the
White Sox thinks that something was
overlooked when the present sacrifice hit
rule was not altered. This is what he
thinks about it:
I'm strongly opposed to the sacrifice
hit-not as a working cog in the game.
/ l,,,x Fn,. TJ1, INN Ia y-an
works a hardship upon the players. l
| should like to see the rule changed so
that the batter won't be charged with
one time at bat in the event he fails
to sacrifice a runner to another bag Of
course, the batter isn't charged with
time a bat if he succeeds in this un-
dertaking, but it's more often that the
/ play falls flat. It's then that the batter
| is given the raw end of the deal"
The days when the public sized up
ball player merely by his record is long
since past. 4 ball players efforts when
they are directed for the best interests
! of his team, regardless of how the par
ticular play may affect his record, are
| always appreciated A change OF the
rules for the mere purpose of satisfying
/ few disgruntled ball players who give
more attention to their individual records
than they do to the standing of their
team is absurd. Ball players who do