The Washington herald., 1911-03-10
By WILLIAM PEET.


Special to The Washington Herald.
Atlanta, Ga, March Sit remained for
the fourth practice day of the Nationals
for minor ailments to crop out, and this
morning Trainer Joe Quirk had his hands
full and earned his salary.
Only a few of the boys have escaped
the lame arm hoodoo, and those who
find their throwing wings working prop
erly complain of pains in the region of
their legs
The ailing ones, according to Trainer
Ouirk's ledger. are Second Baseman Bill
Cunningham, who has bad blister on
his right heel; Kid kIUerfeld who pro-
poses to nestle up against porus pfSS-
ter tonight in the hope of shaking Vlo-
lent pains between the shoulder blades,
due, he claims, to fungo hitting. Bob
Groom and Walter Johnson have ugly
water blisters on their hands from ex'
cessive use of the bat; Lelivelt, Tom
Hughes, and Bunting are complaining of
lame throwing arms, while both Aims
worth and Henry show bone bruises on
their meat hands.
Dolly Graz appeared at the dinner table
this noon with bump on his chin that
resembled a ripe plum. The accident re-
sponsible for this came near being seri-
Gus one. 1t happened while Dolly was
pitching to the batters. He turned his
head a minute to talk to Mike hahoe,
who was acting as umpire, when the
ball from Catcher Ainsworth landed on
Gray's chin, just as he faced the bats
man.
These ailments amount to almost moth
ing; most of them are of the result OF
vigorous practice, induced by the warm
weather. Manager McAleer tnds 1t hard
70 make the players take things easy
they will cut loose, despite frequent cries
of warning from the Nationals boss.
For two solid hours to-day McAleer
worked the pitchers, with the exception
of Tom Hughes and Sherry, in batting
practice. Most of them threw only
straight balls but Meyer, Otey, and
Gray curved few. The former tried his
splitter to the great confusuion of SEQ
eral CT the young recruits.
johnson Docs Light Work.
Walter Johnson did only the lightest
kind of work. He is ready now to start
the American League season, and no
chances will be taken. as it would not do
for the big fellow to go stale.
Tom Hughes labored trife too hard
yesterday, and as his arm. was not in
the best of condition. he did little to-
day outside of batting a few flies to the
fielders and holding down third base in
the early practice session.
Lelivelt and John Henry again hovered
around the initial sack, but because Of
a lame arm the former was not permittd
to slam the ball across the diamond. On
the other hand, John Henry, who de-
clares he never had a sore wing in his
life, whipped the ball around in midseaSon
form.
After dinner this afternoon Kid Elber
field, who knows everybody in Atlanta
worth knowing, chaperOned the boys on
a junket to the big United States pen
itentiary, a distance of three miles from
Atlanta. The party included the major
ity of the players, Mr.. and Mrs. McAleer,
Mrs. Tom Hughes, and Mrs. Dolly Gray.
The trip was an interesting and an en-
joyable one, although everybody was glad
to get outside the high walls.
A comparison of the weather reports
show the temperature here to be at least
so degrees warmer than in Washington
and. while an occasional wind sweeps
across the field, it is not of the damp
ocean variety common to Norfolk, where
the boys trained last year. and unless
all signs fail, the spring training trip this
season will be one long to be remembered.
Play Georgia Tech Saturday.
The Atlanta papers are featuring the
first game of the season here, Saturday,
when the Nationals meet the Georgia
Tech team. The college boys are re-
puted to have a fast nine, and as they
have been out of doors for the past month
they figure on giving the American
Leaguers a good stiff argument.
Manager McAleer does not know just
the team he will put on the field, but
in all probability Street and Ainsmith
will alternate behind the bat, Henry and
I.eliveIt on first, Cunningham, second;
Mcbride, short; Bunting, third, and Cess
Ter, Milan, and Ralston in the outfeld
This combination likely will start the
battle and the recruit outfelders will be
sent in before the game is over. AS for
the twirlers, Gray and Meyer are in
probably the best shape, and Bussey also
looks good; SO it is possible that this
trio will be called upon for slab outy.
Notes of the Training Camp.
Kid EIberfeld has been granted per-
mission to spend Sunday in Chattanooga
where he goes on business. He will not
be in the game against the college boys
Saturday.
Both Hussey and Sherry have easy,
free deliveries, but thus far it has been
impossible to judge Of their ability, and
McAIer will hardly be able to get line
tackled.
One new recruit has shown great i'm
proyement since the club has been here
and he is Fred Corbin. During the past
two days Corbin has been hitting the
ball hard and this morning was able for
the first time to do something against
the left-handers.
Six of the Nationals twirlers are six
feet or over. They are Meyer, feet;
johnson, feet IL inches; Walker, feet
/ inch; Hughes, 6 feet ~ inches; Groom.
6 feet inches, and Otey, feet ~
inches.
Il am not losing any sleep about my
outfielders,'' said Manager McAleer to-
day. / know what both Milan and Cess
ler can do, and you can come pretty
near figuring that these men will start
the season in center and right field. re-
spectively. AS for left field, 1 have so
many likely looking youngsters that /
am sure to find one of the six who will
I'LL the bill OF course all win depend
/. on hitting; the lad who hits will be the
one I will select, providing of course
he proves q fair fielder. You can most
always teach a youngster a whole lot
about covering his position. but it is
mighty hard to teach him to hit. He