Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-01-07
SUCCESS DEPENDS
ON NEW PLAYERS

UN NEW PlAIEkS
Continued from First Page.)
natl did not round into good form until
the closing weeks Of the seaeson.when Es-
mond, a shortstop. was developed and
filled position where the team had pre-
viously been weak.
II there Is such q thing as form In base
ball, then Griffith appears to be the
wisest selection ever made by the local
owners. He undoubtedly realizes that he
did not fal. into q bed of roses when he
came here. No finished or well bal
anced team was turned over to him. and
it is up to him to build up team whfeh
will be a credit to the city. \
No one should expect Griffith to DO
wonders the first year here. He has al
three-year contract, and il he shows
marked improvement in his team tne
final year of his engagement here he VIII
deserve credit for having made good.
There is not the slightest douhtfhat
Griffith will prove of much helpS to the
local pitching staff. AS u twirleS there
never was a more intelligent perKormer
than the Nationals manager, for. thouga
not endowed by nature with extraor-
binary physical power, Gr1fhth was lor
years one OF the most effective pltchers
IN the major leagues. he baff1ed bats
ing. 1t is but reasonable to presume that
an Individual who could win ball games
by sheer knowledge OF the art. shouid
be able to impart some valuable informa-
relying principally upon their arms to
win ball games. Griffith thinks that ne
can accomplish this. and, while 1t may
seem queer to say that he even hopes
to improve Walter Johnson. there Is no
doubt that this is possible. Johnson has
about everything in the way OF speed
and control that a pitcher should nave
to be successful. but never having mao
any tuition IN the art OF pitching. 1t can
be readily seen that there Is stu mucn
teach him. johnson, like all the rest or
the pitchers, will De given course in the
art Of pitching by Griffith, and the most
adept Of the lot will be benehted most
by reason Of the information reSuiI an.
from experience which GriAnth will i'm
part.
Judged on what he has done since TAX
ing hold here. It Is only faar 70 presu, me
that Griffith will make a success OF ms
engagement here. what is most pleasing
about the Griffith regime Is the manner
In which he has conducted such analrs
as have come up for his consideration.
There are not many men. who. after
taking charge of the local team. would
have taken a long chance and cut out
batch of veterans without being absolute
ly certain that he had youngsters VINO
could fill the bill.
Griff1th has started out in the right di-
rection. He realizes that there Is not
chance to build up a ball team SO long
as a lot of players who are on their last
legs are holding down important posi-
tons. They are sure not 70 improve a nus
the one thing to do was TO hold mouse
cleaning. The team which Grimth VIII
present next season may not be able to
do as well as did the one last year. Out
no one will question the wisdom OF start
ing out to build up team OF youngsters.
That the finding of the national
commission In the ticket scandal case
has not struck popular favor. even IN
New York, where the club was exoner-
ated. is shown by the following from
the New York World. where the COM
mission is severely censured for hav-
ing whitewashed the entire affair. The
"lf you are thinking Of having any
whitewashfng done we unQualhedly
recommend the national base ball com
mission to you. This body is without
doubt the finest bunch OF Kaisomih he;o
For reference we furnish the report on
the notorious ticket scandal during the
worlds series In this city .a't ran,
which furnished an even greater SEN
sation than the games themselves.
''In their investigation Of the said
scandal the commission proved them
selves to he not only the finest white
wash artists of all times. but they
also proved themselves to be the great
est humorists that ever saw the light
Of day.
INSTEAD of giving any information
that would lead to the disclosure of
the identities of those that were re-
sponsible for the glazing wholesale
delivery Of tickets to spectators. the
national commission commended the
New York base ball club for it's great
work in keeping tickets away from
the Spectators.
Read this paragraph carefully and If
IL doesn't cause you to laugh particular
ly II you remember the conditions II at
obtained at the time, when all of the
agencies had stacks of ticke.s and it was
possible to get ten or twelve seats In a
row, then you have no sense OF humor:
g The New York club is to be COM
mended for the precautions taken by
them prior, during and after the sa OF
tickets in employing detectives to watch
their employees, and also in depos ting
their letters containing mail orders in
out -of-the-way stations In envelopes that
could not be recognized as coming from
the New York club. On the other hand.
1t Is the opinion Of the commission that
when the mail order requests for the
series tickets had been exhausted and
taken care of by the New York club.
that club should have then provided for
the mail orders received Wy them 70 :
single tickets, instead Of holding these
orders I'D for some time without return
ing the money thus causing many Justt-
fable complaints
THE entire report Is nothing but a
meaningless lot Of words used in an en-
deavor to exonerate the entire New York
and Philadelphia clubs from blame for
the scandal. The commission admits
there were lots Of tickets In the hands
Of spectators. but II couldn't find any
explanation as to how they got there
mind that the public has a short memory
and also forgives easily, and tat Is the
| reason why 1t waited three months to
whitwash everybody. as the World pre-
dicted 1t would"