The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-08-13
Ry WILLIAM PEET.

Wen win three-fourths of our games
this trip, and will come back to Wash
ington in second place" This was the
declaration of Manager Griffith, as he
boarded the express last night for De-
troit. leading his club on the final whirl
around the Western wheel of the Amer
lean League.
The boys will play great ball this
trip. l feel confident that they are over
that slump. and would not be greatly
surprised to see another long winning
streak. You know, they can't play that
kind of baseball all the time. and / think
that the last game with the Maps was
the end of il. Watch us now. We are
going to simply dust through the West,
and will come home SO close to the Ath-
letics it will make your head swim.
I'VE play the Athletics in Philadelphia
September !, and two games Labor Day.
/ think that We will just about take the
entire series. We are not out of the
race by any means, althoueu 1 admit il
looks bad for us. The Maps failed to
show anything wonderful against us.
and nothing but the breaks in luck cost
US those two games.
Grin will most likely open the Tigers
series with Walter johnson. and it would
right back with Dauss. the youngster
who has beaten Walter on two of the
three starts he has made against the
Tigers. Dauss lost a good game here
two weeks ago. and will be called upon
to best Walter again, if that is posi-
ple.
Chick Gandil is the only member
of the Nationals who appears able to
L. IL.
field and with the willow. Gandil is
leading the team with the stick by a
good margin. and is also right up top
with the first basemen in fielding.
Jack Ryan was left at home in
charge of Jack Bentley. Carl Cashion.
and Merito Acosta. Bentley will be
worked hard every day, and when the
club returns from the West. Ryan
hopes TO have him ready TO start in
the big show.
What difference just a few hours
make"
II seems just few hours ago too, that
Jim Thorpe, the big Indian athlete. was
in the limelight in Stockholm's beau
tiful stadium. winning victory after
victory in the Olympic pentathlon and
decathlon series. Hardly had the Sac
and Fox tribe brave completed his
double triumph by winning the 1900
meter event in the decathlon than he
became the most talked of athlete in
all the world. The biggest men in
Sweden sought his company. and King
Gustav himself shook hands with Jim
a the ceremonies attending the pres
entation of the Olympic prizes. and
afterward sent him a summons TO ap-
pear in the royal presence.
His arrival in this country was a signal
for the adulation TO spread over America
like wildfire and Thorpe's athletic repu-
tation was again greatly enhanced later
in the fall by his wonderful playing on
the football field. Every expert that
wrote of the great gridiron game last
fall pictured Thorpe as the greatest foot
ball player of the year, If not of all time,
and from this opinion there was no dis
senting voice.
And now what picture does Thorpe
present? Why, he's out or the lmelight,
sitting way back in the shadow of the
players bench. The same bronzed face
that grinned at the huzzas of thousands
last summer is deep in study today, wear
ing a nettled. puzzled expression The
same narrow-slit eyes that followed the
graceful flight of the discus and the jave-
Tin, or picked with perfection the take-ofr
spot in the broad jump last summer, is
now closely watching the real big
.eaguers day in and day out His
chances to perform come few and far
between.
And yet is the shadow that holds Jim
Thorpe in its folds without its silver
lining? We should say decidedly, No.
The great Carlisle brave has everything
in his favor. He is young and strong
and possesses the greatest all-round ath-
letic ability ever seen in one human
body, and besides he's getting good
money for warming the bench.
Thorpe has learned to play other games
in a fortnight's time. Then why cannot
he learn the baseball lore in a couple of
years under McGraw?
Bench-warming looks a lot worse to the
average spectator than It does to the
aspiring young ball player. and the fact
that John McGraw is paying particular
attention to teaching Thorpe the fine
points of the game is doubtless encour-
agement enough for the great Indian
athlete who is sitting in the shadow of
the bench day in and day out while the
Giants are making their fight for the
pennant.