Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-30
GRlFF WANTS GOOD
'LEFT-HAND PITCHER
Issues Instructions to Scouts
to Scour the Country for
One-0ther Gossip.
BY ]. ED GRILLo.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

elimination of one or the other of these
| teams from the championship race before
| the middle of the season is reached. This
| is the prediction which Manager Griffith
makes After the Nationals finish their
| coming western trip they return here for
three scheduled games. and must play
| the two games which have been post
poned in the present series, making
| total of five Then late in June, when
Philadelphia comes to Washington for a
four-game series. seven games will have
to be played. Griffith figures that the
Nationals and Athletics will be con-
tenders and that when they meet in these
series, into which SO many games will be
crowded, one of the other will break
down and be out of the running.
1T is hardship on both teams to have
so many double-headers piled up between
Them said he an it absolutely means
the elimination from the race of one OF
us. as result of these games. OF the
six games we have had scheduled. We
have played but one. So far as / am
concerned, ! do not believe that we will
be handicapped by playing the games
later. I hope to be better fortified in
a month than l am now. In the first
place, our pitching staff will have shaped
itself up by that time. and there are
reasons for believing that Eddie Foster
will be back at third, and his presence
| Is sure to make a big difference But, as
said before. the team which fails to
get the breaks in these double-headers
will be out Of the race when they are
over.
| Though Tom Drohan has been with the
/ team ever since it went into training at
the Y. NJ. c. A. gymnasium last February,
Griffith knows no more about his ability
! as a pitcher today than he did then, at
| least, not as far as his chances for max
! ing good in this company are concerned.
Barring few innings Drohan pitched in
exhibition games at Charlottesville. no OPP
portunity has been offered to give any
line on him. He is now making the trip
with the team and Griffith intends to
stick him into some game just to see how
he will behave. His record last sea-
son and the fact that seven different
Glass 4 clubs put in drafts for him make
Drohan look like he had a chance, but.
of course, he still has to show. Big Ed
Dent is not on this trip. Griffith allowed
him to stay at home so that he will have
plenty OF chance to rest his arm, for he
figures on using him late in the season,
when he has always shown his best form.
| During Fosters absence Frank Laporte.
| of course. will be continued at third base.
| though he does not believe that he is
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| third for New York for nearly an entire
season, when he was member of that
team some years ago. but he admits that
he does not like the place. To date Frank
has played good ball there so far as
handling balls that were hit at him is
concerned. though on several occasions
he has given indications of being unfa-
| miliar with the position, and this has
proven more or less of a handicap. IL
Gedeon had little more experience he
lyTlio Yht h1 civ oho =
event that Laporte failed to make good.
but Gedeon is mere boy. and is still in
need of practice and experience, though
he gives indications of making a good
ball player.
Griffith has issued instructions to his
| scouts to scour the country in search of
a left-handed pitcher. He wants a big
| fellow with lot of stuff and is not par
| ticular whether he is green or not. He
realizes that his pitching staff is severely
| handicapped because of the absence of a
good lcft-hander. and he is looking toward
| the future In trying to get one at this
time. Boehling. his only southpaw, has
| a lot of stuff. In fact, IL he gets the right
kind of chance he may develop into a
winner, but he is still too uncertain to be
banked on.
| The Philadelphia public has taken un-
| eXpectedly in a kindly way to the ad-
I -
| There Is little or no grumbling about the
| changes that have been made. and the
chances are that both clubs will be finan-
cially benefited by the increase which
realize that it is impossible for major
| league club to exist these days when q
majority Of its patronage is at % cents a
| head. and the fifty-cent seats are decided
iy we'll patronized here.
With Ave husky young pitchers to draw
from, every one of whom can boast OF
an arm of steel, there is no good reason
| why Grifith should not eventually build
up good pitching staff So far as arms
are concerned II would be hard to bea,
Cashion. Engel. Gallia. Drohan and Boeh-
ling. All are strong and sound. and il
| they can get the experience ought tc
make good. Give Griffith a couple of will.
, ing youngsters who can get the ball
over. and he would have a pitching stan
which would compare favorably with any
in the circuit.
The average ball player has a weak
ness at the bat. There is usually some
sort of delivered ball which fools him
or he fails to hit hard. but according tC
the Nationals pitchers Baker differs in
this respect. in that he is just as apt tc
hit one kind of a delivery as another
| So formidable has he been against the
Nationals this and last season that Man
ager Griffith does not propose TO take
any more chancheS with him. and when.
ever the situation is such that base
hit would be harmful Baker will bs
walked by the Washington, pitchers. b,
eliminating him from the batting orde,
the chances to beat the Athletics WOULD
be strengthened and il Is also argued
that the system of passing him in al
the pinches will have the effect of hurt
ing his batting.
/ Griffith does not believe that the A:h
letics can land the flag this year. He
argues that Mack is weak behind the
bat and that no team has ever been able
to finish at the top which could not boas
of at least one great catcher. He does
not believe that either Lapp or Thoma.
classes high enough TO carry a team
through campaign. and even with good
pitching he thinks the Athletics will bt
found wanting al the finish 1t is un
ldoubtedly true that there is nothing
brilliant about The TWO Mack catchers
yet they are a bit above the ordinary
| The Nationals in their one game agains
the locals found no difficulty in running
bases but Griffiths team has been show.
ling W exceptionally well in this respect
against the three teams II has me-
/ this year. 1t is splendid base-run
ming club and particularly SO with Am
smith Coaching. for he is almost a. fas
as any msln in the lineup.