Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-10
BY J. ED GRILLO.
Special Dispatch 10 The Star.

Special Dispatch 10 The Star.
| DETROIT, Mich, July 1O-W Whatever
| Improvement Is to be made IN the Ma
tionals' pitching staff will have to come
| from the sand lots or remote towns in the
| country.
/ Griffith does not propose to spend the
| clubs money buying star minor leaguers
| at high prices. His scouts. kahoe and
! Ryan, have been securing the country in
search of pitching material. and when
| they made their report here to him yes
! terday morning it was found that nothing
worth while has been located What few
| pitchers have been going we'll in the
minors are held at exorbitant figures. so
| Griffith has concluded that he will make
no more efforts in that direction. In
! stead he will pick up youngsters off the
| lots and develop them himself.
! IF Joe Boehling had made his record
| i'm some minor league they would be ask
| ing $4,000 for him now. though when he
| came up to the big show under such con-
| ditions he would not know as much as he
| does now remarked Griffith. These
minor leaguers want million dollars for
! a pitcher who shows anything and then
| when he comes up we have to carry
| him for a couple Of years before he de-
| velops, if he ever makes good The
| major league clubs have been fooled long
! enough. and 1, for one, don't propose to
! throw money away in this manner.
| shall pick up a lot of kids and carry
| them along until they, prove they can
pitch or show they are not there. That
| is the only system nowadays by which
a pitching staff can be built up. and that
is the one ! am going to follow"
kahoe and Ryan, who have been tray-
cling for nearly month in every section
of the country looking over ball players,
came back badly disappointed. Neither
| has seen a man who would be of any
value to the Nationals. They had in
Vulnerable tips to investigate and found
| that in nearly every instance the player
in question was being boosted by the club
owner for the sole purpose of trying to
sell him to some big league club. In sew
eral instances the players tipped off to
| the club were far below the major
league standard that no time was wasted
/ in looking them over, and in one case
| the player had been released outright by
the minor league club before Kahoe could
reach the city where he was playing.
| But for misplays behind Groom, for
one of which he was himself responsible.
| he would have won the first game of
/ yesterdays double-header. Moeller got
| Groom in bad in the second inning when
| he allowed Veach's hit to get through his
| legs, giving him triple when he should
| have had only single. McKee's hit fol-
lowed and a run was scored. In the sixth
Groom started trouble when he failed to
| pick up Bushs bunt, and later. after fill
! ing the bases. forced in a run. Groom
had little kick on the game. but his de-
i feat resulted from his own weakness in
| the pinck~s.
| Dauss. who worked against Groom. has
the making of great pitcher. With ex-
perience he is going to be hard man to
| beat and Griffith is on record as being
willing to pay almost any price for his
release. Griffith likes the youngster be-
cause he says he pitches much as he did.
Just as soon as the Nationals gained a
comfortable lead in the second game
Johnson was taken out He worked in
six innings, allowed but two hits and no
runs. and then Gallia finished. Johnson
was a trife wild. The long lay-of seemed
| to have handle tpped him to a certain ex-
tent, but when he got down to serious
! business he was as brilliant as ever.
| Griffith is nursing Johnson along nicely.
| He wants him to work Sunday in Cleve-
land, and he figured that six innings to-
day would be enough to put him on edge
| for the Maps.
| Gallia pitched in the first game. in
which he worked an inning, and twirled
/ three innings of the second game He
was not scored during the day. nor
was he hit safely. In fact, the Texan
looked better than he has at any time
rthis season, and it is just possible that
1 .
and rounding into good form. This would
| be blessing for Griffith, as he is still
| sadly in need of a pitcher. Just whom
| he will work today is a question He
anxious to hold Boehling over. for the
J first game in Cleveland. He figures that
| if he can work Boehling, Groom and
! Johnson in the games with the Maps he
| stands good chance of winning at least
two of them and by doing this he may
| put his team nearer to second place.
After the second game was we'll in hand
| Griffith made numerous changes. He sent
I.aporte to third in Fosters place and
| took Moeller out of right, sending Calvo
there. Jennings also presented a badly
| patched-up crew after the second game
! ers and mixing his infield up with as
many of his recruits as were available.
Considering the fact that the Tigers
are down in the race and have not shown
much to create enthusiasm here, the team
| is drawing well, a crowd of nearly
5000 yesterday will attest. Detroit has
| changed into wonderfully good ball
town since the Tigers stopped winning
pennants, and it is supporting a losing
team much better than was expected.
What is most surprising is the encourage
ment that the spectators give the young
| PLAYERS. The public seems to realize that
Jennings has the task on his hands of
building up new team and that he
needs every encouragement if he is to
| be successful.
| 1T would not be at all surprising II
| Harry Harper gets chance in one Of
the games here Griffith is shy Of pitchers
| now that Groom and Johnson have been
| used up; and even Gallia is out of the
| running. having been worked In both
games yesterday. Hughes can pitch one
! of the games. and k,ngel may get d
| chance but If either fails to 60 through.
I the young southpaw from Hackensack
| will make regular debut, and start a
; game Harper has been working out
| every day and has made a. splendid i'm
| preston with Griffith and his players.
and ii is not at all improbable that he
| will develop into a real good pitcher.
| With Cobb out of the Tigers lineup,
that team is not near SO formidable. 1t
takes the one dangerous man out Of the
lineup and 1t is more than probable that
he will not be able to get in any of the
| games the Nationals have to play here.
2, t.obb's knee where Weaver Oh the SoN
spiked him, is still quite sore and 1t may
| be a week or so before he will be able
to resume his place in center field.
Pipp. late of the Catholic University
team. broke into the second game yester-
day after IL was lost. He took Gainor s
Mace at first, but had little to do in the