Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-19
GR|FF HAS PUT UP
HIS PRUNING KNIFE
Nationals Squad Will Not Be
Further Reduced Until
Training Is Over.
HAS HOPES OF ADDING
STRENGTH TO HIS TEAM
If He Can Develop One More
Good Pitcher and an In
fielder He'll Be Satisfied.
BY J. ED GRILLO.


OF the Nationals roster until the
training season is over. The
th1rty-fOur PLAYERS who now
adorn the reserve list of the
aslllngton club will all assemble
at Charlottesville early in March
to be scrutinized by the learned
eve OF Griffith, and thereby have
their future decided. Tom Long,
the outtlelder. who was released to
-\tlanta the other day. is the last
one to suffer BY reason Of the mid
winter cut. His departure leaves
thlrty-four PLAYERS on Griffith s
memorandum. and means that
from that number the team which
Is TO represent the National Capt.
tai in the next pennant race of the
American League must be Sc
lected.
BY May Is this number must
be reduced to twenty-five in order
TO comply with the rules, but it
probably goes without saying
that the allotted number will be
reached long before this, ior it is
not likely that Griffith will be for
tunate enough to have all his re-
cruits make good.
incidentally it is worthy OF note
that thirty-four is a Target number
OF players than any Washington
manager has put into training in
recent years, and seems to indi-
cate that notwithstanding the fact
that the Nationals were the run
ners-up in the last race. Griffith
is not taking any chances OF over
looking any likely ball players.
In just about six weeks tine players will
be reporting for their preparatory work.
j; will be large squad for Griffith to
look after but he has the advantage Of
being so well supplied with players with
whose value he is familiar that he will be
able to give much of mis- time to looking
over the youngsters. so that a fair trial
for all of them is promised.
There is of course no telling what
amount of this material will be worth
while keeping. AS rule only a very
small percentage of the recruits who are
tried out in the spring by major league
clubs make good, but Griffith is hopeful
OF strengthening his team result of
these experiments. He figures on getting
al least one more strong pitcher out of
the corps OF twirlers he will try out.
There reasons for believing that he
stands {. good chance of lettering his
uutfeld for he has some material for
these positions that promises much. Last.
but not least. he would like to pick up a
likely infielder. though it must be adj
mitted that he is none too we'll supplied
Wit! this sort of material among his re-
cruits He needs 70 catchers, he saws.
and one more infe.der would nIl out ali
departing hts to his satisfaction.
Though it has not been commented
upon. ii is a fact nevertheless that Wal
ter Johnson. known near and far as
speed marvel, did not rely near as much
ON his speed last season as in former
years. Not that it was lacking for there
were occasions when he gave evidence
OF il. but he materially changed his style
of pitching. Walter was not out for a
strike-cut record last season. He went
through his games satisfied when the
ball was hit but he was not punished.
In other words, he used much more jude-
ment and intelligence in his work than
ever before and * there was a way to
prove it it would probably be found that
there was less wear on his arm last year
than during any previous season.
Having established his reputation for
speed. Johnson realizes that every bats
man who faces him is on a tension. eX-
pecting the ball to shoot toward him
with the velocity OF lightning. Hence
when ball of ordinary speed comes
along, the batter is caught off his guard,
with the result he either hits it weakly
or not at all \ change OF pace has
added much 10 Johnsons value a
pitcher Not only is he even more diff
cult to hit. but he is sure TO last many
Years longer than If he pitched every
game at top speed.
Rival managers give the Nationals credit
ior having the best catching staff in the
American League. There Is but one
catcher who is in the same class with
ifeEry. who is entitled TO be called the
best of the local lot. and he il Stanage of
Detroit His advantage lies i'm the fact
that he IS more experienced and a better
litter than Henry. but when the CATCH
ING staff of any Other team is compare ed
Eiih that of the l"cals. ii stands out in a
class hy Itself Whatever batting ability
iilay be lacking in the case of Henry
and -A.nsmith Is more than made I'D BY
Ava Williams. VINO is. Incidentally a
Iaosi valuable man behind the bat
Williams established himself during I'm.
closing months Of the lest campaign aud
il is "A Iair guess hat he will be used witt,
more regularity the coming season
Griffith intends To pair OF his catchers
with his pitchers. Certain twirlers work
better with certain catchers and the Old
Fox is not overlooking any bets Aim
smith. for instance. is assigned 10 john
son for the reason tina; he is more
active Oh mis- feet than either of his coll
leagues. and We all know tha, Waller
has days when a catcher i kept b,isy
gathering in his Vide ones. John Henry
- ideal mal ~ catch Bob Groom
Williams has no favortes He proved
satisfactory 20 all the pitchers he ham
died. and helped his team "a whole To-;