The Washington times., 1914-03-24
By THOMAS KIRBY.

During the whole of the say Al
Charlottesville the Nationals did moi
accomplish as much as they did yes,
terday afternoon.
The fact that the players were with
in their own lair seemed to add pep
to the whole combination and in both
fielding and in batting they gave q
better exhibition than they did dur
ing the whole Of the sojourn within
the range Of the Blue Ridge. As was
repeated in these columns. the players
were misled in their weakness In hit
ting by the fact that there wa, nc
background at Lambeth field against
changes Of a ball, but once they struck
that green fence at National Park
they commenced to gather the leather
letter than they had at any time while
they were in the camp. that was sup
Iosed to give them condition.
Griffith used one OF the young pitch
ers after another. but none seemed to
be able to stop the onslaught Of the
men who hold regular positions ir the
Washington ball club during the sea
son that starts next month.
Upon the manager no one made a
better impression than Joe Engel.
During the closing days of the stay
at Charlottesville the young man who
claims Washington as his home, de-
veloped a sore arm that caused the
greatest apprehension in the camp.
As soon as he realized that there
might be trouble over the one he had
nCrshed through a coupe of years.
Griffith gave orders to Engel that he
Should take it easy. He did this until
his arm appa arentIy regained all Its for
mer strength and yesterday he was able
to whistle then through at a mile a
minute.
In your attempts to try to pick the
pitchers who will survive the cut that
Griffith must make pretty soon. do not
forget Ergel.
est there is in the Nationals was re-
moved yesterday when fully 1.OO0 people
assembled at the ball park to take a
look at the Nationals and NationaIettes
IN action
This person Paul Smith is quite a
ball player, and II might be we'll to re-
member this when trying to weigh the
resLective abilities Of the nen who are
battling for regular berths.
Smith Is big fellow. and II would be
expected that this great weight might
act as a drawback, but instead he Is
able to fling himself in either way.
While naturally quiet Smith attracted
attention at the Virginia camp not only
by his fielding. but the manner in which
he threw his whole strength and weight
into the swings at the servings of the
pitchers Griffith assigned to toss to the
batters.
The strenuous experience he had at
Charlottesville has shown on Johnny
Mumford. When he first reported he
vas much overweight, but today he has
reached the mark where he appears as
regularly trained athlete.
There is no one in the whole collection
who is slamming the ball harder than
Ray Morgan.
During the whole extent Of the work.
out yesterday afternoon there were few
occasions when the little second base
man did not land hard and drive far.
When he first came into the league
the most persistent criticism against
Morgan was that he was too small to
be an infielder. but as the days passed
and Cutie" commenced to pound in
Iuns there was 4 complete change Of
sentiment.
Morgan is still considerably over
weight. but the chances are that he
will be primed by the date Of the open
ing game in the campaign, which
amounts SO much to Clark Griffith 6
Co.