The Washington times., 1914-03-23
By THOMAS KIRBY.

George Mcbride will start in the
first exhibition game of the Nation
ais unless he should be overcome
by some mishap IN the remaining
practices before meeting the cole
gians. -
For a while it was thought that
the strain of the groin which the
captain suffered in the gymnasium
at Charlottesville might prove seri-
Gus, but when Mike Martin an
nounced today that Mcbride would
be ready on Wednesday it knocked
the other story. Mcbride took only
light work this morning and says
he is feeling much better, the in
jured part giving MIN no trouble.
In case further rest for the field
leader should be deemed advisable
it will be Wauy Smith or Joe Ge-
deon a: short.
Every member of the Griffithian
clan WAS at National Park for the
morning workout and for nearly two
hours they had all sorts of baseball
practice.
The diamond had dried out, but it
Was Necessary to rake the paths in
order to allow the sun to get in real
work. As soon as Griffith called
quits Jim ODay's henchmen poured
oil on the exposed parts of the dia-
mond. In a few minutes clouds Of
smoke were arising and in a short
time the earth was in good shape. The
outheld was still somewhat wet. but
no serious drawback is expected from
this.
Griffith plans to have regular games
between split squads both tomorrow
morning and tomorrow afternoon.
Jack Ryan returned to Charlottesville
this morning, leaving the regular trio to
do all the catching in the practice Pc
RODS.
There was quite a crowd out, and the
principal interest Of the morning, stunts
was centered in the performance Of
Walter Johnson. .'Swift'' WARMED I'D
with Ainsn,i,h, and the opinion Of the
experts and almost-experts in the
stands was that johnson is even low
ready for the opening game.
III the weather IS fair on Wednesday
the Nationals VIII blossom forth in their
1914 uniforms. which have been delivered
by Charley King
Much Of the comparatively poor
hitting at Charlottesville might be
attributed to two things-the superior
condition of the pitchers who had re-
ported early and the fact that the
background on which tine men at the
plate attempted to gauge the speed
OF the ball was a plowed field full
quarter of mile from the diamond
Here. with the fence directly in front
OF the rubber painted a dark green. ii
Is expected tine regulars will lose no
Time in catching their regular stride
IN swinging and meeting. for even this
morning II was evident that the men
stood up there with considerably more
confidence than marked their perform
ances in Aibemarle county. d
Unless we have an absolute bhz-
zard ] do not expect to lose a min
ute's practice between now and the
evening Of April IL, when we leave
for Providence to play a couple of ex-
hibitions before moving on to Boston
for the regular opening" quoth Grif-
nth this morning when he did not
attempt to conceal his satisfaction
with the way he found things at the
ball grounds.
You see back here we have plenty
OF room under the stands for our
plocners we nave the regular box,
The place is well sheltered, and il
would require a driving rain or snow
10 reach the men when they might be
forced under here
Tn addition they can get all the
running they need. From one end of
rhe stand to the other there are prac-
ricafly no obstructions and the men
can run TO their hearts content with
out being stinened up. as some of
Them were when they were forced to
do laps in the gallery Of the gym at
Charlottesville or on the wooden
saucer of the Virginia track team.
II the weather does not get any
worse than il Is today, / haven't the
slightest fear as to our condition
when we toe the mark for the grand
start"