Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-02-01

Continued from First Page)
be fast and possess a lot of natural
ability but requires a lot of developing.
Another arrangement which was made
with the Newport New club is the ar
ranging of an exhibition game to be
played their by the Yanigans on April
ID. the day before the season opens
Schaefer-Altrock and company will take
a lot of the youngsters down there and
amuse the populace. It is a holiday and
one of the largest crowds is expected.
Charley Somers' statement that the
Federal League had trained its guns on
all major league teams excepting the
Giants and Athletics for the purpose of
giving these two teams a big advantage
and making runaway pace Of the two
big league struggles strikes Griffith as
being absurd
so far as the American League is con-
cerned. Somers' explanation of the Fed
eral League intentions are not based on
facts. The coming race is not going to
be a runaway for any team Mack s
crowd is going to be busy. Cleveland is
the only team which has been hurt, but
the others are all stronger than they
have been Don't overlook Boston. The
Red Sox are splendid team. 1t was
torn to pieces last season, but IL Wood
which will have to be beaten, and don't
see where the Feds made any inroads on
the former champions. We lost only
Owens, and ] can't see where that hurts
us in the least for We still have about as
nifty a catching staff as any in the
league
'.There'll be no runaway race as the
result of anything the Federals have ac
complished with our teams. The team
which wins next season will know it has
been in race. Take my word for that"
In giving Boston a good chance in the
next race Griffith is but voictng the opin-
ion of many other base ball men That
Red Sox team fell far below its true
standard last season. and is very apt to
show marked reversal Of form in the next
race. That team is a lot stronger than it
appeared to be last year. The injury to
Joe Wood in the early games put
damper on the players hopes, and then
there was a lot Of other trouble which did
not tend to make a ball team win lot
of games. But under new ownership and
management there is likely to be a re-
markable change. Wood ought to come
back. He is still a youngster. and it is
not believed that his injury will affect
him permanently. That outfield is a
cracker. and there are not many infields
which have anything on that quartet Car
rigan will have cavorting around the
bases.
Collins, Wood, Bedient and Leonard
are a quartet of strong twirlers. and
If the rest Of the team plays in form
Boston cannot help but be heard from
in the coming campaign.
less the teams of the Federal League
do a lot of strengthening that the Chi
cago aggregation will walk in with
the pennant the first season. While it
posed to pool its players and make an
effort to have eight teams as equal in
strength as possible this plan is not
being followed. Weeghman, the hnan-
,f1I AZ 50
of the Chicago club. insists on having
a bang-up team represent his city. and
as result he has signed up majority
of the big leaguers who have been oh
tanned. and his team apparently will
stand out when the race is on.
There is perhaps no doubt that the
Chicago Federal League club will prove
a financial success. Its park is located
on the north side. where there is no
big league competition, and there Is a
chance of it drawing well. But one or
two clubs cannot carry the entire
league through a season successfully.
The Feds may start their season. but
the chances are against their prosper
ing very long.
Groom seems to be the only man on
Grif1ith's team who is in danger of being
lost to the Feds. 1t speaks well for Grif-
fith's popularity with his players and his
business prociivities that he has been able
to beat the Feds to every one of his men.
vaders, but if he does the chances are
that he will not do much harm to the
pitching staff. Griffith seems to be par
ticularly well fortified with pitchers. Not
only has he a great nucleus for a sensa-
tional staff in Johnson and Boehling, but
there is an array of young talent which
should more than fill the hole which
Groom's jumping would create. Shaw.
Engel. Cashion, Ayres. Bentley, Harper,
not to speak of several other youngsters,
all have shown enough to warrant the
belief that a portion Of this squad will
make good from the outset.
Barney Dreyfuss of the Pittsburgh club
is not the only club owner who proposes
to prevent any player who jumps his
club from ever playing in organized base
view of the offense and insists that any
player who jumps his contract ought to
be kept out of organized base ball for all
time to come. Dreyfuss has taken this
stand because of an experience he had
with Catcher Simon, one of the backstops
of his team.
Simon returned the first contract sent
him because he argued that he was en-
titled to 5000 per season. Dreyfuss
made this concession and sent him a new
contract calling for this amount Simon
was never heard from afterward and
signed with the Federals. Dreyfuss says
that he could bring legal proceedings
against Simon, but that he is willing TO
LET linn 90 his, own way.
While the Federal League tries hard to
impress its followers with its major
league aspect it is not clear 10 any un-
prejudiced person how that league can
make up eight clubs Of major league cal
iber with tho material Il IL given credit