The Washington herald., 1914-02-15
BY WILLIAM PEET.

Figuring that possibly IL might work
a hardship TO his players by laying on
a couple 81 days before the American
League Championship season opened.
Griffth yesterday filled in the only two
open dates on his exhibition schedule by
booking games in Providence. r. L..
April i2 and IL.
Bill Donovan. tn. old Detroit twirIer.
is the manager OF the Providence Inter
national League club. and the Nationals
will tune Up for the Red Sox in the
Rhode Island city, playing Sunday. April
L.. at Rocky Point. a seashore resort
and Monday. the 18th. in the Grays' In
ternational League park
The Nationals .prisg schedule
includes eighteen exhibition games.
as folIowsi March ., Georgetown;
March %, q, -, Philadelphia Ns-
tionais, March 10, 81, Brookiyn,
April I. 2, NewarkI April 3, Uni
versity Of Vermont; April Z, New
ark; April q, yiKiiants; April :,
Alexandra CardinslsI April 8,
Cstholic University and Gaiiaudet;
April 10. II. Boston Nationals;
April Il, II, Providence, Mt Provi-
dence, II. ].
There is likely to be a slight hitch over
one date. viz. April Is. when the WASH
Newport News club. in Newport News.
This game viii have TO be called of. as
Grit intends to carry all his regulars
and substitutes to Providence the dsy
previous, and will more than likely use
all Of his utility players in this series.
During the week just closed baseball
surprises galore broke loose. Almost
equal to the earthquake shock felt in
Philadelphia came new complications and
startling news of interest to the follow
ers of organized baseball. Here are a
few of them:
Johnny Evers signed with the Boston
Braves for $4,000 a year and a bonus Of
$4,000.
The Federals announced that they
would put a team in Washington Park,
Brooklyn, backed by Robert b. and ]. c.
Ward, the breadmakers.
The board of directors o: the National
League met and decided that Evers
should be taken away from Murphy and
that the Chicago owner should get neither
players nor cash in return as punishment
for his act in discharging Evers without
the usual ten-day notice of release.
The rules committee met and made a
number of radical changes.
Dave Fultz said the fraternity is not
allied with organized baseball against the
outlaws.
From Chattanooga, Tenn, comes the
following news dispatch:
Norman kid Elberfeld announced
yesterday that he had signed a one-year
contract with the Brooklyn National
League Club. Elberfeld. IL is understood.
viii act as advisory coach and utility in
fielder. Manager Robinson ordered him
1Gto Eah I'd
.
Nick Altrock. the veteran twirler of the
Nationals. is appearing at the Cosmos
Theater this week with his partner, in a
farce
Nick's act Is said to be q corker. and
is sure to be generously patronized by
local baseball fans and others.
Baseball nen generally approve of the |
action taken at the joint meeting of the |
rules committee of the American and
National leagues when 1t was decided |
mat 1t was best not to attempt to re-
strict pitchers from issuing Intentional |
base on balls. All of the suggestions |
mat were made In this respect left en- I
tireiy too much to the judgment of the |
umpire, and to adopt rules Of such a ma
lure Is merely to lay the foundation for /
continual squabbling on the playing field |
While II Is true that from the standpoint |
~ real sportsmanship the intentional pass 4
3 not wanted. stiIl 1t is not so very OBJ
|ectionable. The rules committee de-
.ided that It was imposing an impossibleI
task on the umpire to have him decide /
whether pitcher had passed a batter by
accident or design.
The most important thing that was
lone was the adoption Of a rule restrict
ng coachers at third base from interfer-
re with the base runners. They can /
,cach them. but they cannot put their
hands on the runner. -
The committees adopted all Of the
in the scoring rules suggested
~ the Baseball Writers Association
mis- sounds the death knell Of the so-i