Evening star., 1915-03-31
HOPPER TOP|TCH
AGAINST c. j. TODAY
Manager Griffith Has Squad
Go Through Strenuous
Morning Practice.
GAMES TO BE PLAYED
MORNINGS IN FUTURE
Ainsmith Praises Harper's Work and
Predicts Great Future for
Young Southpaw.
BY j. ED GRILLo.

Booth Hopper and his deceptive
knuckle ball are to make their debut
before a Washington crowd this aft
ernoon when the Georgetown Uni
versity team will be pitted against the
Nationals
Hopper is one of the new men on
the squad whom Griffith has picked to
| make good and interest will center
in his work today. Griffith will pit his
regulars against the Collegians on the
theory that they need all the work
/ they can get from this out to put the
finishing touches on ..,em. Hot weather
is needed. Since the players went into
training month or so ago they nave
had but few warm days The prospects
are that conditions will be better here
than they have been at either Char
lottesville or Richmond, and by the
time the season opens two weeks from
today the players are expected to be
on edge.
Strenuous days are in store for the
Nationals. Every day that the wealth
er permits Manager Griffith will have
the squad put in two hours in the
morning at practice and probably a
game between the Vets and Colts,
while games are scheduled for every
afternoon The players have advanced
far enough to stand this sort of work
now, and are really anxious to get in
a siege of good weather SO that they
can put in every day before the season
opens on the ball field.
For two hours this morning Griffith
had his entire squad busy. Walter
Johnson pitched to the batterS for a
full half an hour johnson Is rounding
into form. and he displayed a splendid
assortment of speed this morning. Jim
Shaw followed him on the rubber and
worked for as long period. Shaw is
ready to pitch any time he is called
upon. and is sure to appear in seve1~
of the exhibitions games scheduled
here.
There was no game planned for this
morning, but the system of having a
game in the morning will probably be
inaugurated tomorrow morning and
continued for the rest of the training
period.
American League Park looks splen-
did this spring. Painters have i'm
proved the appearance a great deal.
and Groundkeeper ODay has the field
in excellent condition. The inf1eld has
| been lowered and no longer retains the
turtle-back shape it had formerly
Which made inield work rather diff
cult. The grass has grown nicely, and
with a little more attention and spell
of dry weather the playing field is
sure to be much better this year than
ever before. ODay is now in full
charge of the entire plant. having
taken over the position of ground
keeper in addition to being general
superintendent of the park.
Il have seen lot of pitching of high
caliber in my time, but / never saw
such work as Harper did at Richmond
yesterday. The first ten balls he cut
loose were ten strikes. and he hardly
pitched ball to the first nine men to
face him and famed them ALL" re-
marked Eddie Ainsmith this morning.
Harper is going to have wonderful
year in my judgment. l never knew of
a young pitcher to improve to the ex-
tent that he has.
Joe Engel will pitch part of today's
game. The Washington youngster has
been showing much Improvement in
his pitching of late, having gone some
thing like ten innings without being
hit safely.
The performance of Harry Harper
against the Richmond team yesterday
was undoubtedly one of the pitching
feats of the training season. Harper
struck out twelve men, allowed but
two hits in five innings, and handed
the Dunn team one run as a result of a
wild spell in the last inning he Off
ciated
Harper is pretty certain to make an
enviable record this season. Though a
mere boy. his development has been
most remarkable, and he stands a good
chance of winning a large majority of
his games in the coming campaign.
Harper struck out the first nine men
who faced him yesterday, and 1t would
not have been any trouble for him to
have gone the entire route at top speed
if 1t had been necessary. Harper is in
splendid form, and is sure to be heard
from in the coming exhibition games,
as well as during the regular season.