Evening star., 1915-05-24
JOHNSON SEEMS TO IMPROVE
WITH EVERY GAME HE PLAYS
Star of Griffith Pitching Staff Was Excep-
tionally Brilliant In Yesterdays
Contest at Cleveland.

bit doubtful about whether Connolly
could play the outfeld in Cleveland.
hut Connolly insisted that he could.
and, wearing a pair of glasses, he went
out and demonstrated 1t. Connolly ap-
pears to be made of the right stuff.
and in due time is going to be a val
liable man for the Nationals. In fact.
he is proving that right now by his
good stickwork.
There is no denying that Griffith was
a bit nervous in the ninth, when. with
two out. run over the plate and sec
ond and third occupied. the stage was
set for tie score if Smith could have
hit the ball far enough, and Smith is a
dangerous batter Griffiths team has
, been getting SO many bad breaks that
there is no doubt that he did not feel
safe until Morgan had thrown Smith
out al first base.
With two out and Chapman on first in
the ninth. Gandil played back and
Chapman was allowed to steal sec
ond: he scored on Jackson's hit, and
that will be the last time a player un-
der similar circumstances will be al
lowed to steal base. Griffith. of
course, realizes that ordinarily it is
policy to let the first baseman play
back under such conditions so as to
present the strongest defensive against
the batsmen. but this was done several
times last season and always seemed
10 encourage a TalIE, SO that Gfl6lth
has announced that the play is tabooed.
1t is most encouraging that the old
er members of the Washington team to
r man believe that they are destined to
cut an important figure in the present
race. There is no way to argue them
out of this belief. They have now seen
all the other teams and they have yet
to admit that any of them outclass the
Griffiths. all things taken into consd-
= Ia
six weeks old and the Nationals feel
that they have lots of time to get GO
ing and win a majority OF their games,
and they are looking for a most sue
cessful stay at home during the month
of June. nearly all of which they will
play on their own grounds.
The team seems at last to have start
ed to show some form with the bat
and this is all that has been lacking to
date. 1t is, of course, true at it's best
it is not slugging team, but it is so
strong defensively that it does not need
the hitting strength of it's rivals in or
der to be co1tenders in the race.
One of the cleverest bits of fielding
ever seen on ball field was pulled by
Mcbride in the sixth inning of yester-
days game. With Chapman on first
Jackson hit high bounder through
the pitchers box and it looked like a
base hit. Mcbride cut over, managed to
get the ball in his gloved hand and
with a backward toss got it to Morgan
in time to force out Chapman. The
crowd applauded this play and gave
Mcbride an ovation when he came in
from the field.
Several hundred Cleveland fans have
petitioned the club to appoint umpire
Billy Evans as manager of the Indians
but it is not at all likely that President
SOmerS will take any action in the mat
ter, believing 1t wise to let we'll enough
alone for the present at least.
Evans. to begin with. could hardly af-
ford to take the position. He is getting
something like $1,000 for umpiring and
in addition makes about $4,000 writing
for newspapers and magazines during
the Off season. which is probably more
than he could get for managing, and
he does not have any worries now,
either.