Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-04-21
BY j. ED GRILLO.

Henri Rondeau will take Howard
Shanks' place In left field today, and
he will in all probability be kept in
that position for some time, because, 1t
is believed, the Frenchman Is about
ready to start a successful batting
career.
Shanks has been playing remarkable
ball in the field. and he also has been
hitting, well. but Manager Griffith
wants to get Rondeau. who is to occupy
the cleanup position in 'the batting
order. ready for the long campaign
which confronts the Nationals.
Rondeau requires time and hot
weather before he shows his true cali
Der as a batsman. and this seems to
be the time when he should cut loose.
Rondeau, too. is a good fielder and is
fast on his feet
Danny Moeller never played better
ball since he has been a member OF
the local team than he has this spring.
His hitting has been one of the fea-
lures Of the Nationals play. and he is
fielding and throwing well and show
ing his usual speed on the bases.
There is no more valuable outfielder
in base ball than Moeller when he is
in hitting streak, and so long as he
keeps up the present pace there is no
likelihood of any one taking his place.
The beauty of Moeller's batting has
been that most of his hits have come
at a time when they were most needed.
and he has driven in many of his
teams runs.
Nor has there ever been a time when
Eddie Foster has played better ball
than this spring. He is not only play
ing a remarkable game in the field
but he is hitting harder than ever be-
fore. His home-run drive yesterday
was a liner to right, which Gilhooley
made a try for. but it was hit so hard
that he could not reach it and 1t went
bases, made the circuit. just beating
Gedeon's relay to Nunamaker. he
had two singles in addition to the
homer to his credit, and they also fs-
ured in the scoring.
The explanation for the calling Of the
opening game at o'clock yesterday.
which caused lot of disappointment
to those of the patrons of the game
here who could not get away that
early. was the result of mistake. for
which Treasurer Rapley takes the
blame. 1t seems that for some unac-
countable reason Mr.. Rapley got the
impression that the opening games al
ways have been played at o'clock. as
are the world series games in the 1all'
so he made the announcement. not real
izing that he was in error until 1T was
too late to attempt change In the
time of starting the game.
Manager Griffith had given out j
o'clock as the starting time, and II
has been decided that in the future he
will make all announcements with rel
erence to the time games Will be play
ed on the local grounds.
While Magee, Maisel and Gilhooley
make very fast outfield, the trio is
not a strong defensive one and seems
to show little knowledge of how to
switch about for the various batters.
There was a strong contrast in the
work of the two outfields yesterday.
Shanks, Milan and Moeller played the
Yankee players as If they knew What
to expect from every man who faced
Johnson, and the result was they gath
cred in a lot of fly balls without being
forced to cover a lot Of ground in an
effort to reach the sphere.
One day last season Howard Shanks
threw out Harry Hooper of the Red
Sox after he had singled to left and
had turned first base, as is the custom
on base hit. Shanks, who was playing
left, came in on the hit, picked the ball
in time to catch Hooper. who was not
expecting this play.
Shanks came within an inch of hu-
initiating Lee Magee in the same way
in the sixth inning yesterday when
he worked the trick, but the ball did
not quite beat Magee to the bag,
though the Yankees left fielder had to
make desperate slide to the bag to
beat Shanks heave.
Shanks probably is the only player
who ever has attempted or succeeded
in making this play. 1t requires a
strong throwing arm to accomplish the
feat
Walter Johnson was in good form
yesterday and held the Yankees abso-
lutely safe until the eighth inning,
when he let up and allowed the Yam
KEGS to score a couple of runs.
Capt. Mcbride has made his presence
on the field felt with the stick this
spring On several occasions he has
come through with timely hits, and
Yesterday was not an exception. His
bunt down the third base line. which
Nunamaker followed in the hope that
the ball would roll out. gave Mcbride
his first hit, and in the fifth inning he
brought in two runs with two base
hit to left center and drove Heating
TO the bench More power to the cap
tain.
Fritz Maisel has not been very sue
cessful against Walter Johnson this
snring. He has faced him eleven times
in the two games which johnson has
worked against the Yankees. and Fritz
has famed five times and has not got