The Washington herald., 1916-08-10
Griffith Buys Southpaw
From the Des Moines Club
Charles Thomas Will Report
Here Next Week-Ryan
Looks Youngster Over.
OTHER SPORTING GOSSIP
BY WILLIAM PEET.

|
aser Griftith, and will be here when the
Nationals return from the present West
ern inva sion
! According to reports, Thomas has the
endorsement of Jack Ryon, at present
on scout duty, out you can bet there is
a whole lot behind the whole business.
The Des Moines club is handled by
Frank Isbell, former White Sox player.
and personal friend of Grifs
! 1t was Isbell who recommended Urber
Faber to Griff back in 1913. and the Old
! Fox had Mike KahOe look Faber over.
with the result that Faber was not pur-
chased because Kahoe said he would not
do.
Last year Isbell recommended Carl Saw
yer, and Grih took him simply because
lsbell said the youngster had the makings
Of a good ball player
The signing of Thomas was probably
done for the same reason. Grin told
the writer last spring After this l will
never turn down another ball player my
old friend Isbell recommends. / am sorry
that l did not grab Faber when l had the
chance"
The American League race may yet
result in monkey and parrot finish.
That is. while the big fellows are scrap
ping over the prize the dark horse may
sneak in and grab it,
Here's a hot one from the pen of Boze-
man BulgeT the ba seball writer on the
New York Evening World:
! Hall Adams, late of Mississippi, insists
that screens in front of a grandstand are
the worst thing in baseball. We've stop
ped them in Mississippi" he says, Lis
! ten: They put up screens in the little
town that l came from. SO as TO be like
big league, and 1t caused a lot of trouble.
Z
missed a game. watched an exciting finish
behind this screen. In their enthusiasm
they climed up the wire netting. trying
to tear il down. In the scramble that
followed their whiskers were caught in
the meshes of the wire and the game had
to be postponed while the firemen cut
them down.
| Those screens were taken out the next
day under a resolution passed by the
city council, and you can bet they'll never
get back again"
From New York yesterday we grab
the following bit of dope: Old Hughey
Fullerton tells the story of an addle-
| pated fanatic who spent FIVE years in
figuring out 15,67s.94S possible plays in
baseball
The next day ne went to the game
and saw two new ones he had never
! thought about
In the same way you can prove
number Of things by figures. but you
don't always collect when the end is
! over.
Yet figures have their little nook in
one corner of the game. and by reach
ing in for a handful one can take stock
of just what show New York has OF
catching Brooklyn in these seven
weeks that lay or lie ahead.
Each club so far has played "a games
Therefore. each club has SO games left
Here is the situation:
Brooklyn Won SO Lost 35
/ New York Won 49 Lost IS
Suppose in the next sixty games
Brooklyn wins thirty-fve and loses
| twenty-five, which she ought to do
with those Western clubs to feed on
In that case her final ranking would
be: Won. SO: lost so.
To tie this mark the Giants would
have to win forty-five and lose but If
teen. a rough assignment, but not an
impossible one with the present ball
club that since its first defeat by the
Reds has won ten of the last twelve
| games. If Brooklyn should win forty
out of sixty New York would need fifty
out of sixty for draw. Prooklyn can
merely break even the rest of the year
and then force the Giants to win forty
one and lose but nineteen to beat her
! out So there is very little comfort left
| in figures for those who may happen
to yearn for another Giant triumph.
An enterprising reporter in Detroit
interviewed Mrs. Helen Hathaway
Britton. boss of the st. Louis Cardi
is with the following result:
Il do not wish to sell my team said
Mrs. Britton in an interview. Il am
perfectly satisfied with them.
'I jus; motored over to Detroit
from St. Louis to give my mother
little outing. No. I'm not going to any
! of the ball games while l am here.
go almost every day at st. Louis, but
this is a little pleasure trip for my
mother, and I'm taking her about. We
shall probably go to the Flats Friday.
| Mrs. Britton has a mans job in run
ming a baseball team, but she speaks or
1t lightly. "Oh. I'm not doing very
much,' she said. Lots of other women
are doing more than that I'm pretty
proud of my sex Not that I speak of
anything that I have accomplished my
self, but women in general. They are
doing much of the dig work Of the
world.
L love the. great out-of-doors I spend
as much time in 1t possible. We came
over from Cleveland to Detroit on the
boat for the water ride. and shipped our
car. Mr.. Britton is at the ball game. but
Mrs. Britton formerly lived in CleVc'
land. Upon the death of her uncle, Mr.
| Stanley Robinson. who owned the St
| Louis Cardinals. Mrs. Britton succeeded
him to the presidency of the club. AL
though but 30 years old at that time. five
years ago, she took hold of the club with
all the zest and assurance of an olo-
! time baseball magnate, and has stuck ny
the post even though persistent rumors
will have 1t that she would like TO SHIFT
! the load She has been a baseball ran
since girlhood and her uncle. as we'll as
her fa3er, the late Frank De Haas Rob-
| inson, regarded her as a mascot for the
old Cleveland Spiders. who were owned
by her uncle and father when they play
| ed in Cleveland She is an attractive
woman of the brunette type, with a
charming personality and an optimistic
view of life.
| The following letter is self-eXplanatory:
| Sporting Editor of The Herald: Have
you stopped to notice that the American
| league standing of the teams on this date
| indicates that all teams except Washing
ton and the Athletics, when taken as a
whole. have played ffty-fifty ball.