The Washington herald., 1917-03-01
Griffith Makes Eleventh-Hour
Change and Takes Eddie
Flaherty with Team.
BY JOHN A. DUGAN,

Wilmington. N. c., Feb. 2s-Driving
south, fifty minutes late. this "Grifhth
Special" is tonight speeding on toward
the Augusta training camp
The National party which pulled out
OF the Union Station was composed of
eight players and a quartet of war" cor
respondents.
Catcher John Henry, who has been
! under the hammer of Ban B. johnson.
the president of the American League,
during the past winter. Is in charge of
| the squad, and outside of the Old Fox,
Johnny is the best little pilot in captivity
The getaway at the Washington Ter
minal was marked with the regular per-
formance Of. picture taking and hand
shaking
The heavy rainstorm that greeted the
boys OH their arrival in the Capital this
morning is still on this Southern trail.
ana already many of the anxious ones
are fguring II indoor practice will be the
program In the workout tomorrow after
noon.
e. Cliff Cohen the traffic manager OF
the Atlantic Coast Line, is accompany
Ing the squad. while Fred Harveycutter,
OF Washington, is also making the trip
Catchers Henry. Ainsmith. and Charity
and Pitchers Harper, Craft, FIaherty,
Jameson. and Shaw make up the ad-
| vance squad which left the Capital while
Doc Ayers Joined the squad at Rich
mond. Va.
This "Divie Express had no sooner
started on its journey South than the
boys pitched, into a card game, Harry
harper. the Hackensack southpaw,
being the leader in the movement.
| Although each man in the squad is
| willing to admit that he is somewhat
overweight, they each are confident that
they will be in shape when the Old Fox
and the main string hit the Augusta
Camp next Wednesday. To a man the
| squad Is anxious to pull into the southern
camp, and are ready to jump right in
tomorrow and hit the old grind OF spring
training. Harry Harper is expected to
como through as Griff's mainstay south
paw told q few interesting stories about
his experience as a junk dealer. Harry
has been gathering paper all winter and
honestly admits that he cleaned up quite
a little pile on the costly >stuff. Although
Harper has been gathering in the old
cream" during the past three months
Charlie Jameson claims that the big
sidewheeler refused to give him a Job
because he could not drive an auto truck.
A native son gave out the information
that the month Of March is the rainy
month for Augusta and that 1t will not
be surprising IL the Nationals run into
some severe rain storms during the
early training days. Floods are the most
popular things that Northern Georgia
can boast of during early March and
| although the boys are not looking for
any Charlottesville snow storms. there
Ii quite an amount of kidding about
these rain storms even so much as to
pronounce them floods.
| The boys are overanxious to greet
Nick Altrock and Mike Martin in the
morning and quite a receptation is to
be handed them from Shaw, Charity
Company.
Southward the advance squad of the
Washington baseball club is now vending
its way to the Augusta training camp.
Boarding the o'clock Atlantic Coast
Line rattler at Union Station yesterday.
seven young athletes under the watchful
eye of John Henry. the Nationals vet
eran receiver entertained harboring
hopes of making baseball history in the
National Capital during the coming sea-
son.
The first pair to put in an appearance
were John Henry and Harry Harper. 1t
seems that Henry left Amherst by auto
and when arriving at Hackensack. n. j.,
picked up Harper. In company this pair
left the New Jersey metropolis Tuesday
morning at o'clock, believing that they
would make Washington not later than 6
safely all right, but eight hours behind
time, limping into Washington yesterday
morning at a. m.
Just this side of Philadelphia the first
mishap Of the trip occurred. a blowout
holding them up for over an hour Once
again on the way, everything was going
along serenely until Henry inadvertently
steered into a deep rut with the result
that spring snapped. This mishap held
the two players up for almost five hours.
and they were finally compelled to re-
sumo the journey with the broken spring.
Manager Clark Griffith was the next to
arrive at the station. the Old Foy being
on the scene to see that the boys were
| safely gotten away. Following Griffith
Claude Thomas, Eddie Ainsmith and
Eddie Flaherty showed up.
Each and every one of the boys looked
to be in fine fettle, not a one of them
giving the appearance OF being over
| weight. Griffith was highly pleased at
The superb condition each and every one
seemed to be in, but warned them before
boarding the train that upon his arrival
at the training camp a week from today
he would expect them to be far enough
| advanced in training to furnish plenty
OF pep and speed for the second section
|
1t seems that Griffith at the eleventh
hour made switch in the plans he had
made to ship Eddie F1aherty to Des
| N'AOhicS. ChueT inc agreement Dy which
he secured Claude Thomas, from the
Western League city, the Old Fox, In ad-
dttion to cash must turn over Young
pitcher to the Des Moines club. When
the local manager signed Flaherty to a
1917 contract he explained to the young
ster that he would give him the choice Of
either Of two things-remaining with the
club during the coming season and gain
ing what experience he could from the
bench or being sent to some fast minor
league club where he would be given more
opportunities Of gaining actual experience
from the mound.
Flaherty at the time made no decision
In the matter and Griffith naturally took
1t for granted that the local boy would
be satisfied with any berth that he might
pick out for him. Upon learning that he
was to be sent to Des Moires, Eddie last
night got into communica on with the
Nationals chieftain and Informed him
that he was not over-enthusiastic with
the switch. The result OF the confab was
that Griffith decided to take him to the
training camp.
Griffith believes that in time Flaherty
| will develop into n big league pitcher of
more than average ability. and should
he decide to farm him out at the end
NJ he 0pir Et