Evening star., 1917-01-24
BY DENMAN THOMPSON.

That Dave Fultz, president of the
players fraternity, will quit the Or
ganization in the near future was the
prediction made today by Clark Griffith.
The players are not supporting Fultz
in his strike proposition" Griffith said.
"Fultz is coming to realize this more
and more every day. and it would not
surprise me to hear almost any time
now that he had resigned his job as
president of the fraternity. He'll back
up with the old alibi; will say the fell
lows quit him and that he won't have
anything more to do with them. He
will blame the ball players for the
failure of the hold-out plan. but will
not admit that it was he who made
the mistake of starting the strike
movement. He'll just throw up, the
sponge and claim the players deserted.
mo one knows FultZ any better than
! do. He played ball for me for a
long time. He is full of anarchistic
ideas and socialistic notions. l never
knew him to be on the right side of
any argument yet. and in this strike
affair he is merely living up to his
record-runninS true to form"
Howard Shanks was in Washington
yesterday ION business" He talked
over the telephone with Manager Grif-
fifth. but did not call at his office or
see him.
'Shanks phoned me and sail he was
In town for short time on business.
Griffith said today. He did not talk
business with me, however. He had
nothing to say about his contract and
/ did not press him. He'll be on deck
when l call for him and so will all
the others. Shanks is a supporter of
the fraternity and believes in the o.
ganiZation. but he is not in sympathy
with Fultz's strike plans. He is for
the fraternity when it is right, but
only when it is right"
All the members of the Washington
team, with the exception of the pitch
ers, may be here March for the inaug-
uration festivities. The men undoubt-
edly VIII want to come. and if they
are willing to pay their own living
expenses from that time until they
board train for the camp at Augusta
they are at perfect liberty to do so,
Griffith says
according to present plans, Griffith
VIII have his young twirlers leave
Washington on the 3 o'clock train the
afternoon of Wednesday, February 2S
This will get them to Augusta about
noon the next day" Griffith said today
and they can have two days of work
pt1oit llteTNeHeS- want tneIn
to get rest after a couple of days
work, so they will not be able to over
do things
Il haven't definitely fixed the date
for the regulars to leave. but it may
be Wednesday. March = This will
give them Friday and Saturday of that
week to timber up and allow an addi-
tional two weeks for them to get into
condition to play the Cincinnati team
in the first game. which is scheduled
for March "a. want the bows to
be in good shape by that time. as
hate to get licked by another big
league club. If the main squad does
start south on the eth the boys who
want to could take in the inauguration
on the 5th with but little cost to them
selves They no doubt will want to be
here and they probably will be- but
j do not feel called upon to pay their
expenses until-we actually set sail"
George Mullen, former star pitcher
OF the Detroit club. and who was a
member of the Washington team for a
short time after leaving Jennings out
Mt, will manage the Fort Smith team,
IN the Western Association, next sea-
son- recently having accepted the
berth Mullen's old battery mate,
Dutch Schmidt. now catcher at Mem
Dhis and resident of Fort Smith OBJ
tanned the position for Mullen.
How does the question of money
1gure in the interest major league
players are taking in the threatened
strike?"
This question. asked often of late at