Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-04-11
Sspators' Star
T Fans II Mdckn,en

Mae Thrasher was next up but the |
were n'oS,ssed a chance to be a hero by |
recrus strunk at second, retiring the side.
I0ls" .,,-ave hundred fans witnessed the
ufns. ,. and r,orch,,v foot ,av.
hn',arv favor to the opening of the 1917
: ms"m season in Philadelphia today. For
~ erst tine IN history, militarlsm mingled
~ sss great national pastime In the
With W exercises. Instead of strolling |
insu y isntly from the clubhouse to the
nonr N thence across the field to attend |
psn'" IA phazard ceremonies In raising
~ ss~ the players fell into line and like
W. .aranany of drilled soldiers. marched
y ss.iv around the grounds, executed
-. ~ msneuvers In front OF the grandstand
fsw harvard hoisted the American flag
70 the breeze.
NE. At attention they saw the emblem
s!Ans ~. nst,on carefully carried to the flag
uoh,, four men, so that no part of 1t
posssS ~ the ground. With the band play
~ the Star Spangl.l Banner ana the
uN.. ~ crowd of Americans First standing
N,ss bared heads. the ceremony was an
snns.sslye Wv, one. It meant more this year
than ever before.
4. ,other military touch was added to the
.,s.urs when Mrs. William Albert Woods.
pNssinv dark blue suit and a vivid yellow
v"ss made speeches before all of the stands,
s1Sa.s she entered the field Mrs. Woods
n.s,rS ali eligible men to join the navy.
sisnsd two recruits from kcnsington
!. r,.re was quite a crowd at the park
80 the gates opened. and by 2 o'clock
~. heachers were comfortably filled. 1t
1asx more time to All the grand stand, as
~ wealthy customers waited until the last
minute.
In the meantime Kendall's Band sprinkled
hsrmony all over the field, turning from
sonnets of the North to dtties of the South
Without missing single toot.
nIu Never was the first player to appear.
~ i .2O surrounded by his new uniform,
Mn emerged from the coop and soon was
iolnsd BY Parnham the rookie pitcher, and
pst Haley They put on some bunting prac-
~ and allowed Nick Altrock to take
hand Nick was the first of the enemy to
show his face
In short time players of both teams
had bunting games of their own, and our
Athletics made the better impression. They
only booted thirty-six chances while Wash
ineton slipped up on sixty-nine.
walter johnson decided that he was in
shape to pitch this afternoon and told Man
ager Griffith to put him In the lineup
sesinst the Athletics opening game cf the
season. Griff. being a good little manager
dd as he was told.
wonderful Walter had been on the sick
list for a couple of days, having developed
4 stiff neck At first 1t was thought that
hs could not appear, but Griffith put it up
% his star and everything was settled
.Johnson has pitched the opening game
for US since 190S.' Griff explained. "and he
doesn't wish to break his record. He is not
seriously ILL., but l shall yank him out at
the first sign of weakness It's too early
to take chances"
After looking over his stable, of hurlers
and receivers. Connie Mack selected Joe
Bush and Bill Meyer to do his battery
work.
Mayor Smith suffered kink in his
throwing arm, or a charley horse, or some
thing and was not among those present.
Director Of Supplies Mclaughlin stepped
Into the breach and threw the first ball into
the diamond. He had lots of speed and his
s direction was good. Then the game was on.
y The makeup of the Athletics seemed en-
trely dikerent. The old-sty!e. double -declSed
caps used by the Mackmen for years, were
discarded and regulation, close-ftting head
gsar used in their stead From "a scenery
4 standpoint the club looked like regular big
league organization and acted the part
" Once upon time we were in the habit OF
referring to a game of baseball as a battle
but things have changed now. "A battle is
fought regardless of climatic conditions, but
. game Of baseball depends entirely upop
the weather. The weather man being ex-
ceedingly kind this afternoon, the Athletics
and Washington were able to get together
and see whichIteam was the worse. Con.
NE Mack was confident of victory and
Clark Griffith gave voice to the same
thought. Each put the game in his win
ming column before hostilities commenced
q me competition was put on to see who
would win.
There were several new faces in the
Athletics lineup and the fans were anX.
4 loue 70 see the wearers of said faces in
action Ping Bodie the fence-buster of the
fcihc coast and late OF the White Sox
ssme IN for his share of attention. as did
4 1stes At third and Frank Thrasher in right
"a nsld Thrasher played few games with
~ Aacks last year. but his secret is safe
Ec sewsof the home folk saw him perform
n 'sne other players looked spck and span
tneir new uniforms and they had as
Eguvcn pep In the preliminary workout as
a enders
Ri victory today meant much to the home
ysm ana every effort was put forth to put
~ over. In the last two years the AS have
sOuen on to bad start and ,trailed along
y the mud for the first six games. A
VAN loses what little confidence 1t has
= sttsr Z series Of defeats early in the season
4 ~ connie wants to prevent this. His two
~ 0eN pitching bets--Joe Bush and Elmer
Ayers-were ready to enter the fray. but
no omcial selection was made until just be-
lofe the game was called.
fatA FIRST INNING .
Elk Inc first ball pitched by Joe Bush Was
perfect strike, he followed it up with two
sme.s, and Leonard famed Strunk made
:, o!llliant running catch of Fosters liner.
sNee Milan bounced a single past Bates,
n Asring the first hit of the season at
n scpe Park. Rice sent long fly to
& @esnsr No runs. one hit, no errors.
N NaNer johnson was given the glad hand
Sem ne went int6 the pitchers box
6 ~ veNey' Witt fouled off his first offering
t was as close as he came to it, as
led him a fast one and hook and
kftrM was called out on strikes. Lawry
80 tw'ce as good as Witt, he registered
N w iouh before he. struck out Strunl'