The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-06-01
BROWNS SLUGGERS
Use NAILS IN BATS
Nunamaker Shows Curiosity
and FOemen Are Scared.
ARMOR IS AGAINST RULES
St. Louis Team Here for -Four
Games With Grifmen.

The 81. Louis Brownies are here to-
day. and Manager Griffith and his
hired men will do we'll to examine the
bats Of George Sisler and Bill Jacob
SON. These two players have been
slAmming the ball all over the lot, but
there 10 q reason. according to Bob
MAXWELL the Philadelphia baseball
writer. who had a talk with Leslie
Nunamaker. the Yankee backstop, be-
fore writing the following:
George Sisler. the efficient baseball
team drawing his semi-monthly sti-
pend from the St Louis Browns, Is
suffering . terrible slump in his bat
ting. Jacobson, an outhelder on the
same payroll. also Is on the down.
grade. and Fielder Jones is sitting up
late trying to dope out the cause. In
one week George the Slugger fell OF
sixteen points in his general average.
and Jake, while he Is holding up his
end, IL not walloping the pill with the
same effectiveness that characterized
his batting early in the season. OF
course, there Is a reason, and Jones
VIII save himself q lot Of worry IL he
believes the yarn told by the New
York players. According to the dope.
both Sisler and Jacobson were using
armorclad bats, which are illegal. and
when they were forced to discard
them their hitting suffered.
Noticed Metal KRobs.
According to the story, SisIer
strolled up to the plate in the opening
game OF the recent series in st. Louis,
and Leslie. Nunamaker. catcher for
the Yanks, noticed q few metal knobs
at the end OF the bat
what kind OF a bat are you using
these days, GeorgeT asked Nunama-
maker. Let me take a look at it,"
"'Oh, it's just an ordinary bat re-
plierd Sisler. 1T isn't worth looking
at
but let me see IT, insisted the
catcher. I want to look at that row
of lacks at the end
They're not tacks: they're nails,
answered George. This Is my favor
lite bat: and ! fixed 1t after breaking
II in batting practice. There IL moth
ing wrong with it,"
''Nunamaker walked over to take
a good look at the damaged part, but
Sisler hurried back to the bat rack,
where he selected another war club.
He did not use his favorite bat in the
series. and as a result his hitting fell
off"
just as Exclusive.
Shortly afterward Jacobson ap-
peared with another damaged bat
and once more Nunamaker spotted It.
He asked TO examine 1t but Jake was
as exclusive as Sisler. He too ran
back TO the bench and used another
biudgeon. And his work at the plate
slumped badly in the games.
according to Bill Donovan. these
patched-up bats were responsible for
the heavy hitting OF the Brownies
early in the year. The sticks are H.
legal. and in the future the umpire
will be asked to be on the lookout for
them. II Is said that Sisters bat
was dotted with the fiat heads OF big
nails, covering an area OF about eight
inches and having the same effect as
a strip OF steel at the end. 1t IL
much easier to meet the ball fairly
with a bat like this, and the driving
power 10 Increased considerably. Sis
Ter and Jacobson belted the ball all
over the outfeld and all Of their hits
Travelled with terrific speed. Had
they been allowed to use those bats
all season Cobb and Speaker would
have had . hard time to keep in the
front"
The Brownies have four games to
play here with the Griffmen and so It
may behoove the home boys to take
some hard looks at those wagon
tongues.