Evening star., 1918-01-20
|ONLY TWENTY-FIVE |
GR|FFS TO GO SOUTH
Of Thirty-Four on Reserve
List Four Are in U. S. Service
and Five Will Be Dropped.
SHOTTON SIGNS CONTRACT
BY DENMAN THOMPSON.

ington ball club will not be taken
south for spring training, Man.
ager Griffith having decided to
limit his squad to twenty-five
men. Four of the players-Joe
Leonard, Mike Menosky, Billy
Murray and Pitcher Gibson of
cambridge, Ga, who last per-
formed in the Dixie League-are
in the service of Uncle Sam. the
latter being stationed at Camp
Sewer, Greenville, S. C., and will
not be sent contracts. Adrian
"Slim" Lynch, the pitcher dis
covered by Mike Martin in the
wilds of Iowa last summer, also
will be among those absent when
the bugle blows for reporting in
March.
Lynch has been offered to Joe Cam
tillon. but if the Minneapolis club cam
not use him he may be sent to Wichita,
as Manager Isbell has put in bid for
him. Lynch was carried by the locals
from the middle of August till the
close of the season, but failed to im-
press Grif with his ability. Time and
more seasoning may develop the tall
youngster. but he is of no use to Griff
now. Bruce Hartford. the shortstop OF
the Des Moines club. is another TO
whom no contract has been mailed.
Whether he will be asked to report de-
pends upon whether Johnny Lavan is
summoned for service in the Navy and
upon how Grfff's other infielders line
up. The same applies to Sam Crane.
who probably will be returned to Min
neapolis. June Cass. the outfielder OBJ
tanned with Hartford from the Des
Moines club. will be looked over, how
ever. contract having been mailed to
him. If Griff decides he does not need
turned back to the Des Moines club.
Contrary to reports. neither Horace
Milan nor Harold Thompson. the latter
being the pitcher-outfielder obtained
from Lajoie'S pennant-winning Toronto
club of the International League. ac-
tually are in the United States service
as yet. Contracts have been mailed to
both and a document also has been
sent to Doc Lavan. the former St Louis
Brown. who is subject to call into the
Navy on twenty-four hours notice. In
reply to a letter from Griffith inquire
ing as to his Army status Thompson
wrote that he would be at his home in
Pennsylvania until time for the base
ball season to opea," which is taken to
mean that he does not expect to be
called in the Army draft.
The other players to whom no COM
tracts have been sent as yet are Wall
ter Johnson. George Mcbride. John
Henry and Outfielder Ellis. the latter
obtained in the draft from the Birming-
ham club of the Southern Association.
Documents will be mailed to this quar-
tet as soon as Grim reaches an UNDER
standing with them in regard to terms.
The manager does not admit that any
difficulty has been encountered in de-
Gliding upon mutually agreeable salary
figures for any Of them.
1t is not believed that either Nc
Bride or Ellis will hesitate long about
accepting the inducements that ulti-
mately will be offered them. but the
cases Of Johnson and Henry may be
harder to straighten out. The con-
tract of the star moundsman expired
with the close of last season. The
document which will be submitted to
siderabTy less money than he has been
drawing and undoubtedly Will result
in deal of correspondence between
Cofeyville. Kan. and Washington.
past that he entertains well defined
ideas regarding the value of his serv~
ices, and at the time of the Federal
League invasion of organized base ball
he carried his point with the local man
agement. This is war year, as was
1915, but it is war of a different kind
and hold-outs are not the vogue now
they were then.
There is very little doubt that john
son and his boss will get together
in due time. but some concessions on
both sides may be required to bring
this about. 1t is not unlikely that d
substantial bonus will be offered john
son if his work measures up to a GER
tain caliber. thereby assuring him OF
getting paid on the basis of what he
delivers rather than assuring him of a
stipulated income regardless of the re-
suits he is able to produce on the field
of battle.
Henry's status is unlike that of any
other member of the team. Griff says
a contract will be submitted to him.
and that. if accepted. as he has no
doubt it will be, the big catcher again
will be seen behind the bat in Wash
ington uniform. Information from
down east" is to the effect that Henry
wants to be located near his business
informed Griff that if he cannot play
in Boston he will give up base ball.
The Red Sox, with the addition of
Schang Of the Athletics. are well sup
piled with catchers, there being five on
Frazee's pay roll: but the Braves OF
the National League. who have lost
both Bowdy and Tragesser. are badly
in need of backstopping material and
ordinarily it would be impossible to
obtain waivers from all the American
League clubs on a catcher OF HenryS
prowess, the fact that he has decided
to give up the game unless he can
be located in the Hub may pave the
way for getting him out of the circuit.
If waivers were obtained on Henry the
only thing that might cause hitch
in his transfer to the Braves would
be the inability of the Boston Ma
tionals to reimburse the local club for \
its loss. The treasury of Haughton's
club is in none too healthy a condition.
but the Braves need Henry badly. and,
having obtained a wad of coin from
the deals which sent Barnes and Doyle
to the Giants and gave the Cubs title
to TYLER, the local windpaddist may
vet be seen performing at Braves Field,
Boston, this year.
with the arrival at the Offices of the
local club of the signed contract es
Bert Shotton. obtained from the
Browns with Lavan, in exchange for
$4,000 and Melvin Gallia, four Griff-
men are in the fold for the coming
season. Clyde Milan will perform under
The terms of a contract having one
more season to run. while Ainsmith
signed up last Monday and the duly.
executed document of Outflelder Sand
ruist, the Chicago semi-pro player, also
las been received by Manager Griff1th. d.
rhe latter is a youngster yet in his
Gems who displayed considerable abil-
ty in working out with the Grinmen
n Chicago last summer.
In addition to the players named
,boye, contracts have been sent to the
MI