The Cordova daily times., 1918-02-23
. A~A~AAA%A%A~A~~%4
:SPORTS :
. Gossip About Events Of National :
= Importance and the Persons
= Who Are In the Head. Z
4 Liner Glasses.
(By H. c. Hamilton, United Press
Staff Correspondent

|
NEW YORK, Feb. 23.-The Wash.
ington American league club, it seems,
just can't get started on a road that
leads to the top of the heap.
Clarke Griffith, manager of the club.
had everything all fixed, he thought,
! for start toward strength when he
negotiated a trade that brought him
John Lavan from the Browns, but La
van up and joined the army and the
stuff was off.
The Washington club isn't guilty of
| harboring a lot of star ball players.
The team can play ball very credit
ably, and Griffith is one of the games
smartest managers, but there are no
Cobbs, Speakers ct al. connected with
the club. Walter Johnson is the sole
blooming star right now, unless one
wishes to consider Clyde Milan as still
a member of the elect club.
The reserve list of the Washington
club shows most of its promising ma
| terial gobbied up in the demand for
men in the army and navy. Mike
Menoskey, as promising a recruit as
ever showed in the big leagues, is
among those who entered the service.
Joe Leonard, hard-hitting and clever.
fielding third baseman, has gone to the
cOlors, and several others not so highly
regarded have poined.
The Senator'S pitching staff has
been about all the club could boast
for several years, and Griffith probably
is busy thanking fate that his best
men for hurting duty have not jumped
to the world league. Walter Johnson.
Harry Harper, Grain, Craft and other
stars still are held on the Senators
list.
Strength with the Washington club
depends almost wholly on the pitching
staff. If it holds up the Senators may
finish higher than last summer, but
there is small hope
The infeld is only passing fair and
the outfeld is only fair as an Ameri-
can league aggregation. Clyde Milan
is the star of the outer trio, and Milan
is growing into the veteran class with
such speed that it is doubtful if he
ever will again have one of his old
time years. Joe Acosta has given
pFoRfse of developing something, but
the Washington club needs a complete
renovation before it can again figure
in pennant struggles.
Speculation as to Cardinals
What of the Cardinals, with Jack
Hendricks, erstwhile leader of a bush
league team, at the helm? What is
to become of this great team of young,
sters, built up to real factor in the
last race through the perseverance oil
Miller Higgins, now mentor of the
Yankees, VIII they continue IN the
race, or will they accept in passive
fashion the advent of a new man and
slide down?
There is only one answer to tbs
question. The Cardinals will be il
the race. Possessed of a cleanup hit
Ter Of the type of Rogers Hornsby
owning staff of some of the fnest
pitchers in the land, backed by one oil
the finest catchers in baseball. the
cardinals are up there to stay awhile
Indications are it VIII be the Cardinals
who will have most to say about who
wins the 1918 pennant
Some folks may point to the fact
that Hendricks will start without an
infield of any proportion, but stranger
things than that have happened to
baseball clubs without any dangerous
results If Jack proves capable of
bridging the yawning hole in his in.
field, 1t isn't at all impossible that he
will lead one of the worlds series
teams next fall.
Hendricks is smart baseball man
one of the smartest in the game His
minor league experience stamps him
as man of real ability. His record
reads far more encouraging than did
that of Clarence Rowland when
pants" stepped into harness as a
major league director But Rowland
won pennant
Hendricks will start with a brand
new team. 1t won't be to him a mat
ter OF picking up bunch of old men
and trying to shape them over to
his methods of playing ball THEY'LL
be ready to learn. He has a team of
fast, dependable hitters. Cruise
Hornsby and players of that ilk are
bound to cut their figures. Meadows.
Horstman, Doak and other pitchers
long ago proved to the National league
that they're good enough to give any
club an argument. They'll have their
say in lots of games the early critics