Evening star., 1919-04-03

| How the back stopping work of the
| Griffmen will split up this season cam
not be foretold, but it is safe to pre-,
dict that Agnew will be given his full
, share Of work. While his arm is. per-
haps. no stronger than Picinich's. he
: Is more accurate in ais throwing ana
has the advantage Of years of expert
ence over the youngster He is full of
life back of the bat and has his pitcher
on his toes all the time. keeping up
a constant flow of chartered advice
and exhortation. One of his strongest
points is that he holds practically
every ball thrown to him, the occa-
sions which he drops one being few
| and far between. Picinich outranks
! him as hittey and Ed Charity is
| much superior to either in stick
welding. Picinich is but youngster
and is bound to advance rapidly with
experience. Charity also may be ex-
pected to improve as a catcher with
| steady work, but right now Agnew
excels both as a mask artist. He Is a
more finished worker.
Griff's opportunity to get Agnew
came about as result of a disagree
ment between the player and the Bos-
ton management over salary. Having
Wally Schang in reserve and obtain
ing AL Waters from the Yankees, the
club rendered Agnew a contract call
ting for $1,000 less than he received
last season and Sam, with good po-
sition in the stell plant at Lebanon.
I came back at them with demand for
that much more than his 1918 docu-
ment called for. Being unable to do
business with Agnew and having tao
catcher when the deal sending Aim
smith and Du Mont to the Hub was
consummated. Boston gave Grin per-
mission to negotiate with Agnew and
the result was a salary offer the
backstop could accept without reduc-
ing his income of the year before, and
his services were obtained.
With Agnew, Picinich and Char
rity to count on, provided he decides
to carry three catchers. Griff will have
la backstopping department that COM
Ipares favorably with any in the league
this season. The first two named are
las good a pair as any who can be
mentioned and Charity. in addition
to being dependable maskman.
makes an acceptable sub first baseman
and is a mighty handy man to have
around for pinch-hitting purposes.
Again yesterday it was adjudged a
trifie too cool for a morning game, COM
petitive activities being confined to an
eight-inning clash between the first and
second teams in the early afternoon
when the sun was hottest. With an al
most total absence of wind. the day
proved ideal for training and rafting
good contest was the result. That the
regulars were able to win by one-run
margin was in part attributable to
Mickey Martins umpiring and the con-
nivance Of Director General Griffith who.
when the end Of the sixth round showed
the Yannigans to be one counter to the
good. announced the game would 30
eight instead of seven innings. thus Civ
ing the veterans additional time in
which to overcome the advantage.
Lynch. for the Regulars. and Craft,
for the Yannigans, were the starting
pitchers. and Of the two the former
made the better showing on paper. He
allowed five hits and one run in his four
innings. and in three Of them retired the
side in order. but he had to thank Ag-
news pegging for four Of the dozen
| deaths necessary to complete the period.
he had scratched an infield hit, on
I.eonard's triple to right. Molly display
ed a lot of steam, despite blister on his
throwing hand. and, although he was
| nicked for seven hits in the first three
| Of the four rounds he worked. one of the
two runs obtained of him was a gift
from the umpire. Foster cheating by ten
feet in scoring from third on a sacrifice
fly Martin overlooked this bit IT trc.:-
cry. 1t cost Fred Harveycui.er some
dough, as he had bet up on the Yanni
gans.
The score stood 2--1 at the begin
ming of the fifth when Altrock took
the mound for the regulars and Mat
latter promptly evened the count by
nickinS Nicholas for a marker on
Thompson's infield hit and Picinich's
triple and assumed the lead in the
sixth when Zeb Milan kicked Eller-
be's single. the latter reaching third.
from where Mcbride brought him
home.
Matteson romped through the fifth.
sixth and seventh rounds in nice
eighth. which he opened by walking
Shannon. Joe advanced on Shanks'
neat bunt and scored from second
with the tying run when Davis plunk-
ed a single to right. Ike advanced a
notch on Agnew's infield safety: took
with the winning counter when Judge
lined a single over first base.
Harry Thompson got into his first
game, relieving Charity as right
| fielder for the Yanns in the third
inning. He made three running
catches on fly balls and showed much
speed afoot in beating out an infield
roller his first time up.
George Mcbride was the hitting star
with three clean swipes in four tries
One of them went Tor two bases. Zeb
| Milan got as many safeties. but two
Of them were infeld affairs. Zebs
| one hand stab of Leonard's drive to
right center in the first inning was
the fielding feature.
Joe Shannon displayed a fine arm in
killing off a Yannigan run in the sew
enth. With Brown on second, Ellerbe
singled solidly to left. Shannon
felded the ball on the run and with a
long, straight throw got Brown at
! the plate by twenty feet.
Ellerbe shows marked ability to
hit the ball on the nose. He pulled
| an unassisted double play at the ex-
pense Of Shanks and Agnew that
earned applause.
| Next to Milan's catch. the best field
ing bit was contributed by Joe Leon
ard, who speared sizzling drive off
| Rice's bat in the fifth. 1t was accom-
plished with one hand and knocked
| the Regs out of a run. as Milan was
| on third at the time.
| Ayers. F1aherty and Hovlik are