The Washington times., 1921-03-06

Ineres youF Sher| n1Ao tho OS'>
Of II.
Speaking frankly. after studying
the chart. we would say that Clark
Griffith is by no means done for the
season. With this assortment of play
srs. he cannot content himself with
sitting back on the oars and watching
the pond lilies.
Judged as a whole, the Washington
squad seems to possess little balance.
The pitchers offer many problems to
the new manager. Whenever the two
greatest righthanders are not abso-
lutely certain to deliver. the manager
has reason for growing gray hairs
None can say for a certainty that
Walter johnson or Jim Shaw will be
fit In their absence, who can say that
the others will perform creditably
filling their places?
INFIEID ANOTHER PUZZLE.
The inneld 10 another puzzle to the
new manager. He knows now that
Re has two good men, Joe Judge and
.Bucky" Harris. That's all he does
know. Both Harris and Judge are
certain to deliver high class baseball
when in shape.
Manager Mcbride knows nothing of
the others, however, aside from Frank
Elierbe and Hank Shanks. Ellerbe
failed to make the grade last year.
his fielding being mediocre. his bat
ting good. but hts general headwork
rotten. However. he has what Hank
Shanks lacks-youth. Shanks Is an
admirable utility player, but Hank is
an outfelder. not an inhelder. He
does his best when played in the in
field, but that best is not sufficient.
Frank O'Rourke may be the won
der shortstop of the year-as Rresi-
dent Griffith predicts-but he may
also blow up with a loud bang. II he
does prove a bloomer. McBride's gray
hairs will surely multiply. Shortstop
is quite the most important position
in the infield, and a weak player there
can ruin the best of prospects
oUTFIELD LOOKS STRONG.
The outneld. though. shapes up
strong enough At this writing.
Lewis, Rice and Milan are all ball
hawks. They can go as far ~ the
next one and bring down the long
slowing, but with Sam Rice playing
next to him. he should have few
worries. Sam can cover whatever
ground Lewis can't, and this applies
to the other side of the outflcl,i too.
zeb Milan may be slowing a little.
hut Rice can make amends for what
over weakness Zeb may show In this
respect. lt
Aside from Pat Charity the
backstops are nothing remarkable.
Rrottem. Of course, has yet to make
his appearance. He may turn out to
be another chattering catcher. OF
which there are now too few In
The majors. A chatterer IL worth
two silent backstops. Both Picinich
and Torres are of the dreamy typa.
Charity IL . horse for work. He
is likely to catch p majority Of the
games to be played this season.
However. catchcrs are always being
injured and SO Charity will not be
in there all the time and when lie
has been on the bench. there has
always been a noticeable let-down
in the, work Of the team.
MAY EXPERIMENT MUCH.
Manager Mcbride, In his sest for
victory, may be expected to make
many experiments, IL his initial COM
bination fails to get a flying start.
Experimenting is always q serious
thing fo~ a ball club. once the cam
paIgn IL on. II breaks up team
work. which II the cornerstone Of
success on the diamond.
Already whispers, come from Tam
ma that ''Bing" Miller. the Little
Rock outheider, may start the sea-
son In left Held II he is with the
Crlffmen and Duffy Lewis appears
slow to round into shape. That
smacks off experimenting right
there. OF course, II might work out
well and again. II might not.
The necessity for experimenting z
win probably be found nrst In the in
field. Until the proper combination
OF fielding and baseball brains Is
found In that inner quartet, Manage
MoBride's job IL going to be a tough
one. with games going bioeie every
day or go. and all because Of that lop-
sided in6eid.
loud boasts are being mxde concsru-