The Washington herald., 1922-03-07
MANAGER MILAN
TAKES CHARGE OF
|. NATIONALS SQUAD
Ossie Bluege, Former Pc.
oria Star, Looks Good
In Workout.
By RAY HELGEsEN.


one players were in uniform this
morning in their first workout of
the year under the eyes and direc-
tion of the Nationals new mana
ger. Clyde Milan. One other player,
George Mogridge. who arrived here
late last night. watched the latter
stages of practice after having
come to an agreement with Presi-
dent Grifith too late to get into
uniform. -.--
OF the score OF Nationals who
romped through the hour-and-a-
half workout. two, Danny Noone
and Ricardo Torres. are catchers;
twelve. Courtney. Zachary. John
son. Erickson, Miller, Francis. Brill
heart. McGrew, Woodward, Digges,
Phillips and Gleason. are pitchers;
three, Harris, Bobby Lamotte and
Oss6e Bluege, are infielders: and
four. Manager Milan. Sam Rice, Ed
Sic Goebel and Leon Goslin, are
outnelders.
Nine of the players. Johnson.
Rice. Goebel. Harris. Lamotte.
Bluege, Erickson. Zachary and
Manager Milan got their first prac-
naturally took things rather easy.
Milan took direct charge of the
work from the opening whistle at
10 o'clock until hunger reminded
the boys 1t was time for luncheon
workout. Nick and Martin, who
have been experimenting things in
the absence of their new chief,
gradually faded into the shadows
as the Linden flyer" warmed to his
work and began giving directions
which the boys were not slow in
carrying out.
Courtney, Francis. Brillheart, all
southpaws. and McGrew, Woodward
and Gleason were the only twirlers
who were used on the mound. They
pitched in that order and near the
end of workout Woodward and Nc
Grew began burning them over and
getting away without a call for
the first time since the rockies blew
in here ten days ago.
Milan. Rice, Goebel, G6slin. La
motto. Bluege, Torres and Courtney
and johnson indulged in hitting
practice. all Of them getting shots
at both southpaws, and orthodox
twirlers.
La Motto on third; Bleuge. short
stop; Harris on second, and either
Altrock. Milan or Erickson on first.
constituted the makeup of the nrst
infield practice of the trip.
BIeuge Looks Good.
Ossie BIeuge, formerly of Peoria,
in the Three I League, seems to have
the makings of an infielder worth
hanging on to, providing he can hit.
Bleuge has a wonderful pair of
hands and handles himself with the
ease of a much more experienced in
fielder. He seems to be able to get
anything in his territory, and from
what little Manager Milan allowed
him to show today, appears to be
the owner of an extraordinary whip.
Regardless of position he Is caught
in. he seems able to whip them to
first on a line and without stopping
to look for the bag.
Bleuge, however. may strike
snag unless he is able to show more
at the plate than he flashed this
morning. He chops at the ball,
merely meeting 1t, and seems unable
to get any. real power behind his
swing. He uses a three-quarter
choke swing. much after the fashion
of Bucky Harris. although Bleuge
does mott choke his bat as far nor
does he get the snap action tina:
Harris gets. The Peoria youngster
was meeting the ball we'll this morn
ing, but his drives lacked speed or
snap. and his style of swing makes
II impossible for him to get dis
tance. He must manage to get
enough drive to the ball to get 1t
past the infielders II he is to make
good with the Nationals. or, for that
matter. with any big league club.
From what he showed this morn
ing. Bobby La Motto does not seem
to have improved any in his hitting
during the winters lay-off. He is
still weak at the plate on nearly all
kinds of pitching. However. Grifr
says as long as he's fast on his
feet and can field his position he
can be taught to hit.
Bucky Harris. blacker from the
heat of the highlS-to Florida
sun, is still the same Bucky of last
year. His month of golf down here
before practice opened for him this
morning has brought him around so
that he Is already nearly f1t physi-
cally. He is still somewhat over
weight, but ten days or two weeks
of the kind of hard work Milan has
laid out will fix that, and Bucky
will be ready to hold up his end
some days in advance of. Judge,
Peck and Shanks, who will not start
work until next Monday.
Barney "Feels Great
Rice. johnson, Milan, Zachary
and Goebel are all somewhat over
weight. Barney says he feels
great and that he will get into
condition 10 per cent easier this
year than he did last season. RicS
is a bit heavy around the belt as -
Milan, but that is nothing unusual
for them and neither expects trou-
BILE in getting into condition.
Goebel 7 and Zachary are both
slightly above playing weight. bat
their trouble is not around the belt.
and they will probably have an
easier time of it than any of the
Pother three.
Now that Eddie Goebel Is in camp.
Rice's title to being the fastest man