The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-02-25
Grffmen 4 II MY TRIl lNIpE7N OVER NAVY. 37'I()1
.Griffrnen
Leave
Has New Faces.
Batting Officials.
Move Not Popular.
VIII Follow Glass.
~ ~
BY Bryan Morse.

-
w trumpets the Griffmen go
South on Tuesday to prepare
for the baseball season. Since
the ending of the last campaign
much useless and dead wood has
been cut adrift. Many new and
younger faces will appear among
the thirty candidates to be mould
ed into the 1923 club. Clark
Griffith has a new manager,
Owen Bush. He has added q
veteran, George Gibson, as coach
Of his pitchers. In addition he
has either purchased or traded
enough strength to warrant the
prediction that the. young club
viii bear watching.
The Griffs go South claiming
no pennant, making no claims
to greatness, asking only that
their eagerness and earnestness
be measure of their ability.
A LONG this line it is well to
"A give thought to the new
team. Griff has strengthened his
catching department. He appears
well fortified with young pitching
talent Walter johnson, Tom
Zachary and George Mogridge,
veterans, need but little assist
ance this year at least to round
out q fair pitching staff. The in
field with Judge, Harris, Peck,
Gagnon, Conroy, BIuege, La
Motto and possibly Evans seems
able to take care of itself. The
outfield with Goslin. Rice, Evans,
again, Wade and Fisher, looks to
be sufficiently strong afield and
at bat.
TUE one thing needed to make
the 1923 aggregation a for
midabIe proposition is spirit and.
the desire to win. sadly lacking
IN fire, colorless and indifferent,
last years club was a discredit in
many ways. This is a new year,
q new club and il the trick of
welding the youngsters into
unit can be turned in five weeks.
Washington may have a ball club
that viii not only be credit bur
. pleasure.
DATING officials Is becoming
u all too prevalent in sports
these days Players, coaches and
spectators have transgressed to
the point where men who are
handling games of all sorts have
organized an order to protect
themselves. Quite study in
psychology is the attitude of the
coach toward the officials before
and after the contest.
Nothing is too nice for the Off
cial before the engagement. His
every thought is anticipated. Once
the whistle blows, the official be-
comes the target for everything
IN the way of abuse either di-
rect or implied. Men of charac-
ter, reputation and ability are
not spared. The payment OF a
small fee appears to be the pre-
MUM for license to insult an
official. It's a queer angle.
"ASHINGTON is in quandry
w over the recommendation OF
the public school officials and
teachers to abolish inter-high
school sports for two years. There
Is considerable agitation among
students and parents. The ath-
letic situation is but one OF the
several grave problems confront
ing the system here. The radical
change as advocated strikes a
most unresponsive chord. Some
thing will be done about it.
WASHINGTON has been held
wv cold and Indifferent in sup
porting athletics. Four times re-
Gently It has been proven that
with the right sort Of attraction
the public will do its part. Penn
State and Navy played football
here. For first attraction OF
magnitude there was an encour-
aging turnout Champion Willie
Hoppe packed them in in another
branch Of sport. The original
Celtics In basketball made history.
The Georgetown indoor games
with Joie w. Ray running proved
conclusively that a major attrac-
ton will be properly supported.
Washington fans are not cold.
They want class. They are will
ing to go to see champions IL
the champions are brought here.
CHODDY performers and per-
- formances failed years ago in
this city. And the real reason is
because the average Washington
fan Is considerably better in
formed than the average fan else
where. He isn't born and bred
Washingtonian as a general rule.
He's been somewhere. has seen
something of class elsewhere and
cannot and will not be fooled.
CT MApTIN,c WIMc