Evening star., 1924-06-25
ALL D. c. ENTHUSED
AS NATIONALS RISE
Washington Base Ball Teams Dash
to Top of American League
Thrills Local Fans.
VICTORY TODAY IS GOAL
Big Crowd Expected When Harris
Men Play Here Tomorrow.

with Bucky Harris and his con-
quering heroes leading the American
League-the second time in base ball
history that Washington team has
shown the way so late in the season
the eyes of the National Capital are
turned today from Madison Square
Garden to the Yankee Stadium, where
the Harrismen Will try TO make it
pions.
Overnight politics has been crowded
from the undisputed center of the
stage. Wherever a group of men or
women, boys or girls gathers, the con-
versation runs something like this:
today we will hold first place by a
safe margin for while and if we
lost we will still be only 2 points
behind the leaders. And, oh, boy.
if we take that double header from
Philadelphia-the Athletics are at the
we'll go back into first place any
how"
Welcome to Team Planned.
Whatever the outcome of the tilt
in the Yankee Stadium today, Harris
and his troupe are sure to get an
ovation from an enthusiastic crowd
of grateful fans when they step from
their train al Union station some
time tonight. The exact hour of
their arrival is still problematical,
between 10 o'clock and 1870.
Every ablebodied person with the
price of admission and sufficient
pull at the office to get a half
day holiday will be out at Griffith
Stadium tomorrow to cheer the league
leaders hai laI L.
header with the Philadelphia Ath-
letics. The attendance is likely to
eclipse even midseason Sunday
crowds. The first game starts at 80
Washington stepped into first place
in the league race yesterday after
noon by virtue of defeating New
York in sensational ten-i inning duel.
their third victory over the champion
Yankees and their eighth straight
victory. The last time washington
set the pace was back in 19O5-nine-
teen long years ago-when Jake
Stahl brought the Nationals home
from short trip in first place.
Cheers Heard for Blocks.
Washington almost declared a holi-
day. Thousands of fans congregated
al the railroad station. many carrying
red lights, and gave the team such a
welcome as it had never heard before
HAL d QOZeI DTdSS DdnQS dQQeQ TO
the din and for about month the Ma
tional Capital was base ball mad. The
team kept in and out of leading posi-
tion before it finally weakened and
wound up in seventh position.
Once more Washington is base ball
mad and every mind is bent upon
carrying on" to the pennant. Elev-
enth street beside The Star building
was black with people yesterday
afternoon, Drawing the scorching
heat to watch the scores as they
were posted inning by inning When
the ninth session found the score
tied-3 to 3-the tension was almost
at the breaking point, and when the
result was finally announced at the
end of the tenth the roar of Joy
that went up from the throng could
be heard for blocks, rivaling the
cheers that have rocked the base ball
park itself on its most prosperous
days.
Thousands of other persons kept
calling the newspaper Offices day and
night, asking for the result of the
game. 1t has been many years since
Washington evinced so much en-
thUsiasm over a sporting event, and
the telephone operators at The Star
reported that requests for the score
kept them so busy until nearly IL
o'clock last right that they had time
for little else.