The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-06-23

1t was Matthews first game In
a Washington uniform and, before
a Washington crowd. That he
made good goes without saying. He
came close to being the whole show,
though there were others standing
ready to assist him In certain tight
places, notably Sam Rice, Roger
Peckinpaugh and "Oyster Joe" Mar
tina.
'sparlxie's" display Of pep and
fire and what baseball writers
usually call "color" caught the big
Sunday throng from the start. The
longer the game lasted, the deeper
became the general impression that
Bucky Harris had found just the
right type Of player to keep in his
lineup.
Sparkle" sIashed Q triple to
right center in the third scoring
Rice, and In the sixth he poled q
neat double down the right field
line, giving him batting average
for the day Of 800.
Sparkle" opened the eyes Of the
fans and brought the first cheers
from them when he scooted< over
toward right field on Bing Miller's
clean single in the first frame, max
ing neat pickup with one hand
almost Immediately in front Of Rice.
Wow, how those fans yelled! At
last they were looking at a player
willing to hustle.
Joe Hauser poled long liner out
over Matthews head shortly after,
scoring Miller. and Sparkle" show.
ed perfect judgment In going back
for 1t. He repeated this stunt on
Bing Miller in the third.
"Sparkie's" greatest bit Of field.
ing, however, came in the fourth.
1t brought everybody to their feet,
the little fellow being cheered all
the way to the dugout. That was
Martina's first inning and Matthews
wonderful running catch cut off at
least one run, If not two.
Galloway had singled with two
out. Buggy dropped q Texas
Lacquer to center and Rommel had
scratched hit to deep short, scor.
ing Galloway. The stage was set,
with the hard-hitting Max Bishop
facing Oyster joe" Instead of
polling a liner to right, as he had
in the third frame, Bishop lifted
a short fly to left center.
With the sound Of wood
against leather, Sparkle" was
on his way, tearing across the
grass from right 20 left field.
Had he hesitated even for one
split second, Bishop would have
singled, at least. But Sparkle"
put on all steam and snagEed that
drOOping fly just In time, making
the final out. So great was his
momentum that he ran over into
left field after making the catch.
For the rest of the game
Sparkle" had no chances In the
field but he constantly attracted the
attention Of the fans by his shouts
OF encouragement from deep center
toward the box where "Oyster Joe"
Martina was doing a mans Job.
In the third, after Rice had
crashed to right, Sparkle" shot q
low liner to right center. It passed
between Simmons and WEIGH and
rolled to the scoreboard. Sparkle"
was burning the dust on his way
around the bases and easily landed
at third base!
A moment later, when Harris
bounded to Riconda, he had q
chance to show his baseball sense.
He raced back and forth between
third and home, enabling Harris to
reach second safely before he was
nailed in a wild slide back to third.
At that. he came close to making it.
In the sixth. with Martina on
first via a clean single to center,
Sparkle slapped one down the
right field line for two bases. He
was limping a bit, having hurt his
leg making his great running catch
in the fourth, but kept right on just
the same.
The fans enjoyed every move
g the new dynamo attached TO