Evening star., 1924-03-11

The youthful manager did not de-
clare himself, but that he chose this
entire squad in action for the first
time leads one to believe that he has
carefully considered the possibilities
OF the Two men new to the lot. Har-
fis' Of course. has seen Doc Prothro
at work at Hot Springs in the past
three weeks and may believe the well
experienced graduate of the Southern
Association deserves a real chance at
the hot corner.
Bluege Not Overlooked.
But. then, Ossie BIuege. who did
most of the third -basing for the Ma
lie took his fielding drill at shortstop
after the veteran Peck had his in
ntngs. Bluege. it will be recalled,
originally cayorted about the short
lie id and was sensation in that po-
s!tton in the minors. And though
Feck enjoyed A most successful sea-
son last year. he is getting along, SO
far as base ball is concerned. Groom
ing Bluege or any other likely look
ing National infielder for that impor-
tant position certainly seems a wise
move.
AS to Carr Smith, a righlhand- hit
ting outfielder would be welcome
addition add to the the Nationals regular
came from Raleigh at the fag end of
last season, can smite the ball in the
American League anywhere near as
effectively as he did in the Piedmont
League he will be a real find. At
times it appears that Smith has much
to learn of the art of fielding, and
his batting in practice often is moth
ing to hrag about, but if Smiths eye
and arm were good enough for an
average topping 400 down in Ca'lina-
he ought to show something beyond
the ordinary against the big league
hurting.
But Smith. George Fisher and Lance
Richbourg will have to come across
with something worth while to oust
Memo Leibold from a garden JOB;
Little Memo last year simply outdid
himself at the plate. and of course
there is no questinn as to his fielding
ability. He headed the list in yes
terday's batting practice. AS lead
off man Leibold has few equals. He
seemingly has an almost uncanny
ability at getting on the bases.
Mogrbdse Is Exeeption.
OF the veteran pitchers who arrived
with the squad from Hot Springs
Sunday. George Mogridge was the
only one to toe the rubber. He
hreezed a few through. then took to
the showers. The southpaw, though.
bad considerable zip on his few
pitches.
The best of the hurling to the
batters was done by Fred Marberry,
the big fellow who seems more ad-
,vanced than any of the other young
-huriers. and Leo Moon. Mred Wing
field, Byron Speece, Joe Martina and
sWalter McGrew also took turns on
the slab.
One of the pleasing features of the
practice was the hard hitting done
by Goose Goslin. The chunky Ma
tional outfielder twice connected
with the ball hard enough to sail 1t
across the race track far beyond the
right field. Sending a ball over the
course generally devoted to the thor
oughbreds is quite a feat one ac-
complished by few players who have
performed on these grounds.
Chick Gagnon did not take part in
the drill yesterday, but it was a
severe cold and not his crooked arm
that ker, him idle. The recruit in
fielder was ordered to his room for
the day by Trainer Miguel Martin.
Mike, however, expected to have
Chick in the open today, IL only for
O. bit OF light exercise.
Generally the squad is finely con-
ditioned for the series of, inter-
league engagements which will fol-
low the Clearwater battle in rapid
succession. The practice today and
those of tomorrow and Thursday
should afford Manager Harris enough
of a line upon his charges to select
without hesitation the aggregation
that will start the bali rolling
against the Dodgers.