Evening star., 1925-04-26

Out in the West Pete Donohue
worked beautifully for the Reds In
fact, those old pitchers-old in serv-
ice, l mean-helped TO give the Reds
their fine start. That good get away,
l believe, will do more TO shoot the
Reds along than any other factor.
, Despite the anxiety about them this
| season they have the winning spirit.
The Reds may turn out to he the su-.
prise that many have spoken of =@4
couldn't locate.
In New York Urban Shocker. n
ways a careful, deliberate worker. was
able to cut loose his first day out The
| same can be said of Dutch Leonard.
Moreover, Walter Johnson is working
in turn and pitching good base ball.
1t would be difficult TO see better
pitching than Jack Scott did in Bos.
ton that cold day. He allowed just
| four hits and two of those did not
come until the ninth inning.
l suppose there will be lot Of
| debate as to whether the Yanks or
the Browns got the better of that deal
in which Joe Bush went to St. Louis
and Shocker to New York. Bush got
| a bad break in his start. Still he was
| in wonderful condition when | saw
him pitch for the Browns in Florida.
But, to even it up for the Browns,
Milton CASTOR stepped in and pitched
| a. great game, being beaten by Joe
| Schaute, / to 0. 1t is possible for both
teams to be benefited in a trade. This
! may turn out that way. ANY way, il
seems as though both are satisfied.
This wonderful start Of the old
pitchers fits in nicely with the spirit
of the golden jubilee. In it's fiftieth
year the National League certainly
has started out with golden possibil-
tiles. The gate receipts were large
large on both the opening and the sec
ond days. 1t is that second day that
counts. The fans seem unusually
eager for base ball this Spring, and
the year promises to be golden in
every way-attendance. old stars, new
stars and fighting spirit.
The pitchers haven't had this thing
all to themselves by any means. The
home-run list is larger than ever for
the Spring. Charley Hartnett. with
the Cubs, is driving the ball harder
than he ever did before. Hartnett, by
the way, is a big asset to the Cubs.
His aggressive spirit behind the bat
is as helpful as his hittiig.
Combs Appears Promising.
On our club Mickey Devine has been
catching nice ball. Another new
player, sure to cut quite a figure this
season, is Earl Combs of the Yanks
He can hit and has speed. To my
mind, general speed is the big essen
tial toward winning a pennant.
A strange feature to this base ball
start is the large number Of accidents.
Though the players are in better
physical condition than usual, the ac-
| cidents are much more numerous than
usual. l think there is a connection
in this. The training weather was so
generally perfect that the players
were advanced TO midseason form
ahead of time. They felt so free and
easy as to take chances. Though
ball player may feel like diving into
a base in March, there is a big diff
ference between sliding and running
on practice diamonds and on those of
the major leagues. The heavy going
got several of them in the legs. Otn-
ers were careless in hitting the dirt.
Some grounds were slow and some
fast. They didn't figure conditions.
Spikes were caught and muscles
| twisted. In hot fight to win per-
sonal welfare is forgotten.
In fact, a big factor to encourage
these accidents was the spirited prac-
tice games in the South. The players
worked as hard as though q pennant
was at stake. There is no doubt, how
ever, that this spirit of contest put the
teams in fast playing shape.
At Boston many fans remarked on
of the Washington club was notice
able long before the big show started
| They proved it by stepping right out
and beating the Yanks three games at
the Stadium. Washington's speed will
cut az big figure in that American
| League race. Their old pitchers ap-
parently have not been checked by
the cool weather and the combination
ought to be a powerful one.
Everybody, l think. was glad to see
| Iris Speaker get away to such good
start. The Cleveland club is one OF
| the uncertain factors in the race this
| year and an irritating one TO oppo-
| nents. 1t may not have pennant pos
sibilities, but 1t will be able to upset
| the chances of others. The Athletics
also have started out along that line.
1t will take another two weeks or
more for the contenders to find their
places. In the meantime the fans are
having base ball that makes the fur
| fly.
Managers and owners throughout
| the country ought to feel good over
the way the fans have appreciated
their efforts to build up teams. The
enthusiastic attendance should make
| any base ball fan forget his worries OF
| the Winter and Spring. The Spring
of 1925 certainly has smiled on our