Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-18

their second battle of the
Spring with the Reds yester-
day. a letter from President
: Clark Griffith to Manager Stanley Ftar-
ris. limiting that 1t might be advisable
for all members of the Washington
Club to cancel their golf engagements
after next Sunday, was posted IN the
clubhouse at Plant Field.
All of the golf players carefully
perused the missive. and the intimation
that the golf swing affected the bat
ting swing contained in the letter may
have caused some of the athletes to
put forth every effort to prove PreXy
Griffith all wrong in his views. For
the Nationals stepped out TO wallop
the Reds, to 8, and in doing so col
lected Ii safeties. And of the IA
safeties were socked by members of
the golfing fraternity who are on the
Nationals payroll.
Sam Rice, generally recognized as
3 one of the best linksmen in the major
leagues, helped himself to a double
and a single; Iris Speaker slammed
two-bagger, Goose Gosin raped
triple and a one baser, Joe Judge con-
nected for a single and so did Horace
Lisenbee, who. it seems, Yields
wicked driver now and then.
Griff Serious About II.
But Griffith is quite serious about
the ending of golf for his Nationals
after several of them participate in the
big tournament to be held at st.
Petersburg on Sunday. Then Rice,
Goslin, Speaker, Hollis Thurston, Earl
McNeely and Muddy Ruel, along with
Nick Altrock, are to vie with the stel-
lar golfers of other major league out
fits training in Florida in a tourney
which is to be an annual event in the
city where pelicans abound along the
water front and the marsh rabbits are
getting bald headed from running into
subdivision stakes. Griff wants his
charges to make great showing in
this contest, then-so long, golf.
Now the preXy has not actually
ordered the players to forego the an
cient Scottish pastime after the st.
Petersburg battle. But the president
of a ball club has a deal to say as to
what athletes will draw salaries from
his organization, and no member of
the Nationals needs to read Griff'S
letter twice to realize what's what.
Here's what the prexy wrote to
Boss Bucky:
After the big golf match between
the ball players at ST. Petersburg
next Sunday, l think it most advis-
able that all the players of our team
pub tu6lI SO1l away lOl thC
SON They will have the rest of this
week left and Sunday at the tourna-
ment for the game, and / want to see
them go over there and have good
time. But we have only week or
40 days left from now until we break
camp, and ! think they should pay
strict attention to their conditioning
and have nothing else on their minds.
4 i hope the players will have no objec-
lions to this arrangement.
tive Great Reasons"
There are two great reasons. why
ball player should not indulge In golf
during the playing season. First,
do think the golf stroke is very in
furious to the batting swing. Second
and most important, golf is fasci-
mating game and is bound to divert
q players attention from base ball.
II have every confidence in this
club to win this year. providing that
all give their best efforts and talk and
eat base ball on and off the field. No
man can be successful at any bust.
ness unless he gives his all and entire
attention TO it,
And those few words evidently
mean that President Griffith does not
want his players to be anything but
base ball players after Sunday. That's
what the athletes believe. anyhow, so
the many golf kits now at the Tampa
training base will go into storage and
the plus tours of a number of Ma
tionals will mean to them only COM
Portable articles of raiment.
Before laying aside all aphernala
of. the links, however, the boys app9lr
eager to show President Griffith he's
all wrong concerning his argument
against the golf swing. That has the
golfing group among the Nationals
quite "het up" so much more, in fact
that those ball players who give a deal
OF their spare time to golf hope to
make matters SO interesting for the
pitchers of the Giants in the games
scheduled here today and tomorrow
that the big chief may change his
mind little and allow them to pursue
the ancient game on off days during
the season.
Golfers Receive Assistance.
The golf.playing gentry who
slammed the offerings OF the Red