The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1927-07-07
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Kirk Miller

Well sir, you'd have thought
another Lindbergh or Byrd had
landed in France the way the
rail birds were chattering last
night and today over the return
from Elba of baseball's Napo-
leon, Jezebel Tecumseh Thorn
asso Zachary, who has long
since been mourned in Washing
ton as dead and gone.
And the announcement did
descend on the fans with as
much suddenness as the filters
appeared over Europe. Like
shot out of the blue sky Clark
Griffith dropped his bomb and
the city was left stunned and
in awe from the defamation.
Since Zachary went hence in
1925, the bugs have been throw
ing the trade up, as it were,
to Griffith and Harris. At
least the powers who be within
the baseball clubs council
rooms have satisfied the fault
finders. Whether or not they
have bolstered the club for the
fight in which it now finds it
self, remains to be seen.
If anybody gives a good gol-
darn for our viewpoint. It is
Zachary has passed his peak
and that bringing him back now
is an out-and-out gamble. But
since baseball is SO much of a
gamble at best, there is no criti-
cism to be aimed for trying"
and after all that is what most
ball clubs are doing-trying to
manipulate themselves into 4
pennant.
Always an in-and-out pitcher,
Zachary probably will be a little
more out than in from now on,
as he is 80, a point at which
most pitchers, except the very
few exceptional ones like John
son and Convey and Ruethsr,
have turned in their best games.
After thirty, pitchers have to
do more with their heads than
with their arms. Zachary, as
much as we like him and his
quiet, self-effacing manner, was
never a mental giant, although
he's of the hardest type of
human nature to determine just
exactly what lies beneath the
bonnet.
We hope we are wrong in
this viewpoint of the deal which
brings a much admired. athlete
to Washington and sends away
comparative youngster whose
professional career is hardly of
enough duration to be definitely
chaIted. Crowder may develop
into q steady pitcher, but time
is fleeing and pennants are won
only one year at a time, and
the 1927 Griffmen can't wait to
develop young moundsmen, they
must have reliable, experienced
help in the important spots, in
all the spots in fact.
McNeely's coming to the
Griffmen in 1925 at a much
later stage of the race than
early July, was the turning
point of a gamble which brought
victory to Washington. He was
twenty-five then and had no
major league experience. In
the present case we have n 90
year old athlete who knows
what it is all about. 1t might
work. We hope so for Toms
sake and for Bucky's and Griff's
sakes.
At last John Blick is a con-
tented man. He owns fighter.
Blick has had a yearning to be
in the fight business for the
last Is years. About that many
years ago he tried to develop
himself into a fighter, but as
the purses weren't then what
they are now, he drifted into
the iceberg business.
Blick has acquired the serv-
ices of 19-year-old Martin Gala
CHER, the 191-pound protege of
frankie Mann. Gallagher has
been sent to Madison Square
Garden to watch Jack Sharkey
work and to MKT up q bit
with the timber which hangs
around the garden. Later Blick
will send Gallagher up to White
Sulphur Springs to see Demp-
sey work and the two of them,
Blick and Gallagher, will be
side by side at the Yankee
Stadium to see Sharkey and
Dempsey hit and miss.
Rliek intends to give Gala