The Washington times., 1928-04-30
TRIP EAST
TO SHOW
CLASS
BY Louis A. Dougher

s5ss - 80 WA1 49, 2 ~ NAAS50 0AA 49,
Western clubs in the Ameri-
can League may have is about
to Be shown. The frontiers
men reach the East this week.
For two weeks or so the Cleveland
Indians has been having q jolly
time with the White Sox and Tigers.
The latter have been especially
weak when opposing the Indians.
The Browns. though, have been
tough foennen.
Dan Howley seemingly has
whipped fair team together and
his acqui ftion or Hal Wiltses eor
the aged Vally Gerber was mas.
ter stroke. He needs q good pitch.
Ing staff. IL lie il to get anywhere.
The Indians and Browns,
therefore. have been maintain
Ing d Fast pace against two
weak teams, holding each other
"a D standstiEI. On their COM
ing Eastern swing they will
add two more strong teams TO
their opposition, with the pos
sfbility Of third.
It must be admitted by the fair
Browns win find stiff foes in New
York and Philadelphia. The YAM
KEGS are real champions, not acci-
dents, and they win offer their best
to the Western wonders. The. As,
too, are not jokes by any manner
Of means
The Griffmen are not in the pest
of condition right now, which viii
be an edge for the invading Browns.
but they should be riding along a
bit more smoothly by the time the
Indians show up on May IL. That
means three strong teams for the
Indians to tackle on their first
swing around the Eastern half Of
the circuit.
The indians have been winning
largely through the excellent work
Of George Uhle, Willis HudIin, Joe
Shaute and Garland Buckeye. two
righthanders and two southpaWs.
to stage d brilliant comeback after
couple of mediocre campaigns.
Joe EeWeII, Elton LangfOrd a
and Glenn Myaft are the only
Indians doing much hitting, but
the stellar pitching has been
holding back the enemy and en-
AbIing the light hitting to count
most.
with the Browns it has been much
the same story. Sam Gray, former
Mackman; Jack Ogden, last year
with Baltimore, and Ernie Nevers
have been delivering the goods and
making the nucleus Of good staff
Ralph Kress, new sIanrtfielder. and
Bill Mullen, extra infielder. are the
only Brownies doing much damage
with the stick, though Heinie Man
usfl has lately come to life.
If is q good thing for the league
that the InGians and Browns are
away to flying starts. It means
added interest in the West, where
the world champion Yankees are
cordially hated and feared. The
Yankees may yet blanket the league,
but so long as the opposition con-
sists of four clubs instead Of two,
this can hardly be done.
with warm weather, the Washing
ton Griffmen should work their way
into playing condition, thus making
another contender for high ranking.
Al year ago the Yanks were bothered
for while only by the Griffmen and
the AS. Now they face difficulties
from the Indians and Brownies In
addition.
The coming invasion, however,
may prove that the Indians and
Brownies haven't been beating
much In the White Sox and
Tigers. In that case, they won't
be up there long, which will be
q sorry thing for the interest OF
the fans.
There are glaring weaknesses in
the Cleveland lineup. Fonseca is
hardly a big time firstsacker. Ho-
dapp is a hitter but not much of
third baseman. The outfield could
be improved, especially az helders.
But the stellar twirling has kept
Roger Peckinpaugh's gang right UP
there since the beginning.
The Browns, too. are not exactly
formidable on paper. But on the
field they look pretty good to all but
st Louis fans, who have been stay.
ing away from the ball park reli-
giously, strange as that may appear.
The test of these Western teams is
at hand. Friday vii see the Browns
battling the Griffs here, the Indians
in Boston, the White Sox in New
YORK and the Tigers in Philadelphia.
For two weeks the daily tilts should
bring results in lining up the Indians
and Browns as contenders.