The Washington times., 1928-03-23
ellis FITS
WELL At
SHORT
BY Louis "A. Dougher

BY Louis "A. Dougher
TAMPA Fla, March %.
Washington fans, seeking tips
as to the strength Of the Griff-
men will do well to watch
closely the number Of double
plays engineered successfully
in the series with the New
York Giants opening here to-
day.
N 1923 Bncly Harris,
teamed with Roger Peckin-
paugh, crafty but fading vet
eralI. established the big league
record of completing success
fully 1872 twin-ply killings.
at year the Detroit Tigers led
the circuit with lib double plays.
The Griffs, staggering along undsr
the llandicaps offered by BUDDY
Mver. Topper Rignsy and Bobby
Reeves. completed only l20 tWlm
Killings. Right there IS the tp-oIf
on Washingtor's 1927 infield cuarIeL
Double plays mean that potenLlal
runs are lost to the enemy. Tney
frequently end innings. They a..
ways cut off two runs In case
following batsman comes through
with q triple or . home run, Dotn
III which are far from being ~.
frequent in these days Of the nveIy
bali and encroaching stands or
fence.
81 like ellis because he n
easy % play with around the
bag.'' Is the way BucIzy Harris
discusses the situation facing
him Of choosing between Reeves,
saThe Rambling Wreck from
GEORGIA Tech. Z, and Grant ellis,
ssThe AIagaxam from Alabama.
ellis may never do any better
than he is, while Reeves may pc
facing 4 most brilliant future. But
right now ellis feeds the ball ~
Harris at second base better than
Reeves does. ellis lacks Reeves
ability to peg the ball across the
diamond. but his arm IL strong
enough for most purposes and AZ.
ways he il there feeding that ball.
to Harris or covering the bag TO
pivot a tWin.ply killing with the
first saclker.
Until major league diamonds are
used, the infielders win always 20
bothered by bad Founders that make
- AffFfRR1TR Ra14
some viii be made and, Il ellis Is
"a omen the season az Washington's
short fielder he viii be taking part
ia some double plays making victory
possible.
A year ago Buddy Meyer was fall
ing down sadly in this department
OF fielding. He was either slow in
getting the ball to Harris or In
reaching the bag to take q toss.
With the ball In his hand, he would
have to rise up to make the peg to
Judge. Fractions of seconds are
valuable In major league baseball
and Myer was losing plenty OF them.
Later, after he had been placed
at short regularly, Reeves de-
veIOped considerable wild and
WOODY pegging. He covered
plenty Of ground but he kept
making errors on throws. He
had Judge bending and breaking
his back all the time and double
plays were not IS frequent rs
they should have been. The re-
suit Of this was that Washing
tons opponents usually had rum
rlers on the bases to take ad-
vantage Of long hits behind them
and they made the most OF IT,
too.
Bucky Harris insists that Reeves,
smart youngster, will eventually
learn how to feed the ball better to
The second sacker and also act az q
pivot man with more sureness and
skill. Bobby practices this trick at
every opportunity and he may make
the grade almost overnight.
Until Washington's infield can
produce something like pair Of
scissors in clipping off potential
runs, 1t will offer serious handicap
10 its pitching staff. Especially to
young pitcher. 1t is disheartening
in the extreme to have runners left
on to score on a fIuke fly tumbline
into q nearby field box.
Ever since the fielding drills be
gan here Manager Harris has in
sssted on trying on double plays
Bluege is his same old self, fielding
like wizard at all times ellis hal
allf-sI1one both Reeves and Hayes
This explains why he has an edge
ii the scrap for starting berth In
the short field.