Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-13
BUMP TO Be READY
FOR INITIAL SERIES
Johnson Says HurIer Merely
Needs Tuning Up-Giants
Finally Win.
BY JOHN B. KELLER.

ing series against the Athletics.
No less than Walter Johnson,
manager of the Nationals, Is authority
for this assertion. "Hadley is not In
poor shape now, by any means" said the
Washington pilot this morning. aiIo
with the work he will get here in the
finish of the series with the Giants ana
at washington Monday, when l VIII
have the squad practice at Griffith Sta
diuul. he'll be ready for the call. 1
intend to work him against the Atm
letics and I am confident ne VIII De
in trim to pitch"
That ought to spike all rumors that
the Nationals must get unoer way III Clle
American League championship race
with one of the hurlerS they had hoped
would be an ace unfit to give the club
his best efforts.
It has been rumored that the young
fellow who two seasons ago was the
most effective hurler in so Tar as allow
ing earned runs was concerned OF the
Nationals staff, and last season, aICer
recovering from the effects OF an APP
pendicitis operation he underwent our
ing the training campaign. SLAPPED
rather well, had a frightened arm, that
he was eating himself out of trim ana
that he was consuming so much wafer
at meals that he had no chance 10
round into condition soon enough TO
HelD IliS C1UU HULL Al VAIN
flag fight.
All Wrong, Says Barney.
According to johnson, this is all
wrong. The manager insists tne cnullhy
chucKer from Lynn is so near his proper
physical condition for Slabwork now
that lust a few days more OF training
are needed to have Hadley right In the
pink. True, Hadley has not been any
shining success in recent starts in train
ing tits, but johnson says these snow
ings NAV be discounted. Whatever
others NAV think about it, the Wash
ington manager certainly is not worry
ing about his young hurler's condition
Nor is the pitcher himself worrying
to any extent. He was for time Wnlle
at the Tampa training camp, for then
he was toiling every day more than any
other member of the squad without get
ting any results seemingly. But then
the pitcher donned wooden shirts, rub
her Jacket and sweater in addition 10
his uniform and did a deal OF track
work besides taking his turn in batting
and pepper drills. Soon Hadley was
down to good weight, and seemingly
had not lost much strength through the
strenuous training.
developed a mass of blisters between his
toes on both feet. These, bursting,
NAMED him so he had to forego the
track work and the flesh began to pile
en- him again. Hadley is of that I'M
Y fortunate type that gets every bit OF
fat from the food it consumes. SO ne
N lichtened his diet and further en-
n deavored to keep the weight down by
heavy exercising that did not call for
any footwork. Bends stretches and
arm swings we're INDUCED in for an
hour or two daily. And Hadley con-
tinued to wear the extra amount OF
clothing, wooden shirts, rubber jacket
and all.
Weak Legs Chief Trouble.
He kept his pitching arm in fine
trim, too. It was then and now Is free
in action. But the diet reduction and
the extra exercise sapped his strength
to an alarming extent. So finally he
had to forego much of this sort OF
training. And to make matters worse,
his legs weakened considerably. He
couldn't do any footwork because OF
the blistered toes and all his underpin-
ming had derived from early hooflng
around the track bordering the train
ing field at Tampa and from shagging
flies in the outf1eld was gone.
So in his past few starts Hadley has
pitched well only for a few innings.
Once his legs began to grow weary, the
chunky pitcher was through, and not
much effort was needed to tire his
props. The arm felt good in these
starts, the pitcher declares but he could
get little from 1t once the legs gave way.
Not SO long ago college-bred pitcher,
now in the majors. told the world that
an athletes condition is no better than
the condition of his legs, and Hadley
believes this man absolutely right after
what he has been through. But he
feels he is on the mend now that his
UNDERMINING is regaining its strength
rapidly since the blisters on his feet
have disappeared and, like his manager,
he is confident he will be ready to give
a good account of himself next week.
Should Johnson and Hadley be mis-
taken in this the Nationals would Suffer
a sad blow indeed. Before the club
began training more than six weeks ago
the chunky chucker from Lynn was eX-
pected to be one of the Big Five of the
Washington pitching staff. He was
held a sure-fire hurler along with
Sam Jones, Garland Braxton, Fred
Marberry and Adolph Liska. To date he
has been a disappointment, however,
and unless he rounds into good form
soon the Nationals are not likely 10
make as brave a showing in the Amerl-
can League race as many are hoping
and expect.
Giants Solve Braxton.
Two hurlers of this early-picked Big
Five showed their wares yesterday, out
only one of them proved effective
against the Giants in the final exhiol-
ton contest at Washington. Sam Jones
breezed through the first five innings OF
the fray and never let New Yorker
reach first base. In fact, but two OF
the Giants drove Jones pitches beyond
the infield. Then Garland Braxton
took up the mound burden and off him
the McGraw clan got the hits that gave
it its first victory in five starts against
the Nationals this Spring. The Giants
combed the lefthander for seven safeties
in two of his three rounds to win to 0.
They could not solve Braxton in his
first frame, the sixth of the game, but
in the next Welshs two-bagger, Reese's
hunted single, Lindstrom's double, Terry's
sacrifice fly and one-baser by Jack
son accounted for trio of tallies. The
Giants renewed the attack in the eighth
and got another run from singles by
Walker Reese and Lindstron. Then
Bob Burke went to the hill and stopped
them easily in the ninth.
The Nationals faced the pitching Of
Bill Walker, southpaw. the entire route
and the best they could do against him
was to sock five safeties scattered through
as many innings and get brace Of
IL T.1wsA H. nvHlNY a