Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-07

When a base ball manager offers to
purchase for the player of another club
anything of value there must be real
reason. The garment annoys the bat
tiers of the Chicago Cubs, who are in
the midst of a more or less crucial
pennant race. They are annoyed be-
cause the sleeve is frayed and this Is
not for esthetic reasons.
The claim Is that the rawlings in
that sleeve f1utter in the breeZes and
distract their attention from the ball
which Mr.. Vance heaves. 1t camou-
flages the pitching, as it we're. The
only weak point in the theory Is
that on the day this complaint was
filed the Cubs knocked Mr.. Vance
out of the box. thereby running any
case that might subsequently be
presented to the base ball commits
Sioner.
Years and years ago one of Mr.. John
Joseph McGraw's collections OF ivory
fell into a batting slump, as most base
ball clubs will do now and then. In
QUESTION was made to find whether the
causes were artificial or natural. Final
ly one of the heaviest hitterS in normal
periods declared that the brightly
painted signs in the outfield interfered
with his vision.
Mr.. McGraw pondered. For an in
slant 1t seemed as though 1t might be
necessary to obliterate some OF that ex-
pensive outdoor art. Then he asked:
"Why do not those signs interfere with
Then he followed through with And
why are you not bothered by the adj
Vertising signs in the other parkS?"
That ended the alibi of art and the
batting slump ended in the natural
course of things.
OF course, at the current writing
Mr.. Vance is far from being as ef-
fective as he used to be, but it Is
evident that If the other pitchers
felt that the normal effectiveness OF
Mr.. Vance was due to frayed
sleeve every pitcher in both leagues
would unravel his pitching shirt
sleeve before going into action. The
secret hardly could be kept for long.
Mr. Vance has had something up his
sleeve all the time, something that has
been deceiving the batters, but 1t has
not been q machine for unraveling
wool. Mr.. Joseph Mccarthy may or
may not take the matter of Mr.. Vance's
shirt before Judge Lands, who has
heard every other sort Of case con-
corning the national pastime. If he
does, it Is my notion that the garment
which has become so offensive to MT
Mccarthy and his Cubs will be pro-
nounced innocent.
A Matter Of Sentiment.
TT may be that Mr.. McCarthy'S OBJ
jections to the frayed shirt sleeve
OF Mr.. Vance is based OH Sartorial
grounds. Mr.. Mccarthy himself, while
not Snappy dresser. always Is correct
f, sartorially, and he tries to keep the
| Cubs as neat as base ball players can
be. His employer Mr.. Wrigley, spares
| no expense in the matter of uniforms.
Mr.. Mccarthy naturally surmiSes
that the frayed sleeve of Mr.. Vance
is not due to honest poverty or any
thing of the sort With q salary Of
! $4,000 q year Mr.. Vance could get
| himself another shirt If he cared to.
1t is not a. matter of economy.
! But there Is something about these
[ base ball shirts. There was the case
| of Mr.. Robert Shawkey-quite pitcher
| In his time Whenever he prepared
for action he wore beneath the uniform
| blouse a flaming red flannel miners
; shirt, procured at modest cost in the
! Pennsylvania hard coal districts. /:
; faded with the years, but MFR. Shawkey
did not replace 1t.
| Once during training trip with
the Yankees, this garment disap-
peared mysteriously in a Southern
hotel. Mr.. Shawkey called in the
| house detective and enlisted such
volunteer help as he could gather.
The garment finally was traced to q
laundry where it narrowly escaped
being cut into several smaller shirts
! for the pickaninnies Of the pro-
prietress.