Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-14

~ LEVELAND, July IS.-rlrlnS tHe
manager of a big league club
that fails to make brave show
~ ing is a popular pastine with
base ball followers about this
time every year and with the Nationals
down, seemingly to stay, Walter john
son is one of the pilots slated for re-
moval at the end Of the season by the
rumor mongers.
From the Atlantic to the Pacific. from
the Great Lakes to the Gulf OF Mexico
the wise boys have the Big Train
through" as manager Of the Washing
ton club when the present campaign
is concluded, even though the contract
he signed last Fall calls for a three
like contracts don't worry the rumor
mongers when they are firing q man
tabled as a failure in base ball.
Nor does a contract stand in the way
Of a club owner when he particularly
wants to dispose of a manager. The
owner generally finds some way to re-
drce the contract to a mere scrap OF
paper. Thus far. however the Wash
ington ownership has not intimated
that IL desires to GUST johnson and
johnson has not stated he will be ready
to step out at the end Of the season as
some in the base ball world declare.
Club Is q Failure.
Johnson's club is a decided failure.
There Is no doubt as to that. But there
is some doubt as to whether the clubs
failure Is due to faulty managing by
johnson. For, after all, ball club Is
q group Of individuals each working his
way and supposedly to the best Of his
ability and no manager can accom-
plish more than his club allows him to
accomplish.
The second guessers see many mis-
takes in Johnson's handling of the
Nationals this year. Which is natural.
IT'S always easy to figure how some
thing could have been attempted In
another way after the original en-
deavor failed to succeed.
Perhaps the real reason for the fall
IRE of the Nationals Is that they were
by no means as good as they were sup
posed to be when they were burning up
the grapefruit league in the South dur
ing the training period. Either the
Nationals were playing far above their
heads in the exhibition games IN
March and early April or their foes
were so far shy Of playing condition
that they made the Nationals look ex-
ceptionally strong IN comparison.
Anyway, the difference between the
Nationals and their opponents In the
Spring training was so great that vet
eran base ball observers fell over one
another in their rush to the wires to
tell the folks in the North and West
what O. great ball club Walter john
son had. And all the advance glor1-
fication the Nationals received has made
their failure more marked.
Selection Pleased Fans.
When johnson was signed as man.
ager of the Washington club last Fal!
his appointment to the Leadership OF
the club he had served so faithfully
through more than two decades as one
of the greatest pitchers base ball ever
saw, was hailed with delight by the
games followers throughout the coun-
try. It was fitting, they felt, that the
man who had been such figure IN the
national pastime should be put at the
helm of the only club he had played
with in major league base ball.
There were some, though, who saw
in Johnson's appointment as Washing
ton manager only an appeal TO the
sentiment Of the fans that might bring
CASH to the golfers Of club that hadn't
Jared so well financially after its tTc
years splurge in championship ranks.
According to their reasoning, the Wash
ington ownership hoped to make a gate
attraction Of manager who was one
Of the games idols even though the
club on the field was not so attractive
There were others, too, who doubted
Johnson's managerial ability. They
pointed to his first trial as manager
with the Newark Bears Of the Interna-
| tional League LOST year. To johnson