Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-16
MAJOR TITLE EYED
:: Z: BY FEW ENTRANTS
Ninety Per Cent Limit Their
--@4
40 Quest to Neigilborhood
= and Town Crowns.

THE clank of horseshoe against
ire stake will resound through
out the Metropolitan Dis
"" trict Of Washington late to-
day, when several thousand
pttcherS start competition in the
second annual tournament spon-
sored by The Star.
They will battle for local cham
pionshipS in all the neighbor-
hoods of Washington and in
towns and communities OF nearly
a score of counties in Northern
Virginia and Southern Maryland
There will be nearly so preliminarie'
in Washington alone, with one on every
playground. Half Of these will get un,
der way today and the others next
Wednesday. Elsewhere on this page Is
printed list of Fairgrounds where the
entries have been kept open until next
Monday. =,
Every winner Of a preliminary will
be presented a medal by The Star, en-
hlematic of town or community cham
pionship, and the runner-up will be
given the privilege of carrying on in
quest of higher honors and awards.
Washington has been laid out into
eight divisions, each containing num-
Der of Fairgrounds, and there Will be
play-offS Of champions and runnerS-ur
of preliminarieS for divisional titles
The next stage of competition will be
play-offS of divisional winners and run
ners-up for sectional honors, there be-
ing a West and East section, each con-
tanning four divisions.
In the all-Washington final, the sec.
tional winners and runners-up VII
clash.
The same general plan will be fol-
lowed in Northern Virginia and South
ern Maryland, with the flnalists OF town
tournaments meeting for county titles
and the county finalists battling toI
State honors. -,
. grand finale, bringing ,, together the the
Southern Maryland champions.
Play in Washington preliminaries 70,
day was to start at $50 o'clock. AL
entrants are asked to appear shortly
before that time. It Is likely that al
will have a chance to play nrst-rouno
matches today in tournaments where
the entry Is not large and In those
where many are to compete the players
can obtain from playground directors
definite times for future matches
0NE tournament here already Is I'M
~ der way, with pitchers Of Cleveland
Park engaged. It was started
Monday under the direction OF F.
The first match was played by two
Spanish-American War veterans, O. T..
Gelbrick and Charles Harlow. It was
a tight battle part of the way, but Har-
low finally got hot" and pulled away
to a 5O-to-18 victory. The game ran
into so innings with each tossing 122
ahoes.
Ronald Buckley of the Bureau OF
Standards and r. E. Spencer OF the
United States Weather Bureau fought
1t out for 80 innings, with Spencer WIN.
ming by so to IS, having taken the LEAD
in the fifty-ninth frame. Each tossed
184 shoes.
Chairman Christoff is running off two
matches an evening and managing the
tournament in true Cleveland Park
style, this preliminary having been prob
ably the best handled Of the metropon-
tan affair last year, with Walter s..
steele as director. In the Cleveland
Park event there are ground tenders,
stake umpires, official scorekeeperS,
scoreboard returns and strict adher-
ence to all the rules of championship
competition.
In last nights matches John 8. CAL
each recording three ringers, and Bobby
Steele, aged IA, but asking no quarter
from any one In this tournament,
trimmed S. A. jackson, so to 80. Steele
made three ringers and jackson two.
A CONSPICUOUS figure these days
"A is Willard E. Peake, the tall ex-
mounted sheriff of Montgomery
County, who wears the metropolitan
crown.
There is about an even chance that
Peake this year won't get past the pre-
liminaries, for Charles A. Fort, who
won the Washington championship In
1929, is boarding the lion in his den
Fort, having recently switched his resi-
dence from Washington to Montgomery
County. Is entered at Bethesda, where
Peake holds forth.
Peake beat him in the grand hnale
last year, but 1t was q struggle that
kept o capacity gallery on pins and
needles. Yea, DO, that was q ding
dong battle!
THERE is lots of room for specula-
J. ton over who will succeed Fort "a
Washington champ. Nine-tenths
or more of the Capital City entrants
aren't concerned with that title. They
feel they have no chance for the higher
honors but are content to put up a
fight for neighborhood and divisional
titles.
There are a select few whose ambi-
ton is unlimited. Several of these only
recently joined the ranks Of Washington
slipper slammers.
HERE'S a champion who admits he
i i very likely will lose his title
Writes r. L. Greene, champion
and chairman at Germantown, Md:
"I look for either Franklin Waters OF
Del Griffin to win the tournament here
Anyway, they are showing lots of class
in practice matches and seem to be i'm
proving each day"
Greene will start his tournament to.
night at Gas o'clock on a court along
side j. j. Snyder's garage.
Among the contestants will be thC
Rev. w. H. Topping.
THEY'RE all set for a big tournament
J. at Riverdale Heights with Clinton
r. Taylor, last years champion, In
charge. Entrants include Cleo 3. Nor.
rill, Wayne Morrill,, Frank Alderton
-
-