Evening star., 1931-11-29

Y ' pend mainly on Monte
Weaver and Lyn Griffith
for improvement of its pitching
staff for the 1882 American
League campaign, unless Presi-
dent Clark Griffith should be for
tunate enough to do some clever
trading or purchasing OF mound
material during the Winter.
The club now has but IA pitch
ers in reserve ard these two on
record and ability loom the best
of those not seasoned regulars.
Even some of those who weath-
cred the past campaign were not
so impressive and perhaps VIII
have to be replaced.
Those Of the "A pitchers who saw
much service in the 1881 race are Al
Crowder, Fred MarbeTry, Sam Jones
and Bump Hadley. right-handers, and
Lloyd Brown. Carl Fischer and Bob
Burke. left-handers. Griffith, a south
paw, never came up from training
camp, while Walter Masters, right
handler signed shortly after he gradu-
aJed IIoHn tue OlllNCAo4Cy VI clliISSA
yania, was not particularly impressive,
and Ad LiSka, the underhander was
unable to get going.
New ones on the washington iSt are
Weaver. Baltimore right-hander who
was the sensation Of the international
League. and who won q game for the
Nationals during his brief stay with
them in the last week Of the season;
Frank Ragland and Bill Friedrich, pur-
chases from Chattanooga, and Luther
Thomas, picked up from the Washing
ton SandlotS.
Not much new material there from
which to Gull mound reinforcement.
Pick from the entire squad Of IA Crow
der, Marberry, Hadley, Brown and
Fischer, all regulars the past season,
and there seems nothing particularly
promising left but weaver and Grifnth.
The veteran Jones faded fast during
the 1891 race, while Burke, despite a
no-hit game and several other good
performances. must change his style Of
delivery to become consistently effective
in the majors.
1t now appears that little may be ex-
pected Of Masters and Liska. The Chat
tanooga buys. Ragland and Friedrich,
though they have had some measure OF
praise from those who sent them up,
very likely will prove so green as to be
while LiSkas chance to come back Is
ever so slight, and Thomas probably
will figure no more than as a batting
drill pitcher at training camp.
IN every way Weaver and Griffith now
i loom as the recruits who will get
the greatest amount of attention at
the Biloxi training camp provided they
stick on the Nationals roster. There is
at present no doubt as to Weaver stick
ing around and Griffith will, too. un-
less the Washington club president can
use him in deal that might be eS-
pecially advantageous to the Nationals.
Shortly after Weaver'S purchase from
the Orioles last Summer George Weiss,
who is general manager of the Balti-
more club, had many nice things to say
OF the big right-hander to the writer
George was sincere in his statements,
too. not making them merely to put q
good front on the deal.
That boy can't miss in your league"
declared Weiss. He has the physical
build for q pitcher. powerful arm, an
assortment Of stuff control and is in
telligent. He'll need some polishing,
true. but what he gets at training camp
should fit him for the big-league JOB.
Weaver has the ability and he knows
how to pitch. He ought to go far with
the washington club"
Pretty hig1-sounding praise for q
rcckie, but lots of Cthor5 vino saw
Weaver perform regularly in the In
ternational League the past season gay
as much. They believe in him and so
does President Griffith.
Grifhth. it will be recalled, made
quite an impression on those in charge
of the Nationals while at the Biloxi
training camp last Spring He is a
Strapping big boy about "a years old
with plenty of pitching talent in his
left arm and good head on his shoul-
ders. The left-hander was sorely dis
appointed when the club failed to
bring him on to Washington for the
big league campaign. but nevertheless
stuck to his guns gamely at Chatta-
nooga and did much fine hurting for
the Lookouts
The seasoning he got in the Southern
Association probably did Griffith a lot
of good and he ought to fare better
this year should he be carried to train
ing camp by the club.
DREslDENT GRIFFITH will leave
L Tuesday for West Baden, Ind, to
attend the annual sessions Of the
National Association. the Federation OF
Minor Leagues, on Wednesday, Thurs
day and Friday. From there he will
proceed to Chicago to sit in at the
American League meeting and the joint
meeting of the majors on Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday Of next week.
Joe Engel, scout of the Nationals. and
president of Wastington's farm at
Chattanooga, will accompany Griffith to
both cities.
Although the Washington president
has announced no tentative plans for
trades 1t is no secret that he will be
an active figure in the marketing eX-
pected to develop at the meetings this
Winter.