Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-27

Nationals have walloped the
sphere soundly enough to send 1t
to the outfleld so far as to per-
init a runner to advance after a
catch. All told, batsmen Of the
johnson band have pounded just
"a half dozen fly balls that, under
the old rule, would have been
recorded as sacrifices, thereby
Keeping times at bat out Of the
statistics.
81 Such lofts have been hit by five Of
the Nationals. and the lone batting av-
erage dented by the abolishing Of the
sacrifice fly rule is joe Judges. Joe
has advanced runners twice this season
by sending archers to the depths Of the
elItfield. As he hit each of these archers
Joe was. of course, charged with time
at bat Had he not been, as would have
been the case under the old rule, ms
sticking average today would read ITO
instead Of 265. Another 14-point affair.
7"SOthers who have had a time at bat
atacked to their records for chasing over
rims with long flies are Heinie ManuSh,
riS. The batting record Of none Of these
suffers particularly because Of the enc
one time at bat now included that would
not have been there under the old SyS-
tenn of scoring.
COMETHING must / done about the
- sore arms on the Washington ball
club. and done quickly, according
to President Clark Griffith. Ad Liska
and Sam West, the pair With ailing
wings, are in for a showdown.
Iiska, now in Lincoln, Nebr., having
his limb treated, has been instructed by
the prexy to work out with the Ne
braska State League club there and In
form the Washington Office whether the
wing has come around to good condi-
ton. If it doesn't respond to treatment
be dropped from the pay roll. The
Washington executive has not had q
word from Liska since the pitcher
reached Lincoln.
Vests trial is to be had In COMPETE
ton and the outflelder may soon be
sent into action. IF the arm doesn't
adjust Itself quickly, Sammy probably
will be ordered to undergo an operation.
The surgical treatment may restore the
strength to the limb, or it may be dis
covered that nothing can be done to it
to make 1t Of use In base ball again
The very nature Of Vests ailment
makes an operation risky, but II use
IN games doesn't bring the arm around,
an operation would be about the only
thing Sammy could try.
LIZARD luck is logging the Yankees
i i relentleSsly. When Allen Cooke
crashed to the ground as he tried
to grab Ossie Bluege's drive to right
In the third inning Of yesterdays game
ID Griffith Stadium he raised to three
the number Of New York outfielders on
the injured list and reduced Manager
Jpe McCarthy's list Of sound gardeners
to two.
;4Only Earl Combs and Sam Byrd now
are fit for service. It was only last We'd
nesday that Babe Ruth had q leg badly
bruised when he tripped over Charley
Berrys underpinnfng IN game IN Bo6-
ton. Friday Myril Hoag, who had re-
placed Ruth In right, wrenched o shoul-
der badly as he fell when attempting
a catch In Fenway Park. And yesterday
Cooke ripped loose some ugaments In
fered more serious injury when he
struck hard as he tried for O diving
catch. Looks like that right-fleld Job
with the Yanks is something to sidestep
this year.
Cooke, after being assisted from the
field, was attended by the Washington
club physician, then taken TO labora-
tory to have an X-ray of the shoulder
made. The full extent Of his injuries
will not be known until today, but it
seems certain that he win be out Of the
game at least two weeks.
Reserve material Is so scarce on the
New York club that Manager Joe Nc
earthly had to send into right field one
OF his best starting pitchers, Charley
Rufhng. The big hurler probably will
remain at the post until the Yanks can
rustic up some experienced gardener in
the minors.
a WEIRD affair, that opener Of the
"A Yankees first series here this sea-
son. Almost everything that could hap
pen in a ball game happened before the
Nationals. at the end Of 2 hours and 80
minutes Of struggling, became s-to-7
Victors.
First it rained-and how. Hard
enough to delay the start Of play 10
minutes. But the inheld was covered
before the rain started and the ground
was in fine condition for the fray. Then
1t blew-and how. The gale sweeping
the stadium through the center Of the
field from the plate made the work Of
the gardeners extremely hazardous and
very uncertain. What would have been
Safeties when backed by the high wind.
An outfielder never knew Just what to
do when a ball started his way.
And there was q home run that
wasn't home run solely because Lyn
Larry neglected the formality of running
to the plate ahead Of Lou Gehrig.
With two out and Larry on first as the
result Of a pass in the opening inning.
Gehrig socked the ball nightly and It
srzk0 49,
sun parlor. A great hit. on at the
crack of the bat, Larry never looked
around until he neared third, then saw
Harry Rice with the ball that had
bounded from the bleacherS to center
field. That was enough 10 make Larry
ealievg the ball had been caught and
&Aa SIDE retired, 50 he crossed third
and ambled toward the Yankee dugout
Gehrig came putting on to cross the
plate. only to have Umpire Bill Nc
Gowan wave him out Tor passing run
ner on the base lines. All Of which re-
duced GehrigS homer TO q triple and
gave the Yankees no runs.
And there was home run that should
have been nothing more than q single
T. was Bluege's clout that bounded OF
Cookies hands as the fielder hurt him
self Apparently stunned by the sigh
Of Cooke prone on the ground anc
HltalmB Al PAIN, InO allAce PAaycAt
forgot TO retrieve the ball as Bluege spec
around the bases. Finally Gehril
rushed out for the sphere, but he got 4
TO the plate much too late to head OF
Ossie.
There was one real homer. Der
Chapman hit It in the second inning, I
drive into the open stand back Of lef
1leid. Tony Lazzeri was on second wheT
the blow came.
And MCGOWAN crashed the show o
the last moment. The umpire displayed
rare judgment by chasing Roy Spencer
who had objected to q decision on on