Evening star., 1932-07-26
MATS ARE CRIPPLED
BACK Of THE BAT.
Spencer Sent Home III and
Berg Has Hurt Hand as
Western Trip Opens.
BY JOHN b. KELLER.

AinSmith, who has not been
behind the bat as a major
Lacquer for eight or nine
wears. probably will be an actlVe
catcher for the Nationals during
their second invasion OF the west
this season.
His regular catching staff sorely be-
set bv illness and injury, Manager
walter Johnson today was expected 10
request Clark Griffith, Washington
Club president, to have made ellglple
for service as a player one OF the ma
tionals' two coaches, who formerly were
catchers. 1t is believed Alnsmlth ana
not Patsy Charity will be shifted.
While Charity might be better at
bat than his fellow coach, Alnsmlth Is
deemed the faster afoot and apparently
has the stronger throwing arm. WIZ il
he caught for the Nationals more tnan
a decade ago, Ainsmith was a battery
mate of his clubs present manager ana
was highly rated as receiver.
With the Nationals roster up TO the
maximum of % players permitted by
the American League rules, to make
Ainsmith or Charity eligible Tor outy
as an active player 1t would pe neces,
sarv to shunt to the voluntarily retlreo
list one of the present actives. 1t lsH
said by those in charge OF the clup
that such a move could be made With
out weakening the Nationals.
Row Spencer, the clubs frst-strlng
catcher. was to go home today from
Cincinnati, i'll, presumably, with ma
laria. Moe Berg has been catching tne
past week with a painfully spnt !e1t
hand and though slated to continue pc
hind the bat, his injury may force MIN
80 of
Maple is too inexperienced for any ex-
tensive service. Right now, the Ma
tionals need nothing so much as an ao-
ditional receiver.
T Spencer complained OF nothing more
than a sloW-healing injured knee, when
he left washington with the Nationals
SUNDAY. but he took to his bed yester-
day Immediately after the club arrived
in Cincinnati, where it stopped over
for an exhibition game with the Reds.
He had contracted a heavy cold, 1t
seemed, and was running temperature.
A physician, who called on. Spencer
twice during the day, feared the illness
might be a recurrence of the malarial
attack the catcher suffered while with
the Nationals in training at Biloxi,
Miss, last Spring.
Spencer was ordered to remain in
bed until today, then, If possible, to
return to Washington for rest and
treatment.
He is not expected to rejoin the Ma
tionals while they are in the West.
Drown. OWN Weaver; aver. CTOWdep sSs H,tchina ana
slate johnson has announced LOT |
the four-game series with the Browns
that was to get under way in Sports
mans Park this afternoon, but the or
der of starting is not definite.
Brown was to go today, provided the |
left thumb bruised by batted ball in
last Saturdays game again was In
good trim. This morning, the Nation
ais premier lefthander believed he
might be ready. Whether he started
today or not, Lefty will be seen In the
series.
Crowder, due to see action tomorrow
or Thursday, will be facing the Browns
for only the second time this season. |
He did not get into the first two series
the Nationals had with them and when |
he tackled Killefer's men in Washing
ton in the third series they pinned back |
his ears late in game.
Thomas finally got into that battle |
to get the pitching victory, then went
on to beat the Browns in two more
games. In the current set, Thomas Will |
not hurl until Friday.
Coffman. transferred from the Browns
10 the Nationals when the latter last |
visited here, will not start against his |
former teammates Authority for that |
is Walter Johnson's fiat declaration. |!
In fact, johnson has intimated he will !
not start Coffman much during this |
swing through the West, unless COM
PEELED to do so.
For this series Manager Killefer has
quite pitching problem with which to
wrestle. The Browns have just come |
from a six-game series with the Tigers
played in three days, in which all their
hurlers had to toll.
That might help the Nationals, who
usually need all the help they can get
~ their battles here.
CTOPPING over in Cincinnati yester-
~ day. the Nationals visited Redland
Field to take an 8-to-1 licking
from the Reds. For years the Wash
tngton ball club has been poor in ex-
hibition games staged during cham
pionship campaigns and in this latest
effort showed no improvement.
The Nationals 10 hits off Benny Frye,
who went the route for the National
League tail-enders. were not so we'll
scattered-twice three safeties were
punched in an inning-but in the early
going, when Johnson's charges found it
easy to get on the runway, their scoring
punch was not there
Bob Burke opened fire for the Ma
tionals, pitched three fine innings, then
went to pieces. Nine of the Reds thir-
teen hits were cleaned off Burke, eight
accounting for the four markers chalked
up by the home side in the last half of
the lanky left-hander's Swimming term
on the hill.
Ed Edelin,, rookie. went to the slab
for the first time since joining the club
late in June to take a twc-inning turn
against the Reds. He was wild and not
80 hard to hit
The Nationals were the first to score.
but once the Reds got Burkes range
they were the whole show.
MANUSH got three hits, one double,
4'1 TO head the Washington offensive
in Cincinnati i. . Durocher, who
used to shortstop for the Yankees some
seasons back, did enough to beat the
Nationals Aside from playing
swanky game in the short field, he drove
across the Reds tying tally, carried a
score over and later batted in another
run Kuhel and Rice were the only
Nationals playing throughout the exhi-
bition who failed to hit Taking
over the information mike the last two
innings, Al Schacht gave a play-by- play
broadcast after the McNamee manner
-. The 1T cash customers in the Red
land field stands got more kick from
Schacht's description than from the
pasttming.
All EyhMnPIh MIME AuEhn