Evening star., 1933-09-22

lI1SloG, IIlS 4NoSAOA4o2o 31A "
i only just begun to fight.
Lets take those Giants
now" burst from Joe Cronin, the
effervescent boy manager of the
new flag outfit, after the club
house tumult following yeSter-
days victory that made the Ma
tionals' triumph a mathematical
certainty had slightly subsidized.
Lets show 'em some fight
they've never seen before in base
ball"
1t was an outburst of that same in
domtable spirit which had carried the
youthful pilot to the heights. of the
battle urge he had aroused in the
Washington players. making the new
champions eager to get at the greater
struggle ahead-the fight with the Ma
tional League flag winners for base
balls most coveted laurels.
Even in their wild enthusiasm over
the triumph in the long fight for the
league title, ended by the 2-to-1 win
over the Browns, the Nationals were
not fully satisfied with their achieve
mentS.
Lets take the Giants" cried
the 1888 American League lead
ers with their chieftain. All the
- fire and fury that marked their
( advance to the pennant in their
circuit was in this battle call.
New Champs Great in Own Right.
"HESE new deal Nationals, in
l.. +t.1t
has come TO the Capital in the
33 years it has had a club in the
American League, have played some
of the finest base ball it has been the
fortune of fandom here to watch.
They have had their spells of medi-
ocrity. but under the guidance of the
26-year-old Cronin-the youngest man.
ager ever to head a club to a major
league championship-theya always have
emerged from their slumps better bat
tiers than ever.
While there will be many to acclaim
the '33 champions as the greatest as
semblage that ever represented Wash
ington on the diamond, still many
Others will contend that either of the
pennant-Winning aggregations of "a
and 25 was superior to this years tri
umphant array.
HSoC (OHtCHtfOho uC fbOt ouC
serious consideration in the light
OF UhQt has occurred.
It is sufficient that club assembled
by the willy Clark Griffith, its president
from a small group of left-overs and a
generous lot of new material collected
in judicious Winter trades has been led
by an aggressive, intelligent, earnest
and personable young player to the
league pinnacle.
Fight Against Yankees Tells.
"A LTHOUGH given better than q
~ fighting chance for the laurels by
base ball sharpS in preseason cal
culations, the opinion was general that
the Nationals could not reasonably be
expected to finish any higher than Sec
ond
The sharps were convinced that moth
ing was strong enough to combat the
great power that had swept the Yam
KEGS to the league title and an over
whelming victory in battlt with the
National League champions last yea-
Yet the Nationals proceeded to
cross all preseason calculations
almost at the outset of the 1888
campaign and they won their
pennant by beating off the sup
posedly invincible Yankees right
down the line.
When the New Workers opened their
season with a string of seven success
sive wins the Il told you SOS" were in
their glory Along came the Nationals
to give the Yanks their first drubblng
of the year, then carry on to take the
series from the world champions.
Right then and there the
WASHINGTON Club convinced many
OF the hitherto skeptical that it
had much better than q fighting
chance for the championship.
Consistent After Gaining Lead.
a THOUGH they fell as low as fifth
n place in the early going. the Ma
tionals always kept themselves
within striking distance of the top.
when the Yankees faltered after wild
surge in May the fighting Cronin crew
launched an intensive drive and by June
% was at the head of the league.
After that the Nationals relinquished
the lead only once. In mid-July they
fell a game back of the Yankees, but
recovered the top almost Immediately;
then by carrying the fight directly to
their arch-rlvalS settled themselves
firmly in the drivers seat.
1t was in the stretch from July
27 through August 13 that the
Washington club actually made
itself champion of the American
League and it did so then by TAX
ing five of nine games played
with the Yankees.
The high spot in this stretch was
touched by the Nationals in New York
early in August, when, after dropping
a double header to the Yankees, they
came back to score two wins, even the
series and regain leading margin OF
three games.
Four dyS later, they Dirtually
eliminated the Yankees from
further consideration by beating
these arch-riUalS here. This 1Dtn
raised the Nationals lead to fue
and halt games.
TODAY, with the pennant in their
grasp, the Capital clubmen are
- eight full games ahead OF the out
fit that at the outset OF the campaign
was tabled a sure fire winner.
The new champions have beaten SIX
of their seven rivals in annual series.
with another victory over the Athletics,
still to be met three times, they WILL
make a sweep of these sets.
In "a the Washington club got It's
remnant with 90 wins. In 70 IL
frilImphed with 96 victories. This time
it cIinches the flag with 81 successes
and has a chance to score half dozen
more.
But the Nationals are not con-
cerned with these games. They're
looking forward to next months
world series battles as they shout
Lets take the Giants"