Evening star., 1933-04-07
DEFENSE IS SMART
IN TRAINING GAMES
KuheI, Myer, BIuege in Trim,
Cronin Picking Up-Keen
DoubIe-PIay Work.
BY JOHN b. KELLER.

IN REAKING through the Ma
X tionals' inner defense this
IL year promises to be some
thing difficult to get away
with. The same infield that was
In service the greater part of the
last campaign when it greatly
helped the club to Shatter the
major league fielding record will
be on the job again. And in the
exhibition games it has picked up
where it left off last September.
Kuhel, Myer, Cronin and Bluege have
been going great guns as combination
this Spring and individually all except
Cronin at short have fielded smartly
from the outset of the training tits.
With many important affairs to dispose
of as manager Joe was unable to devote
much time to his Improvement mechan-
ically in the early drilling, but recent in
tensive practice is smoothing his play
xapidly. He should be ready when the
bell rings next Wednesday in Griffith
Stadium.
Kuhel, Myer and Bluege have fielded
games to date, highly creditable pace
considering that most Of the contests
were waged on fields not conducive to
smooth play Though the inf1eld at the
Biloxi training camp was better than
those most clubs have to use in their
conditioning work and the Southern AS
sociation grounds played on by the Ma
tionals superior to many other. minor
layouts, none was comparable to the gen.
eral run Of infields the athletes will per-
form on in the American League race.
THIS trio in the 18 exhibition games
u played thus far has rolled up but
errors Kuhel has made one and
20 has Bluege. Two misplays have been
charged against Myer. Kuhel'S play at
first base has been nothing short Of
spectacular. He has accepted an excep-
tonal total of chances and for hts ef-
forts shows a fielding record Of 994.
Myer at second base, with his two
errors, has a. record of .975. He has
made many marvellous stops to his right
this Spring; This type type of Of play .si, before re
his left for grabs, he has been himself.
And that's plenty
After watching, Bluege put up his
matchless game at third base in the
training games, it is diflcult to UNDER
stand how any one during the past Win
ter ever entertained the idea that the
washington veteran might have to battle
to retain his position. At the hot cor
ner. he still is the smooth cumming ma
chine quite near perfection Capital fan
dom has watched with pleasure for years.
In the early going, Cronin had his
troubles at Shortsrop. Not so well con-
ditioned at that time as those with him
in the inner defense, Joe didn't cover
much territory and was stiff in his play.
Bending to get grounders was real
task then. He's supple now, though,
and gets about with lot of foot. The
boy field boss is quick trainer. A few
grinding workouts and he's ready.
Cronin almost from his start with the
Nationals has been acknowledged the
best fielding shortstop IN the league.
He was that last year when he fielded
for an average of 959. There's no rea-
son to believe he will not be among the
top-notchers this year.
THERE has been enough double-play
i making in the Nationals infield in
the exhibitions to indicate the
quartet possesses to high degree this
important defensive knack. All told. rs
of the two-way erasures have been ac-
complished by the inner Gordon. Making
that many in 18 games is making .dou-
ble-plays at better rate than they
were made by the Reds in setting
major league record for these fielding
Seats back in '28.
This Washington inner Gordon knows
It's job and can handle it. It'll be tough
10 crack.