The Washington times., 1936-03-16
Outfie[d
Of fGriffs
20. K. "
By FRANK "BUCK" ONEILL

ONbANDO, Fla, March 10.
The Washington Baseball Club
will emerge from training here in
Orlando boasting an outfield that
compares with the best in his
tory.
Oh, yes, it may lack the boom.
ing power of the Yankee trio
when Ruth and Meusel and
Combs were at their peak, but
it will take no back seat even
for that trio of Gotham i'm
mortals, unless everything they've
shown here in training and in
competition means less than fit
ting shadows over the grass.
There will be nothing in the
American League this year to
surpaSs it in all around defen-
sive quality. Nor will any trio
carry a more potent threat Of
game winning speed to the enemy.
Jesse Hill, Jake Powell and
Johnny Stone, ranging from left
to right, with Carl Reynolds in
reserve for work against trouble
some southpaws, give Washington
a quartet of fine defensive ball
players. Moreover, they lack
little in offensive values except
the ability to conquer fences as
Foxx and Greenberg can conquer
them.
Preview in Games
We had preview of the Wash
ington patrols in action over the
weekend, and feel confident that
everything entering the third
zone of defense on the stadium
this summer will be adequately
handled.
No outfiel' in the country could
have performed more brilliantly
than the Griffs did yesterday in
beatinP the Phutile PhillieS be-
fore a cheering crowd at Tinker
Field. They just did the impos-
sible and made it lcok common
place. They saved Jimmy De-
shong and they saved Monte
Weaver. And Jesse Hill closed
the game with running catch
at the left field fence. One man
was on at the time.
Let's start right at the begin
ming of these catches. In the
second inning Babe Camilli sin
gled and went to third on blow
by Aronovich. Norris walked. 1t
was a good move by DeShong.
At this point Grace, a hard hit
ting catcher, caught one on the
seams and rode it into right cen
terfield. It looked like an unload
ing triple, but Stone got there
and made the catch. One run
Scored-no way to stop the man
from third.
Well have to forget the out
field for just minute now and
step into shortStop. Cecil Travis
weighed in with a catch of a
drifting pop fly-the sort that
fall safely nine times out of ten.
Jose Gomez, the Mexican second
sacker of the Phillies, hit the
ball, and Travis went back to
make the catch. The experience
Travis has had in the outfield
helped him on this one.
Jake Does 1t
And so we return to the out
field and Jake Powell. With one
on and one out Abernathy cracked
a ball over Powell'S head. Boys!
there was a home run! But Jake
turned and flew for the poinset-
tia bushes, stuck up his glove and
the ball was there. Two hits fol-
lowed this super catch by Jake,
and it is readily conceivable that
trouble, just whole heaps of trou.
BILE, might have developed if Jake
had not been on the job.
There were thrills enough up
to this point, but the GriffS were
not through. In the ninth with
Texas" Jack Russell in the box
the boys started again. Jose
Moore, pinch hitter had singled
and Abernathy-the Griffs
specialized on him all day
cracked another one. Hill just
took off on the ball and put
the game to sleep with a catch
such as you have not seen in
left field in a long time.
Jack Russell and Monte Weaver
looked fine for the Griffs. Rus
sells curve snapped him down
nicely, and it was easy to see
just how the batters missed 1t
so completely. Weaver was free
and loose in his delivery and had
a good jump on his fast ball.
Deshong was wild but effective.
Jess Hill, who hit a home run
against the Red Sox, tripled
against the Phillies. Yes sir, it
looks as if everything would be
all right in the Griff outfield.
Powell was the power at bat
for Washington, hitting safely in
his first three times at bat. One
of his hits was q spanking double
to left. He was just a flash in
the pan, however-in his fourth
time at bat he popped up.
ICur Dod;o \kI;rr