The Washington times., 1936-07-16
MONTE WEAVER'S RETURN TO FORM ELATES BUCKY HARRIS
Griffin en-
In Thick
OfRQce
BY FRANK BUCK" ONEILL


Whether it was just one after.
Moons performance, whether it
was an indication of what is 20
be expected in the drive that lies
before the Griffs, or whether
things just worked out as they did,
the fact remains that Monte
Weaver pitched eight and one
third innings of baseball against
the White Sox yesterday that
were good enough to win.
Weaver went into the game with
two out in the first inning. AT
the time the White Sox had five
runs over the plate. Luke Sewell
leered at Weaver from third base.
Vernon Kennedy scowled at him
from first. Ripper Radcliffe brand,
ished a bat at him from the bat
ters' box. The fans were in a
mood to wise crack.
Radcliffe went away on a weak
grounder to Bluege, ending the
inning. Just once after the first
inning did Chicago spikes touch
the home plate. In fact, Weaver
allowed only five hits, and when
the game was over Ben Chapman
denounced the scoring which
credited blows to Jimmy Dykes
and Luke Sewell. The fact that
Dykes blow dipped away from
Chapman and the fact that
Sewell's drive twisted so that it
tore Chappie's fingernail loose
did not influence the Alabama
boy. He said he made two errors.
COnquerS Illness
Well accept his statement with.
out changing the scoring in the
slightest, but it rather heightenS
the performance of the pale pro-
fessor, whose battle of health and
a return to the major leagues has
been of absorbing interest for
two years.
He isn't a robust man in any
sense of the word. In dining
cars on trips kindly old ladies and
scholarly gentlemen engage him
in conversation and ask him
frequently: who are these ath-
letic looking young men on the
train?"
On such occasion the courtly
Weaver will identify MS mates,
and occasionally add:
II am one of the team"
Pitching a game of ball is labor
that takes its toll of Weaver. Two
years ago his digestive system
just about broke down. He tried
to SubSiSt on fruit and vegetable
diet with no success whatever.
He couldn't win and he went to
the minor leagues. But such was
his courage and so fixed his de-
termination to come back to star
dom that he conquered his ills
just as he conquered the White
Sox yesterday.
Bucky Harris naturally is elated
over Weaver's great performance.
It adds another gun to the Wash
ington armament for the big push
that is already under way.
The GriffS are fourth this morn
ing. but position in the race means
nothing at the moment. The
greatest developments of the year
are yet to be made. With the pale
professor back in stride, once
more the winning pitcher of a
couple of years ago, there is no
telling where this club will finish.
1t has as good a chance as the
next one.
1t is essential that Buddy Myer
get back into harness at the earl
lest possible moment if the climb
of the Griffs is to be made, or a
place in the first division made
secure. The men who were the
reserve are now the first line
strength. Take Bluege out of the
line up, for instance, and his loss
would be felt. In such a con-
tingency KresS would move to the
other side and Travis would re-
turn to short. If KreSs went
down, Travis would move back to
the infield. And he does not be-
long in the infield.
The GriffS fell short of their BID
for victory yesterday after putting
on one big show. Ben Chapman
started the ruckus with a single.
Lewis and Bolton singled, and
Stone tripled. At the peak of the
drive Bolton was trapped off first
and Travis was rubbed out trying
to reach third base. Kress then
flied out and the chance had gone.
In the ninth Kennedy started
to wobble again, and after he
filled the bases with three bases
on balls, Silent" John Whitehead
came into the game. Buddy Lewis
hit the first ball pitched to Jackie
Hayes, and double play leaped
into being with the speed of light.