The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-07-01

of .267.
The Griffs closed their tou
tories and five defeats for a
Just a scratch of the pencil
and you'll see for yourself that
Bucky Harris and his humble
Griffs have been outplaying the
lordly Platinum Boys by a mar
gin of .348.
Cope With Tigers
Cleveland and Detroit, who
shared the profits of a day of
inactivity with the Griffs yes
terday are just one game behind
Boston. Washington has proved
its ability to cope with the Tigers,
and the confirmation of dis,
patches sent from Detroit that
Hank Greenberg might be out of
action for weeks-maybe for the
season practically eliminates
the Tigers from any considera.
ton this season.
We will not beat the brass for
Cleveland any longer than we
will moan over the fate of the
Tigers. The Griffs are the boys
right now. Never did opportunity
beat with thunder strokes on a
door as it's beats upon the Wash.
ington portals. Victory here in
Philadelphia, further triumphs
by the victory-mad Yanees who
hear the clink of world series
gold. and the Griffs may return
to washington in second place.
All of this seems so fantastic
that you doubt your own words,
But the standing of the clubs, the
coolest, most brutal statistical col
umn in baseball, assures you that
all of this is true. The Griffs can
come home for independence Day
in second place. Those other
clubs are not playing the game
that Bucky Harris has his men
playing.
There's a lift to the club since
Chapman came. and you observe
the reactions of the men on the
field to his driving domineering
personality. The quiet, soft
spoken Red Kress who plays with
a devil-may-care speed and touch,
seems a bit faster. Bluege, the
silent man who puts his determin.
alton into deeds, keeps step.
Stone Playing Ball
Johnny Stone is a fighting ball
player again. If Newsom can re-
cover his control somewhere along
the line and take the place he
Selectei for himself this spring,
you are going to see something
here on July Fourth when Ben
Chapman swings his potent bat
against his old mates.
BEAT them?" Chappie said
this morning as the team milled
around him. "WeIl do every
thing in the world to knock
them out. OF course they've
got a lead, but other leads
have faded. We have a chance
to go out and show our class.
We can tear through a game
as fast as they can.
"The pitching of the Yankees
Is not too strong" Chappie
went ahead in his sales talk.
"There's no telling just what
can happen on a ball field. But
this club knows what it did
in the West. We know that
we beat the ears off the rec
ord made by Boston. We beat
Detroit, and the reverses in
Cleveland didn't take any of
our morale from us. All we
have to do is knock these
babies off in Philadelphia and
then go into Washington ready
for the big fight"
The spirit of the GriffS is high
now, as they view the high sta
tions of the league with level eyes.
They might have become clustered
and gone out of whack a little
while ago, but right now they
think they can win. I don't mean
that they're claiming any pen
nants. Not that, but they can
finish second, and the figures
prove it. They accept the proof
and they're going to try to beat
out the Boston Red Sox.
AS for Boston. the plight of the
team proves that it requires some
thing besides certified checks and
extravagant claims. Joe Cronin
claimed the pennant in Orlando
this spring. Unless every sign
fails. the kneeling shortstop who
finished last in his classification
last year will need all the luck the
game affords. The Midas touch
that carried Washington to a pen
nant in '33 has failed him. He
| SeenS IN he m his ability now