The Washington times., 1937-03-18

Performance
OF Miha|iC
P|edSes
BY FRANK "BUCK" o'NEILL

ORLANDO, Fla, March IL.
Transcending the mere circum-
stance of victory or defeat in an
exhibition game, in its impor.
tance to the Washington Baseball
Club of 1887, was one play yester.
day that probably was forgotten
by half the customers before they
sat down to dinner. But in the
Washington dressing room after
the game the players shook
hands with big Fred Sington and
congratulated him on throwing
out Lou Chiozza at third base IN
the fourth inning, stopping q
rally, and halting what threatened
to develop into a full fledged
rout.
There has been scant doubt Of
the ability of the burly Sington
to hit the ball. There has been
more or less mild hammered humor
concerning his quaint and orig
inal ways of struggling to the
death with fly halls hit into right
field. But the boys rarely men
toned throwing when talking 10
Sington or about him.
If you saw Sington last year
you noted that he arched his
pegs, and that the ball did not
gather momentum as it bounced
off the turf. If you compared his
throwing with Stone or Chapman.
you probably said to yourself that
he lacked power, and let it go at
that.
Perfect Throw
Wherefore, in the fourth
inning yesterday, Sington made
a perfect throw; a throw that hit
the ground and took off with in
creased velocity that transformed
Chiozza from scoring threat to
another retired runner.
I'D rather have done that
than gotten three hits" SingtOn
said, when the game was over.
81 know / can hit, and the
league knows / can hit, but there
were a lot of folks who doubted
my ability to throw. 1t was
thrill to me to get ChiOzza."
AS a matter of fact, Sington did
all right at the plate. He whacked
two singles to right field and
walked once. We had hoped that
Sington's walk would set up a run.
It set up nothing more than
triple play. ~. =,
Johnny Mihalic played second
base and performed satisfactorily
in the field and at bat. He
smashed two singles and handled
nine chances.
InfieId Gem
Cecil Travis provided material
for the first triple play
of the spring series, and one OF
the very few ever made in spring
exhibition game. Travis was most
unfortunate at the bat throughout
the day, but he contributed the in
field gem of the contest, snagging
a grounder by OFT with his back to
the stands, and whipping the ball
to Mihalic to complete a sparkling
double play.
The superiority of the Giants
was measured in terms OF pitch
ing.
Clyde Castleman threw curve
at Jess Hill which the fleet out
fielder missed by a foot. He
struck out Kuhel with another
doWner that broke at least a foot.
1t looked great on st. Patrick S
Day, but will those same curves
be breaking that way on July 4,
when the games count in the
records.
Out at Plate
The Griffs never had chance
to win, and only twice did they
threaten to score. After the Travis
. debacle in the second inning,
Lewis came to bat in the eighth
! and hit a towering drive far over
Jimmy Ripple's head, and back to
the right-field fence. Lewis had a
home run right in his hands, but
his legs buckled as he turned third; !;
he staggered, half stumbled and
was an easy victim at the plate,
where big Harry Danning blocked
the dish.
Yes, there was one more chance
to score for the GriffS. In the
sixth Chappie beat out a high
grounder and Kuhel singled with
two out. Sington fouled out tt
end the rally and the final scoring
chance.
) Lanahan lacked control and
pitched himself into trouble which
i, arrived with bang in the form of
a triple by Castleman. Appleton,
, too, was wild in the fourth and two
passes got him into trouble.
The bestlooking pitcher of the
day, from a Washington stand
, point, was sgd Cohen. He
easily stopped all scoring thrustsr
, despite three hits in three innings,
Az ~ h aHS