Evening star., 1938-03-06
Fe1TeS Dt Handling of Leonards KnucIer Minds
TRICKY PITCH SEEN
GREAT AID TO CLUB
Clever Catching Is Needed
to Make Odd Delivery
of Real Value.
BY FRANCIS E. STAN,
STAN Correspondent of The Star.

ORLANDO, Fla, March 5.-Today
was momentous, or at least modestly
momentouS, day in the Nationals
training camp. Catcher Rick Ferrell
formally was introduced to the knuckle
ball upon which many of the Washing
ton ball clubs hopes are based.
The background, briefly. is this
Emil (Dutch) Leonard, the new right
handler, has knuckle ball. It is
called the best in baseball The draw
back Is that it is difficult pitch to
catch. Dutch's career to date has not
been furthereed by his catchers. They
don't like to call for the pitch.
No such thing is going to happen
this year, to hear Owner Clark Grif-
fifth. When he drafted Leonard last
fall the old gentleman said that Rick
would call for the pitch or else WASH
ington would get somebody who could
handle it. That, of course. is easier
said than done, to be screamingly
original. If Ferrell cannot handle the
knuckler, the Mats are not going to
get much service out of Leonard.
So it was that Mr.. Griffith and
Lieutenant" Stanley Harris looked
with interest today when Rick called
Leonard to the side this morning at
Tinker Field and began to warm him
up. When Dutch's arm was loose Rick
nodded. Leonard dug the nails of his
first two fingers into the cover and
cut loose. Rick caught it.
"KnuckIer" Does Things.
Griff and Harris breathed more
easily as Leonard tried again. Twenty
five or 30 KNOCKERS in succession the
big pitcher whipped to Ferrell. Most
of them the slender catcher handled
in good style.
At the end Rick was confident he
could take care Of the pitch. 1T does
things" he commented, holding up
the ball. YEAH" chimed in Rookie
Jake Early, who previously had caught
Leonard, lit does things all right. Did
you ever try chasing butterfly with
only your hands to catch it? Well
that's the way one of Dutch's good
knucklers looks"
Apparently all that remains now is
for the knuckler to give a similar i'm
preston to American League hitters
Leonard is confident he can win with
Washington. He is openly enthusiastic
about his new club Il won IA games
the first year I was with Brooklyn"
recalled the big fellow. Il thought I
was all set then.
But the following year started only
one game. That was the second one
OF the season. A ninth-inning home
run by Watkins of the Phillies. with
two men on base and two out, tied
up the score, 6-6. Casey Stengel
yanked me out and never started me
again. After seven weeks I was sent
to Atlanta"
Dutch Stops Free Swingers.
In the last year or so Leonard has
met with signal success against Amer
lean League clubs. Particularly i'm
pressive was an exhibition game he
pitched last spring for Atlanta against
the Red Sox. Dutch shout out the
Boston club with six hits.
The Boston club is the type of team
Griffith and Harris think will be both
cred by Leonard. ANY team that has
a free swinger like Jimmy FoxX
representing its big punch will have
trouble with him." claims Griff "A
slap hitter who chokes up his bat will
bother Leonard more than Foxx,
Greenberg, Gehrig and those kind of
clouters."
Outside of the knuckle balls intro
duction to Ferrell the days activity on
the ball field was routine. Another
burning sun quickly began to melt the
pounds off the Griffmen and the
drill lasted less than two hours. Al
Simmons, the veteran outfielder, was
one OF the last to quit, and when he
did so he announced he weighed only
1877.
Seven more pounds off," declared
Al, happily, "and I'll weigh the same
Is did when was having those big
years" At the close of the 1887 |
season Simmons weighed 2O5 pounds.
A diet and plenty of exercise has
worked wonders for the big fellow.
Haynes to Be Retained.
nasty little Of1-the-f1eld develop
nent was the operation on the arm of
Rookie Joe Haynes, pitcher For
the second time in four months his
left arm was cut open and the bone
scraped. The local physician reported
that Haynes was resting comfortably
this afternoon. A local anesthetic
was used for the operation, and
Haynes tainted during the slicing. But
he snapped out of it, and after spend
ing tomorrow in the hospital he Is
expected to be ready to leave.
Griflth is going to keep the lad in
camp, although he cannot work out
for 10 more days. He'll get his
chance. after ALL" promised the Old
Fox. It also was announced that
Inielder George Lapointe and
pitcher named Brumbaugh will re-
port later for trials. Griffith plumb"
forgot about them, it seems, and so
they will start week or 10 days be-
hind the rest of the first squad.
Henry Coppola, another pitcher, ar
rived, in town late this afternoon.