Evening star., 1938-07-23
ROCK HELD READY
FOR SECOND TEST.
Griff Eager to See Taft
Play ReguIarIy-BroWns
Rout Weak HurIers.
BY FRANCIS e. STAN.

ClaTk Grlmtn, often called the
shreWdest Of the ma jor leagues swivel.
chair brigade, is not rated among the
clubowners who meddle with the busi.
ness Of his manager. But Grifith is
hoping that Manager Bucky Harris
soon will write Wright" on his bat
ting order and lineup card and. theo-
retically, thus take the round out.
fielder and pinch-hitter de luxe apart
to see what has been making him tick.
Taft Wright, in case you haven't
noticed. is just about tops in the Amer
lean League in the difficult art Of
pinch-hitting. Lately, whenever Har.
rlS has faced an important offensive
emergency, he has handed Wright a
bat and told him to 90 out and get a
base hit
And Taft has been getting those
hits consistently Mainly due to his
pinch-hitting he has raised his aver
age to a commendable figure above
the 800 mark. He stands today as
the best pinch-hitter Washington has
had since Dave Harris and Cliff Boil.
ton were serving back in 1898 and
betting the Nationals to a pennant.
Griff's Willing to Gamble.
He looks good enough to me to play
regularly" quoth Grandpappy Grit.
nth. "Of course. he isn't much of q
fielder but there's only one way he
can get better and that is by playing
every day."
Grlfhth was reminded that Wright
opened the season as the regular right
fielder OF the Mats but that Harris
benched him after awhile when Al
Simmons got hot and Rookie George
Case began to stamp himself as one
OF the most promising rockies Of the
year. Now Simmons and Case. both
right-handed hitters. are established
in the outfield. with Sammy West
sandwiched between. All of the cur.
rent regular fly chasers are better
f1elders than Wright.
Wal" suggested Griffith. doggedly,
I still hope Bucky can find room for
the kid soon. Lookit Sam Cha pman
OF the AS. He's no great outfielder
but the AS are playing him in left
f1eld-the sun field in most parks
and Chapman is getting better every
day"
The chances are that Grifith has
not taken the matter up with Harris,
When and if he ever does Wright al.
most certainly will get another chance
as a regular. 1t may develop that
Wright isn't one Of those PLAYERS who
thrlves on steady work Dave Harris,
his right-handed hitting counterpart
OF few years back, was some shucks
OF a pinch-hitter but just a guy named
Joe when he was played regularly.
West, Simmons Are Hot Too.
Still, Wright's potentialities are in
triguing. He has been walking ur
TO the plate in the clutches and
getting hits. Almost everything he
has done lately has been right. H.
failed at long last to get a hit yester-
day against the Browns. who won a
9-to-7 victory over the Senators, bu:
ne drove across run There is lust
a chance that if he played regularly
and got up four and five times of an
afternoon ne would double his effec-
tiveness.
Griffith refrained from suggesting
however. where to place Wright. The
only field Taft has played so far for
any length of time has been right
field. where Case now is stationed.
There will be no displacing Case but
the fact that George also can play
center is interesting if not Importantly
suggestive. For, with a bow to Case 4
improvement. he cannot play the
garden with West, who also has been
hitting well this year. As for Simmons
in left. he is hard guy to yank.
Al is more dangerous man at bat
than his average and record for the
current home stand would indicate.
With the chips down he still is pretty
good bet to hit long one A double
of AIS bat played large part in
the Mats attack yesterday. When the
smoke had cleared Simmons had
batted across three runs and scored
another run himself. That isn't a bad
days work
Buddy Slugs But Browns Win.
The Griffs are nearing the end oi
their home stand. Today, with Ken
Chase pitching, they were to move
into their second game with the
Browns and tomorrow, with Monte
Weaver working, they will wind up
their stand and move Westward.
Bad pitching and some shoddy de-
fensive work combined to cost ths
Griffs that decision to the Browns yes
terday. They slammed Howard Mills
and Fred johnson, 38-year ole
rookie from Toledo for a total of IL
hits but from the fourth inning they
trailed.
The Browns jumped on Harry Kelley
In the fourth to take ST. lead. The
Griffs were always threatening but
Joe Krakauskas and Pete Appleton
who succeeded Kelley, were not a
effective as they might have been and
in the end, the task of overhaulins
the Browns was q trifie too great.
The day was marked by the clout-
ing of Buddy Lewis, who collected q
home run, two doubles and q single ir
five times at bat. Buddy drove across
two of the Mats seven runs and scored