Evening star., 1938-04-12
KNUCKLE BROKEN,
NATIONALS FEAR
X-Rays Being Taken Here.
He and Krakky Pounded
as Bees Win, 1912.
BY FRANCIS E. STAN,
STAFF Correspondent of The Star


RICHMOND, Va. April 12.-Practi-
cally in their own back yard, the Ma
tionals made a final transforming
stop here today and grimly pondered
the latest pitching developments.
James Brooklyn De Shong, the
right-hander who has led the Griffs
in games won for the last two seasons,
was due in the Capital today ahead
of the club. 1t is not when De Shong
is due that is important, but how.
Jimmy, you see, either has fractured
or a badly bruised knuckle on his
pitching hand
Outflelder Gene Moore of the Bos-
ton Bees did it yesterday in that
1912 fiasco the National Leaguers
won in Gastonia. In the fourth in
ming Moore lined ball back at jim
my, who tried to catch it. The ball
struck him on the pitching hand, disa-
bling him for further duty.
No X-rays were taken last night.
Instead De Shong was bundled on a
train for Washington, where he was
to be examined today by the Ma
tlonals' club physician.
Rough Spring for Jimmy.
Thus, as Manager Bucky Harris
headed his ball club home, De Shong
was listed as a dubious asset. At
worst he has fractured knuckle
which may keep him out of action for
a month. At best the paw is badly
bruised and. even when he again is
able to grip ball. Jimmy still will
be listed as dubious asset as far as
the start of the American League sea-
son is concerned
This has been a dismal spring for
James Brooklyn. He has gone from
bad to worse and. with the exception
of Joe Krakauskss, his Grapefruit
League record is the least impressive
of the Washington staff His poor
form has been severe blow to Harris,
who was planning today to make a
change in his slab plans
At the outset Harris confidently had
counted upon Yves Ferrell, Monte
Weaver and De Shong as his big
three So far Ferreu and Weaver
have lived up to expectations, but now
Bucky seriously is considering the
use of Dutch Leonard and Elon Hog
sett as starters.
Il want to check more on De
Shong's condition" stated Harris
If he is not badly hurt I want to
see him pitch again before the season
starts. If he doesn't look any better,
I'll have to put him in the bull pen,
temporarily, and look to those other
fellows
Better Pitcher Than Record Shows.
Before he retired yesterday, De
Shong had been blasted by the Bees
for six runs and seven hits in the
first two innings. Going into the fatal
fourth he walked Warstler and pitched
a single to Roy Johnson before Moore
came to bat. De Shong simply had
nothing with which to fool the Bees
yesterday.
Spring training scores and records
must not be taken seriously, and usu-
ally they aren't. De Shong is better
pitcher than he has shown this year.
Otherwise, he could not have won l8
games in 1886 or IA last year. But,
by the same token. the spring figures
bear sufficient weight to create anxiety
among the Griffs.
De Shong has faced major league
clubs five times so far. He opened
against the Cards on March Is and
after pitching two nice innings he
was raped for five runs in his third
and last frame. He followed with a
sparkling three-inning performance
against the Cincinnati Reds, but from
that point on Jimmy has been ham,
nered. In order, the Tigers, Cards
and Bees pounded him and his COM
posite record reveals that in 18 innings
he has given up 29 earned runs, 20 base
hits and 13 bases on balls.
The Mats will arrive in Washington
tonight at 10;45 o'clock, winding up
more than six weeks of training in the
South Harris first act, probably,
(See STAN, Page C-2)