Evening star., 1939-03-07
So Sure He Is Right
He Hits Trail 10
Seek Gardeners
Scout Fails to Display
Usual Faith in ToIent
He Brought to Club
B, q stat1 Correspondent Of The Star.


He Brought to Club
ORLANDO, Fla, March 7.-Mys-
terious Joe Cambria, lonesome scout
of the Nationals, slipped into camp
and slipped out again today, leaving
in his wake forceful prophesy and
high conjecture.
THE Washingtons," fatty an
nounced Scout Cambria, ARE going
to fool everybody this year if Bucky
Harris gets decent breaks and the
outfleld comes around. The big
question mark is the outfleld. Well
s'long, I'm off to find some out
flelders."
Mysterious Joe disappeared over
the horizon, while his listeners pom
dered as to his destination. DANCED
if I know" cackled Uncle Clark
Griffith, gleefully. Il can't keep
track of that bird. But he'll dig
up something
wasn't born yesterday BY that is
meant Cambria should know where
of he speaks He calls the Wash
ington outfield a question mark
What ne said probably expressed the
unexpresSed thought of MeSSrs
Griffith and Harris.
Joe Thinks All Are Stars.
The fine italian hand of Mys-
terious Joe is written all over this
training camp of the Washington
ball club. Cambria is the kind of
fellow who normally believes that
every prospect he picks up is going
to make the major league grade.
There is no doubt in his mind but
that Alexandra Carrasquel, whom
he has renamed Alex Alexandra, is
the best pitcher on the staff. He
found Alex in the wilds of South
America.
Cambria thinks that Joe Kra-
kauskas is the best southpaW on the
club. 1t might be mentioned that
he discovered Krakauskas playing
rugby football in Hamilton, On
tario. Cambria found Roberto Or
tlz, Rene Monteagudo, Bucky ia
cobs, Bob Garner. Forest Brewer,
Morris Aderholt, Jimmy Vernon and
flock of others on this Nat squad
And he thinks all of them are ade-
quate, to put it mildly.
But the outfield. he confesses, is
question mark and this is strange
coming from him. For it was Joe
who dug up the sensational George
Case. who groomed the heavy
hitting Taft Wright, who imported
from Cuba the long driving Bobby
Estalella and who will bring Johnny
Welaj, spare fy-chaser, to Orlando.
In short, Washington will operate
with virtually a Cambria produced
outfeld this year. And yet Mys-
terious Joe hints that it is a gamble
and that what he is seeking is an
other outfielder who@ bats right
handed.
Would Like to Play Early.
The tip may be worth looking into
Estalella, Case and Wright are
young and powerful at the plate
But they will make many mistakes
in the field. They will throw to the
wrong bases and misjudge fly balls
and line drives. They are raw and
crude and yet rich in promise.
AS spring training for the Griff-
men moves forward and the Grape
fruit League campaign nears the
Washington club will bear careful
inspection. It isn't a club that fig
ures to win more than half Of its
games. 1t doesn't rate a first dlyi-
sion berth and yet it cannot be
counted completely out
The catching stands as the salne,
with Rick Ferrell looming as the
regular backstop and Jake Early
and Tony Giuliana backing him up
Harris would be painfully willing
to play Early every day if he thought
that he could hit. But Ferrell is a
notoriously good spring hitter and
the odds are heavily in favor of his
starting the season.
Krakky, Chase Are Improved.
The pitching staff, if anything.
must be considered as slightly i'm.
proved. Krakauskas and Ken Chase
are better hurlers. Pete Appleton
is dependable relief man. espe-
cially in the spring. Dutch Leonard
figures to win his share of games.
not exceeding Is. There is a chance
that Jimmy De Shong will be better
than he has been for the last two
seasons Ortiz arila. Carrasquel may
help. So may Jacobs and Joe
Haynes and. possibly, Tom Baker
and Arnold Anderson. There is one
beauty about the 1899 pitching
staff-it can't be worse than that of
1898.
The infield will be as good as it
was last year. Zeke Bonura, who
drove across more than 100 runs,
is gone and Jimmy Wasdell is due
to replace him. Wasdell doesn't fig
ure to drive across 100 runs this
year. At the same time he doesn't
figure to let in as many runs as
Bonura did. Buddy Myer. Cecil
Travis and Buddy Lewis, who round
out the infield, figure to repeat their
good years.
1888 Outfield Gone Completely.
So the outfeld remains the oues-
ton mark. as suggested by Cam
bria A year ago the Mats regular
f1y-chasing corps consisted of john
nv Stone. AL Simmons and Melo
Almada. None of the trio is back
Almada fell down at the plate and
was shipped to st. Louis in June
for the aging Sammy West The
telnperamental Simmons incurred
the wrath of Griffith and was sold
to the National League Stone. a
grand campaigner, became i'll and
was forced to retire.
Estalella is scheduled to play left
field. Bobby broke into pro ball
as an infielder. He was a bad one
The question is whether he is good