Evening star., 1941-03-24
Harris Hopeful
He Il Get Slab
Help Soon
rovis Leads 22-Hit
Attack Thut Routs
Tigers, IS to 5

~ StaLI ttTIes'' OF ne star.
LEESBURG, Fla, March "a
Clark Griffith is having a hearty
laugh on the critics who have been
making nasty cracks about his poor
old Washington ball club. So far
the Mats have played five games
against the two teams in the 1910
world Cincinnati and Detroit
and they have won four of them.
Today the Old Fox was laughing
his loudest His team, which was
consigned. to seventh or even eighth
place because of lack OF power, was
being regarded with fresh awe For
the third time in as many games
they WallOped the American League
champions, the Tigers, and in the
process yesterday they staged a %
hit rampage which stands as rec
ord high for the spring training
campaign.
So Impressive were the Mats at the
plate that when Manager Bucky
Harris and Griffith held solemn.
locked door conference last night
they emerged with a single thought
get a pitcher. Both are convinced
that one more pitcher will make a
surprisingly strong team out of the
Washington ball club.
New Pitcher Due Soon.
Il hope to get that pitcher soon"
Harris said Some of the other
clubs have got to cut pitchers off
their squads The Yankees. for in
stance. I couldn't say who we're
trying to land because Joe Mccarthy
is the guy who must decide We've
got to take what he doesn't want"
Nothing so far has been said about
adding power, and unless the Mats
suddenly fold nothing will be said
because up to now they have eX-
hibited unexpected power Appar-
emily the present lineup will be the
one which Will open the season on
April IA
The big individual surprise has
been ShortStop Cevil Travis. The
only thing which has kept Travis
from being recognized as one of the
great hitters in base ball has been
his inability to drive across runs.
The lanky Georgian with lifetime
average Of ,318 never has batted
over more than 90 runs in a single
campaign. Usually he is 80 runs
below this peak figure.
Travis easily is the standout hitter
so far this spring In the eight
games played he has batted .429,
hit two doubles, three home runs
and pounded across 13 runs. Not
only is he knocking in his mates, but
he also is displaying rare power.
He belted his third home run of
the eight games yesterday at Lake
land, where the Mats got a 15-tO-5
decision. 1t came in the sixth inning,
after he had doubled and singled.
The ball travelled at least 48O feet
on the fly and finally rolled TO the
center field wall, directly under the
52O-foOt mark painted in white. No
speedSter, Travis did not even draw
a throw to the plate on his journey
around the bases.
That hit came with the sacks
loaded and helped toward the knock
ing across of half a dozen runs for
Cecil yesterday. Anything close to
pace like this during the regular
season might well wipe away all
doubts as to Travis ability to hit in
the clutches.
BO-Bo Was Good. ANYWAY
Travis was not the only Nat to
have himself a field day. johnny
Welai, Subbing for the sore-armed
Ben Chapman, banged cut four
straight hits, scored three runs and
drove across another. Buddy Lewis
hit safely five straight times for his
best day in a long time
The only Detroit pitcher who
looked terrific was Bo-Bo NeWsom,
who made his first appearance of
the year. Bo-Bo worked three score
less innings. When he left. the
Griffs went to town on Dizzy Trout.
Clay Smith and Early Cook. They
scored their Is runs in three innings,
getting three in the fourth. four in
the fifth and eight in the sixth.
Ken Chase, who started the game,
did his best bit by far when he held
the Tigers to a single run and two
hits in five innings. Danny Mac
Fayden, who was wild, was the vic
tim of the other Tiger assaults, such
as they were.