Evening star., 1945-01-21
|NineDatesGiven
Service Teams;
Majors Get 10
First Clash Scheduled
March 26; Youngsters
Brought Into Ranks
BY JOHN B. KELLER.

Feoeral authorities under war
time pressure seem determined to
knock the props from under big
league baseball. but the hopeful
Washington club goes along Sc
renely with plans for its 1945 cam
paign
Clark Griffith, club president.
last night announced a 20-game
training period schedule for the
Mats, their most pretentious since
conditioning seasons north of the
Potomac began in 1943, and also
declared he is grabbing draft-im-
mune players wherever he can find
them in revealing that 13 athletes,
many of them youngsters, already
have been signed.
The schedule of spring exhibi-
tions is about evenly divided be-
tween professional and service
teams with big leaguers-if they
may be so termed under the new
and drastic manpower regulations
the opposition in seven
OF the engagements.
Exhibitions will be staged by the
Mats from March 26, less than three
weeks after camp is opened at the
University of Maryland in nearby
College Park, through April Is, the
day before the Washington club is
due to plunge into the American
League championship campaign.
Nine Tits With Servicemen.
Boston's Braves, Philadelphia
Phillies and Athletics and New
York's Giants as well as Buffalo's
Bisons and Baltimore's Orioles will
be encountered by the Mats with
the Braves and Phillies tuning
Manager Os Bluege's outfit for a
'7-game series with service opposi-
ton slated from March 81 through
April l.
The last day of March will find
the Mats facing the Fort Monroe
team at that Virginia post, then will
come six successive tuSsles with
the nine of the Naval Training Sta
ton at Norfolk 1t was the Sailors,
with a powerful aggregation. who
gave the Washington club highly
beneficial training at the Virginia
naval base two years ago.
After the Giants come here for
two games and the Martin Bombers
of Baltimore invade College Park,
the Mats will trip to Bainbridge for
two days to battle the Navy boys
there. Then a tilt with the AS at
Fort Meade, brush with Buffalo
and a home and home series with
Baltimore will close the training
season.
Here's the complete schedule:
March 1927. Braves at College Park;
%, Phillies at Wilmington, Del; 90, Braves
at Georgetown u; 81. Fort Monroe at Fort
April 1s6, Naval Training Station at
8, Martin Bombers at College Park; 10-11.
ssa Athleaies lsans at ior0 Fort Meade ca Md IS Buf
falo at College Park; IA, Baltimore at
Grifhth Stadium; 15, Baltimore at Balti-
more.
Flock of Cubans Signed.
| Among the 13 players already in
line for the 1945 campaign are two
veterans from last year, Third Base
man Gil Torres and Catcher Mike
Guerra, and Wally Holborrow,
pitcher drawn from semipro ranks
who looked good in a Cleveland
game in his sole 1914 tryout.
The others are youngsters and
mostly Cubans. Dick Welteroth, IT.
year-old pitcher, yanked from a
Williamsport (Pa) high school.
Eddie Yost, infielder from semipro
baseball; Luis Suarez, Cuban in
fielder brought up from Chatta-
nooga; Jose Sanchez, outfielder who
as Jose Zardon was seasoned at
Williamsport in the Eastern League,
and Pedro Gomez, Cuban inf1elder,
were around the club last year.
The new stock signed includes
Larry Burger, left-handed pitcher
from New York semipro forces;
Charley Beihl, shortstop from the
University of Pittsburgh, and Man.
uel Hidalgo, Spanish-Chinese who
has been playing shortstop and
second base in Cuban baseball this
winter
Also new to the Mats are Angel
Fleitas, rated one of the best young
sters around second base in Cuba,
and Augustine Delaville, native
of New York, but resident of Cuba
most of his II years. Delaville is an
outf1elder.
Others have discussed terms in
correspondence with Griffith, but the
13 NAMED are the only players
| actually signed.