Evening Star Newspaper, February 23, 1927, Page 32

el SPORTS THE EVENING § TAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1927. SPORTS. Blair Reports at Tampa With First Base Glove, Proving He Is Not a Calcher OVERSIZE RECRUIT BATS . AROUND .400, HE ADMITS Although Not Yet 20 Yea rs Old, New Griffman Has| Been in Pro Game Three Seasons—Is 6 Feet Tall and Weighs About 180. BY DENMAN THOMPSON, Sports Editor, The Star. AMPA, Fla.,, February 23.— When is a catcher not a catch er? When he is a first baseman That's the answer, and it wi furnished yesterday by Blair, the most recent addition to the Natfonals. Mondey, when the momentous news +hat Blair had agreed to bind himself agally to service with the Washington all club was wafted over the wires to palpitating public in the Capital, it as stated in these usually relfable olumns that the newcomer was a #ckstop. 1t also was duly set forth at that time that Blair first had been recom- mended to the named Davis President that he had re. with his e of the Lt th th d acceptar ibmitted to him. t was further was recorded that he arried the Indorse of Manager Martin of West Beach. It de. of the pilot not Martin, but not calculated use fandom any sleepless nights, Has First Base Mitt. Aside from that bit of inconsequen. tial misinformation, all the data on Blair as contained originally in this sreat family newspaper was absuetly correct except that he was repressnted v us as being a catcher. That was due to the fact that we understood Mr. Griffith to that effect. Mr. Griffith stoutly contends that he never ref- erred to the voung man as a catcher, although he admits he might have un- | intentionally led us astray In at. tributing the name of Martin to Mor- n. There remained no doubt as to the designation of the newest rookle after Yesterday's practice got under way, however. It was apparent at a zlance and as logical as the line in that old-time ditty which went: “I knew he was a sailor, 'cause he wore = mailor hat.” Yep, Blair came stalking on the field with a first baseman’s mitt, but to settle the thing beyond any ques- we asked him point blank and he 2dmitted he was a first baseman. He mmade this assertion in a straight- Torward, confident manner that left] support it stablished type of glove he carries © this may be taken for a fa, |\ Catchers Need Not Worry. | As a result, Muddy Ruel, Bennah | Tate and Johnny Berger are entitled |to feel conslderably relleved as it | means less competition in their part cular field, but it may prove news lof disconcerting portent to Joseph | Ignatius Judge, and when Bob Mc. Cann and Hank Cullop hear of it they | | are liable to pull their hair and gnash. | their teeth in a frenzy of apprehen- | sfon. This last named pair, it will be rocalled, were supposed to have the business of striving to earn the berth | of substitute fnitfal sacker, a struggle | between ju the entry list closed. It develops that Blair noj only 1 flrst baseman, but has been for hree seasons pa despite the 't that he will not be vears old untfl next January. He got his start | the semi-professional racket after earning the reputation of being a boy { phenom as pitcher for his school team n Nashville, where his people for- merly v This was In 1924, with the Plkeville team of the Valley League, a circuit without the pale of |organized base ball, which harbored such big league maicontents as | Shufin’ Phil Douglas. i It seems, also, that there was some lttle demand for his services this season, as he was in_communication with officlals of the Yankees and re- celved a wire advising him not to sign any papers until he had con- ferred with Business Manager Ed Barrow at St. Petersburg. We get that not from Mr. Griffith, but from Blair himself, and as he has a kind, open face with level blue eyes, there is no apparent good reason for seasoning the acceptance with salt. Is Rangy Rookie. It may be sald for Blair that he has size as well as assurance in his favor, for he exceeds 6 feet in height and weighs about 180 pounds without the center of gravity being located in the region of the waistline, as is the case with a couple of hurling heavy- weights in camp. In bunting practice yesterday he displayed considerable adeptness at picking up short hoppers and stretch- ing for high ones. This, with his naive declaration that he always has hit over .400 and that ‘“throwin’ around them bases” is the least of no doubt that he himself is convinced of-it, and with the evidence of the With the VETERAN bowler, handing out little encouragement to a ‘oungster at the Coliseum re- cently, said a few things that might very well be taken to heart by tho large group of shooters ,Who get distouraged too - easily. “‘Keep after the pins all the time,” he urged. “Don’t throw away a pin or two here and there just bocause you get a bad break with the first ball. “Remember that the loss of one pin to a box will cut your average just 10 pins to the game. If you really try for every pin, aiming at something definite and not merely throwing the ball down the alley in the general di- raction of the bunch, you'll soon be shooting a flat game around 90 and that means that you need only one spare a game with a strike now and then to’ give you the 100 average you say you are trying for. “The average 95-97 bowler actually loses four of five pins a geme through carelessness or lack of concentration. Now is a pretty good time to get started on the right road, too, because the city tournament is just around the corner and if you'll look up the back records you'll be astonished at the number of men who have lost out on good prizes by just a pin or two. “l remember one class C bowler just a few years ago who lost a dia- mond medal for the all-events and a gold medal for high individual game, To say, nothing of a bundle of cash, by justitwo pins.” . Here are the leaders of the various teams of the Internal Revenue League. Kasson heads the Personal Audits, with an average of 106-38 for 63 games. At the top of the Annex No. 1 outfit is Davis, with an average of 105-53 for 59 engagements. Leslle is setting the pace for Clearing Division, with an_average of 108-20 for 63 . xames. Brown is first in the Miscel- laneous ranks, with an average of 105-19 for 60 games. The Solicitors are led by Speer, with an average of 105-44 for 59 tilts. Lewis is showing the way to other Consolidated bowlers, # With an average of 105-35 for 51 starts. ansuy is best of the Executives, with 06-56 for 63 games. The Special Ad- ustment crowd is topped by Rutan, with an average of 100-30 for 59 games. Regal Club bowlers held their initial workout at the Coliseum, with the following striving for positions on the lub team: W. L. Koontz, James C. Wood, William March, Joseph Glick, Maurice Norton, Hrnest Grant and iiegrge G. Kundahl, jr. Members of the Regal Club are to meet for matches at the Coliseum every Monday evening at 7 o'clock. In an interclub match secently Glick, Norton, Grant and Jundah! defeated Koontz, Woud and March by 10 pins. There will be plenty of action at Convention Hall on Friday night, when four of the foremost teams of the District League swing into action. onvention Hall bowlers will encou- er the Curb C'afes, while the Govern- 1ment Printing Office team will clasi with the Standford Paper Co. outfit. Curb Cafes and Printers also are ex- rected to dispose of a postponed match efore the week end: One of the big matches of the sea <on in the Ladies' District League is lue at the King Pin alleys in upper Fourteenth street tonight, when the King Pins will battle with the Conven- tion Hall girls. Capt. Luclle Preble’s eam is more than eager to get at the forces led by Capt. Gladys Lowd, for the King Pins still figure they are ery much in the running for the sague champlonship, and rothing would please them moro than toppling he circuit pace-setters this evening. Smithflelds, leaders of the Athle lub League, are to tuckle the Ahepas onight on the Convention Hall drives. Che Greeks, although not so fa U the race, are expected z00d account of themselves Charley Quant _and _his TROUSERS To Match Your Odd Coats EISEMAN'S, 7th & F his troubles, may mean that the Washington camp is harboring an 2mbry> Hal Chase or Fred Tenney. Bowlers Revenue gold medal sharpshooters are to show at the King Pin tonight in a National Capital League match. Their opponents will be the Belmonts. Men and women of the Bureau of Mines will battle tonight in a special match on the Arcadia alleys, starting play at 7 o'clock. The women's team will be accorded a handicap of 102 pins. Arcadias surprised the Meyer Davis crowd in the Ladies’ District League, taking all three games. Whe Arcadias were given a good contest by the Musicians in only the second game of the set. In a special match, the Viehmeyers t00k_three of five gemes bowled from the Walkers. The fet score was 2,429 376, RUTH TELLS YANKS AMOUNT HE EXPECTS By the Associated Press. HOLLYWOOD. Calif., February 23. —Babe Ruth has set forth in a ietter to Col. Jacob Ruppert of the New York Yankees his side of the argument rela- tive of 1927 salary, but the sending time of the letter was almost as much of a mystery today as its contents. Reports from a Burbank studio, where the big fellow is swinging a bat for a motion picture production, were to the effect that the Bambino had mailed his argument yesterday, but gossip about his hotel here last night had it that the letter was sent by airmail Monday. The Babe himseif could not be reached. In a brief telephone conversation with the studio from a film location at Venice earlier in the day, Ruth de- clined to reveal the contents of the letter, but let it be known that he had expressed his views regarding the term of years contract as well as the salary question. He recently returned unsigned contract providing a salary of $62,000 for the coming base ball season, +TURKEYS BORROWED BY COBB FOR PHOTO By the Associated Press. AUGUSTA, Ga., February 23.—Ty Cobb 1s of the opinion that Peter Twitty, State game commissioner, is “twitting up the tree” when he starts an investigation of the “Peaches" sup- posed turkey hunt, a picture of which showed Cobb holding nine of the birds and announcing that they were all killed in one morning. Twitty saw the picture and counted the turkeys and said that if Cobb had killed that many he had violated the game laws, two a day being the limit. Cobb s the birds shown in the picture were not killed in Georgia, but |in South Carolina. Friends of the ball | player are laughing over the incident. | Cobb, they say, did not kill any of the | turkeys. T went hitless that day, but the photo was taken with the bag {of all the party. | N 1227 R Street NW. N Repairs to All Makes of High- Grade Cars Potomac 861 Showrooms Cor. Conn. Ave. & R t the two of them, with | is | | in | ICK ALTROCK PLAYING “PEPPER” BALL WITH SOME OF NATI Left to right: Coffman, Stewart, Lisenbes, Mangum and Crowder. ALS’ YOUNGSTERS RIMITIVE base ball was played with a ball as lively as the base ball of today and also with a ball that was very much deader than the ball of today. The old bounding rock was liveller than the ball that is in use now. You could throw it to the pavement and it would bound twice as high as a base ball of today will bound. Yet the batters of old-times failed to hit that ball much farther than they bat one today. A great deal‘of talk about a Hvely ball and big-batting is guff. Whethér a ball is lively or dead you've got to hit it in the center to get anywhere afid if you hit it in the center you must know how to reach the pitcher. Probably he doesn’t pitch very well if you can smash it in the center all of the time. Fingers Are Battered. But no mater whether the ball was a bounding rock or a dead one, fingers got awfully battered in the old days. There were no gloves. The modern invention, which projects the hands with such a thick and soft covering, had not been discovered. Ball players stopped everything with bare hands, or tried to. Bones were broken and flesh was cut to the bone. It was a common thing to have two fingers split apart when some hot liner came sizzling between the fingers of an in- flelder's hand. The pitchers never tried to get the hot ones for fear they would injure their pitching hands. That was sensible because good pitchers were as hard to get in those days as they are now. : Catchers received an awful beating from the ball: Even before the catch- er moved directly behind the bat, there was some punishment in the hot fouls that tore behind the batter, but when the catcher was asked to stand under the bat and take punishment wihout glove protection he got it good. A boxer in a prize ring was no better off when trying to defend himself from the blows of his adversary. The first men who essayed to use aything resembling the gloves of the present were ridiculed. ~They had started an innovation which was like any other innovation in sports that dld wot appear to have anything heroic in connection with it. Those old chaps gloried in their crooked fingers and their misshapen hands. The earliest attempt at a glove was to cut down an old buckskin affalr, one of the kind that was common out in the Middle West years ago when father tackled the job of shovel- ing the snow off the sidewalk. The fingers were sheared away and the ball player then had what he con- sidered to be a glove. The first use of the catcher's glove, the big pillow that is in common use now, resulted in one solid afternoon of hooting for the catcher who used it. Maybe he, was Charley Zimmer of Cleveland. Catchers Take Punishment. Silver Flint of the old Chicagos I and Doc Kennedy of the old Clevelands probably had the most battered and misshapen hands that ever were at- tached to a ball player on earth. They were catchers, Kennedy did not have a perfect joint | on either hand and his fingers bent both backward and forward. Some When Base Ball Was Young BY JOHN B. FOSTER Spearing Liners Bare-Handed hotel lobby with his arm resting on the counter in front of him, a near- sightd and tipsy man came along and tried to hang his overcoat on Sil- ver's finger ends, thinking ther were upturned hooks. It tickled. Flint, so that he took the man out to the game that afternoon, which Chicago wor. Then Flint wanted Anson to Lire the near-sighted individual as a mascot. “Anse” merely remarked, “You lay off hops.” First-Bound Catches and Dented Skulls). (Next: STECHER IS ON HAND T0 WRESTLE HANSON Joe Stecher, world heavyweight wrestling champion, arrivgd yesterday in perfect shape for his match to- morrow night at the Arcadia with Charley Hanson, whose challenge the scissors hold king has accepted after it had stood for five years. Stecher is on’'a campaign to clean up every worthwhile title contender and establish beyond the slightest doubt his right to the world crown. He comes here fresh from a victory over Renato Gardini, the Italian idol, whom he defeated Monday before 7,000 New Yorkers. Gardini, after more than half an hour of strenuous wrestling in which Stecher appeared to suffer most, suc- cumbed to the scissors hold made fa- mous by the champion and with which he expects to conquer Hanson. Stecher’s ears are considerably red- dened by the repeated headlocks with which Gardini, according to newspaper accounts, made the champlon groggy. He, may undergo more of the same treatment tomorrow night, for Han- son is adept in the use of the headlock as well as the more painful toe grip. Looking _ prodigiously powerful, Stecher ambled on his famous “mil- lion dollar legs” into the office of Promoter John 8. Blick ahead of schedule today. Characteristically, he refrained from commenting on an approaching match other than to express the opinion that Hanson is one of the most dan- gerous wrestlers in the world. Stecher s now the busiest heavy- ALEXANDER FRISKY DESPITE 40 YEARS By the Associated Press. ST. LOUIS, February 23.—The ap- proach of the fortieth birthday Satur- day has failed to dampen the friskiness of Grover Cleveland Alexander, pitch- ing hero of the Cardinal world series conquest, as he bunts and shags fly balls in the outfield at Avan Park, Fla. The years have dealt kindly with “‘old Pete” and the start of his seven- teenth season in major leagues yes- terday found him as peppery as 10 lads from the Cardinals’ minor league farms who are trying for a place on the roster. Manager Bob O'Farrell is also step- ping lively to take off 15 pounds which is in excess of his playing weight. REGAINS RACKET TITLE. | NEW YORK, February 23 (#).—| Clarence C. Pell of New York, national amateur rackets champion from 1615 to 1926, trounced Hewitt Morgan of New York, 156—14, 15—9, 15—7, to regain his title. B TAKES RACKETS TROPHY. DETROIT, February 23 (#).— Harvard gained permanent possession of the national squash_ rackets team trophy by defeating Buffalo in the weight in the game. He has had sev- eral narrow escapes in his clean-up drive and a number of grueling matches. One of these was with Ivan Poddubny, who was' undefeated until fhe met Stecher. » ‘Tomorrow night’s preliminary, be- tween Dutch Green and Harry Nixon for the Southern middleweight cham- fonskip, primises to be extra-ordinarily lively. Both men are fast and rough. LEADS GENEVA ELEVEN. BEAVER FALS, Pa., February 23 (#).—Al Maglisceau, varsity tackle, has been elected to. captain the 1927 Geneva College foot ball team. afternoons they bent forward and the next day they would bend backward, because they had been knocked out of their previous alignment. Time and again he stood behind the bat with the blood streaming from his fingers and without a word of complaint. He couldn’t be hired to qujt. Silver Flint had many of hls fingers broken at the second joint and as they had turned at right angles to the low- er joint by not being set properly, his hands always resembled rakes. One day when he was standing in a tr) mi ur ton. 11th St. Above Pa. Ave. Factgry aad want value—they want look good on them, and the price 0 oc] Maliory, Borsalino. Schoble, Stetson—simplify "ine hat you want 16 here: ote7. 13 They’re Becoming 4194822 725" buy a hat by just ask- ing for a certain priced Hat, nefther does he ask for the finest hat in the house without Men ing it on before buyin ot s that ust be right. k of famous hat names—Brodts In c., selec” By the Associated Press PARIS — Jack Walker, defeated Re; Devos, Belgium, European mid- dleweight champion (6). “Spider” Plad- n flyweight champion of France, defeated Michel JMontreuil (12). Pert Molina, France, beat Albert Lepesant ). SAN FRANCISCO—Jimmy McLar- nin, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Tommy Cello, San Frangisco, drew (10). g DES MOINES, Towa. — Buddy Me- Donald, St. Paul, defeated Ruddie Fro lik (10). Kenneth Hunt, Des Moines, beat Buster Brown, Chicago (8). ALBANY, N. Y.—Jack Warren, Chicago, defeated Italian Jack Her- man, Yonkers (12). SANTA ROSA, Calif.—Vic Morrison, Oakland, defeated Mickey Marks, New York (10). BUTTE, Mont—Andy Martin, Bos- ton, won from Dixie Lahood, Butte 12). HOT SPRINGS, Ark.—Eddie Ketch- ell of Toledo won a newspaper deci- sion over Kid Lewis of Hartford, Conn. (10). g SRS, MILLER WILL REFEREE. When Catholic University and Na/y boxers face Saturday night at Annapolis in a seven-bout meet Heinie By the Associated Press EW YORK, February 23.— Rogers Hornsby Is catching all the spotlight glare at the New York Glants’' training grounds, In Sarasota, Fla. He is working out under the hot Florida sun like a rookle. Weighing 174 pounds, 34 more than he started the season with last year, today he had two blistered hands and a face scarlet from sunburn to show for his first two days of training When he is not in the cage batting the former champlon of National League hitters is sweeping up ground balls around second base, running lap after lap around the field, or acting as assistant pitching coach to Roger Bres nahan pending the arrival of nager John McGraw from Havana. Further- more, he has just about decided that the Giants will win the pennant in the Natfonal League this year. Pitchers. Alexander, Bell, Herman S. Dyer, Edwin H. { Haines, Jesse L. . | Keon, Howard V. Littlejohn, Carlisle Miller, Russell L. | Reinhart, Arthur*C. . | Rhiem, ’(“lnrlesi F. ng, James J. ... .. Sherdel, William H. ‘Whitworth, Richard 0. Catchers. O’Farrell, Robert A. , Henry A. Warwick, Inflelders. Bell, Lester R. ..... Bottomley, James L. . Flowers, D’Arcy R. . Frisch, nk F. Thevenow, Thomas J. . Toporcer, George ... Outflelders. : == :-=§=:-= "SER= Southworth, William .. Sam Breadon, manager; William Fla., training cam) ning 89 games an the National League. four games to three. 25 STRAIGHT SHATTERED BY TRIO OF TRAPSHOTS Three members of the JVashington Gun Club shot perfect scores in the 25-bird contests held at the club. Frank Burrows, Dr. Stine and Bob Livesey turned the trick. Fawsett led with 94 in the 100-bird contest, with Willlams and Stine tied for secofid with 93. Julius Marcey led the fleld in the doubles, scoring 39 out of 48. Next Saturday the Washington scatter gun artists journey to Balti- more to meet marksmen of the Oriple impossible to describe the delights of a dish of luscious strawberries. “Delicious,” you'll say «« “satisfying” «« “sweet as honey” .. but these are just words « - inadequate words. The taste Of strawberries can ONLY be realized through personal experience. .| pennant, HORNSBY GETS SPOTLIGHT IN GIANTS’ TRAINING CAMP | Pittsburgh has the Glants because they | the same sort of clubs,” | The Glants’ advantage. | comes from a better | staff. And as for the | won't ve chance to beat out are “much Hornsby sayx he believes nced pitching “they had las srdinals, | “St. Louis wasn't 1 st b in the league even though it w was Hornshy' | was the spirit and rtion | 3004 fellowship and understanding t | pulled thgm through in first pl Arrival%of Virgll Cheeves, fort | Chicago Cubs’ hurler, lifted the sq | number: 1 t of whom you! I catchers. Light | bractic for the most part | of conditioning work, will make up t1 | toll until the arrival of the main bod smme ope and are ER FOR 1927 Played with in 1926 ‘ardinals nts Cardinals Austin (Tex. L) Cardinals Giants . Cardinals Cardinals Cardinals . Cardinals Cardinals Cardinals Cardinals Syracuse Cardinals Cardinals . Cardinals ... .. Syracuse (Ints.) . ... Giants-Cardinals .. (Ints.) resident; Clarence F. Llo; . ‘McKechnie and 1926 record—Finished first in the Nat sing 65, for .578, their first pennant since their entry into Won the world series from the New York Yankees. Allan horon, coaches: Avon Park. nal League, win CUEISTS TIE FOR LEAD IN ARCADIA TOURNEY McCann, tied with George Kelley for the lead in the pocket billiard tournament at the Arcadia with six wins in seven starts, meets a test tonight in his match with Charlie Bartelmes, former District title holder. s ‘Twin losses by Gene Ruark at the hands of Fred Talbert and Edward Tindell last night knocked Ruark out of the lead. Talbert beat Ruark 100 to 63 and Tindell 100 to 90. H. D. Cross beat Carl Greer, 100 to 60, in the pucket billiard tourney at Scanlon’s last night. Carey Martin Joe ul’l&mplozlhip final match. Miller, local referee, will officiate. Gun Club. will meet Everett Crouch, jr., tonight. and that's just the way with White Owl Cigars. You’ve got to try them yourself .« .. and they are not to be judged by price 4