Evening Star Newspaper, April 14, 1931, Page 41

i he Foening Star, WASHINGTON, D. C, TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 1931. 5 PAGE D-—1 A’s Loom as American League Leaders Again, With Cards Favorites in National NATIONALS SECOND 1O CHANS S PcK Wanks Assigned to Lower Division—Cards Appear Old Loop’s Best. BY JOHN B. KELLER. OW that the major clubs, N primed to the limit—they should be, at least—are en- tering the two big base ball tampaigns today there seems little +#0 say about them other than how hey may finish. That which fol- Mows is merely a guess, but a guess Jbased upon the talent possessed _by the various clubs and what this Aalent has done in other cam- ‘paigns, as well as in the tnlmng] “season recently completed. Right off the reel finishing places are E‘u:nnu for the clubs contending in base " 's national inaugural here this after- noon. It seems safe to say that those wttending Washington's opening game will see in action the winner of this year'’s American League championship. It may not be s0 safe to say here that . ‘the wearers of the loop laurels at the end of September again will be the 7Athletics. ‘That's our guess, however, ‘!'M ‘we’ll stick to it until proved wrong, ever, ‘Washington ball club looks ] i o B fei £ i BRI g!ifl‘gm ; i xiiifij!; T fe2ks 2 That's the club any of the four cuffits must beat out to cop, in ‘first division back of the ) h to hold to & hot 4 not enougl 0] . e Whie Fascs. Qlants. Cube wnd to have improved, the Pirates appear Dodgers have not done so, which seems Teason to rate them below this i 1 fh i £l EsE i § H T 8 £ 20 YEARS AGO IN THE STAR. crack pitcher base ball team, finally has signed his contract, which is to run three years. While the terms were not made ALTER JOHNSON, of the Washington it is a safe guess that the ‘Train will receive $21,000 during time. He is said to have been holding out for $7,500 for this sea- son. The club has offered him $6,500, or $2,000 more than last year, wi n _ref and to his home in Coffeyville, He was threatened with any time last season in pitching | ‘Washington to a 3-2 win yesterday over the Boston Red Sox. | Silver Spring Nationals and Im- | manuel Baptist Sunday School tossers | will face in the opening’ game of the Suburban Base Ball League. Officers were elected yesterday by Potomac Boat Club, as follows: Charles G. Warden, president; Wil- llam C. McKinney, vice president; E. Richard Gasch, secretary; F. Ri sell Underwood, treasurer; Frank Smith, captain; Walter Thrall, first lieutenant, and Claude E. Parker, second licutenant. These officers with John Hadley Doyle, A. B. Dent, Douglas S. Bliss, C. R. Zappone and John Nolan make up-the -board of direcfors. Candidates for -the club's crew have been called out by Capt. Smith and his assistants, Lisuts, ‘Thrall and Parker. Some base ball scores yesterday: Fordham, 7; Georgetown U., 0. Cat U., 8; Bucknell, 4. ‘Western High, 11; Strayer Busi- , ness College. 0. Rockville High, 3; Eastern High, 2. —_— FREEMAN FAVORED TO RETAIN CROWN Fights Thompson, From Whom He Annexed Middle- weight Honors, Tonight. LLEVELAND, April 14 ().—Tom- | my Preman, welterweight cham- plon of the world, will risk his title in & 15-round battle tonight against the youngster from whom he | won it here six months ago—young | Jack Thompson, Oakland, Calif., Negro. It will be Freeman's first defense of It » finished their training yesterday. were to on the scale at noon al wel 8. plonship battle will be sup- attractive preliminary card. | final of 10 rounds are two ih Jjunior welterweights, are paired rounds ahead of Jones and Pir- the 1 in .getting the relent in their d 1o allow .a broadcast. | how Thompson and Preeman | ‘Thompeon. 25 147 S 1t 9in, 72 in. 15 in, 321 in. 35% in, 2975 in. 10 in. Tin. 11% in. 20 in. 135 in. 8 in. Varied Sports | | | | | TRACK. | Ohio State, 961-3; Ohlo Wesleyan, | 292-3. | LACROSSE. | Harvard, 14; Long Island Unl-i versity, 1. TENNIS George Washington, 17; Johns Hop- kins, 3. MACK HAS FAITH IN “OLD” MACHINE Much Appears to Depend on Just What Earnshaw and Grove Accomplish. BY WILLIAM WEEKES, Associated Press Sports Writer. HICAGO, April 14—If the ex- perts were correct in their recent vote on the likely out- come of the 1931 American League championship battle, Connie Mack and his Philadelphia Athletics today were headed toward their third consecutive title. However, as the A's faced Washing- ton at Washington in their inaugural today, everything appeared to depend on the right and left wings of Mr. Mack's pitching department—George Earnshaw and Robert Moses Grove. Mack Has Confidence. Mack has declared his faith in the old machine’s ability to take at least one more successful journey, but Wal- ter Johnson, manager of the Senators, who are counted as the A's most formidable competition, believes his club has & better than even chance of upsetting the race. The New York Yankees, who under the late Miller Huggins, required just eight afternoons during which to win two . world championships, opened againkt the Boston Red Sox. Yan- kees were starting their first campaign under Joseph Vince MgCarthy, Wwho pulled the Chicago Cubs out of the Na- tional doldrums. The Red Sox also faced the campaign under a new leader, John “Shano” Collins, with hopes of breaking their long-time lease on ths lower end of the second division. Both McCarthy and Collins believe their teams will be stronger than last year, without making definite forecasts as to where they will finish. At Cleveland, the «Indians and the Chicago White Sox claimed attention. The Indians because they have been rated as first-division material and had their ace, Wes Ferrell, out to do the | | pitching. * The Whits Box, with much | *nd they will hold the wading interest | new blood and apparently immensely improved over last season, hoped they were starting a trip toward a first-divi- sion berta for the first time in years. Al Thomas was Manager Donie Bush's starting hurler selection. Detroit Seems Formidable. Detroit, also fortified with new mate- rial, and looking better to Manager Bucky Harris than anything he has operated since he left Washington, was at St Louis, also , according to The veteran er. Earl ‘had the pitching sssign- ment for the Tigers ln: ‘Walter Stewart had 3t for the Browns. Falr weather was promised on all fronts and a total attendance of around 108,000 was indicated. The Yankee Stadium st New York was expected to attract 45,000, while the Athletics and Wi ed to draw 28,000. The indicated figure at Cleveland was 22,000, with Detroit and St. Louis entertaining about 13,000. Mat Matches By the Associated Press. NEW _ YORK.- y le, Los geles, 212, threw Rudy Dusek, 225, Omaha. 42:56; Dick Shikat, Philadel- phia, 218, threw Sun Jennings, Okla- homa, 220, 7:52; Earl McCready, Okla- homa, 224, threw Willie Davis, Vir- ginia, 230, 4:12; Sandcr Szabo, Hun- gary, 200. won decision over Jim Mc- | Millen, Chicago, 215, time limit bout. BUFFALO, N. Y.—Gus Sonnenberg, Boston, 200, defeated Pat McGill, To- ronto, 218, two falls out of three (Mc- Gill first in 18:28: Sonnenberg second and third, and 11:07); Stanley w 249, threw Axel Anderson, 228, LOS ANGELES. Lew 228, defeated E4 Don , 222, in straight ‘falls, 1:10:06 and 3:42; Savoldi, . former Notre e foot ball :t%; ‘threw Myron Cox, Venice, Calif., Trio of Newcomers Now Here With A’s PITCHER ALBERT BUTCHER. " YOUNGSTERS CONNIE MACK HOPES WILL BOLSTER BATTERY DEPARTMENT. JOE PALMISANO. They're Off Again. MONG the April flowers that burst into bloom this afternoon are two big league pennant races that promise to be among the best in many years. These two pennant races will lure something |like 12,000,000 citizens through the | turnstiles before October arrives again of many more millions who keep in ltouch with their favored athletes through the box: score. | In this new April opening the two leagues present_entirely different shows. In the American League seven clubs, |led by Washington, wiil set out in hot | pursuit of Connie Mack’'s Athletics, !'ho are again picked far and wide to |run up another flag and make it three in & row. In the National League there will be four and possibly five clubs in one, of_the wildest scrambles of many years, Where almost any! can hap- pen. In this race St. Louis, Chicago, Brooklyn and New York are closely bunched in the way of .material, with Pittsburgh hanging on the rim and Boston a, new trouble-maker, at least. Lesding Factors, pursult race in the American Leagu it was in 1929 and 1930. Walter Srong, well Toumdca. piiching siafl and s wel P! staff an a first-class ball club. Joe McCarthy's Yllnka. '-;b B "I,or some nndty pitching Sogioment. and both Cleveland and Detrolt have been strengthened. It will be largely & matter of stopping the Athletics. y are Cochrane, ons, Foxx, Grove and Earnshaw, vital factors in both attack and defense. ‘The battery work of Grove and Earn- of Mack's defensive strength, while the | hitting of Simmons, Cochrane and Foxx | are the leading elements in his attack. Which doesn’t mean that such veterans as Dykes, Haas, etc., can be overlooked. third pennant is harder to win handicap the Athletics still carry too many n;u to be taken by storm, unless some of these guns are spiked injuries, - The Big Scramble. mix-up in the National League ould be something to follow. Gabby Street's Cardinals, the 1930 winners, are fully as formidable as they Base Ball Born 92 Years Ago Abner Doubleday, “Father of Game,” Drew Base “Paths® With Stick and Also Wrote Rules. By the Associated Press. OOPERSTOWN, N. Y., April 14.~Ninety-two years ago base ball had its inception in this town, would the “cradle” of the game still is being used. Abner Doubleday of Green's Se- lect School, Cooperstown, made the first diagram of a base ball diamond, drawing a stick through the dust to indicate what sports writers have come to call the “paths” and to show the players’ positions. ‘With a pencil he then made notes on rules for the game, which he Clears Earnshaw “Mystery” Tris Speaker Asserts A’s Big Hurler Merely Trains Legs Abea Fa 228" ;lbi d of Arm. 583?3 i named “base ball” Abner Graves, ho took part in the game under Doubleday’s direc- tion, lived to tell this to an official n appointed to study the origin of the game, in 1917. ‘The first diamond now is known as Doubleday Field. All local games are played there. The village owns the lvrapertzd and uses part of it as s playground. r?m’unzu seven years after Dou- bleday drew his outline was the first *gome played between rival teams for a prize. That contest 19, 1846, With the “New York Nine” Knickerbocker, which vious year. The The “New apparently he outlining of base diamond as an episode in his life. He subsequently ‘was graduated from West Point and entered Regular lew York (N.), et e should be much closer than | U shaw pitching to Cochrane is a big part | ‘The than the second, but even against this | by | THE SPORTLIGHT BY GRANTLAND RIC were last year. They have the old com- bination, sometimes km as the pitch- ing have a great pair around the middle of the diamond with Frisch and Gelbert, one of the main sectors on any club. The Cubs are depending on the driv- ing_power of Hornsby, a hard-hitting outfield and improved pitching. They dre sure to be among the leaders when | they hit the stretch, | _Brooklyn's Dodgers carry more color any club in the game today. They | carry a world of power in an attack | by Herman, O'Doul, Bissonette, Wright | and others. They have first-class pitch- | to | ing, *and if they can only disperse a | number of mental cobwebs have a great, | California ; chance to win. | John McGraw is now after his eleventh | pennant with the Giants, and again pitching will furnish the answer. Er- ratic pitching was all that stopped this | club a year ago. The infleld and the outfield are ready to go. | _ Pittsburgh’s Pirates will be imps and they are also due for better luck. Braves will upset a number of | apple carts all along the line.. McKech- | nie has begun to assemble a winn | cast, which will be heard from through the season. There is no big margin of strength anywhere in this league, which is now have a shade, with 5 bpu’.‘bouvfr;r;n?o Giants el;n enough through the Summer. s Individual —mul ‘Wreaths. 'Doul, Wilson, Waner, Gelbert, etc., in the older league, and from Gehrig, Ruth, Cochrane, Foxx, Cronin and others in the American. The home run war between Babe Ruth and Hack Wilson will be another fea- ture of general interest and both may be crowded by young Klein, the hard- hitting Philly star, who is one of the best hitters of the generation—this gen- eration or any other. old erown again, but he will find more than usual competition from at least five contenders. Hack Wilson has no | intention of surrendering the shining En‘?x;glm without & struggle to (Copyright, 1891, by Newsoaner ‘Aliances American LOUISVILLE FACES JINX Winning Three in Row Is Tough in American Association. CHICAGO, A 14 (P)—Louisville’s Colonels, the win l‘:nfl club to tw’; a row, today a o com) the championship race, finishing fifth. ‘The Colonels, however, in spite of the l%“lncelflf:o uum—m Simons and Phil el are regal AS & great possi- bility to repeat this season. it CHIEF IS AMBITIOUS AS HE MEETS DUSEK Hopes to Get Even Thursday Night for Mat Defeat Suffered Two Weeks Ago. ‘Tom Marvin, who also e S TR n at the rium will attempt u‘mfi“m (and on) Rudy Dusek in his effort to climb back into the wrestling elite. i g Ega : B Hit Daviscourt, will return s mmmwmmmu.-w A newcomer, Tommy Texas, enurnumalgmmm e e s ; i o Toved, | Sessi STRANGLER LEWIS TOSSES ED GEORGE Vet of 39, Using Headlocks, Again Becomes Claimant of Heavy- weight Mat Title. By the Associated Press. LOS ANGELES, April 14—For the fourth time in a decade, Ed (Strangler) Lewis today assumed. the role of claim- i ant of the heavyweight wrestling cham- plonship of the world. Considered by many in recent years be too it to return to as recognized in several other States, night terminated Ed (Don) Oem;sles’l reign, which had lasted four months, defe the former university The same 10,1 anadt12 qua/ify in ion - early professional boxing around Wash- Star Flag Flies If Game Is “On” 8 & service to base ball fans in the downtown district, The Star this season will continue its custom of ng a flag on the staf? of its bui at Eleventh street and Pennsylvania avenue on days when the Nationals are to play at_home. ‘The flying of this banner—white, ball in the center— or any other reason, the lowered. HENRIQUES STEALS LIMELIGHT ON MAT| Victor in Strand Show Declared to Be One of Fastest Men to Compete Here. As wrestlers, doctors are drawing | more than one grunt-and-grapple- | man's share of applause in this town. Over at the Washington Auditorium the ihe’ strana ‘Boe Heariques s peitine e I enriques et the glad mitt. Fn i For the second consecutive week at the Strand shows, Henriques stole the spotlight yesterday by winning over Clivio Masimo in 23 minutes. Local | wrestling fans rate Henriques as one| of the fastest wrestlers to show here. He was all over the ring last night Viclously cwith & series ci” body siams ciously a series 8l a la Shikat. % ‘The “feature” bout, George Calza vs. Bill Demetral, took a preliminary rating, the big boys merely tugging 11‘7:1 45 minutes and calling it no de- cision. put on a good show before calling it all even at the end of 30 minutes. Wi 's own “Chief White Feather,” Dutch Green, wins nor loses, clowned with Jack Har- ris for 15 minutes and drew a flock of boos. Green has wrestled .in all of Joe Freeman's and Mike Thomas’ shows and each time has gotten a 15-minute draw. show. Mike Thomas, matchmaker, a nounced that next week George God. frey would return to vinsky, an ex-pugilist, will Mike Tansky in the —_— FINNEGAN QUITS RING | Former D. C. Boxer Becomes Court Officer in Masachusetts. | BOSTON, April 14.— Dick (Honey Boy) who did much of his d his re- D. C, has from to become a the ° ‘States Navy featherweight Where They Play AMERICAN LEAGUE. 5.0LUB FIGHT SEEN IN OLDER CIRGUIT Cubs, Robins, Giants, Pirates Also Figured to Be in Run- ning for Flag. BY HERBERT W, BARKER, Associafed Press Sports Writer. NEW YORK, April 14.—Eight clubs, all hoping for the best, faced the bar- rier for the opening of the National League season today and some 100,000 base ball-hungry fans prepared to give them a hearty welcome. Expert opinion already has forecast a five-club struggle in the National League pennant race, with the St. Louls Cardinals favcred to beat out the Chi- cago Cubs, Brooklyn Robins, New York Giants and Pitisburgh Pirates for their second championship in as many years. Neglected in_this forecast, the three other clubs, Boston Braves, the Phillies and Cincinnati Reds, all hoped to bet- ter their positions of a year ago and glve the experta something to think al The first day's schedule sent the Cardinals against the Reds at Cincin- nati, the Cubs against the Pirates at Chicago, the Robins against the Braves at Boston and the Giants against the Phillies at Philadelphias A maximum ite attendance of 113,000 was p: John Grandovitch and Harry Manos | %ut, is court - bolster the at third base, much brighter 2go. . the _prospects are were & year more lack % FLORSHEIM SHOES - FOR MEN NOW ever . . . more per dollar . . . regular Florsheim quality at new low prices . « « including all Spring and Summer styles now on display Play Ball! The opening of the Base Ball. season . . . surely time Shoes! for man to step into Spring ! Buy ’em now...with a full season ahead in which ne S o E =Y Men’s Shops | 14thatG ¢ - 7thatK. © 3212 14th. )