Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-13
BOSTON CATCHER
COMES W EST
FORMER STATE LEAGUE PLAYER
RETURNS TO CALIFORNIA
Predicts That Losing Boston American
Team Will Be Strong Con-
tender During Warm
Season

Season
Charley Graham, formerly Califor-
! mia league star and regarded as one of
the steadiest players that ever donned
a western uniform has returned to
| Sacramento from Boston, where ne
| caught for Collins of the bean eating
| Americans.
Charleys home coming was a sad
one, as baby girl had passed away
| hardly moment after entering upon
her brief life. Mrs. Graham is seri-
ously Ill and the big catcher has notl-
fled Manager Collins that he will re-
main indefinitely in California.
Despite his afflictlon Graham was
willing to speak of baseball conditions
as they exist in the major lea CUES
Il dropped among the best lot of fell
lows in the world: men who are always
willing to shoulder a young players
mistake as their own and who give him
| the advantage of their years of expert
ence in the game at every turn i'm the
road. Our bunch are like one big fam
lily. They are fine.
| "How do ! account for the club los
| Ing so many games? Well there are
| lots of ways to account for It, but per-
haps the main obstacle has been that
OR staff of pitchers are all hot-weather
men, and the spring has been cold and
damp. You see, we have Cy Young,
who has been seventeen years in the
business and is still one Of the kings of
the diamond, Dlneen, Tannehill, Win
| ters and three others.
"Then luck has been against us. An
| error on our part seemed to mean all
kinds Of runs for our opponents, while
more errors. on their part did not give
| I1u n ciD Duln n Nrt,t A. 4
Der in one game, when we had retired
two men and the last fellow had two
strikes and three balls on him, my
pitcher put a perfect strike over the
plate and the side should have been re-
tired; but the umpire called it ball.
II don't know why he called it ball,
for it was perfect strike, but he did,
| and before we retired the side they
made six runs. They beat us seven to
six. That's the kind of luck we had.
Luck viii Change
"That makes no difference, however.
| The luck will come our way before
| long, and when the weather warns up
| and the boys begin sticking you will
see that we will climb up among the
bunch again. Yes, / intend to return
as soon as my wife gets well but she
| is still very i'll, and have wired Man
| ager Collins not to expect me right
away. He has three other catchers to
do the work-Patterson Armbruster
and Martell.
| "How did ! get along? Oh, fine. OF
course / would liked to have done bet
ter work, for Collins Is such a prince
of good fellows. No, they did not steal
many bases on me, not more than the
ordinary. Get 'em down to second? Oh,
yes, got em down to second all right
sometimes l got 'em out into center
| field, but l was pretty well satisfied
with my work, take it all around and
as ] caught thirty out of thirty-three
| games, | guess | gave pretty good sat
| isfaction. Hit? Yes, hit pretty we'll
for me, but of course there are lots
of better hitters than l am, but l was
pretty well satisfied with my stick
work.
II think. if anything, that Philadel-
phia has the greatest pitching staff in
'Rube' Waddell and Plank, both of
whom are left-handed wonders; Bender
the Indian pitcher, who is the speediest
man in the business, and Coakley, and
of course they head the league at the
present time; but wait till we strike a
streak of warm weather and then our
men will begin to shine.
"I think the SPORT is viewed on a
higher plane back east. and | have
never heard any personal criticism Of
the players from the grandstand, either
1 don't say there is none, only that l
have never heard any. Boston is the
greatest ball town in the world.
"Why, after we had lost twenty
games straight, there was bigger
crowd to see us win the twenty-frst
than was present any preceding day.
That shows that losing does not affect
the attendance.
Umpire Feature of GANG
"The umpires back there know their
business. Jack Sheridan, who is Cali
forna man, is simply great say he is
as good as a man can be- Tim Hurst is
also a good one. He is a veteran
and is very witty; at times he gets the
whole crowd laughing.
"There is very little kicking. however,
for | think the umpires have better
control than they do out here have
never seen player fined and the only
one | saw put out of the game was
Stahl, the manager Of the Washington
team, who kicked at strike that was
called on him.
"All the clubs carry a large force Of
men. We have seven pitchers, three
catchers, our regular team and Goodwin,
the utility man, who can play any
position New York carries twenty-five
men, The team was just about to start
on the western circuit Wnen was
called home, so don't know anything
about that part of the trip.
Baseball is the same all over, and
outside of a few stars / can tell you
that Emerson and Brown can pitch as
good ball as the best Of them in the
east
"Whalen and Keefe were never given
a chance, because New York has twelve
pitchers, and the regulars are given the
preference. Both Of the boys were
farmed out to Montreal, as the same
man owns both teams. Whalen has
been doing great work, but Bobby Keefe
wants a little warmer weather.
"Nordyke Is doing great work with
the ST. Louis Americans. and il is a
tight race between him and Jones to see
which will stay with the team. Jones
has the advantage, because he Is an
older player with the team, but II
either man was dropped a dozen teams
stand ready TO grab HIM
Tommy Sheehan is doing great work
but / have not seen him in the east
Yes / like II there oh, it Is fine, and
| shall probably return as soon as my
wife's health permits"