Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-14
WORK ONLY FAIR
BEHIND THE BAT
Catching Class Did Not I'M
prove During the Season
Just Terminated.
By w. A. Phelon.

NEW YORK, November 13.-The catch
ing class of 1900, taken as a whole, was
not up TO that OF 1908, and that of 1910,
unless some real wonders are dug up
during the winter. promises to be still
weaker. There are reasons for this fall
ing OFF in quality, excellent reasons and
easily understood. No really dazzling
wonders were discovered along either OF
the big circuits. Some OF the veterans
went back perceptibly In their play, and
the hold-out OF the best OF them all. John
Killing, detracted materially from the
general standard of the department. Few
clubs could boast OF any real improve
ment behind the bat. and the majority
were actual losers.
In the National League Pittsburg owed
a great deal of its success to the work
OF Gibson. who caught practically all the
games. and, with King out of the way,
proved to be the real catching star of
both circuits. Gibson also hit much bet
ter than ever before, and was a great
help with the stick instead OF being a
draw back. as was the case with many
catchers.
The Cubs. per contra. lost the flag be-
cause they didn't have King. This mar
velOus performer was the sort OF catcher
We used to see when Ewing, Bennett,
Kelly and Boyle were In their prime-a
type that ia almost extinct nowadays.
He could backstop superbly. throw with
deadly accuracy and had the genius OF
field leadership combined with ABILITY IN
the coaching of pitchers. Add TO TINS
that King could hit savagely, day in
and day out, and il can at once be seen
where the Cubs could not make up for
his absence. Archer and Moran. vino
took his place. are good catchers. far
above the average. Archer being eX-
tremely brilliant while Moran is reliable
and steady. Yet they did not make up
for Killing. and neither of them could
ba. in the same class as the great Jew
ish maskman.
Giants Bunch.
McGraw tried to make up for the abb
sence of Bresnahan by carrying whole
bunch OF catchers. All did their best
when called on. but not one of them
could half make up for Roger. Meyers,
the Indian. could hit, but was way shy
of Bresnahan as a backstop. a thrower
and field leader. Schlei was a veteran
Of considerable skill. but beginning to
retrograde Wilson and Snodgrass looked
AS il they might have something in them.
but had little chance to demonstrate the
fact.
Red Doom again did nearly all the work
for Philadelphia. and Red Is surely a
great little hustler. He was no better
than in 1908, and is not likely to gain any
in the future. Doom is a rafting hard
worker. but falls short of the Killing class
in several ways.
Griffith made the long and lazy Larry
Mclean work hard this year. and Nc
Lean. who is really fine catcher and
good batter, put up good. conscientious
ball till he was disabled. Roth, the sec
ond catcher, did not seem to strike his
gait and toward the finish a Bronx boy
named Clark was tried out, with very
good results.
Other Backstops.
Boston had Bowerman. who is growing
old, and was soon dropped, after many
wears Of big league service. Harry Smith
failed to strike his proper speed and
Peaches Graham was the regular back
stop-a hard worker. but not a star
Brooklyn, as usual, made Bergen chief
receiver. This tall fellow Is beautiful
catcher, but what's the use? He bats
more feebly than even the average pitcher.
and a team with him in the lineup is
playing seven men against eight or nine.
Bresnah han. who was supposed to brace
a bad year. his work. both back Of tn.
usual grade. Phelps and Bliss split zip
most of the work. and both did fairly,
Phelps having. a good year with the will
low.
Taking the National League IS . whole.