The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-16
CATCHERS ARE
 MAINSTAYS Wise Receivers Much
 Valuable. BASIS FOR PENNANT WINNERS Criger Ranks With the Best Now
 in the Business. Kling, Bresnahan, Sullivan and Street Are The Men Holding Naiu-
 able Places Behind
 The Plate.

Now that the St. Louis Browns have added one of the first essentials to the reorganization of their forces which will start in pursuit of the 1909 Amer ican League pennant and dedicate President Hedges new grandstand, in will be brought into memory that this Is the foremost requisite for champ ion team.
 There are but four catchers who nals of latter-day baseball, and these four have never been supplanted in the minds of the public. even though younger material has constantly been brought into the league.
 Two of the quartete are from each league, and Bresnahan and kling are prominent in the back stopping of the National League. while Sullivan and Criger have borne all the laurels in the younger organization.
 In all respects Criger has been com fession. and his brain along with his experience, makes him a valuable man.
 He should be doubly valuable to the Dineen the old @ oas s star Tan that he formally was. 1t Is Cfiger. Another thing that should be taken into con- sideration Is the help that the lanky and no more will the cry go up, of not having catcher to help Waddel. Cri- gers brain should materially strength
  younger pitchers. which he did so ably In Boston. especially the left-handers. In breaking up the hit-and-run play tion with the Browns infield. he should be one of the sensations of the American League.
 Other catchers are breaking into the spotlight. and Mig" Clark Is one of the classiest backstoppers in the league. No receiver can peg any ct ,toIx, than Clark: but ut King DI Is far y more SSs' ae- curate. The Clevelander has more passed balls than do some of the other stars stars As As for Harry Bemis he Is thrower and a sticker. Both the Cleveland catchers are strong in n ss,ts tbs bs at nth, she s4ss and ns ing the superior of the two.
 Outside of the first mentioned the best catchers in the American League ofe of New nee York sssmdKt of betPois Stephens and Smith. of St. Louis Stephens IS one. of the youngest men In the league. but he has wise old McAleer regards him as valuable catcher. Spenser was very cratic last year. and St. Louis lost many a work. As for Smith, he is a newcomer native ability of the first-class re- CelVeT
 In Street Washington has one of the very best--a man who comes close to ranking with Bresnahan. sullivan, Cri- He gets the ball away like a shot and Is a very accurate thrower. He Is not wonderful batter, but Is fairly good hitter at that. By all odds he and into either of the big leagues last year. It was Streets second trial. however, as Cincinnati had him in 1908. back a little At that he did better work than he ali in 1907, when he was not in the best of condition the best part of the. year. When he is on edge hat than he. Blair. of New York. looks and excellent thrower. Sweeney the big boy from Atlanta, is conner. but lacks experience. He is only boy as in the future if he does not take on too much weight.
 Mike Powers. of the Athletics is probably as wise a catcher as there Is h the league. His arm lacks power and Is not to be compared with. the whips possessed by Clarke. Sullivan. Street. Criger and Stephens. He is an accurate thrower. however. and gets his man rather regularly at that. Where he shines. though. Is in his ability to tell whether or not pitch CT Is right. Many catcher. and good ones at that VIII warm warm up ot p,eehes, ef1ie his curve ball working right. the re- ceiver will not say word. but let him go in and take his medicine. That Is not Powers style at all. posLa II piteneir teiir Connie Mack so. and anotehr hnger IS selected to pitch.
 Mack picked up two youngsters this fall in Lapp. from the Atlantic League. and Egan, of the New York State. He also purchased Ira Thomas from De- troit.
 has Shaw. Weaver. Payne and Hart. shaw is a poor thrower. Payne is on- ly ordinary. Weaver lacks class and Hart Is not to be depended upon.
 Detroit finished the season with two i've backstopscharley SGhmaq' SY tba and be,ter rTa batter and thrower. but Is weak on ever since he joined the Tigers, except in the worlds series. where he per sists in playing like an amateur. If the worlds series could be thrown ont Schmidt would rank well up among the ca atchers of the two leagues At that, he cannot be so very bad. or Detroit would not have won two pennants with Schmidt doing most of the catch ing. ,,, , of Scranton. to help Schmidt. Both are said to be star youngsters, and Comic Mack thinks so well of Backendorf that he has made Detroit an offer for
 Boston has two fairly good catchers in Carigan and Donohue. the latter he. ing a brother of "Jiggs" Donohue' of the White Sox. Pat has many of his older brothers ways on the diamond and Is really a fast man. He puts the ball on the runner well at the plate, and looks as If he were due to remain in the league. Carigan is a hard work in ing backstop, and can be depended up on for good work. but 1t Is question f he will be good after q. s h,s operniTm w;II be depended upon for the bulk of the catching this year.
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