Evening star., 1912-12-24
BUT ONE SURVIVES
O'NeiI Only Member of Maps
1912 Catchers Retained.
SIX HAVE BEEN LET OUT
Carisch, Land and Belts to Help Him
Handle Cleveland
Pitchers.
Special Dispatch TO The Star.

Special Dispatch TO The Star.
CLEVELAND. December 24-No big
| league club ever whipsawed it's catch
ing staff as fiercely as did Cleveland
during the present year. Starting the
training camp last spring with seven
men. only one of the septet was placed
in cold storage to await the coming
of the campaign of 1913. Steve O'Neil
is the man. Whether he is lucky or
not is another question. Some ball
players like to belong to the Cleveland
| club. Others don't
In numbers, the Maps outclassed all
their rivals when it came to a COM
parison of backstopping departments
last March First of all, they had
Paddy Livingston, who had caught Cy
Morgan and other eccentric hurlers
with great success. When Harry Davis
consented to manage Charley Somers'
ball club, he insisted that Somers
should purchase Livingston. Otherwise,
Paddy would have been sentenced to
Baltimore. Somers naturally came to
the rescue and prevented the execution
of the sentence. Paddy was counted
upon to do the bulk of the catching
for Cleveland, in addition to coaching
the young pitchers and acting as Gin
GERM CHEZ for the team He was
there with the ginger until his whip
went lame. Then he spent so much
time brooding about the loss of his
salary getting that he was not in a
pot. A ticket to Toledo was the result
Chances are that his arm will be right
again and he will be able to come back
just as Sgd Smith did.
hon, ho-
wisest catcher in the business but a reg
ular bull moose when it came to clouting
the ball. He was the best pinch hitter
in the league, but Manager Davis and he
did not agree upon the proper training
methods and Easterly joined the White
SoX.
Gus Fisher, who came across the Rock
les the same time that Gregg, Knapp and
Olson found Portland too small field
for their endeavors. was the third men,
Der of the staff. Gus would rather be a
pippin in Portland than crab-app,e in
the big show. Before he reported. he
opined that he would like to go back to
dear old Oregon. New York, however.
refused to let him go out of the league
and gave him a brief trial. But he re-
fused to allow the bright lights to wean
him from his love of the coast and back
to Portland he went.
That brings us up to Jack Adams and
Steve ONeil. Steve displayed such prom
iSe NIeu lie joined late IN I3lI tHdt q
place among the leading receivers of the
country was predicted for him. But Steve
failed to develop as rapidly during the
1917 campaign as was expected and it
looks now as if he must be content with
third place among the Nap catchers in
1913 Adams release to Toledo Satur
day accounted for the departure of the
fourth of the 1912 brigade.
The other two were Bert Whaling, the
big recruit from the Northwestern
League. and Dick Talbot. Cleveland semi
pro- Talbot seemed a trifle too light for
catching and Davis shifted him to the
outfield the second team He was
tried as an outfielder by TO:edo also, and
then released outright He caught on in
the Ohio State League ind did fairly well
a catcher. Whaling's style did not
quite appeal to Manager Davis and he
was allowed to return to Seattle, whence
he has since been drafted by the Boston
Nationals.
To replace the six who have been sold,
traded or released, Manager Birmingham
has Fred Carsch, Grover Land and
Belts, the San Antonio recruit.