The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-10-03
MEYERS BETTER THAN
/ CATCHERS OF ATHLETICS

New York, Oct. 3-The catchers of
the New York Giants and Pf1iladel-
phia Athletics will play an important
part in the coming battles for the
worlds championship in baseball, and
the managers of the rival clubs are
fortunate in having dependable trios
for the position behind the plate
Connie Mack has Schang, Lapp and
Thomas to use as his judgment die
tates and McGraw in Meyers, Mclean
and Wilson has an opposing squad of
catchers which, viewed in a broad
manner,( suffer little if any when
compared with the Phi1adelphia wear
ers of nitt and mask.
Meyers and Schang appear to have
first call for the position with Nc
Lean and Lapp second choice and
Wilson and Thomas as third-string
catchers- Meyers and aSchang will be
called upon to do the brunt of the
work, barring Illness or accident, and
are therefore FIRST. tosibe 4conS dered in
a comparison of the catching strength
of the two clubs. From an offensive
standpoint Meyers is the better player
of the two, due to his ability as a
batter. The big Indian has an IN
official record of $40 for 116 games
this season as against .259. for Schang
in rs games. On the bases the Phila-
deIphiaL backStop is a faster man, but
this asset is more or less nuIIified by
itial bag more frequently than, his
chief rival in the worlds Series. Both
are accurate and fast in throwing to
the bases, but the Athletics youngster
has a margin over Meyers in this re-
spect, for he shoots to second with
less exertion and more speed than the
Chief Tories.
Lapp has taken the ascendency over
Thomas during the past season and
judging from present indications will
be Connie Mack's second choice for
the stand behind the home plate. He
will have a formidable opponent in
Mclean, who Joined the Giants via.
the trade route from st. Louis after
the nidseaSon mark had been passed.
AS in the case of Meyers and Schangt
the Giants second string catcher has
g. decided advantage over Iapp in bat
ting for the records show that the
former Cincfnnati-St. Louis catcher
has a. batting average of 1855 as
against Iapp'S .219. The figures are
all the more impressive since both
catchers have worked in about the
same number of games. AS an offset
the Philadelphia, catcher has proved
to be deadly in throwing base stea1ers
out ait second and third and in this
respect soutranks the veteran who was
traded into a Worlds Series pot of
gold after his new team mates had
secured a commanding lead in the
race for the pennant.
Ira Thomas, one of Mack's veterans,
in point of experience at least out
ranks Wilson easily, but the old adage
of youth VS.. age may equalize this
should the pair don masks and pads
in the same game. Thomas IS a
catcher who rises to emergencies and
as a tactician has few equals. AS far
as batting is concerned he Is far su-
perfor to Wilson, but the latter has
been improving steadily and may sur
pass expectations in this respect in
case he has an opportunity to break
into the series at a critical period.
Once on the base lines he will have
an excellent chance to pick up Thonnt
as advantage with the bat, for he is
fast, considered from the standpoint
of a, catcher.
The records of the catchers of the
two clubs this season follow: