The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-05

U We have reached the next to the most !. Iimportant question. You must remem- fIber that these are individual values, land that when we come to reduce these Ilfgures to the final value. the worth !!of each man in defense Is his indi- sIvidual worth plus or minus the import 'i.ance of his position. The importance .ilof the catcher is much more in defense ,4than that of any of the regulars we 'Ihave studied, almost three times the s!lworth of a left fielder. for instance M These figures would be more satis- 4factory to Philadelphia fans if Bll '.Killifer was in his best condition. The Managing of that sterling athletes |8throwing arm was something of blow Mto Morans hopes and his long lay off hhaves Killifer's average considerably Ahnd brings up Burns importance even 4ff killifer gets into condition to catch |irp to near his standard.
 II To reach the value of a catching staff for a worlds series it Is necessary to Apursue different method from that |lNsed in computing the value of the |l|pther players in such a series We can |Inot reach the value by figuring how |4much Cady is worth as batter, base Hummer. etc. as backstop. thrower, foul |tgrabber, watcher of bases, worker with |ipitchers, blocker of runners, etc. we |Icannot pursue the same course with lEarrigan and Thomas, and divide by |Ifhree What we must do is to figure all 7points of offensive and defensive Xftrength of each man, then figure how
 many games each will catch. Jimmy Archer on the bench isn't worth as 0much as Tom Needham would be Patching two innings.
 To reach this conclusion is not hard
 with Philadelphia I have figured four 3parts Killifer a1fd two parts Burns in SsFhe Philly catching dope. In Boston 1 Hhaye figured four parts Cady, two &Ihomas and one Carrigan, on the the |3pry that the Red Sox manager will be
 there steadying pitchers, or will ||pinch hit in some game and then don I4the wind pad. Cady will, of course, do Mail the work with Wooo and Carrigan
 s not likely to start himself except ffwith Ruth, as catching naturally de- .Eracts from his value in handling the team and directing its play He Will catch Ruth's game and perhaps be in [Iparts of other games. Thomas is hard to figure, but he will work with one Nor two of the left handlers unless they Ifhow symptoms of wildness. Carrigan Twill not let him go far if the pitch Hers begin to look unsteady.
 Killifer undoubtedly would do all
 Philadelphia's catching but for the fact Hhat he has been out of commission land Moran might fear that he would be |Iand he may use Burns early. Killifer' s larm has been in worse condition than kInany suspected and even now 1t is far From being strong.
 Let us study them individually. Car 4cigan is the dean. of scourse.s He Is not SAwhat he was. He has slowed up, he Eloesn't hit the way he did, and he was Slow to start with and is not now a Aheavy slugger. He is dangerous man 7at bat, in spite of low percentage, and
 aiways was one of those fellows who [eracked the ball at the opportune mo-
 n1ent. He has lot of confidence in
 Bill and is likely to send himself to
 bat in pinch and when a manager S1oes that he would better make good.
 He Is still the same old Bill in work
 Ing pitchers, and not a little of the
 great success of his pitching staff has
 been due to his patience with and his
 ncouragement of trying youngsters.
 1e will study Carrigan at closer range
 n the study of managers and can re-
 gard him as 8 catcher only. He is a
 grand backstop. steady as a rock, cool
 md a very fair thrower even now. He
 knows batters and works with his
 pitchers well, or, rather. makes them
 york with him. His calm steadiness
 helps nervous. skittish pitchers not a
 little.
 Cady, who is the real catcher of Bos- Ion, is a huge fellow much after the ssarrigan type save that he is 8 much Aarder hitter. He is the best swatter of khc catchers under scrutiny, and is lia- ble to hit one a block. He slams most . L T. ffx<,, .f1l, 1,ox taps him, but even then, when you get
 big, slow moving fellow who takes bbout as long to reach first as it does I-obb to take two bases, and who still hits .26O and hits the good pitchers, you
 have something.