Omaha daily bee., 1917-02-25
GIANTS HAVE NEAT
RECEIVING STAFF
Rariden and McCarty Make Up
Best Catching Department
in League.
WILL BE BIG AID TO M'GRAW
By JACK VEIOCK.

catcher is just as important to a bal
club as a rudder is to a ship. glanc,
at the roster of the Giants for 1917 in
dicates that McGraw is better hxec
in the way OF catching talent thar
any of his rivals, for in Bill Rarider
and Lew McCarty he has two of the
best receivers in the game.
No club in either major league car
produce a brace of wiudpaddists who
are better than these two sturdy
knights of the mask and pad. and the
best part OF it is that neither can bt
styled as = veteran in point of years
for both are 28 years old
Slanting at the Giants as a pennanr
possibility in the National league. one
cannot help but figure that if the
Giants do capture the 1917 champion,
ship, Rariden and McCarty will come
in for big share of the credit
Rariden is a nerveless catcher. He
never gets excited under fire and he
can cover more ground back of the
plate and on either side of it thar
any other performer in the business
with the possible exception of Ray
Schalk, of the White Sox. As hitter
Rariden isn't world beater, but in all
other duties which a catcher must per.
form Rariden is there like duckling
McCarty is great fielding catcher
and a smart catcher lin there behind
the sticks" During the season OF
1916 he was not charged with pass
ed ball, according to the best in.
formed statisticians, and his work in
handling the pitchers was all that
could be asked of any hrst-class re-
ceiver.
Delivers in Pinch.
Although Rariden is not the batter
McCarty is, he is conceded to be a
tough customer for any pitcher to
face in a pinch, for he knows how to
wait 'em out, and his hits are gen.
orally sharp drives that can be count
ed on TO score any reasonably fast
runner from the keystone sack Nc
Carty's drives have. more force, and
it is McGraw's belief that Lew 5
batting ability will improve.
In pegging to the bases both Rari-
den and McCarty are steady and ac-
curate. 1t is seldom that a wild peg
escapes either OF these lads, and they
peg to second 'on the runner" with
such regularity that it is generally
up to whoever takes the throw to
complete made to order" play.
In Rariden the Giants have the
hardest-working catcher in the game.
Rariden likes nothing better than to
be in there working every day. He
hates to sit on the bench and watch
someone else on the job. for he is
chockful Of energy and he loves base
bali despite the hard work that he
must do behind the plate.
McCarty, with a winning team
around him, is expected to show up
to better advantage this year than
ever before. True, the Dodgers were
winners last year, and Lew had every
inspiration to make him play at top
speed. The fact that he was going
good for the Dodgers caught Nc
Graws eye and helped Lew to his
present berth.
After Bill Rariden jumped the
Braves to Join the ranks of the Fed
eral league he was a mighty repent
ant backstopper For did not those
Braves step right out and cop the
National league pennant and also
worlds championship They didl
And Bill wasn't with them. Bill
jumped because of a difference Of
about $500 in the salary offered him
and the salary he demanded, but he
could have shared much more than
that had he stuck. So now that Bill
is back in the fold again he is glad
to be there, and so long as he can
hold down a big league berth the
Giants, or any club he happens to be
working for, will get the very best
he has in him.
If the Giants cop the Tener gon-
falon this fall, wait and see what part
of the credit will go to Rariden and
McCarty. 1t is certainty that they
will get full share OF it, and then
some.