The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-08

opinion, made up the greatest ball
 Giants, though, were the best that I say this, too, in due regard for
 the fact that I have handled other
 clubs that were greater bitters and
 greater base runners. I hand the laurels to the 1905 team for its smartness. We did not have a really slow thinking ball player on the club.
 That team was not so fast but
 what it lacked in speed of feet is
 made up in speed of thought. In
 addition, we had two of the great
 est pitchers that the game has ever
 seen-Matthewson and McGinnity.
 We had two of the great catchers- Bresnahan and Bowerman. To my way of thinking, Bresnahan was about the best catcher of all times. The only other catcher that l would rank alongside him is Buck Ewing.
 A Smart Catcher l have had fans, baseball writers and even players look surprised when
 l made this statement about Bresna- han. But l would ask you some thing.
 Did you ever know oI another catcher who was a smart enough hit ter and base runner to leao the bat ting order? Did you ever know of another catcher who in addition to ! his backstop work could hit over
 300 aud steal forty-five bases in a season?
 don't think you have. All those 1 things must be taken into considera- tion when selecting the best catcher
 of all times. His value to a team is { what counts. l could name a dozen who were good hitters and who had catchers who worked like a machine great arms. A majority of them, i though, were slow thinkers. | Bresnahan, you see, had ell of i those qualities combined. Johnny ! King, for instance, was one of the greatest of all catchers, but I never i regarded him as valuable to a ball 1 club as Bresnahan. He could not hit
 as well as Roger and there were
 other things that he could not do
 as well. Nobody, though, could throw ! better than King.
 Played 'em All l Roger had played every position | pitcher, outfield, infield, catcher. He
 was good at all too.
 | Bresnahan had a memory almost ! as good as that of Matthewson and 1 McGinnity. He never had to be told
 twice Once we had discovered a
 weak spot in the opposition and had ! discussed plan for attacking it. I
 could depend absolutely on Bresna- 1 han to carry it out. He did not for ! get. His whole mind was concen-
 trated on winning that particular
 game and it was rare that he over
 looked anything.
 It is not at all uncommon for me
 to have catchers-men of perfect mechanical ability-who do not re-
 member instructions from the bench 10 the plate. For that reason I have
 had to take it upon myself to give
 all the signals for the pitching. | Not only was that 1905 team a 1 smart-thinking ball club but it was a
 team Of fighters. They thought they
 could beat anybody and they gener.
 any could. As a result of this fight 1 ing instinct we got into much trou- ble.
 AntagOnized Fans, l It was seldom that we ever went tn Pittsburg without having some kind 1 of run-in with the fans. l suppose
 we did antagonize them too much 1 but 1t certainly was lot of fun There were hot doings any time the
 Giants arrived. We were roundlv i hated. Even the newspaper men who accompanied the team came in for n 1 share of roasting.
 l In those days 1t was not at all nm
 usual for the papers to announce tkat "the rowdy Giants, accompanied | by representatives of the yellow
 press, got in town this morning. | We used to stay at the old Monon- | gahela hotel and from there drove 1 in open carriages to the ball mark.
 The Pittsburg par kthen was in
 Allegheny City, across the river. To reach the bridge we had to pass .by
 the public market place. If we es- ! capped shower of small stones and
 trash outside of the park we were
 sure to get it as we passed the mar ! ket.
 One afternoon, after a hot game with the Pirates, the fans started | after us while we were getting in
 our carriages. Understand, we dressed at the hotel then-not at the ball ] park. Of course, we were not alto sether blameless. If the fans started
 razzing us we would razz right back at them. To tell the truth we sort of delighted in tantalizing the over i heated rooters.
 A Vegetable Shower i On this particular day we had
 lodged hardfuls of gravel. loose | pieces of brick, and so on, all the way to the bridge. Just as we crossed on
 the other side one of the market men
 started razzing us. We came back at