The Washington times., 1933-09-25
VET CATCHER
IS VITAL COG
OFGR|FFS
By GARRETT WATERS

New York scribes and players
are thinking in all sorts of figur-
ative terms these days anent the
coming world series, which will
bring the Griffmen and Giants
tor2ther in a battle for glory, fl
nances and particular title.
Washington newspaper men and
players are scanning the situation
just as much. probably, but GER
tain phases of the New York OBJ
servations cause a bit of extra
comment here.
Last week a story was written
that the two clubs were pretty
we'll matched in the various de-
partments of each teams make
but that in the case Of Luke
Sewell, behind the bat for the
Griffmen, certain weakness was
there that the Giants knew of and
would capitalize upon before the
series was two days old.
Where's the Weakness?
Now, we rise to this point in
the discussion, just what could
Sewells weakness be? Do the
Giants know of something that
american League teams have over
looked all season? What is this
about. anyhow?
Luke came to the GriffS during
the winter in that trade with the
Gle. Gland club, which sent Roy
Spencer to the Indians. He re-
ported with the reputation behind
him of being able to handle
pitchers pretty we'll. He's lived up
to this in every way. as each Griff
moundsman will tell you. And If
this doesn't convince the Giants,
the records of the Griff pitchers
make Luke look good as proof, as
:, can't be forgotten Crowder has
turned in a record of "a victories
this year, Whitehill, 81: Stewart.
Is; Russell, IL; Weaver, 8, and
so on down the line. So Luke
must have been quite all right in
this respect.
AS to Sewell'S ability to throw
swiftly and accurately, he ranks
with the best of catchers in the
league today as very few run
ners, if any, have been able to
steal a base on him since the
opening of the campaign.
Few Equals in Fielding
Fielding bunts in front of the
plate. or down the baselines, Luke
has few equals. He is adept at
getting to the ball quickly ana
his throws to the particular bases
this season have been as fast and
as accurate as anybody's. So we
can't figure anything else but an
other score for our side here.
Let's see now. what other de-
partments has the veteran PACK
stop excelled in this season? on
yes, he's been very good at going
after foul pops, either behind the
plate or up and down the base
lines. while up at the plate he's
had the happy faculty OF either
coming through with basehlC IN
the pinch or driving out a ny
long enough to allow baserun'
ner to score from third atter Ihe
catch.
Gives Signals Away?
So what weakness can it be that
the Giants are so willing to agree
Luke has? The only thing we
can figure out is that they pos
sibly believe that Luke doesn't
hide his signs we'll enough when
flashing 'em to his pitcher for the
day. This is a common occur
renee with most catchers, now
ever, and Luke, if guilty of such
practice need not feel so terribly
hurt about it. Particularly as
he'll probably show 'em that this
is not, with capital N, hl' al
legged weakness.
Despite all this. the Giants &C
cording to the story, believe they'll
get to the Griffs by virtue OF cap
italizing on this Sewell weakness
which they still contend is there.
Well, we'd like to say Luke will
probably fool 'em during the Sc
ries as he's demonstrated his abll-
ity as a backStop too many times
this season to give out the I'M
preston that he's lacking in some
department of the game where
even his own teammates or others
couldn't detect the trouble.
Giants. are ye convinced?