Evening star., 1933-01-15
ALL SLAB STYLES
HANDLED BYLUKE
Heavy Value Placed on Ability
to Catch Southpaws, Right
handlers Alike.
BY GEORGE CHADWICK.


"a yEW YORK, January IA
M Transfers of catchers may
Y at times interest the base
ball fan as much as deals
in pitchers, and the shift that has
Just been made In the American
League involving backStops is one
that catches the eye.
Washington has made arrangement
with Cleveland by which 1t obtains the
services Of Luke Sewen, veteran catch
er, while the Indians receive Roy
Spencer, a younger backstop. and cash
to boot.
BY acquiring an old hand at the
game like Sewell, the Senators In O
way replace the loss of Muddy Ruel,
one OF the smartest men behind the
bat that Washington ever had. He
was quick to size I'D the weakness of
an opposing batter. 1t was rare fun
to see him handle the delivery Of Firpo
MarberTy.
OF course, In the case Of Marberry,
~ Ruel did not have much curve to
call upon, but lots of speed. Mar
berry could put the ball by the biggest
batters so that it would fairly whistle
in the ai-. What a pity it Is that
Ruel was let go by Detroit at the very
moment when Marberry was received
by the Tigers from Washington in ex-
change for Whitehill. The old battery
Of Ruel and Marberry would have been
reunited and might have played havoc
year or two longer with unsllspecting
batters of the American League.
SDpnCPr iS clever catcher hIIt Yans-
sibly not to be classed with Sewen. I
can recall watching Luke one after
noon at New Orleans when the Cleve-
land players were getting into condi-
ton. He was tossing the ball around
and interested at that time in the per-
formance of young player who had
just been signed by the Cleveland Club.
My eye," said Luke, "but that young
fellow has got oceans of speed and
don't know but some day he will de-
velop into second Walter Johnson"
THE young player in question was
J. Wesley Ferrell, who was showing
for the first year how much speed
he had brought with him from the
minor league club in which he had
made a beginning so auspicious that
Cleveland had taken him on. Oddly
enough, Sewell was the man who was
to go to the club that Walter johnson
had served SO long, and not Ferrell,
the new pitcher
= It is much easier sometimes to ween
a good catcher away from club than
a good pitcher. Especially Is this true
when the club thinks the catcher may
have reached the top of his ability, and
for the next three or four years viii
advance no farther, and therefore can
well be replaced by a younger man Of
ability Who is likely to improve.
Lots OF times manager viii sud-
denly let go of player, who seems TO
have done very well for him, without
any apparent reason. Tt VIII not be
until year or two afterward that the
real motive will be found for the play
er's release, and usually 1t has some
thing to do with the salary he was
getting. H1
MO hint Is given by the Cleveland
IN club whether this happens to be
the case, but it would surely be
one way out of a ticklish predica-
n.ent to separate Ferrell and Sewell II
both of them were among the high
Salaried men of the club.
Sewell's particular merit as O MEM
Der of the Washington club is In his
ability to handle all kinds Of pitchers.
He Is one of the few catchers in base
ball who handles a left-handed pitcher
with the same ease that he does right
handler. If the trade OF Marberry for
Whitehill is going to be of the assist
ance expected by Washington, that
team surely ought to profit by having
SeweIl behind the bat.
Cleveland, on the other hand, viii
not lose anything by having a smart
catcher like Spencer with its growing
young players for 1893.