The Washington times., 1935-11-06
GriBNeed
hSense
Catcher
By KIRK MILLER
Times Sports Editor

back to baseball, and I'll ad-
NIT I turned a flip-flop and
found myself pondering over
matters which you could
hardly call seasonable to early
November.
Strolling along one of our
better boulevards, kicking a
few vagrant, rustling, scarlet
and yellow leaves which belied
that summer sun, fell to analyZ-
ing the next baseball season, inso-
far as Washington's part therein
Is concerned.
Out Of the trance came a
thorough realization that whether
or not Washington improves its
pitching staff another season, lit
tie good can come unless it also
does something about the catch
ing situation.
There isn't a baseball student
worthy of the classification that
hasn't seen teams with excellent
pitching staffS, falter because Of
inadequate reCeiving. BY the
same token, it is not infrequent
in the history Of the game that
mediocre pitching staffS have
been piloted through to highly
satisfactory seasons by virtue Of
having one or two experienced,
smart catchers on the other end
Of their Slants.
Out Of Race Early
For instance, I am convinced
that had Bucky Harris had either
q Gabby Street, to go a long way
back; an Eddie Ainsmith, to go
back not so far; a Muddy Ruel
to come a little closer up to
date, or a Luke Sewell to set my
argument right down in your
lap, there is no question Wash
ington would have finished up
there in the first division last sea-
son. Certainly it would not have
dropped out of the race before the
end Of July, as was practically the
case.
The relationship between a
pitcher and his catcher is most
singular. Some catchers have the
knack of getting the maximum
of effort from pitcher ana
others do not. This seems to
be matter of temperament
rather than mechanical ability
and has to be Unborn with the
onI mt onnIIirnH
Sometimes the catcher will
combine both the ability to han
die the pitcher and great me
chanical ability in his routine du-
ties Of catching and batting. Then
you have an outstanding star
such as Mickey Cochrane, Rick
Ferrell or Bill Dickey, as well as
Rolly Hamsley.
An Ancient Precedent
At other times a catcher will
lack the knack of working with
the pitcher and, in cases like this,
no matter how much he does
along other lines there will al
WAYS be something missing. Hay
worth is Second-String man for
Detroit, yet he is strong hitter
He has a better throwing arm than
Cochrane and is fully as good on
chasing fouls and fielding bunts
None will deny, however, that
Detroit puts up a stronger front
with the fiery Mickey behind the
bat. .
Back in 1907, 1908 and 1909,
when Hughie Jennings was win
ming American League pennants
for Detroit, his first catcher was
Charley Schmidt. Now Schmidt
was one of the Sorriest mecharl'
ical receivers ever to stay IN the
big leagues.
He had passed balls at inoppor'
tune times and was prone to be
charged with missed third strikes
every so often. When Schmidt
threw to catch a runner at sec
ond base, it was even money that
bali would nestle in the glove
Of the centerfielder.
Jennings had two other catch
ers sitting on the bench, each OF
whom excelled Schmidt in all
these things. Yet Schmidt caught
two-thirds Of the games for De
troit.
Why?
Because the Tiger pitching stars,
"Wild Bill" Donovan, George Null
lin and Ed Killian, swore that
they could not pitch effectively
to anyone but Schmidt and put
I'D q terrific howl if some other
catcher was assigned them.
Must Have Sixth Sense
What the Griffmen need for
1885 is a backstop who has this
indefinable something. Maybe he
won't have much of batting av-
erage. Cray Schalk and Muddy
Ruel never battered down any
fences with their long drives, yet
were effective catcherS)
Maybe he won't be able to gen.
crate much speed in running
around the bases, or be the pic
ture Of grace and poise in chasing
foul pops. But he will possess
that native ability to work with
the pitchers and that sixth sense
which enables him to make the
most Of the pitching equipment
at his disposal.
President Griffith and Manager
Harris are giving this catching
problem their earnest conSidera-
tion this winter, without a doubt,
and upon the success of their