The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1950-07-27
BEHIND
HOME PLATE
By DOUG STEWART

See keeping Up With The
Braves page 6, for the Interstate
League standings, postponed games,
schedule for the week, double plays,
and review of the Braves games
of the past week, including the box
score of Saturday nights game with
Trenton.
The need of an experienced first
string catcher for the Hagerstown
Braves was adequately filled on
Monday when Ray Fletcher report
ed to the club, having been sent
here by Boston from their Hartford
Club of the Class A Eastern League.
Fletcher caught both ends of Mon
days double-header and came
through with two hits in the first
game and one in the second. He has
a fine throwing arm and after our
infielders get used to having catch
er who is on his toes, there will be
lot of men caught off base between
now and the end of the season.
To make room for Fletcher, Lou
Soscia, who was assigned to Hagers-
town by the Boston Farm System,
has been sent out to one of the Bos-
ton Braves minor league clubs
Another newcomer to the Braves
roster is Larry DePalma, an outfield-
er who also came to Hagerstown
from Hartford and who has shown
up well in the games in which he
has played To make room for him,
Tom Astbury (who was the proper
ty of the Hagerstown club has been
given his outright release.
General manager Rufus Edwards
announced on Tuesday morning that
Howard Freund, the Braves utility
infielder, who has been sidetracked
with pulled muscles for sometime,
has also been given his outright re-
lease and that Bill Allen, a pitcher,
has been placed on the inactive list
for ten days due to illness.
$50
The Braves had a really bad break
in Monday nights second game when
Jack Bench, right-handed pitcher
who reported to the club a couple of
weeks ago from Hartford, injured
his foot when he was hit by a foul
ball while at bat and had to be re-
moved from the game. His foot had
swollen so badly by Tuesday morn
ing that he was hobbling around on
crutches and will be out of action
for sometime.
1t seems unfortunate that when the
league signed a new umpire, he
should have been sent into Hagers-
town for such a tough series as the
weekend one between the Braves
and Wilmington, and while umpire
in-chief Murphy worked with him
in Saturday nights game when he
was one of the base umpires, it is a
pity he couldn't have stayed over for
the Sunday game to see how he
looked behind the plate.
AS those of you who read this col
umn know, l seldom criticize the de-
cision of an umpire, due to the fact
that while / am sitting up in the
press box, he is right down there
covering the play, but some of UNI
pire Macky's decisions behind the
plate in Sunday afternoons game,
and in the second game on Monday
night, were obviously bad. l appre-
ciate, of course, that an umpire dur
ing regulation game has to look at
something like two hundred pitches
coming over the plate and he, of
course, can be expected to miss a
few; but there just isn't any excuse,
for instance, for calling a man out on
foul ball that hit the dirt, even
though he did change his decision
when loud protest was made.
While the Braves took it on the
chin in their series with Whining
ton, they are still up there in the
thick of the fight and if we are not
plagued with any more injuries, and
our pitching levels off as it should,
we can get back on the top rung of
the ladder in short order. 4
The hectic battles in both major
leagues continues without a let-up
and both league races bid fair to be
the closest in many years. Those
amazing Philadelphia Phillies had
really tough break on Monday night
when they went ahead of the Pitts
burgh Pirates in the top half of the
seventh on two-run homer by Ed
die Watkins, that was washed out
when the rains came and the game
reverted back to the end of the sixth
inning, to give the Pirates the win