Evening star., 1960-08-23
WIN, LOSE OR
1NAV By FRANCIS STANN
From Berro to Earl Bottey?
By FRANCIS STANN

THE LAST OF THE GOOD catchers? Yogi Berra. The
next good one coming up? Earl Batey maybe!
mats what the man, Casey Stengel had said in his
mtaoe address at the banquet at Mr. Woodners ean-to
cmaxing the convention of Old Timers from the Senators
and Yankees
Il think you had some catchers here" Casev said
gazing from the roStrum toward Cal Griffith that YOU
were very fortunate to unload Now YOU have fellow
(Battey) who turns em back
They tell me that Mister Mantle is very fast Not
so long ago my man decided to steal second base and
haWay down, he changed his mind The second baseman
already was catching the ball from your catcher here
Berra is the last of the good catchers right now and
you may not know it unless you got him like have
ne mad to learn to CATCH because before came to New
York to manage the Yankees the Brookyns ran wild on
Yogi in the World Series wound up in the out
field, Then came Bill Dckey."
THE 7o-YEAR-oLD YANKEE manager made IT. clear
or as clear as Casey chooses to anythng-that
Dckey and his other coaches not his personal
appontees
said When came to New York the man General Man
ager George Weiss said, These your coaches
Look, said I got friends too. Maybe want them
to be my coaches
your friends? Casey whirled around in full S6Odegree
circle, hunched his shoulders grmaced, and added:
Mister Weiss had me there, guess. Anyway, I'm glad
he picked my coaches Dckey made Berra the last good
catcher"
Buddy Lewis listening to Casey furrowed his brow and
whispered Gould you tell me what he's talking about?
He was after my time"
Here touch of irony although what Lewis said
was true. in sense. Senge actually to the big
leagues in 1912 four years before Buddy born, but
their paths had crossed only fleetingly.
Nobody is quite what Casey is saying" Lewis
was told
Buddy sighed wistfully Il wish could have played
under him. he said III bet it would have been interest
ing"
WHEN STENCIL IS in a mood to speak-a condition
which invites the word "constany'-he touches all bases
including he nvents OF the Senators Cuban players
for example:
Now they are pretty fancy and I'd like to have a
couple but think the Washington club should pad out
their uniforms little and make EN- look bigger -
Casey threw bones to the Old Timers and
Snatched some He remembered that many years
they soaked the playing field at Kansas City with oil
the dust wouldn't mess up the customers clothes"
Now we had club of old guys which you might say
not the most aggressive you saw Casey rambed
Nobody hardly spoke but when that Kansas City sun
boiled that oil it made spikes hot that everybody
wching and moving and the people would say, Look
at how alert they are
And all we had hot feet"
CASEY sALUTED Sam Rice, Joe Judge Home Run
Baker and other odsers when he spoke of modern equip
ment.
saw couple little teeny gloves that of the
Old Timers brought to the game" Senge said referring
to Saturdays twonning affair. Now those real
gloves laugh at first basemen They got those triple
jaiala nets that they can't get ball out Of and lost
two, three games already this year because my players
can't find the ball in their gloves.
Il laugh at first basemen unless they bring good bat
Caseys nephew, he disclosed, recently spotted
tangled glove Il paid lot of money for the hng-$50
something-and it of those gloves with six
fingers in it, only nowadays players get more fingers in
their gloves and then leave their fingers out of them
We'll, now, don't mind spending that money because
everybody knows I'm big Gilman and banker but after
the glove arrives and the kid opens the box he writes
letter and asks how to wear it,"
With elaborate shrug of despair he mutey made it
clear this time the subject beyond his ken That's
why like you Old Timers, he concluded You weren't
complicated" >