Salt Lake Tribune | 1914-03-08 | Page 58 | Lapp is Valuable Catcher for Mack

LAPP IS VALUABLE CATCHER! MUX Is Close Student of Opponents Oppon-ents and Loves Sessions of "Stove League." Humorous stories have been written about the recruit who was picked from the vlllnge team for tho biff show, and was welcomed home by the town band, at the close of the season. Usually the country store or the village barber shop is his trystlng place, and there ho tells the amazed residents of the "Inside" of btr league baseball. The paragraphers of newspapers, wits and stunt; comedians have often poked fun at Philadelphia as being u sleepy burg, and compared the city as taking second place to a little l.solutcd hamlet. Perhaps they aro not so far wrong at that, for Ihu sumo scene. Is enacted almost al-most dally, during the winter, with Jack Lapp, catcher of the Athletics, the center of a crowd of listeners, at a corner barber bar-ber ahop, West Lehigh street, Philadelphia. Philadel-phia. Lapp takes things pretty soft In the winter time. Gets out of bed whenever he feels llko It, loafs around the house a while, hustles into his sweater coat and then beats It to the corner barber shop. Then the winter stove league opens another an-other session. At eating time the party mispends, but then, almost every afternoon, after-noon, the "pan club" can be found working work-ing full force, nnd every major leaguer, regular and recruit, comes In for discussion, discus-sion, vilH fate Is settled and the player placed on the shelf. Jack Is married and has a very pleasant pleas-ant home. He Uvea near tho Athletic ball park. "The baseball colony," tho people call It, as up In that section live Harry Davis. Jack Lapp, Connie Mack, Charlie Dooln, Amos Strunk. Ira Thom-iiB, Thom-iiB, Chief Bender and a lot of others. John W. Lapp wan born at Frazer, Pa., September 10. 1SSI. He started playing baseball for Portsmouth. Va In 1907, as a catcher. Later In the yenr he leaped to the Chester team of tho Atlantic league, a rival organization to the "big I trust" baseball. Before the season of 1907 had ended, however, he was back In organized baseball, playing In the New York state league. Jack wnf taken 111 with typhoid fever nnd suspended. Ho applied for reinstatement rein-statement to organized baseball, but was turned down at the beginning or 1903. and he joined tho Hazleton Independent league club. Here his work attracted tho nttcntion of the mnjor league wcouta and ho was nought by several clubs., but It was tho Athletics that landed his Herv-Jch Herv-Jch and had him put back In good standing and he has been a member of tho Mnckmcn ever since. He was married mar-ried at the close of the first season ho joined the Philadelphia club. Lapp la a close student of opponents. His advice and suggestions have been very valuable to Connie Mack. When Mack, Davis, Thomas, Murphy and Lapp unlto their wlt5. no stronger combination combina-tion of brains In baseball could bo brought together. In 1913 Lapp batted In eighty-four games, was officially at bat 237 times, scored twenty-threc run, twelve of which wore earned, and liad fifty-four hits for a total of sixty-seven bases. Including four doubles, three triples nnd a homer. 1-app Is credited with two sacrifice hits, two stolen bases, was given his base on uuIh thirty-seven times and struck out twenty-xlx times, finishing the season with a percentage of .22S. In Holding he worked In eighty-two games, had 339 put-outs, put-outs, 120 assists and fourteen errors, for an average of .970. In tho world series of last year Lapp batted .2S0 and fielded perfcctlv. He only worked In one game, Schang catching the other four, and In that contest was at bat four tlmna and hit out a two-baggcr. In fielding he had seven pa touts and one assist. Membership Clnb Complete. "Manager Mike Finn of the Mcmphla (Southern league) team, practically has completed tho signing of hla 13H club. I having- thirty-two men corralled. Most of thnm urn meruit, to be given trv- outs within the next fow weeks. i