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Show HARRY McCURDY FIND OF THE YEAR Manager Ray Schalk Loud in Praise of Youngster. American league fans, noting the marked success Harry McCurdy is having hav-ing behind the bat and with the stick for the Chicago White Sox, have been wondering how Branch Rickey ever let this sterling backstop get away from him. It was the former manager man-ager of the Cardinals who found McCurdy Mc-Curdy at college, got him to sign a contract and tried him out at St. Louis under the most unfavorable circumstances. circum-stances. Rickey at that time was sorely pressed for backstops, not having very much luck with his maskmen. After Af-ter seeing McCurdy in action at college, col-lege, he predicted a brilliant future for him. McCurdy got his chance to get into the big league with a hop early, but he looked dismal chasing foul flies in back of the plate in true collegiate fashion while the fans roared and razzed. Rickey took him out of the game and shipped him to Houston for seasoning, realizing that the experience the young player had at the hands of the St. Louis fans would make him nervous if he ever tried to get in the game there again. McCurdy prospered in Texas and became be-came a minor league star, but the Curds took an eption on Vick instead of McCurdy, as Rickey told friends he w'ould not have McCurdy humiliated again by taking him back to St. Louis. How McCurdy learned to hit and how the Sox tried their best to send him back to Texas after Eddie Collins decided he'd make a better first baseman base-man than a backstop because he had Schalk, Grabowski and Crouse as maskmen, are interesting phases of McCurdy's first few years in baseball. He even went home because he could not tell whether he was a member of the Yankees or Sox until Judge Lan-dis Lan-dis shipped him back to Chicago. Colo p.el Ruppert had to pay McCurdy a month's wages, and it is' certain he's sorry he does not have to pay him a yearly salary now. Most players would have lost heart trying to break in where Schalk, one of the best receivers the game ever produced, and Crouse were stationed, but McCurdy stuck to it and the belief be-lief is that he will not be ousted for several years to come. |