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Show i I I i l l l l l l 1 I 1 1 l I l l l 1 1 I I l i I l I l I i i I 1 1 i I I i i 1 1 I I I I I 1 1 l l ! Great Asset to Washingtons f HAT good goods come in small packages Is exemplified by Herold y I Ruel, attorney at law and 1-45-pound catcher of the Washingtc I Nats, who has been working in the American league for eleven '.. ' seasons and been catching 100 or more games a season for nine years. Never has Ruel weighed more than 150 pounds while at times his weight has gone below the 110 mark. Nevertheless, he has gone In " behind the plate day after day and caught all styles of pitchers, Includ- " ing Walter Johnson, the speed king; Stanley Coveleskie and other " snltters. Firoo Marberry. another i ;'' :: V j V , , it :: i , i hurler with terrific speed; Carl Mays, the famous submarine pitch- er, and a bunch of rookies whose !. wildness made them anything but easy to handle. In fact, the day he broke In as a major league catcher with the Browns when only a boy, he was called upon to team tip with Grover Lowdermilk, than whom there was none wilder. "No one knew Low much speed Lowdermilk ever had," comments Ruel. "He never really threw as .. hard a ball as he could because of ' his lack of control. He knew he was wild and feared that if he put everything on the ball that he was capable of be might kill some bat- " ter. So he was content to throw a half-speed ball. o-titll. ii;uiiiiuo uic lu.ll t vyaa s Muddy Ruel. catching Carl Mays the day he threw the ball that resulted in j. Ray Chapman's death. Ray was a great boy. Everyone liked him. 1 " yelled at him, but It was too late. Fie never had a chance to dodge. "Marberry will throw more fast balls In a game than Walter John- son did toward the close of his career, but when Walter wanted to throw a real fast one, it was faster than any Marberry ever threw me. " "I believe Herb Pennock is the craftiest pitcher I ever caught. His control is almost perfect and when it comes to generalship I do not " believe he has an equal. "Had a pitcher once, Bill Piercy, now in the Coast league, who used to cross me up now and then, so one day I told him we would i! work without signals. We won that one. I! "Yes, a catcher now and then switches signs with his pitcher and .. Infielders for you know a smart base runner can grab the signs from a second base. A switch in signs Is likely to be dangerous to the batter. " .. in fact, I have seen more than one batter hit seriously with a pitched " ball right after I had substituted a switch in signals. He would think " a fast one was coming and would step right into a curve." Of course, Muddy as be is known rather than Herold, cannot go " on catching forever, but when he does pass out of the big league picture " as a catcher Washington Is going to have its troubles replacing him. ' He was a particularly great asset to the Nats In '24 and '25. the two " years that Washington won the American league pennant. He caught !! all but five games for the Nats in '24 and batted close to the 300 mark. |