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Rice Named Top Catcher After Fjye-Year Tryout Cards Promote Backstop After Garagiola Is Traded to Pirates By BOB PARKIN United, Press Sports Writer ■» ST. LOUIS, Mb., June 18.— Del Rice has been installed as the St. Louis Cardinals first-string catcher, a reward for his steady# back-stopping the last two years of a five-" year "tryout." From 1946, when both he and Joe Garagiola stepped up from the minors, until Joe was traded last Friday to Pittsburgh, there was an ambiguous answer to the question: "Whos the Cards regular catcher?" Manager Marty Marion finally answered that one after the trade: "Del had become our No. 1 catcher, anyway," he said in relegating Bill Sarhi, a 24-year-old rookie without a hit in eight trips up, to the "two hole" Rice occupied so long; For five years, as Garagiola recuperated in instances from numerous injuries, the Red Birds* manager repeatedly had said, "Joe will have to win back the regulars job from Del." Always regarded as a steady fielder and sharpshooter at rifling the ball to second base, Rice has been consistently maintaining a batting average around .300 this season. That appears to have cast the decision in the 28-year-old athletes favor. Hitting nearly .300 now, a pair of his home runs braced an eight-game streak in which no other Cardinal hit for the distance." He started working this year when Garagiola was injured. It was the same story last season when Joe, hitting .358 at the time, tripped over the Dodgers Gil Hodges and dislocated a shoulder. Del, playing regularly, finished with a ,288 average, highest in his major league career and only a point off his all-time top. And the former professional basketball player has been almost impervious to injury, playing most of the time with/ bashed fingers and bruised shins. Hes expected to pay even less notice to such mishaps now that Tiis "tryout" is over and he is the Cardinals No. 1 catcher.
