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0 Reds Send Walker Cooper to Braves Obtain Connie Ryan In Straight Trade Former Now Under Wing of Southworth# Under Whom He Gained Fame With Cardinals CINCINNATI, Ohio, May 10 UP. — Cincinnati traded catcher Walker Cooper to the Boston Braves for infielder Connie Ryan today in a deal which sends Cooper "back home" to the manager who first guided him to fame. .Billy Southworth was manager of the St. Louis Cardinals when the brother battery of catcher Walker and pitcher Mort first cut a swathe through the baseball record books in the early 1940s. Cooper since has slowed considerably and Mort has disappeared from" the big league scene. The deal, a straight player swap with no cash involved, apparently had been cooking for a long time, although both sides denied it. As recently as March 31, manager Luke Sewell of the Reds flatly denied he would trade Cooper to the Braves. "Why should I trade him What have they got to offer," Sewell ridiculed at Bra-denton, Fla. Reports of Ryans trade to the various National League clubs have been bandied about for two years now. In Need of Second Catcher At the start of this season it seemed that the Braves yery much needed Ryan to act as a fill-in for Earl Torgeson at first base, even though Ryan is regularly a second baseman. He seemingly had beat out four candidates, including the promising rookie, Roy Hartsfield, for that second base job after playing second fiddle to the Alvin Dark-Eddie Stanky combination in previous years. It was not an easy matter for the Braves to let Ryan go, but they badly needed a second catcher. Dei Crandall has been handling the regular starting job with finesse, but there was no one to back him up. The Reds have been in dire need of a second baseman. During spring training, manager Sewell complained of the situation, and his fears were confirmed when he sent ex-Mexican Leaguer Lou Klein back to the Pacific Coast League recently when he failed to come through. However, neither Ryan nor Cooper has shown much, at bat this year. As of today Cooper was hitting .191 with no home runs, and Ryan .194 but hit three homers. Its a far cry from the .316 Cooper hit for the Cardinals in 1940, the .318 in *43, the .317 in 44 or the .305 he batted for the New York Giants in 1947 after he was sold for a whopping 75,000.
