The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-10

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authorities, or in spite of them. 1t is a new
and we believe hitherto unknown variation
OF h demand for Lehr und Lernfrctheit.
IL Baseball to Be Reformed or Not?
Baseball, as practiced by the teams of
the National League, whose professional
skill makes them the model for playing
in general, stopped for 1897 in a condi.
tion we'll described by our esteemed con.
temporary, the Dallas Ne,os: "Riotous
baseball is going out and bloody football is
coming in" The national game of last year
had not differed much from that of earlier
years.; but the public walked to the fact
that It was "riotous." So generally had the
players usurped the functions of the UNI.
pire, and taken to themselves the right to
dispute the justice of his decisions. that
wrangling, sometimes reaching actual
fighting, became the regular order. Lost
time, public annoyance. ugly feeling, bad
language and actual conflict were among
the fruits of the general chaos which the
League managers deliberately suffered, sus-
| tanned or even promoted.
The appointment of a committee to con.
slider the matter of baseball discipline for
the future means the possibility of reform.
Unless, however, the committeeman, who
happen to be SoDEN of Boston, BRUSH of
Cincinnati. and HART of Chicago, are radi-
cally more forceful in their character and
more sincere in their desire to end the
abuses thar the League managers, jointly
and severally, have been heretofore, the
chances for reform are too faint to excite
much interest. Let us consider the prospect.
1t must be remembered that the peculiar
disorder of last season continued to the
end, without a single step on the part of
the League managers to stop it. THE SUN
pointed out to them a simple and abso-
lutely effective remedy. The %wrangling be-
tween players and umpire, the root of all
trouble, could have been stopped short If the
managers had but forbidden it, and the
way to forbid it was to forbid it. Any
club President could have stopped it
by ordering his men not to challenge
the umpire's decision. Every President
was morally required to give such an order
by the Leagues rule that enc decision
can be reversed" which must nave been de-
signed to protect umpires from just such as
saults. But no President did anything.
The a%bsurdity of the free-dispute system
was made clear to any one unable to per-
ceive 1t unaided, through interviews in
The Sun with Capt. JOYCE of New York
and Capt. GRIFFIN of Brooklyn. Fancy
a subordinate in the business, Capt. JOYCE,
being permitted Systematically to brow
beat umpires, partly" to use JoYCE's
own words, "from ho~t-headedness and
partly because the umpires in several cases
are incompetent and need some advice"
al kick whether In right or not" said
Capt. GRIFFIN, so that we may benefit in
some future decision" And this transfer
of the authority to make rules and name
umpires from the Magnates of the League
to the hot heads of players on the field was
endured with no stronger opposition than
Al indulgent mother shows to a spoiled
child. For example, Mr.. SoDEN of Bos-
ton. a member of the existing commit
tee, responded to the situation by giving
notice that he would eject from the ground
spectators attempting to rattle visiting
teams. Mr.. FREEDMAN of New York in
dictated that disputes between players and
umpires were rather to his liking.
One ray of hope for something better
comes from an announcement by Mr.. HART,
found in the Chicago Tribune, that at the
next meeting of the National League he
will propose this rule:
"The privilege of speaking to an umpire should be
taken from the player, the penalty being removal
from the game Of any player who addresses the UNI
pire upon any subject whatsoever on the ball field
during the progress OF a game"
That ounds promising. II adopted it
would bring the peace and sport that
have failed. Baseball would again become
a game instead of a rough mixture of
play, shouting, and violence. Mr.. Harris
plan would restore 1t to a par with all
other games, from billiards to cricket, in
any one of which a contestant presuming
to dispute the umpire's judgment would be
hooted from the field.
Imagine a cricketer in England turn
ing on his umpire to deny the ~latter's de.
cision that he had been run out Conceive,
If you can, of the field hurrying up to swell
the quarrel, while angry partisanship ex.
tends to the seats of the public! Then,
when you remember that such a scene is
unknown, think of the Unsuitable interest
and the countless thousands of spectators
that sustain the game of cricket, and you
will be satisfied that the baseball of the
League is a disgrace to sport.
II, now, we accuse Mr.. HART unjustly of
symptoms of willingness to evade the diff
Guilty we beg that he will accept our
apology. Our suspicion arises from his
opinion that "umpires are much to blame
for trouble on the field; but it seems i'm
possible to secure umpires with sufficient
backbone to enforce the law" This sounds
rather fiimsy when we recollect with what
Indifference the cracks of every club laugh