The sun., 1900-12-30
IHE .JtMPING IUPIRE
And the Trick That Caused the IiRhtfoot Lilies
to Lose the Cha mpionship.

Ana the ITitk IhnI Z au.eu the IlRntfOOt LINES
to Lose the championship.
SAY. you know that daily dance that makes
guy igglc up and down like rubber ball
iu its last bounCes. while his features twtch
Il rag-tiue accompaniment az right angles?
The iuvitus dance, or something like that"
The fat ex-mascot of the Lightfoot Lilies
look ed inquriugly at his friends
why, you mean the st Nitus dance. one
Of them ventured
81, that T.? Well, this St vltus may have
been a good man and graceful dancer.
but any time | want TO trip the light fantastic
just give me an old-fashioncd waltz or some
thing with a glide In IL for mine | once
knew a baseball umpire that was proficient
az his step The Ringtai Roarers brought
him down 20 the championship game at lIly
Park one year when it was their turn TO fur
nish the umpire. Say, you ought to have
seen him as he suffered ont TO take his place
behind the bat. Id be willing to back him
odds-on against 81. Ntus at his own dance
and Conccde thirty twtches TO the minute at
that But we could have stood for his dano-
ing all right II he hadu't gummed the game
the way he did How? You couldn't guess
I'm rich uucle's lifetime IL was like this
capt Priest of the Roarers won the toss
and chose outs For u Samme salmon
dropped a neat little single back OF third.
Then the trouble began Their third base
man tossed the bail over TO first. and the first
bascman clupped it on to Samlnie. who by
this time was anchored fast to the bag.
"'Hows that. Mr.. umpireT shouted the
first bascman
The umpire was stll jumping up and down
In the ecstaces of his sanity dance. You're
you're you're -outatfrst. he spluttered.
1-i, of ia ha
"'Whaty' Samruie Salmon deman ded. in
dignsntly 'Uut2 Why. I've never left the
base
But In those days. YOU know. what the
umpire said went. and there was nothing
for Sammie 70 do but slink back TO the bench
aud keep his troubles to himself. The same
thing happened when Bull Thompson drew
his base on balls While he was STANDING g
on the bag the first baseman held the ball
against his arm and again appe aled TO the
umpire. Same result Two men sitting on
the bench with troubles af their own. Then
came ,apt. Slugger Burrows. First on de ad
ball. stood ON first with both feet: touched
by first ba-eman, and side declared out by
the sanity dance ruv. That was more than
we could stand Slugger Burrows threatened
10 take his team of the field. and IL was only
by the strongest kind of argument that Cy
Priest succeeded in pcrsuading him % finish
out ia" inning.
Matters we're finally adjusted and the
Roarers took the bat. The, first two men
up died easy deaths on inheld pop flies. We
began to have some hopes of n tie game in
spite Of the Jiggling umpire. Then ty Priest
tned the rubber. He drove the first pill out
of the box down between second and short
and reached first with n whole clock fun Of
time to spare. Foote tossed the ball oyer to
the trouble with Priest?' the rooters began
to ask one another, is that -plutterng umpire
contagious Al a, once tap,; SlasseTr
seemed rather cruel to US to find merriment
in the, af,iictIon of II rival, We didn't think
My, aren't yoG gpys next next he asked ,,.
the way that umpire Jumps around wv Vel
m@re na"S hS "a do~,n'y even We Know m i' it, Hn ha ha
We were utterly disguised with his heart;
when II" had partly recovered. His INN;
plrelrt- there -watChe. the runner instead
of the base He thinks he's standing still
mmpug lie thinks We were all touched
out Will" We were jumping in the air The
stIll j. To- jump up and down with him the
way ~ Priest did Don't YOU see II now
Now What do yGu think Of that? Apd
jumping ny aud down with the St Nitus
umpire b" thought We were literally on the
level and consequently, called Us sai" Why.
hy the sixth inning n" thing had become
"f both teams were springing up and down
like - many dvspeptiC grasshoppers Even
the spectators seemed Z" catch the spirit
Of the thing, Men, women and children
time threatened destruction to the grand
stands 'IIumph. gruuted the. umpire when
the thing was AT itS height i knew they'd
get tired -of-their internal jumping and
and hava 10 quiet down after while It
would have made any other man dizzy TO
look AZ 'cIu.
Who finally won the game? The Roarers;
hut they had to employ the scurviest kind
Of underhand methods In order to do IL. IL
was ia the first of the ninth. They were
one run 10 ia" good two men were gone. Bull
Thompson was jumping hopefully on third
and Home Run llankins was AZ the bat,
suddenly some one on the Roarcrs' hleacher~
sang ont, lIe,, Bun Thnmpsoni You're
stockug'- coming down The Bull started
10 ~toop, aud then, su~p"Ctlng treaChery
quickly straivhtcn"d M and resumed his
Jumping Priest shot III" ball over and the
third ha~cmau Clapr"d II on the Bull.
You're ont az third the umpire shouted
Gee hut YOU re jumping high"
The Bulls momcntary hesitation had put
him out of time with the umpire. They who
lg-lt "a "A lost