The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-06-23
MIKE KELLEY TELLS
OF UMPIRE ROW

were suspicious of little things of that kind and
they sent different players to that window SIM
will say now that the scheme worked fine and
they were successful and do not blame the
colonies for working the little game. do not
believe that either Kane Or Owens would do
such thing as tip off the signals, for they
could not and attend to their duties on the
field. However, I do believe that the trouble
has prejudiced the men against our players and
even when they try to do what is right they
may let their feelings get the better OF their
Judgment at times = ~.- .
Team Was Sore.
"Well when we reached Toledo the boys were
sore at losing and when one of the newspaper
writer's came to the hotel the boys were cracking
jokes and also making remarks about the ump1res
which were not complimentary, to say the least.
They talked about tipping signals, etc., and the
reporter quizzed me about it. I jollied along
with the rest and told him that there was no
! proof Of such charges and that the boys only
surmised these things. I was dumbfounded next
day to read about the charges l was supposed
to have made. They were no more than Joe
Cantillon has made when excited about close
plays and the like and no doubt other managers
have made much worse remarks.
'If reporters printed everything ballplayers
say during the heat of excitement they would
doubtless have opportunity at various times
to accuse all officials connected with the game
with crookedness. 1t is the intense excitement
and aggressiveness that makes the game so
| popular, because the fans know 1t Is on the
level. ~
| ut is an easy matter to misconstrue things
and that is what happened at Toledo. Inc re-
porter simply misconstrued the things winch
were said by the players and myself He PROB
| ably did not think what the result would pc.
Tebeau's Trickery.
awe had good cause to kick at Louisville be,
| csuse Mr. Tebeau did not treat us fair we mao
| arranged to have the last game called at o'Io
and both Umpires Kane and SULLIVAN
understood it that way, SO d1o tne
! two captains. We were aheao "nen
the etahtb inning was at hand and
finished and it was past the time but when we
| wanted to stop Umpire Kane said no; that MI:
Tebeau had vetoed our agreement. Anat eaus s,a
! a row and the boys were so sore that tneS olo
! not care and as a result lost game 'neS WON
| entitled to.
"Now, 1 want to say that the reported re-
marks made at Minneapolis to Umpire Kane
and which Umpire Owens presented in an affida-
| Wit were simply ridiculous. The fact Is there
should have been no cause for serious complaint,
| for if there was then every manager in the
league and players should be brought up before
the court of inquiry every week.
"Kane umpiring badly that day, in the
opinion of the boys, and they made remarks to
him, the same other players do and did. He
made some remark to the boys the bench,
. which was not any too polite, and in the howl
| ing match going on called out to him that
| Grillo and his crowd at Toledo would mob or
| kill him.
HE was coming back at me just as strong
and nothing was thought of it when the game
ended 1t was roasting match, such as occurs
pretty nearly every day on the ball field. The
idea of Owens presenting affidavit, such as
he did, looked babyish and ridiculous.