Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-13
CRUSHING OUT
BASE BALL ROWDYIsM
From the Philadelphia Press.

Base ball has at last been redeemed from
the hands Of the Rough Riders" of the
diamond.
After years of effort 1t looks as If the
great national sport were on a fair way to
be run by decent men in a decent man.
ner. The reign Of rowdyism and terrorism
appears to be over. It's hard to stamp
out such an evil all at once, but the worst
should be over
To Ban Johnson and Harry Pulliam be-
long the honor of purifying the diamond
1t took hard work. but these men have
strong will power and they were fighting
In good cause. Had they been given
earnest support by all the club owners in
their organizations they, would have won
their battles sooner. but some of the mag
mates put victory first and clean base ball
last, and thus the task was a severe one
and took years to complete.
The experiences of the old Baltimore and
Cleveland teams, which rode rough shod
over the diamonds, terrorizing umpires and
browbeating opposing players and spec
tators, served as a key to Messrs. Johnson
and Pulliam. Those cities turned on their
teams after years of successif victories
won by rowdy methods can be called sue
cess And now New York has risen in its
might and declared for decency and fair
play in base ball.
disgraceful tactics Of the Giants long ago.
Father knfckerbocker, however, woke up
gradually. The McGinnity-Peitz incident at
Pittsburg. when the players fought on the
? diamond and the barring of Umpire John
stone from the Polo Grounds were the final
straws which broke the back of the Brush
McGraw combination. Brush, as president
and McGraw, as manager, of the Giants,
carried things a little too far, and the
crash, which had been impending for long
time, but which they would not see, came.
Now they have woke up. but it is too late
for them to redeem themselves. New York
at last sees McGraw and his Giants as the
other cities have seen them for years and
the sight is not pleasing.
Thus last week. the day after New York
forfeited to Chicago, Umpire tombstone and
Manager Chance of Chicago were vigorous
ly cheered on the Polo Grounds. Such an
incident as this was SO rare that no one
could recall similar case Those cheers
spelled farewell to McGrawism in New
York.
The barring of Umpire tombstone from the
Polo Grounds was the biggest blunder ever
perpetrated by ball club. Instead of sue
ceeding, Brush and McGraw simply pulled
down their own house about their own
heads.
The case had it's humorous side, for after
ali Brush and McGraw were only bluffing
1t seems that the Chicago officials were
tipped off last Tuesday morning that John
stone was to be barred that afternoon. The
Chicago players went on the field that af-
ternoon as if totally unaware that trick
practiced. Manager McGraw walked over
to Manager Chance of Chicago. and cool:y
remarked:
Say, Frank the umpires haven't turned
up. There has been a block on the Il and
they may not get here for little while
Suppose we start the game. You select ore
of your players and I'll select Strang to
umpire until the regular officials get here. -
Naturally. McGraw thought Chance would
fall right into the scheme. To his astonish-
ment. Chance, who had been waiting foE
some such move replied:
Say. 'Muggsy,' why don't you let the un-
pires in the grounds"
When he was able to recover from his as
constituent McGraw saw that the blum
wouldn't work and hastily sent to the clubs
secretary and told him to admit Umpire
tombstone. The latter. however. with UNI
pire Emslie. had already departed. The
rest is base ball history.
AS a result of this affair every New York
newspaper has criticised the New York club
severely, besides calling for suppression
of rowdyism on the diamond, while the
spectators at the games which followed
have shown by their actions that they are
for fair play to foe as well as friend. It
has been probably the most bitter lesson
any club ever had to learn. and the game
as a whole should profit by 1t.
The stand President Pulliam took In the
affair was admirable. The New York off,
Gals went cunning for him, but the gun
exploded and the recoil hurt no one out the
New York club itself. Today Harry Pull
liam stands the most popular figure in base
ball He began his career as president OF
he would always stand for clean base ball.
And he has kept his promise. even though
1t more than once nearly cost him his OFF,
cial head.