Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-28
BALL PLAYERS NOW MAKING
KICKS ABOUT CONTRACTS

I grisiy thing as the undertaking business
| somewhere out in southern California, and
one one Of the nmps 81 the B. johnson staf
| for the coming season, they're slipping
some rather lemon-juicy remarks at 6her-
| dan.
Doodle who did not announce that Jack
Sheridan was going to eternally flag and
| sidestep the umpiring business last season
was one J. Sheridan, esq. Jack he never
kind Of way, he mentioned. in New York
that he was partners in a little undertake
Ing business out in California that he
thought might need q little personally con-
Quoted looking after one Of these old days,
| and that was the genesis and nucleus OF
the story that he was through with UNI
piring forever and a day. Sheridan himself
Is one of the most ciose-nIouthed men con-
capacity. He can sit with q crowd of gar
rulous men for four hours Of an evening
and never say word. although he beams
around pleasantly enough upon the bunch
Of fellows engaging in the gab-fest. 1t
isn't that he's sullen or uppish or anything
of the sort. It's merely that he has an
acute perception of the needlessness of a
whole lot of the conversational junk that
is exuded from the human system these
days, and he enjoys keeping the greater
part of his breath in his midriff and TAX
Ing 1t out in thinking In New York. late
last fall. I asked Sheridan outright if he
really intended to quit the umpiring bust
ness at the end Of the season.
We'll, I'm tired enough to-" was his re-
ply. There wasn't anything very commit
tai about that. and the point wasn't pressed,
either, the writer hereof accepting 1t as one
of the commoneSt dictums of life that a
man has got right to have as many hold
outs as he pleaseS and to keep under his
hat those parts of his private business that
he isn't in the mood to reveal There's real
~ no reason for feeling abused because
Sheridan is going to Jump again this year
hole LOT nf 10 hn mn
a heap about base ball in this country who
regard Jack Sheridan as the finest umpire
in the business He's got way of clinch-
Ing his decisions at critical junctures that
would be sadly missed il he really did quit
the game. Nobody who ever saw Sheridan
leaning over a player who'd just made a
slide to base and, while the player was
still wallowing in the dirt with teeth show
ing and forefinger waving in the breeze
like a priZe-fight referee counting a prone
man out, say in a loud, determined tone,
You're outi'-nobody who'd ever looked
once upon that neat and tasty way of doing
the game.
Whatever may be the outcome of the
scrap about dates, Ban Johnson surely has
the right idea about the orneryness of start
ing the game a-roling too early in the
season. Some of those first games played
in Washington last season were very much
SpitZbergen and Upernavik as TO tempera-
tire. The bunch huddled in the stand ana
on the bIeachers with their heaviest pennies
swadded up around their ears, and asked
each other if it was going to be game
of ball or a ski-jumping contest. When
the ball glanced off players hand during
those wintry games everybody expected TO
see the hand go with it, and the players
lurked under their wooden marques ana
growled through their blue lips that they
hadn't signed to play ice polo and couldn't
see that game from any angle
The three lake towns on the BJohnson
circuit. too. are mighty chill and drear
propositions viewed from the Fahrenheit
point of view. long after the balmy weather
has set in in cities removed from those
vast stretches of fresh water. The Wash
ington team had q mighty raw time OF IL
in Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago on their
first tour west in the month OF May. There
was bite and a nip in the breeZes tnat
blew off the big lakes that went right
through men trained in the south, and
there is no manner of doubt that the chill
climatic conditions had a good deal to DO
with the decided slump of the Washington
troupe on that first western trip.
1t is a fact that more ball players nave
suffered from rheumatism and sciatlca ana
lurpbago and such kindred complaints since
the extension of the season than was ever
the case before. All hands, fans as well
as PLAYERS would be more than willing 10
have the old schedule resumed, and 1t Is
tirped off that the advocates for the short
err ason are going to put up straight
out and square fight for ii next year.
c. l.. G.