Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-07

meet them, and that he knows how to meet
them. When a twisty play turns up ami
an umpire decides the merits OF II In a w4--
that he knows and feels Is fair and Just D
all hands, he has Just about as much OF
glow OF pleasure the fielder who gets
away with difficult and unusual play.
L know that |, for one like to come
away from a pail park and be able to say
TO myself riding down town on the cars.
Well old horse. you did pretty well today:
you got by with the puZzling things YOU
certainly didn't give the best the worst
OF II to anybody; you were Johannes .n-thp
neghborhood in strengthening out those
hard kinks: and you sure were workman
Ike from the tap OF the drum to the I'm
ish ut the tape-line." Don't you suppose
an umpire feels better with himself when
he can say than when he has To say.
on that same ride downtown. Well pretty
punk for you today. Mr.. Imp: pretty fraz-
ely and yallerish in spots; pretty slceplsh
and wabbly in sections; not up to your
mark; buck up, for you're becoming u
scream In your own View
NO umpire Will ever. by any chance,
pave the way so that he'll be compelled 10
stake himself TO that latter bunch Of con-
versation II he can possibly help IL.
And II a foolish arbitrator had the
slightest notion on earth of attempting 10
play favorites on a ball lot 10 punish fell
lows that he had IL in for he'd be pre-
vented from doing anything Of the sort by /,
the dead-certain knowledge that the fans
would mighty soon be onto ana after him
The fair, unprejudiced. unbiased element OF
the rams. l moan-nOt the maniaCs who
want and expect the umpires decisions to
break all in favor OF the home team. There
are always plenty OF chaps watching bali
games who are unbiased the umpire
and who know what's right and what's
wrong in connection with decisions. No
umpire could cater to this player and try
TO smother that one without gaining tho
quick attention of fans OF this kind and
there enough OF them to simply ruin
an umpire who deliberately attempted TO
exhibit unfairness. Say what they may
the great majority of fans at least grant that
an umpire is at least trying to be on tho
level. no matter what his capabilities are
II any considerable proportion OF them
were ever to see-and they are amazingly
quick on the see. too. never forget that
that any umpire was deliberately and with
malice aforethought trying to hound any
player players, they'd make life
craggy for him that he'd soon be willing
to retire to Trappist monastery for the
balance of his life.
There are. as say Just about a thou
sand reasons why no umpire could not haze
1t in for a player. but. after all. Only one
of the reasons is necessary to hold him:
The pride which he takes In his work. II
/ We're fiddler, I'd hate like bazas to
start off with piece and then strike "A
whole parcel of elr-splitting false notes.
Being an umpire. l don't like to strike any
false notes either, and that's the answer:
I've got to hold and play the machine
right or I'd very soon be just an imitation
of something. and I'd rather live and have
my being In Oskaloasa than to be a
phony."
Tom Connolly's View.
Tommy Connolly had some views on the
''having -it-in-for-'em'' thing. too, and ex-
pressed them.
There some ball players" he said
VINO would like nothing better than to get
umpire baled up on this favoritsm
proposition, If only to get the chance to
bawl him out from one end Of the circuit
to the other. They're the kind of players
who enjoy laying traps for umpires, but
their work is coarse and their traps don't
catch even lightning bugs.
I'm no manner of names myself and
never will be. but it often seems to me as
If certain ball players deliberately set them
selves out to be as measley and malicious
as they possibly can be solely for the pur-
pose of earning the dislike of umpire and
then lying low and waiting to II tho
umpires are going to hand them anything
Some of these chaps will even go the
length of batting an umpire after game
for the purpose of getting a rise out OF
him. Then, II the rise comes they'll tip 1t
Off to the fellow players that they-the
baiters-will probably get 1t in the eye
from the umpire for the remainder of the
series of games. and set them all to watch
ing. No umpire with enough sense TO
crawl in out of the wet gets mixed up with
a dead-fall like that. Not that he seeks to
fool the plotter by deliberately giving him
more than he is entitled to. But for "A sure
thing he doesn't the heels of such an
Incident give him any less than is coming
to him. He declines to permit himself to
be stampeded either one way or the other,
that's all: but just goes ahead and jumps
according to his lights and leaves the trap
out of all consideration.
There isn't a minute in the progress of
a game of blg-league ball when the UNI
pire hasn't got to keep all of his wits about
him in steering clear Of the nets that some
players are laying for him. and If he hasn't
got the natural gumpton to do this. and
to do it without letting ii get on his nerves
he hasn't any business arbitrating ball
games--the drivers seat of a springless coal
wagon is the place for him..