Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-08-12
UP TO HARTFORD.
Fan Who Went to Hart.
 ford Says O'Neil Did Right.

ford Says o'Nen Did Right. To the Editor of the Springfield
 Union:
 Sir: Some time ago I impartsd to you my appreciation of Mir Rorty as an umpire, and did not expect that I would have to further in- fringe upon your space. But in view of all that has been said in the pa- pers about the fiasco at Hartford, feel impelled again to risk the blue pencil.
 It seems to be the proper thing to say that Mir O'Neil was to blame be- cause the Saturday game was not played. This I deny. l was present at the ball grounds, and talked with both MT Clarkin and MT O'Neil.
 There were on the grounds twv regularly appointed umpires of the Connecticut league, both in good standing, who had been notified to be. there and umpire the game, namely, Mir Kennedy and MT Law ton. They were there, and in uni form. Ina. being so, what excuse was there for going into the grand stand and taking therefrom a per sonal enemy of the manager and owner of one of the contesting teams, a person under suspension, and hay ing him umpire in game appar- ently destined to have a consider able influence in the contes- for the pennant; a contest already heated to the scorching point. -.'-.-
 understand the alleged reason is that MT Kennedy would not umpire the strikes and balls. If this is so, he was insubordinate, and should have been dismissed. I have not heard of any such action. If he did not wish to do so, why did he not umpire the bases and let the other man umpire the balls and strikes. He either was competent to do so, or the supervisor of umpires is un- fit for his position, for appointing an unfit person as umpire.
 As to Mir Tracy's knowledge of the written and unwritten law of the Connecticut league, am not pre-. pared to state. It does not seem as though he would have the legal right to take off suspension in this arbitrary manner, but he may have.
 Be that as it may, there is abso- lutely no question that his judgment was woefully at fault or that he was dishonest. For no man who had gathered the facts of the game oi the preceding Saturday as he did in order to levy the suspensions can be said to have exercised such judg- ment as a 10 years old boy ought to have, who would call upon MT Rorty, the personal enemy of MT O'Neil, to umpire the game of last Saturday. To insist upon such ac- tion in view of MT O'Neil's protest, when the absurdity of his action was brought forcibly to his atten- tion, seems to me to smell of more than bad judgment and border very closely on rank favoritism.
 Had this been all of it, claim that MT O'Neil' was perfectly justi- fled to withdraw his team. But there was more, much more. MT O'Neil told both Clarkin and Tracy to put in MT Henry, an official of Hartford and an old-time umpire. or to put in Tom Dowd, or to put in a Hartford player, or any person on the ground but Rorty, his enemy. This request was refused. In view of this, what fair man can deny that the fiasco was that of Clarkin and Tracy, and not Mir O'Neil? st $
 There is a deeper question in- volved in Mir O'Neil's action, that of the disappointment of a lot of peo- pie
 MT O'Neil is in a sense repre- sentative of Springfield, and his players display upon their breasts the name. of this city. He was ap- pointed duly by charter the repre- sentative of the city and we by the support we have given the team have acquiesced in his appointment.
 We want our team to stand at the head of the list. We want 1t to be proclaimed abroad that Springfield is a live, hustling city, that can and does support a winning team of ball players. We want to be first. First in everything. In population, in manufacturing, in beauty of our city, in all good works and ways, and not least, first in sport, thus in- cluding baseball And Mir 0'Neil and the team are earnestly striving to blazon our name as pre-eminent along this line.
 If every citizen was striving as earnestly to represent the city fair ly abroad as Mir O'Neil and the team, we would occupy even a higher place than we do. And when Mir o'Neil saw an almost certainty of a setback to his effort, he was justi- fed and required to refuse to be made the victim of such a trick.
 And the latest news of Mir o'Neils suspension for the rest of the season is on a par with the ridic- ulous conduct of Mir Tracy last Sat- urday. It is as unjust and unwar- ranted as a matter of common sense and justice as such former action.
 If there is any law in the Connec- ticut league. it should be appealed to by Mir o'Neil and bo:h forfeit and