Omaha daily bee., 1909-10-31

make Hucn n claim hnOhAaAVuhs
ID II has persisted In lis avowal OF fidelity
a high code Of ethics. IL must be said
hat IN a large measure the new organize
"a on has lived up TO It's professions. In
Ime cases It has achieved distinction as
n exemplar in sportsmanship. IT has con-
silently maintained a wholesome relation
etween players and umpires and In a gen
eral way made a good fight for law and
rider. President Ban Johnson has empha-
ized devotion to equity and Justice, 10
onor and discipline in the administration
the affairs Of the league that fall within
be province of its chief executive, and
sometimes President Johnson has been
otably sensitive to criticism. Now. an OPP
hortunity confronts President Johnson, an
opportunity TO sustain and maintain every
hahn made by the league and himself
long these lines, and not only that, but
o strike a blow I'm defense of a sport that
S Inherently clean and teach the older
tval OF his league, the National, q lesson
needs to learn I'm the rudiments of open
landed-above-board s-portsmanship and
business. In. the closing hours OF the Ma
tional's league season in 1908 a stigma fell
upon II, and the stigma has never been
effaced. In the closing days Of the Amer
lean leagues season in 1909 a stigma fell
upon it. OF the fact that gamblers in New
York offered an umpire an enormous sum
OF money to throw the crucial game be-
fltween the Giants ana Cubs to the former
Eland thus make New York the National
league champions OF 1908, there Is not and
never has been any doubt, for the fact
was proven at the time. But there is
serious doubt of the accusation made by
an unfrlendly rival that the New York
Americans this year instituted and prac-
ticed n system OF slgn-tipping at their
II there is truth to support II, the guilty
one needs to be punished so severely that
neither he nor anyone else will ever again
attempt such a thing. The National league
magnates were able to get first-hand and
absolute proof of the New York attempt
! at umpiring bribery-a high crime In the
category OF base ball evils-and the Ma
Etional league magnates did not remove the
stigma. They left their l~eague-and in a
measure themselves-to rest under the
odlum Of 8his scandal rather than expose
and punish the culprits. They impelled
the deduction that they did not dare to
expose the Offense and offenders, and they
laid a tribute to moral cowardice by their
craven conduct. The American league
cannot afford to shut It's eyes even to a
less heinous offense, and in refusing thus
TO wink at a crime, President Johnson, by
making a sincere and thorough investiga-
ton, will have a splendid opportunity of
drawing the deadly parallel on the Ma
1 tional league and forcing an invidious COM
! parison that must reflect, not only credit
upon his organization, but endow it with a
lasting tangible benefit. President John
son. should he find upon investigation, that
The charges preferred against the New
Hork team are unfounded. will still have a
huty to perform. lie will be called on
Then to go after the originator OF these
,harges and bring him to an accounta-
A,9tity. Incidentally, Joe CantillOn, II he
HknOws the charge to be true, ought to
Drove 1t, and II he is found to be mis-
stating facts, he ought to be dealt with so
hat he viii not wish to repeat the ex-
~oerlence. for 1t is a serious thing.
The most significant thing about
Comiskey's employment of Hugh Duffy as
manager for the White Sox is that It com.
mits the Old Roman to a -pOlicy-whetheI
a principle or not-he has always opposed
that is the bench manager instead Of the
player manager. Whether Comiskey has
departed from his principle because he ha,
changed his mind on the subject, or sim.
ply couldn't get the right sort Of player.
manager and took Duffy instead, is not
\ known, but anyway the situation is inter
n SUNS AAliilstlA a biduudA6 u NG RANKS
one Of the brainiest OF base ball managers
comlskey has always insisted that the mar
who could go out on the field and show
his men how ia do it was superior to IN,
manager who only tell them how. Their
was a day, of course. when Duffy coult
fiji the more practical role. II the oil
Roman really has come over. his conces
sion marks a distinct epoch In the tren,
Of base bail science. for when Comiske,
changes his opinion on a matter OF sucl
tTite concern to the game. 1t is time othe
men were giving the matter more atten
ton. The argument against the playe
manager is that his managerial duties i'm
pose too great a responsibility upon him
The fact that in most cases the manage
IS the best or one OF the best players, add
force TO this argument. And no one VIII
has followed base ball closely will sa,
there Is not ample evidence to sustain tn
point; so ample, In fact, that repetition
would be tedious. Chance. Bresnahan an
clarke-Chicago. st. Louis and Pittsburg-
win be the only playing managers in IN
National league next year. In the AmerI
can league there Is none. Chicago is tn
last 10 come In line. The combination o
the experienced, shrewd. resourceful bencl
manager and a heady, aggressive an
gifted player as captain, are now believe
by most people to be the solution of tn
problem, and II COmiskey has, after thes
years, come TO this way OF thinking, the
1t means that the way will soon becom
more securely entrenched.
Some harsh-natured person has sprun
something on our old college chum, Arc
Stimmel, which seems doubly cruel whe
one recalls Arch. Since Charley Adam
ate up all the Tigers there were In DetroI
a Pueblo scribe is out with the a~sserti0
that Frank Seeley, when he was managin
Pueblo, commissioned Pitcher Stimmel I
so 70 Parsons, Kan, and report on youn
Adams. Arch did. and his report was ad
verse. Three days later Denver picked u
Adams and since that day he has bee
pitching like a house afiTe. When one r,
members how patiently dear old Arc
bore his fate one cannot help thinking ths
this scribe had a grudge at Archibal
when he let go OF this one,
The report that Reulbach and Killing z