Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-07
MOST POPULAR OF
AMERICAN SPORTS
Umpire Evans Gives Base Ball
His Enthusiastic In
dOrSement.
By Umpire Billy Evans.

By Umpire Billy Evans.
Which is the most popular of all sports?
Ask any enthusiastic follower of the
golf game and he will give you strong
argument that the Scottish game leads
them all.
Put the question to Il tennis expert
and in an instant he will be able to
advance all kinds of reasons why his
favorite pastime is just little the best.
Speak to any college student as to
the most popular of all sports and with
out the slightest hesitation he will re-
ply that the good old game Of foot ball
is just little In advance of all other
outdoor events.
Take any ardent supporter of any
sport, be it golf. tennis. foot ball, pugil-
ism, rowing or any other branch of ath-
letics that appeal to men with red blood.
and he will naturally stand up for the
sport that interests him most.
Put the question as to which Is. the
most popular of all sports to vote
and it's cinch that the majority would
he largely in favor of the grandest
You ask why?
most popular sport in America because
its the cleanest of all games. Is free
from all faint of crOokedness is promoted
and kept on a high business plane by men
prominent and highly respected in their
different localities and is being constantly
improved i'm every way possible to meet
the demands of the public-or fans. as
they are known In the base ball world.
Then, again. there Is no sport that COM
bines so much open play, so many posi-
bilties for spectacular work. so many
opportunities for quick thinking. The
great sport of the diamond fairly bristles
over with sensational plays and POSSIBLE
tiles, and it's always the man with more
than the average amount of gray matter
who meets with the most success.
The American public Is tickle 1t likes
a constant shifting of scenery and action,
and in no game does il have its demands
met like in base ball. It's the uncertainty
of the game that makes it fascinating.
You can never tell what's going to hap
pen. and not being able to look into the
future, you are prepared for almost any
thing.
Luck always plays a prominent part in
the diamond sport. Nine times out OF
ten the element of luck creates the I'M
certainty. The team that wins a pennant
In any league must have Dame Fortune
smile on 1t in a most gracious manner.
Each season in both the major and
minor leagues is always full of all kinds
OF interesting happenings, in which the
luck Of the game predominates. and last
season was no exception to the general
rule.
Reversal Of form happens perhaps more
often IN base ball than in any other sport.
No better example of this truth could
be cited than the work in the worlds Sc
rfes of that famous pitcher, Bill Donovan,
the hero Of many a brilliant struggle.
i happened to work behind the plate in
the second game of the recent series be-
tween Detroit and Pittsburg. Bill Dono-
van was the selection OF Manager Jen-
nings as pitcher, and 1 question II ever a
twirler worked In better style than did
the Tiger star that afternoon.
His curve ball had fast break on II
that made it practically unhittable. He
had a slow ball that came up to the plate
in such lazy sort of fashion that the
Pittsburg batters just didn't have the
heart to strike at il. His fast ball had a
Donovan a pitcher feared by all, while his
control was well-nigh perfect. Even that
great natural hitter. Hans Wagner. was
at his mercy. The Tigers won in a can
ter.
The day Donovan worked in Pittsburg
was an ideal one. the temperature hover
ing around the 80 mark. 1t was a made
to-order Donovan day.
one week later the same Donovan was
selected by Jennings to work the final and
deciding game of the series. The weather
conditions were exactly opposite to those
OF a week before, 1t being cold and damp.
] didn't work that afternoon, being sta
TONED in the outfield, consequently l am
not able TO say Just what Donovan did
nave when the game started L 0l0 watch
him warm up before the start of the game,
howeve and he didn't look himself.
Although the Pirates made only two
runs off Donovan in the two innings he
worked. still he gave six bases on balls
and hit one batsman. In just one week
Donovan had changed from a perfectly
harmless Tiger to a decidedly wild one.
From a pitcher with well-nigh perfect
control he had turned into one without
any idea of the location of the plate.
II was simply a case of a different Don.
ovan, pitching and. naturally, the result
was different
The prominent part the break i'm luck
plays in the final result of a ball game
was also well illustrated In the last series
of the season at New York. the st. Louis
Browns and the Highlanders being the
opntenders.
Walter Manning and Billy Bailey were
the opposing pitchers. and when the
Browns came to bat for the first half of
the ninth the Highlanders were leading
to 1. Manning was going in fine style.
and IL was apparent that only a tough
break I'm the luck or some hard hitting
would deprive him of a we'll earned VIC
tory.
With a man on first and two down il
looked like a cinch for the New Workers.
was at the bat. and with two strikes on
him he drove a high fly to left. Ii was the
easiest kind OF a chance. and the odds
were 100 to that Outfielder Engle would
eat il up So certain were the New York
players that Engle would get the bal
that many OF them started in a body fol
the ciubhouse-some of the ST. Louis
players did likewise.
Engle got the ball squarely in his hands