The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1909-09-25

uay. Many OF them didn't care to re-
main after that
The umpire's standing about ten years
ago, let's say. has often been well illus
trated by that story told on Joe Can
tillion when he was an umpire-and.
by the way, one OF the greatest that
ever lived. Joe asked Comiskey for a
couple Of passes one day; saying he
wanted them for some friends.
Friends" roared the "Old Roman"
well. II you or any other umpire has
the nerve to tell me you have friends
you can have all the passes rye got"
But President Johnson set his um-
pires up on a high standard. and
backed them UP so fearlessly that the
plane has been getting higher all the
while.
Clean ban" was the American
leagues trademark when It expanded
and fought for existence with the Ma
tional league. But the National, as
soon as Pulliam got squared away as
chief executive, adopted the same slo-
gan, and since then all other league
presidents have discovered that In real
ity the easiest way to run their leagues
is to lay down hard and fast rules gov
erning the conduct Of playeEH and give
their umpires fun power to enforce
them TO the letter
Purifying the sport brought tren1en-
dous popularity to the game from peo-
pie who naturally hadn't seen At to
patronize the leagues in the days
when Pat Tebeau and others Of his
kind made playing baseball secondary
to melting riots, in which the umpires
were always the center Of attraction.
oLaughlin pulled of a good one at
Annapolis one day that shows pretty
well the hardships OF an umpire's life
in the old days. President Johnson
sent him to the seat Of the naval acad
envy TO umpire a game between the
Middies and West Pointers. High mil
itary and naval officers were in at
tendance at the game, and they were
all crazy over OLaughlin's handling of
a ball game. The military were cali
ing silk General" and Admiral "
After the game a lieutenant general
and q rear admiral congratulated
silk on his fine umpiring, and then
asked to which branch of the service
he belonged, not knowing that the
committee in charge Of the game had
arranged for league umpire.
We'll" said O'Loughlin, IT never
saw any real fighting with cannon or
torpedo boats, but I've umpired ball
games i'm which McGraw and Kelly
played"
The education o. the fans to the fine
points OF the game makes IT harder for
the players to prejudice the patrons
against the umpires. The fast law of
baseball for most players is to pro-
tect themselves. That is If one makes
very bad play, he looks right away
for an excuse. The umpire, for years
has been the handy little alibi.
A case in point. A catcher hands
the ball down to second with the
would-be base stealer still five feet
away It looks like a cinch that the
runner will be out, but by a fine slide
he manages to avoid being touched.
OF course, that play is bound to be
close enough so that not a soul in the
state could swear as to whether the
runner was tagged or not.
Right away the big holler
Indignant second sacker makes ges-
lures showing how far from the bag
he touched the runner.
That is the tip for the crowd to yell
hoDper' at the umpire. Formerly
everybody obeyed the player and yell
ed; many do to this day; but they are
becoming fewer all the time; and
sometimes-so o'Loughlin says-the
fans will tell the truth and say: 81
don't know whether that man was out
|or not. The umpire was within two
feet Of the play, and I'm 200 feet away.
i guess will take his word for II.