Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-21
LYNCH'S POLICY TO
PROTECT UMP|RES
Nationals New President tC
Secure Best ArbiterS and
Stand by Them.

NEW YORK. December o1-Thomas
j. Lynch came down from New Britain.
Conn, yesterday morning to assume
his new duties as president of the
National League. Mr.. Lynch will not
be able to reside permanently in New
York until after the new year. His
business interest there will have to
be adjusted before the new executive
devotes his entire attention to the
duties of office.
Il have nothing to say on any policy,
declared Mr.. Lynch yesterday. You
see / have been out of the harness SO
long it will take me some time to get
my hand in. 1 find that Mr.. Heydler
here has everything in grand shape.
! will get in touch with the situation
as soon as possible, but until 1 am
thoroughly familiar with every angle
] do not wish to make any statement
You can take it from me that pro-
lection of umpires will be one of the
planks in my platform. 1 do not wish
to discuss the recent turmoils through
which the league passed, but l can
safely say that no party will influence
me in the performance of my duties
as see them. 1 am very glad that Mr..
Heydler will be on hand to help and
advise"
Mr.. Lynch received dozens of con-
all parts of the country yesterday.
Has Had Experience.
That Lynch should have appealed to
the newspaper reporters to refrain from
roasting the umpires was but natural.
Mr. Lynch was an umpire once himself.
and incidentally, one of the very best
that ever pulled an indicator AS an UNI
pire Mr. Lynch went through all the
vicissitudeS of the game-everythlng
from the plain everyday kick to VI
ers-Jack Doyle having made most
brutal attack on him in Boston-to the
ordinary roast of the base ball reporter
: to the exclusion from the ground by
magnate-Jim Hart having barred him
from the Chicago National League
grounds over ten years ago.
AS an umpire Tom Lynch was never
popular on the home grounds with the
dyed-in-the-wool cranks or the players
and yet not a team went on the ROAD
without hoping that it would have the
good luck to stack up against, Lynch IN
its trips abroad. No higher tribute to
the ability. the fairness and the gameness
of an umpire can be adduced. The very
players who on their own field endeav.
Ored to bulldoze him, who tried to put
the crowd sonto" him. were the very
ones that clamored for him when they
could not be influenced by the clamor OF
a home crowd: that he gave decisions just
as he saw them. AS a result Lynch had
less trouble with the visiting teams than
he did with the home clubs. The visitors
knew that he was not susceptible 10
bullying or persuasion
Not in Washington.
There always have been home umpIfes.
and there always will. They do not
mean to favor the home club. these
weaklings. but they cannot stand the
music of the band. Unless they are un-
usually strong, they are bound to be
Influenced by the kicking Of the home
players, who feel that they must make
a good showing before the cranks OF their
own city, and me sympathetic roofing
for the home club. AS soon as they
give evidence of this weakness to favor
the home team, no matter how agreeable
it may be to the home management. the
usefulness of those umpires has passed
The very players they favored today will
be the very ones to make life burden
to them tomorrow. They know how they
worked them on their own lot, and con-
sequently they are ready to anticipate
what they will do in foreign yards. 1t
is the umpire who gives every decision
just as he sees 1t, who is Indifferent to
the demonstrations of the crowd and
unconscious of the roasts of the players,
who lasts. Go down the line and you
will find that a majority of the umpires
in both leagues are those who have ham
died the indicators for years. 1t Is no
disparagement of the umpires on the staff
of the American League to say that the
players while on the road would rather
have Jack Sheridan giving the decisions
although at home they would rather see