Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-19
UMPlRE'S WORK
LESS DANGEROUS
SILK O'L0UGHLIN SPEAKS OF
THE PAST
SAYS LOT OF INDICATOR MAN is
MUCH EASIER
old-Time "Run for Shelter" Days Are
Thing of the Past-Ivory Hand
Iers Are Given Strong
Support

NEW YORK, Sept. 1S.-What? Is
baseball losing its most ancient and
honored tradition?
After all these years is it possible
that the umpire is going to win the
right to hold his head UP and say
"Behold, a desirable citizen?
According to Silk O'Loughlin, the
time is not far off when an umpire's
job won't be any more hazardous than
playing with dynamite. Mr.. OLough-
lin has delivered himself of the opinion
that within two or three years the llte
of the arbitrator will be all to the
merry. He bases his forecast on notlng
the improvements of the past few
years.
when L broke into the game as an
umpire" said Silk the other day, the
life of an umpire was the concentrated
essence of what Gen. Sherman sald
was war. About the eighth inning OF
every game the happy little umpire
would begin figuring out which means
of escape would be most likely to lana
him in shelter. And that first escape
wasn't all. About every other game
would be protested, and, like as not
the whole scene would have to be en-
acted again. 49,
party after q game. Mind you, ooh
saw that the whole change for when
the umpires hope has been broughC
about oh. no. There is still lot or
prejudice for the umpires 70 overcome;
Not vet is their life all sunshine anu
roses, but the transition is Wen ulloer
way, and it Is reasonable 10 suppose
that in the not too distant tuture ehS
position of an uropire VIII De regaro''o
dipn1fVS
The other umpires of major and
minor leagues share the views OF
O,Toughlin and they attribute the
pleasant change in their business TO
two causes:
Given Strong Backing
First. the strong backing given them
bv the league presidents; second, tne
wising up of the public to the nne
noints of the game, so that the patrons
became able to judge for themselves II,
a dispute between player and oIilclal
as to whether the latter was ropoer'
etc. 4,,o
American league started the reform IN
t,Ie umpires behalf it took lot OF
nerve and moral courage to handle an
Indicator in any league. Players were
In the habit of riding roughshod over
umpires, and the spineless league eA-
ecutives allowed them to get away
with that sort of thing. The players
ran things pretty much as they
pleased, and the umpire was the goat
all the time.
The fans always sided with the play
ers. right or wrong, and there was mer-
nv war all the While. The umpire was
the common enemy of peace-sort OF q
necessary evil-but needed to be very
rugged to last till the first pay day.
Manv of them didn't care to remain
The umpire's standing about ten
years ago, let's say, has often been
we'll illustrated by that story told on
Joe Cantillon 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"
"Weu, if you or any other umpire has
the nerve to tell me you have friends
you can have all the passes I've got
But President Johnson set his UNI
pires UP on q high standard, ana
backed them up so fearlessly that the
plane has been getting higher all the
while.
Hard and Fast Rules
"Clean BALI 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
itv the easiest way to run their leagues
is to lay down hard and fast rules gov
erning the conduct of players, and give
tSeit umpires full power to enforce
them 70 the letter.
Purifying the sport brought tremend-
a.t1o 1orif1 70 cr1f a.
rle who naturally hadn't seen fit to
patronize the leagues in the days when
Fat Teheau and others of his kind made
playing baseball secondary to melting
riots, in which umpires were always
the center of attraction.
O'Loughlin pulled off good one to
Annapolis one day that shows pretty
we'll the hardships of an umpires life
in the old days. President Johnson
sent k:m to the seat of the naval acad-
emy to umpire a game between the
Middies and West Pointers. High mill
tary and naval officers were in attend
ance at the game, and they were all
crazy over O'Loughlin's handling of a
ball game. The military were calling
silk" general and admiral" After
the game a lieutenant general and
real admiral congratulated silk" on
his fine umpiring, and then asked to
which branch of the service he be-
lcnged, not knowing that the committee
in charge had arranged for league
umpire.
We'll" said O'Loughlin, "I never
saw any real fighting with cannon or
torpedo boats. but I've umpired ball
games in which McGraw and Kelly
played"
The education of the fans to the fine
points of the game makes 1t harder
for the players to prejudice the pa
irons against the umpires. The first
law of baseball for most players is toI
protect 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.
ball down to second with the would
be base stealer still five feet away. 1t
looks like a cinch that the runner will
be out, but by 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 stand 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
"Robber" at the umpire, Formerly
everybody obeyed the player and
yelled; many do to this day; but theyl
are becoming fewer all the time, and
sometimes-so O'Loughlin says-the
fans will tell the truth and say, II
don't know whether that man, was ont
or not. The umpire was within twoI
feet of the play and I'm two hundred
feet away. 1 guess I will take his
word for it,"