Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-24
UMP|RE'S LOT HAS
IMPROVED VERY MUCH
Rowdy Base Ball Will Be Thing
of the Past in the Next
Two Years.
ENTHUSIASTIC PATRONS
BECOMING EDUCATED
Silk 0'Loughlin Points to Great
Work of President Johnson in
Backing Up His Arbitrator.

odCkluS up 0lS AIUllIdtOIS,
What? Is base ball 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
desirable citizen?
Yep, Silk O'Loughlin says so.
According to Silk. old chap. the time
is not far off when an umpre's job
won't be any more hazardous than play
ing with dynamite. Mr.. O'Loughlin has
delivered himself of the opinion that
within two or three years the life of
the arbitrator will be all to the merry.
He bases his forecast on noting the i'm
provement of the past few years.
when / broke into the game an
umpire said his nibs. the Silk ore, the
other day. the life of an umpire was
the concentrated essence of what Gen.
Sherman said war was. About the eighth
inning of every game the happy little
umpire would begin figuring out WHICH
means of escape would he most likely TO
land him in shelter. And that first es-
cape wasn't all. About every other game
would be protested and like as not. the
whole scene would have to be enacted
again.
Still Some Prejudice.
Not much like that now. I have long
since ceased to expect to be the special
feature of tar and feather party after
a game Mind YOU l don't say that the
whole change which the umpires hope
for has already been brought about oh.
Io, IF iI1dJ
the umpires TO overcome. Not yet is
their life all sunshine and roses. but the
transition is well under way. and 1T is
reasonable to suppose that in the not
too distant future the position OF an
umpire will be regarded as one of honor
and dignity, which. according to WIZ
Irwin in Golfers. was the case in the
very early days of the game
The other veteran umpires of major
and minor leagues share the views of
O'Ioughlfn and they attribute the pleas
ant change in their business to two
causes:
First, the strong backing given them by
the league presidents: second. the wlsing
up of the public to the fine points of the
game so that patrons became liable TO
Judge for themselves in dispute between
players and official as TO whether the
latter was 'robber, etc
Exciting Days, Those.
Before President Johnson of the Ameri-
can League started the reform in the UNI
pires' 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 executives 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 merry
war all the while. The umpire was
the common enemy of peace. sort of
necessary evil. but needed to be very
rugged to last till the first pay day.
Many of them didn't care to remain after
that.
The umpire.s standing about ten years
ago. let's say. has often been we'll IL
Illustrated by the story told on Joe can
tillon when he was an umpire-and. by
the way, one OF the greatest that ever
lived. Joe asked Comiskey for couple
of passes one Gay, saying he wanted them
for some friends.
Friends roared the old Roman.
We'll. If YOU or any other umpire mas
the nerve to tell me YOU have any friends
you can have all the passes We got.
American for Clean Ball.
But President johnson set his umpires
UP on high standard and backed them
up so feaffessly that the plane has been
getting higher all the while.
Clean ball. 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 i'm real
ity the easiest way to run their leagues
is to lay down hard and fast rules gov
erning the conduct of players. and give
their umpires full power to enforce them
10 the letter.
Purifying the sport brought tremendous
popularity TO the game from people who
naturally hadn't seen fit to patronize the
leagues in the days when Pat Tebeau and
others of his kind made playing base ball
secondary to melting riots, in which UNI
pires were always the center of attrac
ton.
The education of the fans to the fine
points of the game makes it harder for
the players to prejudice the patrons
against the umpires. The first law of
base ball for most players is to protect
themselves-that Is if one makes very
had play he looks right away for an
excuse. The umpire, for years has been
the handy little alibi.
All Becoming Educated.
y case III point. n Catcher ndnuS ttie
hall down to second with the would be
base stesler still five feet away. 1t looks
like cinch that the runner will be out.
but by fine slide he manages to avoid
being touched. OF course, that play is
bound to he close enough that not a
soul i'm the stand could swear as to
whether the runner was tagged or. not.
Right away the big boiler.
Indignant second sacker makes gesture
showing how'f far from the bag he touch
ed the runner.
That is the tip for the crowd TO yell
Robber AT the umpire. Formerly
every body obeyed the player and yelled;
many do To this day. but they are be-
coming fewer all the time, and some
times, so OLoughln says, the fans will
tell the truth and saN Il don't know
whether that man was out not. The
umpire was within two feet of the play
and I'm 30 feet away. / guess / will
take his word for it,.
THREE CRACK CREWS.
New Workers Coming Over for the
National Reyoffo