The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1910-01-15
TENNIS
WRESTLING
RACING
BOXING

~~No~~~~'
! Nothing could be more opposed to the
very spirit which makes baseball what
is-the most popular outdoor sport
| ever devised
| But though their lot is not the hap
piest one the umpires of today have 1t
easy compared with the Daniels who
almost took their lives in their hands
twenty or thirty years ago. Except on
some extraordinary occasions have
umpires in recent years been sub
Jected to anything more serious than
! the roastings of the spectators and now
and then little bit too vigorous kick
ing on the part of the players Whether
this decline in the number of scenes
and demonstrations is due to the i'm
provement of the caliber of the men
who are now selected to render the
Judgment, or to the stricter disciplin.
ing of the players and the greater en-
lightenment of the general base ball
going public is a question which might
be argued from two angles, but in the
opinion of the Old Sport this desirable
change for the better has been brought
about by a combination of both rea-
sons
There are hundreds and hundreds or
cranks still on the sunny side of the
50year line who will recall how di-
verting things were made for the UNI
rires at the old grounds at 26th and
Jefferson STREETS in 1888, the year that
Simmons, Mason and Sharsigs Ath-
letics won the pennant. Without ex-
| Ception, the regular attendance in
| those days was the greatest bunch OF
| umpire baiters that ever happened.
and they were able abetted by the ma
jorty of the newspapers-that is {.
newspapers that paid any attention to-
baseball at all. 1t didn't seem to
make much difference whether the
Athletics lost or won either-the
the painstaking lump" could feel pref
ty sure of getting his some time dur
ibg the afternoon. John Campbell was
the official scorer of the club at that
! time, and if We We're to take Johns
word for it the Athletics never lost
gGme-the umpire always robbed
| them. Nor did John have any patience
with the reporters who might espouse
tine cause of the luckless arbitrator
he was traitor to the city and should
rot ridden out of town. But neverthe-
less, the Old Sport could not help
thinking that the Athletics lost many
OF their games because the other fell
lows played the better ball, and said
50. This led Harry Stovey, the cap
tain of the Athletics, and possibly the
en- him the Deacon, and when Stovey.
who is now police officer in New
Bedford, was last here about four
years ago he still called Old Sport the
Deacon.
There Were two particularly good
empires in those days-umpires the
excellence of whose work commanded
the, admiration of even the rabid Ath-
letic rooters and the partisan newspa-
per writer's, and who if around today.
| would rank with the very best of the
pr esent arbitrators. And yet their
methods were as far apart as the
poles. Honest John" Kelly, who had
been a catcher, was the first umpire
to assert the authority with which
every umpire is supposed to be
clothed. He was boss of the field, and
when he first exercised the author
ty, he fairly took away the breath of
the icemen, who used to root so Loyalty
for the Athletics in general and for
Harry Stovey in particular. They
couldn't understand it, and when KEEL
" finally jumped over the paled fence
right back of first base get specta
tor who had been unusually offensive
they were endorsed This reflected
great credit upon Kelly's gameness.
although at this time it would be con-
sidered the rankest kind of judgment
But it had it's effect, Kelly had little
OF no trouble here for the brief time
he remained as umpire, and yet the
layers all declared that as many
decisions got away from Kelly as any
other umpire in the American associa-
ten The players rarely questioned
them and consequently both specta-
tors and newspapers kept off him.
The other umpire was John H. Gaff-
ley, of whom it can be said. and WITH
III due respect to the very capable men
who have followed him, that he had
very few equals, and never a superior.
in a less pugnacious way than Kelly.