Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-25
Johnny EVERS IN NUMEROUS
HUMOROUS Tits WITH UMPIRE
Scrappy Little Second Baseman Furnishes
Lots of Fun for the Fans in Bait
ing the Arbitrator.

boxing game. Naturally when Rigler
was appointed National League umpire
the scribes began looking up the young
mans past history. Delving into the
the reputation Of being quite a fighter.
His ring prowess doomed up as quite a
feature for the sport page, and he was
heralded as the fighting umpire ca
If necessity demanded it, When Rigler
made his debut most Of the players re-
minded HIM of the fact that he had been
advertised as a regular maneater. NO
one. however, treated him less seriously
than Evers. Any time the Chicago play
err got into an argument with Rigler he
impressed on him the fact that he was
slipping along as an umpire because of
his alleged fistic ability. not his superior
eyesight Rigler admits that declara-
ton by Evers. that the only person he
ever whipped was his mother, was the
cause of his first r,,n-in with the Cub
star. finally resulted in tine usual
parade of the players to the clubhouse
The most striking thing about Rigler's
powerful physique is his Napoleon chest.
He has an expansion that would have
made Jenries envious. and when he IN
fiates said chest he puts forth quite a
tive about his chest, and it didn't take
EveTs long to get wise to this fact. One
day. several years ago. Rigler thought
It necessary to chase several of the
this happening he had shaken the hand
of our distinguished President. William
Taft: These few things caused Evers to
decide that Mr.. Rigler was swelling up a
trif1e, so he decided to puncture his bal
loon of pride.
Just prior to the game Evers go ar
ranged his ball shirt before he left the
bench that tape measure would have
like fifty inches AS Rigler stood at the
plate about to announce the batteries.
Evers strobe majestically past him. OF
course, the crowd was wise In a mo-
ment and laughed with delight at the
evident embarrassment OF the poor ump.
Quite a few of the fans added some
choice verbal comments to make the sit
uation all the more trying. Evers went
to his position at second base. but that's
all he did do that afternoon, for Mr.
view the contest from the clubhouse
Evers. 10 show his Indignation, has sew
eral times repeated the stunt, each time
receiving the same sentence-banishment
According to Rigler. nothing ever made
him any sorer than little bonmot Evers
pulled on him one day last year With
out the slightest reluctance Rigler admits
that 1t was the funniest thing he ever
heard, yet he didn't relish being the butt
of Mr.. Evers pent-up enthusiasm. New
York and Chicago. two of the greatest
rivals in the National League. were the
contesting teams. The game was a very
important one, ana naturally the UNI
pires were having their troubles trying
to satisfy both teams. Rigler and his
partner were meeting with fairly good
success in their efforts to please. Trou-
BILE, however. started brewing late in the
game, when, with the bases filled, Rigler
called the batter out on what the fans be-
lieved was low third strike. The bleach
critics said things to the umpire, as did
several Of the Chicago players among
them Evers.
In the ninth inning of the same game
Rigler called ball on one of the visit
Ing players which Evers thought plenty
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