The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1910-09-02

game. No manager could have told
Cobb to do that, and because ninety
nine out of every one hundred base.
runners would have stopped at second
to await orders, they would not have
made the play.
Baseball has been reduced to a
science, and is in danger OF becoming
mechanical unless a few b%ase-runners
like Cobb, Collins, Evers and Clarke,
exponents of the unexpected. con-
vince managers that b~ase-running
pays, and. that remaining anchored to
bases is a poor policy.
1t is history that Frank 1sbell, when
he was on bases. never stopped until
he broke a leg, went out or some one
shut the gate on him. He could take
wilder chances than any runner who
ever landed on a base, and he kept
running after his legs wore out and
his speed left him-and running with
excellent success because the OPP
ponents would be so surprised to see
him going that they would throw wild.
Base running consists chiefly of do
ing the unexpected, and the team that
refuses to run bases because a strong
throwing catcher is pitted against 1t
is beaten. The strong throwing
catchers, paradoxical as it may seem,
have the least throwing to do, proving
some teams surrender before they are
beaten, while the worse thrower a
catcher is the more throws he has to
make.
Umpiring.
Umpires, in spite of the theory upon
which baseball is conducted, and the
apparent belief of spectators, are hui
nan beings, endowed with SENSIBLE
tiles. They can feel such emotions as
anger, resentment, and revenge; their
systems Ire capable of suffering pain,
surprise, regret, even acute mental
torture. Umpires (the officials to the
contrary are likely to blunder, to be
carried away by prejudice, by desire
for revenge, and more than likely to
become confused by the fierce heckling
of players or spectators, and to
blunder worse and worse. Umpires
may ever be dishonest. They are
only human.
Yet baseball, as an institution, is
more dependent upon the honesty,
courage and fairness of umpires than
upon any other element in the game.
One Incompetent or dishonest official,
or one of violent passions who per-
mits personal animosity, OF his sense
of wrong, to influence him, can mar
an entire season, ruin the chances of
n or more teams, and perhaps give
the championship to a club not de-
serving the honor.
In spite of these facts, the rulers of
baseball have adopted an extraor-
binary code; first that the umpire al
ways is right; second, that those who
differ with him are anarchists"
third, that all criticism of umpires
should cease for the good of the
game" The rulers of baseball are
striving and have striven for years to
align all forces with the umpire, to
extend his already dangerous power.
and to deprive players and others of
the right of criticism.
The large majority of umpires are
honest and mean to be fair, but, as
Umpire tombstone remarked: "Some
umpires have one bad fault, and that
is not being able to forget today to-
morrow" The umpire who remembers
is a bad umpire, and it is almost as
bad for the player to remember. Tim
Hurst had a bad day at Washington
and Joe Cantillon thought he robbed
his team of the game. The following
day Hurst, willing to forget, walked
over to the Washington bench and
asked cordially: "Who is your pitch
er today, Joe?"
"Guess, damn you," responded the
retentive-memoried Cantillon. That's
all you did yesterday" and the trouble
was renewed.
Heads of leagues make their serious
mistakes in unfolding umpires who
are palpably wrong. They are CON-
PEELED to uphold them on all questions
of judgment, but to declare the UNI.
pire was right in some cases is laugh
able. There was a case in 1894 in
Chicago with Moran umpiring. Cor
coran, at short for Cincinnati, picked
up a grounder batted by Tinker and
threw the ball five feet over Peitz's
head, Peitz playing first base. The
ball went on to the bleachers, 60 feet
away. Peitz jumped; pretended he had
caught the ball and Moran called
Tinker out. Other players were com.
PEELED to hold Tinker to keep him
from assaulting the umpire who or.
dered him of the field, and ordered
all players who talked to him out Of
the game. Peitz chased the ball
around the b%leachers, ran back to the
bench and touched Tinker.
"Now, Tinker" said Moran, "you
are out, anyway" And the decision
stood.
In Brooklyn, in 1908, with the score
0 to 0. Brooklyn had runners on sec.
ond and third bases and two out