The Washington herald., 1910-02-06
new RULES WILL
HELP BASEBALL
Are Beneficial and Not at
All Revolutionary.
TRADE IS UNCALLED FOR
Murphy. of Cubs. PuTSues Foolish
Policy in CTiticisinE Recent Ac-
ton of National League Rules Com
mittee-The spectators Profit M
pires Introduce Comedy in work.

From thc Philadelphia Bulletin.
Because it is his motto TO prevent the
dove Of peace from ever having a chance
to set in even forty wiuks. President Muir
ply. Of the Chicago Cubs. has taken OBJ
lection TO the new rules formulated Al
the sessions of the rules committees at
Plusbmg last week. Since none Of the
changes is of a revolutionary character
there is really no necessity for Murphy or
any one else 10 get blue i'm the face In
protesting against their enactment
The changes made in the rules were
adopted after careful thought by some
of the besj equipped men on rules in the
country. the joint committee being made
up largely Of former players, umpires.
and baseball writer's. That so few changes
and none Of a radical nature were
adopted proves how nearly perfect the
present game Of baseball is At the same
time the joint committee found some
points that needed altering, and they al
tered them, each change being made for
the good Of the sport
One change was made purely Tor the
benefit of the spectators. This was that
when O. new player is put into the game
1.-THE captain must notify the umpire and
the umpire must announce 1t 10 the spec
tat1rs"
The captain or the umpire can be fined
s. for failure TO obey this rule. The
thought that naturally arises here is:
Who is TO "squear' on the umpire when
he fails to do his duty in this respect
Rule "A Good One.
/ The rule is a splendid one. Time after
time new players have been put in a game
without the spectators having the slight
/ est idea who ne is Frequently scorers
have yelled themselves hoarse trying to
get the umpire % announce the substitute.
/ Now the umpire must do so OF forfeit s..
and some of these officials who have been
/ very negligent in this respect VIII be more
careful in the future. There are some
iumpires, like OLoughln. Connolly, and
/ Evans. of the American League. and
J Keen, Of the National League. who have
+ been very thoughtful i'm announcing sub
suJuJe players, but there are others who
act as if they thought the game was
played for their special benefit who viii
mot relish the change.
! Once in while an umpire will intro
/ duce a bit Of comedy into an announce
ment of this kind a couple of years ago
when New York was playing at Columbia
/ Park, Moriarty. now third baseman OF
/ the Detroit Tigers, was sent in TO bat.
silk O'Loughlin was the umpire.
/ silk" turned 10 the grand stand. took
off his mask, made an impressive pause,
and then how those syllables rolled on his
tongue.
"Mo-n-air-ity" shouted silk. with
emphasis-decided emphasis-on air
while the crowd let ont roar OF laughter
FAe rule that each captain must deliver
his batting order 20 the umpire at the
home plate is also a good one Hereto
fore the umpire had to go 10 each teams
bench for the batting order, and fire.
quently some player started an argument
lover an incident in a previous game which
provoked trouble. Then. too, the rule viii
save a few minutes and should result in
games being started on schedule time.
Subs to Blame.
1t is President Lyuch's idea that much
of the trouble during games is caused by
substitutes on the bench yelling at IN,
| umpires. There is no doubt that sub
Isutute players start a lot Of mix-ups. i
lis not a manly thing TO do. but many
/ players from the time a samc starts
make themselves human chatterboxes by
iytlling continually at the umpire Tn,
Halter. whose mind should be on the game
is distracted by trying TO recognize somt
particular voice SO that he can punish tn,
Individual, and thus arguments with tn,
players on the field result. On numerou
/ occasions substitute players have delib
Ierately got into arguments with the um
pire so as To be ordered from the bencl
to the clubhouse This scheme will no
work any more, for a fine Of $40 goes witt
such "a punishment in the future Thi
rule should not only cause better discipline
among the players. but it should ais
improve the umpiring by permitting tn
"arbiuators' TO attend strictly to tn
game instead of having to watch the mel
on the bench
While nothing radical has been done b,
this years ruIe-makers, the new rule
should improve the tone of the game to
considerable extent