The Washington herald., 1910-03-13

rible row, but stood firm Perhaps for
tunateIy for my good name, Harvard
eventually won out.
THE old Pittsburg field was one Of the
worst trials of an umpire. II was here
that committed my only offense Of ever
flashing the rule book on the ball field. IL
was shortly after the rule was estab-
Iished that permitted a base runner to
advance in case a passed bali struck the
umpire Fred Dunlap was captsin-man-
ager' of Pittsburg. There was no score
and an opposing runner was on third
base. passed ball got by the catcher
and brushed my leg. l mOtioned the run
ner to score.
-'Wen, you should have seen Dunlap.
He threw hfty-eIeven cat fits and rushed
UP to annihilate me. he threatened 10
take his team of the field. ] pulled the
watch and gave him five minutes "a re-
sumo play.
IN those days the bleacherites we're
composed largely OF red-shirted miners.
These took up the cry and called loudly
for me TO produce the rules. We have
paid our good money and are entitled to
be shown they walled. Wei, I thought
of this. To please them I reached int0
the hip pocket and pulled the rules.
fingered the pages TIL I came 10 the
place, tore the leaf out OF the book, and
threw it at Dunlap. You should have
heard the shout Of appreciation that rum
bled from the blesehers- 1t was the hit
of my life In Pittsburg, and with the
miners I was hencefOrth the candy kid.
But at the time 1 didn't know the full
reason. Now, it afterward developed that
Fred Dunlap wasn't the greatest scholar
in the United States. Indeed, he had a
private secretary to write the letters 10
the folks home. Some eyil-minded gGs-
sips went so far as TO say he couldn't
read. But he at least OWNED my action.
for he FASTENED back onto the field and
finished the game in the face Of the
good -natured joshing Of the blescher
miners.
Author OF a New Rule.
q believe" the genial president OF the
National League continued. that I may
claim the honor Of again introducing in
to the rules the clause which makes it
compulsory hereafter for the captain of a
club to inform the umpire of all substitu-
tons. 1t came about in a peculiar way.
Last year Hartford was playing Water
bury in the Connecticut League schedule.
a Hartford player reached second base.
The manager asked the Waterbury lead
er If he might substitute a runner. The
request was denied. The umpire. who
!, To
on the play, started for the plate. As he
was gathering his mask and chest pro-
tector he heard a commotion in the in
field He looked up in time TO see the
shortstOp tag out the man who had been
on second The shortstop called for
decision. The umpire ruled the man out
Another runner was on second base. The
Hartford manager claimed he had sub
stituted the new player when the oppos-
ing side denied him the privilege Of al
lowing a man to run for the player who
had been retired.
We'll. it caused terrible racket. Hart
ford protested the game, The president
of the league consulted me. / told him
the man was out The rules had 1t so
when 1 was a big league umpire. But
this year / was looking over the code
with Secretary Heydler prior to making
changes. discovered that some time
during the intervening years since my
activity the clause had been dropped or
lost. There was nothing TO cover the
case. l had been wrong In deciding the
Hartford protest. But don't you think it
was a mistake to rectify the wrong?
"A well-known minor league manager
was Fostering the life out Of men at
Pittsburg last winter about a play until
Ban Johnson told me that he had been
springing the joke at every big basebaH
gathering he attended Here was his
proposition; With runners on first, sec
and, and third, and one out. the batter
hit to deep center. scoring all three. but
was retired for failing to touch first He
wished to know If the batsman would be
credited with a hit. and il not, with
what. Well, you know, OF course, ne
would not be credited with hit. The
runs score on the out at first. But
didn't want to bubble So ] came back
with another proposition to him.
/ Il said: Suppose the home team is at
bat in the ninth inning with the score
20 ! against them and three men on the
bases. The batter hits to the fence In
the cleanup style. scoring all three run
ners ard winning the game TO 3. He is
in a hurry and runs to the clubhouse in
stead of first base. How would you score
! thatg and he is still puzzling 1t cut