Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-03

been working in one of the western cities
and was having a decidedly strenuous
time of it. j guess 1 must have been
bit off color. for it seemed as if every
strike ] called was protested by the
batter. while every ball / declared was
objected to by the pitcher. In order to
preserve peace, | found it neces sary to
eject one or more players every afternoon
for about a week As luck would have
il most of the players given pass out
to the clubhouse We're members of the
home team, which. of course. made my
position all the more desirable.
Naturally, / drew considerable criticism
from the fans and the press, although
must admit the scribes as d whole were
very kind to me and passed over most of
tho disputed DlaXs with only sight COM
ment A good many of the articles were
not roasts, but we'll written criticisms.
which | read with interest and profited
thereby. 1t seems. however. that my eff
forts had got on the nerves of one of the
scribes The following day. when glanced
at the paper. l found these words at the
very top of the column in bold black type.
/ shall never forget them as long as
live:
The work of Umpire So-and-So was
slight Improvement over his performance
OF Monday He appeared to be right on
one particular kind OF decisions-fiy balls
that were caught.
That was the only comment made on
my efforts as judge of the day, but be-
read those two sentences over at least
twenty-five times. I was pretty sore the
first ten or fifteen times / read the re-
buke. but as / continued reading the
humor of the lines finally dawned on me.
The last reading actually made me smile.
/ have at various times of my career re-
ceived anywhere from d paragraph to a
couple of columns of roasts, but never did
anything cut me quite so keenly as those
two lines"
Those two lines didn't affect you any
more than a one-sentence roast received
once from a critic in the east remarked
q member of the Eastern League staff
who worked couple of years in the
American League. In the fan OF the
year. prior to my debut as big leaguer,
Jack Sheridan announced that he would
positively retire from base ball and go
into the undertaking business. Just be-
fore the opening of the season President
Johnson, realizing that he needed Sheri-
dan badly induced him to reconsider his
determination to retire.
II started in with Sheridan and got
along fairly we'll for about week. Then
things began to break badly for me. For
about a week it seemed as II some close
decision made by me would prove to De
the turning point in the game. Naturally,
the players were after me, and WASH
being Landed as the best ever by the
get a little the better of me. for / con-
tinued getting worse instead OF improVing.
One morning. after particularly tough
game / glanced az one OF the papers.
OF course, / was featured in the head
lines as having shade on Jesse James
and a number OF other noted bandits. 1t
was the opening sentence of the story
that took my eye. read 1t. but went no
further as my imagination told me what
would surely follow.
IF Umpire So-and-So is the best living
stiff President Johnson could pick up.
started the story. 1T isn't any wonder
Ban was forced to dig up Jack Sheridan
from the Empirical cemetery.
You can rest assured" said the arbi-
traitor, with a smile. that / didn't help
increase the circulation of that paper dur
ing any of my visits to that city during
the couple Of years 1 worked in the
league"
Il X
During five years % bush league ex-
periences j got my share OF rough han.
ding from every angle" remarked 8
youngster. who recently debutted in the
majors. but none Of the stuff handed me
compared to what / discovered In the