The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1911-09-01
|UMPIRES And CRIT
Courageous Acts Of the Men In
the Iron Masks.

courageous ActS OF the Men III.
the Iron Masks.
la FINE DISPLAY OF NERVE.
When Billy Evans sravsd the On.
sIausht Of q Chicago Mob and Won
out-A Notable Decision by o'Day.
An Umpire Who Saved Baseball.
"Umpires are brave men-at least the
great majority Of them. One Of the
bravest things I ever saw was the act
Of Billy Evans on the old White Sox
grounds in Chicago writes Hugh Full
lerton in the American Magazine. ION
that park there was a tier Of seats
known as the 's~tockyards,' in which
gathered one Of the most dangerous
crowds (for umpires, in the country.
They were regulars who occupied the
same seats almost every day and who
fought for them. The seats. Of course.
were not reserved. but hundreds claim
ed a title to certain places. They paid
their quarters. and II any n was In
the place and refused to move he was
tossed out and thrown I'VE the heads
Of the crowd to the bottom. That
crowd started after Evans. who had
given a close decision at third base
against Chicago. Evans walked over
on to foul ground back Of first base,
and a shower Of bottles fell around
him. 1t looked as IL a hundred men
we're throwing bottles at the umpire.
One bottle touched his cap. several
bounded and struck him, one hit him
on the arm. During this bombardment
Evans did not turn his head. he stood
watching the batter. For at least three
minutes the bottles whistled around
his head. The people in the grand
stand shouted for him to run. fearing
he would be killed. The players beg
ged him to move into the diamond
out of range. He stood still with back
to his foes until the batter made q
base hit, then trotted down near Sec
ond base to watch for a play there. AZ
the opposing team took the field q few
moments later Evans walked to the
same position back Of first base, and
the crowd that had tried to kill him
stood up and cheered him. They rec
ognized a brave a One fellow
threw a bottle. and the crowd pitched
him down the steep steps. passing him
along until he hit the fence.
1.-THE nerviest decision and n OF
the most important ever made was
that Of Umpire O'Day in the worlds
championship game between Chicago
and Detroit on Oct 8. 1907. the first
game Of the series which finally ended
In q tie in twelve innings. In the elev-
enth inning Chicago actually scored the
winning run only to lose It through the
decision Of O'Day. a Chicago man and
a National Lacquer. Slagle was on
third base and started home with the
ball back Of third In left field. The
ball was thrown home and arrived
after Slagle had crossed the plate and
was nearly to the bench. Steinfeldt.
who had been batting. was excited,
and when the ball was thrown to the
plate. wild and wide. he jumped and
let It bit his shoulder and prevented
Schmidt from catching It. O'Day. in
spite Of the fact that Slagle had crossed
the plate and that there wasn't a
chance to put him out. called him out
because Of S%teinfeldt's interference.
''There was a close decision at Cleve-
land one day when Tim Hurst. widely
known as the .scrappy ump.' was Of.
aciating. Burkett was trying to score
from second on a hit. The catcher
failed to touch his foot. but touched bis
knee. and Cleveland claimed the foot
reached the rubber before the bail
reached the knee. Hurst called him
out. and In the wrangle that followed
Expelled Pat Tebeau. O'Connor and.
Burkett from the game. Then he put
them OF the grounds They left the
playing Enclosure. but all three had
their heads over q gate shouting at
Hurst and urging the other players to
avenge them. Tebeau shouted to good
old Deacon Mcguire. who was catch.
Ing. Get after him. Jimr Hurst
heard, but was not in position to reply.
Mcguire heard and waited until he
thought Hurst miscalied a strike. Then
be rushed at the umpire at top speed.
Hurst stood stili.f#When Mcguire
came near enough Hurst kicked him
ON the shins and poked his mask into
bis face. Mcguire fell back. astouish.
ed. IL you don't like It, JIM said
Hurst softly. give It to Pat merely
punched You vicarioualy.'
They are square men, these UNI.
pires. forced to be q bit sru6 and to
fIght. but their devotion to their work
and their honest effort to discharge
their duties mark them % men Of
high integrity. And they are game
Jaw Bob Emslie once when Q foul
ball struck him e the heart. The
pain was ~excructating. His face grew
white. and be ret his teeth together
and resumed work. Three balls were
1000 .eA /. 81 E