The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-12-20
Hank 0'0ay Had Big Lea ue Careel
NEW CINCINNATI MANAGER LEARNED GAME IN CHICAGO AND WAS STAR PITCHER.

Cincinnati, Dec. 20.-Henry (HanD | O'Day is forty-six years old and was a classy right-hand pitcher back in | 1888. About 1890 his arm failed, and he | tirement. AS an umpire he enjoyed | an unusual amount of respect and ad-
 miration. His decisions have been crit lc- zed less than those Ot any man on l the National league staff. and one or them made baseball history. He gave when he called Merkle out for failing to touch second, thereby knocking the Giants out of a game, and, as It hnaliy
 proved, out of the National League
 flag. That decision stirred up one of 1 the biggest rows in the anna of the
 diamond, but 1t went; the Cubs won out when the game was played oil. and ,Qa.l taseballdom has since acknowledg- , ed that ODay was right.
 l. MT. O'Day is a large man, somewhat lumpy in construction, and, in general
 muchly reminiscent of some grand cd hill. where blasting operations have
 been going on. He has a peculiar
 metallic voice, square-hewn yissage, like that of a Sphinx, and positive
 way. While umpiring he Is tolerant and lenient with the players, but en-
 forces his authority when 1t is neces-
 sary. His judgment on balls and strikes has always been wonderfully
 keen, and his base decisions almost earlt'ess The crowds always like MT.
 ODay all around the circuit, and clam or-a lo have him ass.sned to the most important games, which. in ttseif' IS evidence of his superiority.
 Henry-now that he Is to be a man. ager he mustn't be called Hank any more-lives on the west side in Chica- go. He was brought up In that re- zion and Kstched prairie ball around the west side till the Washington club I nvya e 1t was considered a moral outrage for the Washington club to- be anywhere except in seventh or eighth position and Anthony Comstock would have
 had any papers barred from the mails which showed Washington with an in
 the earnest pitching of MT. ODay. who had no less bird than Connie Mack to catch him, the Senators dh their annual Brodie. Nevertheless, MT. O'Day showed so much aplomp. non-
 chalance, or whatever you want to Giants. Keefe and Welch were the star pitchers of the New York team, doing most of the work between them, but O Day and Ed Crane pitched c!ev- erly whenever they got the chance. and helped carry the club to the flags or --beg pardon, Henry's wing began to
 wohble weakly and he returned to that
 dear Chicago. Nl.av@ '-t V -a
 If YOU are an Irishman and live on
 the west side in Chicago. you are also
 politician and MT. ODay mixed con-
 siderably in west side pottics for some
 years, showing marked ability in get ting out the full vote and in seeing
 that the Italians didn't get too many offices But the call of the diamond was strong upon him. He pitched ! little in suburban leagues. but found that the arm wouldn't stand the strain. It is said that he gave 1t up when Jack Hendricks. one of the un- successful bidders for the Boston club lammed two home runs off him one afternoon. Mir. O'Day gazed reproach- fully at MT. Hendricks, walked from
 the box and pas passed up persona personal par Soon after tits it occurred to TT. O'Day that umpiring offered a field for his talents and a chance to keep in touch with the Only Game. He de- butted as an umpire and was an inn mediate success. He has been .suc- cess ever since, and has ranked as one judged the ball. As manager, he ought to be winner-but what on earth will the unpiring staff do with out him?
 The writer was police-reporting in
 Harrison street station, Chicago. sew
 eral years ago, when certain Amer ican league umpire-never mind the name, for he Is one of the best in the world-was gathered in by the "har- ness bulls'' on the charge of miscellan- eous rnsurrection, conspiring to wreck the lake front, or something of the
 sort. Enter briskly, MT. Henry O'Day
 with money. MT. O'Day offered his family plate and lifes savings as bail
 for the ransom of the caged umpire.
 "Do you know him, Hank?" asked
 the scribes.
 "Then why this anxiety to bail him
 out?'
 We'll explained MT. O'Day, "I read
 that he was in. And it's cinch that,
 being an umpire, he hasn't a friend
 on earth, and his only chance to get
 out is to have another umpire res-
 cue him. We umpires have got to
 stick together. Whats the bond, ser-
 geant?"
 One thing sure, good people: When
 Manager O'Day starts a kick at the
 umpifng. he will come pretty near
 knowing what he's kicking about, and
 the rightful interrretation of the rules.
 He knows good ball players from phon-
 ies; all ball-tossers respect and ad-
 mire him, and the scribes swear by
 him. Looks as though all should be
 pretty easy sailing for the Hon. H. .ODay.
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