The Washington herald., 1911-10-01

certain umpire, working alone in a very close and
critical game some years ago, watching play at
first base when the runner second hiked for third
He could have made 1t easily, but the shortstop see
Ing that the umpire'S back turned, bumped the
runner out OF his course so that he was nailed by
throw from first. Wheeling around to-see the play
his umps' caught on a fat rooter expression Of
guilty enjoyment, and though the fans bowling
to tbink the runner safe the umpire called him out
For moment the crowd magned him, then it smiled
laughed and ended by giving him ovation. He
explained to the baseball reporters afterward that he
based his decision entirely the fat roOters counten
ance, which, Of course, backed up by the player
victims protest There was something to talk about
that night.
Bill Evans probably the best umpire in America
working In st. Louis with 5000 crowd that
Overfowed the field. Chicago the game because
Evans allowed 4 home run hit ball that rolled
through the drive gate. The home management
responsible for leaving this gate open, the decision
was just, but Evans assailed, one youth heavng
a pop bottle that split open Evans head, rendered
him unconscious for eleven hours and laid him in the
hospital for three weeks
Going to sue for damages. aren't your asked
lawyer. Those people rich"
"Aw, l guess not" said Evans. His mother was
to me and apOlogiZed The lad didn't understand
about that gate being open. He thought was rob-
bin the Browns
In the Polo Grounds riot at the opening game in
1908 fan knocked down Rgler with water soaked
cushion He told the Police Court Magistrate next
day that he a clerk earning dollars week
We'll, it'll you weeks salary said the
judge rather sOrrOwfully, for he was fan himself
Il don't care retorted the defendant cheerfully.
u pay twice I0at IOr the privilege OI cOulInS ludL
robber-'
On the other hand, Cincinnati rooters got up a
purse 10 pay Klem's fine when he tackled Roger
BreSnahan in the open field
The psychology of tanning is akin to that Of "tak-
ing shop" If you a lumber jack, author cab
driver. in meeting one of like occupation you are
bound to fan about it sooner later. To most Amer
lean men baseball is familiar his trade or pro-
feSSiOn. 1t is said that only two members of tie
House of Representatives at Washington confessed
TO never having played the game. German butcher
the only person in all Chicago that canvassers
could find who did not know that the Cubs and
White Sox about to battle for the worlds pen
nant Comiskey gave him a season pass, and now
he. too IS fan.
1t never seemed to me that there was very much
hero worship not the lasting sort at rate. in base
ball Mike Kelly the greatest Of them ALL died, and
his beautiful and precious watch charm presented by
devoted friends, hung in New York pawn shop win
dow for five years, never having a purchaser. When
game arranged in 1904 between the Giants and
the old Giants, Ward, Wech, Troy, Tiernan BrOu-
theirs, Gore COnnOr and Others just 294 spectators
turned out.
1t is rather that the man acquainted with the game
wants to see some one play better than he ever could
at present. Often you will hear the Snug
fan tell audience what a sod buster he the
old Actives and how, if he'd stuck TO the game he
would have it Cobb LajOie but he doesn't far
You have to be a live one and make good to be
tanning subject To be sure, there is an amount of
prediction for certain players At the Polo Ground
one day l sat alongside of thin faced man who
seemed be in such pain that finally asked him If
could do anything for him.
mo" he wheezed. as a third grounder escaped
DeYlin. Every time DeYln makes an error 1t hurts
me-hurts me worse, guess, than it does him."
That night l noticed Arthur devOuring chicken
pot pie wreathed in smiles-that is the wreahes on
Devlins face. 1t was salary day. The poor fan, no
doubt mOOned the evening in gloomy silence
famed about the tragedy somewhere
Here was another type of fan observed thiS>sum-
mer, a new one. l think. Two chaps were watching
the game closely, but without much demonstration.
Each putting down figures pads and what do
you suppose they were at? Well. Smith numbered the
players l, 2, 3, &C. beginning with the pitcher, as
regular do. Brown called the right fielder
No and finished up with the pitcher. If there was
an assist from right first base, Brown made it to
Z or seventeen; Smith had 1t to g. ninety-three.
They spent their nights, told, in adding up the
numbers and tanning to how the results might have
been different If the plays had been made differently
One of the quickest and surcSt ways of starting
fan on a nights debauch of talk is to OBSERVE
Well the greatest play 1 ever saw on a ball
hed"-
That Greatest Play"
Murder! Help! Quicker than Tinker to Evers to
Chance you have Bilingsgate and Bedam all in one
And why not? The psychology is simple. You have
challenged not one American citizen but every one
in the place. You have thrown down the gauntlet
started an argument. Your knowledge experience
and memory pitted against the crowds. And who
are you, pray? Did you Buck" Ewing
catch, Radbourne pitch or Anson bat? No? Sit
down then and let your betters talk. This from a
grizzled warrior of the beachers whose age is mo-
mentarily respected.
And he may tell you this one:-"When Mike Kelly
was catching for Boston, with Irwin, Quinn Nash,
Richardson and Stovey the club, he
such stars Joyce, weighing Van Hal
tren Hemming, Orr and Bierbauer and announced
that he going to pull a triple play Announced
it beforehand I'm telling you! Boston to
the good in the ninth when Brooklyn went to bat.
Ward had man on second and one on third, with none
out. We thought it all over but the shouting and
Ward kidding Kelly to a finish.
we've got US, eh? yells Kelly. why, here's
where we make triple play. A triple, boys, come
on You could hear him all the stands And
that's exactly what he did. Kelly worked that batter
so he grounded to shortstop, who threw home, and
Kelly tagged the runner Then he fired to first and
doubled. The brooklyn fellow that on second
ried to pass third and make home, but the ball from
1rst base got there ahead of him, and it triple
sure enough.
FELT it in bones we'd win that way, says
Kelly Gfterward."
You see. there almost infinite number Of
ways in which plays can be made so that one might
ak until millennium and not thrash the subject out
This wide range Of possibilities the diamond,
coupled with the skill of the players and their per-
onalites, appeals especially to Americans and, we
night add, to the japanese. Fifty years from now
he Japs will be tanning zealOusly the Amert-
ans are to-day. There is question that by that
ime all international disputes will be settled by