The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1912-08-14
MATHEWSON WANTS
TO keep GAME CLEAN
Famous Pitcher of the New York
Giants Emphasizes the Points
of Honor to Boy Scouts

| N,
Mathewson, famous pitcher of the
New York Giants, in an interview to-
day In the Boy Scouts Magazine, APP
peals to the boys of the country to
see to it that the game of baseball is
kept clean and on the level. He
points out that the players OCCASION
ally are likely to do things which are
unfair, but which are considered all
right If not discovered by the UNI
pire, That is one of the points about
which he spoke especially
while the people, he says. won't
stand for the buying and selling IF
games. and | know such a thing never
happens. yet the feeling prevails that
If player without the knowledge of
the umpire can do trick which is
not on the level and which helps to
win the game he wins praise. He is
admired by other players for his sue
| cess. He is lauded by the hackers
of his team because of their intense
desire for victory The truth Is that
enthusiasm has made both players
and public forget their moral stand
ards. Every game has its own rec
ognized standards OF fairness No
tricks are tolerated In tennis; yet
the baseball manager who can devise
some scheme by which he disconcerts
his opponents Is considered great
leader.
The difference between honesty
and dishonesty in baseball, easy to I'M
derstand, Is. not always considered
When two teams are at play II Is a
battle of ability, skill and wit The
pitcher tries to deceive the batter;
the batter and his associates try to
read the pitchers mind. Each team
attempts to deceive the other. But
this deception Is simply a part OF the
game and is a test of the alertness,
Judgment, strategy and the skill of the
players. On those things hinges the
victory. If the pitcher can deceive
the batter he is not dishonest. but he
IS playing, the game squareE and
honestly, for 1t Is understood that on
the field OF play shrewdness and
foresight are among the weapons of
battle; but there are things in base
bull which include deception and
which afel dishonest. A5t 'ft fj4
| al''one of these thingsiisf the Stealing
Of asingals by artificial means! In
other words. persons off the field not
Wembers OF the team at times have
used means to convey to the batter
the signals which the pitcher and
cacher exchange. That knowledge
tells the batter what sort of a ball
is coming and enables him to Judge
IL more truly If the players on the
held can detect through their own
alertness the opposing teams signals
that Is all right, because that depends
on their alertness. but II they are
receiving aid of some other person
not member of the team, then IT is
a case of the nine players on one team
being pitted against ten or eleven
players nthe other teA.n.
! I'm every. other game the specta-
tors enthuse over all meritorious
plays, and will even encourage the
pays OF an opposing team but in
| baseball there seems to be no limit to
which partisons Will go to discomfort
players. Indeed, there should be A
new standard In baseboll in this re-
spect las also In the. treatment of our
umpires. Ordinarily one who Is
called upon to referee a contest is
treated with the utmost respect. but
In baseball 1t seems TO- be the privil-
eseSof every one to- dispute his de-
ciaion and to endeavor in every way
possible to .ntimidate him. A game
played In this way can not help but
have serious effect upon, the cnar-
acters of those who take part :. But
conditions are getting better each
year and the boys can help improve
them, In our major leagues there Is
an emphatic insstence for the com
plete Punishment of all forms OF in
toxicants The use OF profane lam
guage Is forbidden.
81 want to see the boys of the
country insist on absolutely fair play. r
want to see the game depend upon
the skill of the men, their quick
ness and wit, their foresight. their
judgment their endurance and their
physical strength. l want to see the
boys depend on these things and wi,
the game, and as long as the game
Is Kept clean there will be more en-
thusiasm over 1t and the winners viii
De more than ever respected"