The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1912-08-12
ASKS SCOUTS TO
keep NATIONAL
CANE CLEAN
Christy Mathewson Emphasizes
Points OF Honor in Base
ball

in the Boy Scouts Magazine, appeals
to the boys Of the country to see THAI
the game of baseball is kept clean
and on the level. He points out
that the players occasionally are
likely to do things which are unfair,
but which are considered all right
il not discovered by the umpiRe
That is one of the points about
which he spoke especially.
while the people, he says,
won't stand for the buying and
selling OF games, and ! know such a
thing never happens, yet the feeling
prevails that if a player without the
knowledge of the umpire can do a
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 success. He is laud-
ed by the hackers of his team be-
cause of their intense desire for vic
tory The truth is that enthusiasm
has made both players and public
forget their moral standards. Every
game has it's own recognized stand
ards of fairness. No tricks are toll
Grated in tennis; yet the baseball
manager who can devise some scheme
by which he disconcerts his oppon-
onts is considered a great leader
THE difference between honesty
and dishonesty in baseball, easy to
understand, is not always consid-
cred When two teams are at play
ii is a battle of ability, skill and Wit,
The pitcher tries to deceive the batl
ter 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
skill Of the players On those
things hinges the victory If tho
pitcher can deceive the batter he is
not dishonest but he is playing the
game squarely and honestly for il
is understood that on the field OF
play shrewdness aud foresight arc
among the weapons of battle but
there are things in baseball which
include deception and which arc
dishonest.
One of these things is the stealing
of signals by artificial means. In
other words, persons off the field
not members of the team at times
have used means TO convey to the
batter the signals which the pitcher
and catcher exchange. That kuowI-
edge tells the batter what sore OF
ball is coming end enables him to
Judge 1t more truly. If the play
ers on the field can detect through
their own aIertness the opposing
teams signals that is all right, be-
cause that depends on their alert
ness; but if they are receiving aid
of some other person not a member
Of the team, then it is a case of the
nine players on one team being
pitted against ten or eleven players
on the other team.
an every other game the specta-
tors enthuse over all meritorioua
plays, and will even encourage the
player of an opposing team; but in
baseball there seems to be no limit
to which partisans will 20 to dis
concert players indeed, there
should be a new standard in base
ball in this respect, as also in the
treatment of our umpires Ordi-
lnarily one who Is called upon to
referee a contest is treated with the
utmost respect, but in baseball II
seems to be the privilege Of every
one to dispute his decision and to
intimidatc him. A game played in
this way can not help out have a
serious effect upon the characters Of
those who take part, But condi-
lions are getting better each ycar,
and the boys can help improve them.
In our major leagues there is an
emphatic insistance for the com
plete banishmcnt Of all forms Of in
tcXicants. The use of profane Ian
guage is forbidden
~ want to see the boys Of the
country insist on absolute fair play
want to see tho game depend upon
the skill of The men, their quick
ness and wit, their foresight their
Judgment, their endurance and
their physical strength ! want &c
sec the boys depend on these things
and win the game, and as long as
the game Is kept clean there will be
more enthusiasm over it and the
winners will be more than ever re.
spected"