Fergus County Democrat., 1914-03-17

Germany in IL minutes 45 seconds.
Alexander Aberg of Finland threw
Ivan Mamutoff of Russia twice, the
first fall in 10 minutes 80 seconds and
the second in 19 minutes 21 seconds.
All bouts were at catch-as-catch-
can style.
A reader comes along with couple
of rather puzzling baseball questions
which are little out of the ordinary
run. The first is as follows: Man on
second base. Batter hits to shortstop
Man on second starts for third, and
the base umpire, who was back of the
line, runs into the diamond and col
iides with the runner, both falling
down. The shortstop, seeing the base.
runner lying on the ground, runs over
and touches him, while the batter
reaches first base in safety. The base
umpire sends the runner from second
on to third, stating that as he inter
fered with the runner the latter is en-
titled to third base. Was this decision
correct?"
There is no rule directly covering
this point. OF course, such an acci-
dent could scarcely happen in regu-
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clubs, and for this reason it is not
covered in the rules. An umpire who
was SO awkward as to run into a base
runner could not hold his job an in
stant in a real league. Any decision
made in case of this kind will be
unfair to one side or the other. The
umpire's ruling was distinctly unfair
to the fielding side, for the shortstop.
| If hn hnnh1ad hn ho1 III -
evidently did, would certainly have re-
tired one man or the other, either
throwing to third base for the ad-
vanced runner, or to first base for the
batter.
Under the ruling as given, he gets
no one and the batting side has a man
on third and first with no one out on
the play, on which at least one man
Should have been easily retired. On
the other hand, if the umpire had
called the runner out the batting side
would have suffered, for the runner
had good chance to get to third if
ne had not been interfered with by
the awkward umpire. Possibly there
might have been wild throw or an
error OF some kind, and he might have
scored. 1t is a play on which no de-
clslon can be given under the rules.
for 1t is not strictly covered. Prob
ably the best way out of it would be
for the umpire to send the runner
back to second and the batter back
to the bat, though there is no author
lty for this move. 1t looks like the
falrest thing to do, however. This is
a case where an incompetent umpire
stirred up lot of trouble. The best
answer to the question is never to
employ that umpire again.
Baseball in "the shadow of the pyra.
mids," with the justly celebrated cen
turtles mentioned by Napoleon easily
imagined as looking on with astonish.
ment, is an incongruity that shocks,
startles or amuses, according to the
temperament of him who considers
the phenomenon, says the New York
Times. AS was shown by the dis
patch, the peregrinating exponents of
our national game themselves fully
realized the peculiar relation they
We're creating between the oldest of
human monuments-tha is an exag-
geration, but never mind-and a char.
acteristic manifestation of a newly
--"AANN AoSO III a ACW "OIlu. u0y
were impressed-not depressed, how
overland, having taught the shade of
Cheops how triple play is made,
one of them coolly threw a baseball
over the Sphinx and another as coolly
caught it.
That was all right. The Sphinx was
not disturbed in her meditations. She
has seen new things before, not a few,
and probably is little tired of them.
be that as it may, there seems to be
no doubt that the baseball stars have
been taken rather seriously in the old
lands. They have been received" in
high official circles wherever they
have gone, and no whisper has come
to indicate that their behavior dis
credited the flag they bore. Of wide.
~ recognized Importance at home,
they have borne themselves abroad, if
not with stateliness, at least with pro-
prlety, and whenever the occasion has
demanded a speech they have justi-
fed their Americanism by making one.