The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1914-04-24
Some Managers Think They AL
ways Get Worst Of Breaks in
Umpire's Decisions.

ball game but never winning one, says
Billy Evans, American League umpire
h a recent number Of the New York
Times. Did you ever hear manager
come out boldly into print and say that
a poor decision by the umpire made il
possible for him TO wini ! never did,
have seen many n manager relate in
print how poor decision heat him out
of the game. Every fan has read Of
how the home team was robbed when Il
lost. Few have ever read Of how the
VISITING team was robbed when close
decision, which might have been given
e,ther way, went in favor Of the home
Club. The umpire decides as many
kames for the home team as against IL
through the medium Of disputed deei.
sions. M
Connie Mack il. one Of the few man
ayers / ever heard say that, on the
whole, the breaks about evened up.
Most leaders will frankly tell you that
they never got close decision in their
lives. There Is no denying the fact
that there are lot of close decisions,
and surely some one must get them.
The trouble Is that most managers think
they arc getting only what they deserve
when q close decision is rendered in
their favor. and when one goes the
other way they are getting all the worst
Of IT,
IL is really surprising the very impor-
tsnt part certain rulings play which at
the same time appear very ordinary de-
efsions. Ever umpire can relate any
rambler Of games which have been de.
cided on some point which at the time
appeared to be o very minor detail.
Very often the ruling out Of a player
allows the substitute to come through
with an exhibition that proves the de-
termining factor in the game. Very Of.
tenwhen a club appears to be getting
the worst OF q break the umpire is play
ing right into his hands. / once heard
manager rave for week over rul-
ing that was given againat him, when
rs matter of fact the decision Of the
umpire was directly responsible for his
team scoring a victory In a very inpor-
tant game.
In the game in question, the score at
the close Of the seventh inning stood
2 to IN favor Of the. visiting team.
in the first half of the eighth the yisi,
tors added another TO their total, maxi
mig the count to I In their favor.
Since the visiting pitcher was moving
along smoothly, the two.run lead looked
like mighty good margin to work on.
In the last half of the eighth the first
two men up reached first because Of
errors on the part Of the infeld.s The
next batter, in attempting to sacrifice,
struck out. Another error on the part
Of the in6eld filed the bases. Instead
OF the side being retired, as IL should
have been, the bases were filed with
only one man down.
The batter TO step TO the plate at
this very important moment was the
manager OF the club. He was a fell
low prone to hug the plate closely. The
first ball delivered was fast one on
the inside. The manager tried his very
best to get out Of the way Of the ball.
II hit either the bat or the batter. IL
was one of those plays on which the
umpire has to be guided largely by the
way the ball travelled. Usually if the
bali hits the batsman, II doesn't travel
very far. IL IL happens to strike the
lat il does Just the opposite. On this
occasion the BAH went on fly against
the wire netting of the grand stand. Ii
seemed certain that the ball must have
i struck the bat The umpire reached
such a conclusion and declared II foul
! ball. The manager protested siren
: pously, showed where the ball hit him,
and raved IN general While not deny.
Ing that possibly the ball did hit some
part Of the hand, the umpire ruled that
Il first struck the bat. =. T.. Ea
A long kick resulted, the manager in.
sisting that he be sent to first, which
would have forced q run over the plate,
making the count to 9, with the bases
still -.ied and only one out. The game
was finally resumed, and on the very
FIRST tall pitched the manager, who had
been denied the first base, hit for
triple, scoring all three runners and put
ting his team in the lead by score
Of 4 to 3. The next batter struck out.
Had the umpire granted the manager
first base, to which he claimed he was
entitled because of being hit by pitch
ed ball, his team would have scored one
instead Of three runs, and instead of
leading 4 to 3 the visitors would have
retained the lead and would probably
have won the game. The ruling which
az first seemed adverse to the home
team was the ruling on which the game
hinged Yet for week the manager
kept asking the umpire how hard a
fellow had to he hit before he was en-!
titled to first base. Instead he should
have given the umpirea vote Of thanks.
Several years ago one of the Eastern
teams In the American League started
on an Invasion Of the West Before
starting on the road the club had lost
four or Eve straight II l am not mis-
taken, the first ten games played in the
West resulted in defeats The season
was near the close, and the affair was
becoming pretty much Of joy ride, as
the club had the cellar championship
tinehed. After having dropped dozen
or more straight, the umpire found it
necessary TO put out two players, the
FIRST and second basemen. The only
players on the bench capable Of play
Ing the positions were two extra catch
ers. They were pressed into service
The catcher playing second base made
three wonderful plays, due to the fact
that in each instance he was playing
fifteen or twenty feet out Of position.
With regular second baseman in the