Evening star., 1916-03-12

tell me that Alexander and Mathe"soh
are the two best pitchers in the league
TO umpire for. they never dispute
called ball or strike. No American
League umpire can ever recall the time
that Walter Johnson questioned rul-
ing In fact, l have often heard him
tell other members of his team that the
umpire was right when the general opin-
ION was that the official had erred in his
ruling.
II is the same in any other branch of
the sport. the really great catchers. the
crack infielders and the brilliant out
fielders. as rule accept the occasions
OF the umpires without any protest 10
speak of Don't think for minute that
these players are of the same opinion as
the umpire in all cases. positively no.
They often believe the umpire has erred,
in a good many cases they let the official
know just what they think about the
decision. but they invariably do 1t III such
a way that any umpire with any COM
mon sense would have no reason for TAX
ing offense l have often heard people
say Eddie Collins is not aggressive
enough They form this opinion because
Collins is not being put out OF the ball
game ever so often. 1t is fact that
Eddie Collins is an aggressive player, but
of type that is not known to the
public. Collins can protest as strongly
as any player in the business. When he
believes the umpire has erred he never
fails to register his protest, but there is
nothing of the grandstand variety in the
protest. He does nothing by word or
action that will cause the crowd to be-
heVe that the umpire has erred. For
that reason Collins is always listened
10 and given consideration when he en-
tiers a protest. for the umpres know it
is the expression of an honest opinion.
Stars Need No Alibi.
But TO get back to the opening
question. the real reason that star
players as rule seldom incur the dis
pleasure of the umpire, is simply that
they never find it necessary to seek
an alibi in order to cover up either lack
of ability or failure to have properly
completed a play. The real good ball
player can always make good on
natural ability, even if the umpire
every now and then gets him into
hole because of a mistake. Umpires
make mistakes; SO do star ball play
ers Both are human. and the star
player who has some brains, or he
wouldn't be star, is broad minded
enough to take all things into consid-
Grafton.
The fellows who make the most
trouble are the players who believe
they are stars. yet fall considerably shy
of that class. This phase of the Ques-
tion holds good in all branches of the
professionals and the amateurs. An
other class of players who make trou
BILE for the big league umpires is the
bush Lacquer fresh from the small time
circuit. A good many of these fellows
come up to the majors with the impress
sion that in order to get in good with
their manager they must argue with
the umpire, and in all probability get
put out of the game. j can recall
half dozen such cases of players now
rated as stars. Just as soon as they
got over the idea that getting put out
of the game couple of times a week
was the proper kind of aggressiveness
they never made any trouble for the
officials.
Aggressive Players in Demand.
Major league leaders like aggressive
players. The minor Lacquer who can