The Washington herald., 1917-07-20
BILL Byron CENTER
Of SEVERAL BOUTS
Arbiter Should Know Something of
Diamond Troubles.

New York, July 19-Bin Bryon. the
more or less musical arbiter, has been
the center of several rattlin' good
bouts on the National League firing
line this season, chief of which was
the fracas at Cincinnati, when Jawn
McGraw bounced his first of BnI's
chinpiece.
BIZ ought to know something about
the why's and wherefores Of troubles
on the diamond, but so far he hasn't
come through with a plausible ex-
PLANTATION. He said recently that he
figured the outcropping OF disorder
this year was due to an invasion of
battle microbes" from the firing
lines In Europe: Mebbe Bill feels that
way about 1t because most of the
bombshells have dropped in his VI
cinity, and OF course no one could
expect him to suggest that the UNI
pires are at fault.
But there is one thing Bill has over
looked-the fact that hotly contested
races in the big leagues have much
to do with the temper of the players.
Bills trouble with the manager of
the Giants was the outcome Of several
minor disputes over decisions on the
field OF play. The Giants kept getting
back at Bill and finally. according TO
reports. Byron got his dander up and
said some things that didn't pertain
to the grand old game at all.
Since the opening of the season the
Giants, highly touted as pennant win
ners. have found that they will have
to fight for the old rag. They are not
going to have a walkaway, by any
means. and they have accepted the
situation with the result that they
are fighting for every game and every
decision that looks close.
In the American League the situ-
alton Is much the same, for the Red
SoX are not finding the road as smooth
as they did last season and the op-
position is greasiI-g the tracks for
them. Babe Ruth's trouble with
Brick Owens In Boston would prob
ably never have happened IL the Sox
had been breezing along in front. in
stead of trailing the Chicago bunch.
And so it goes from season TO sea-
son. The ball club that is going bad
makes trouble for the umpires, and
the club that is breezing along. win
ming the lions share OF its games, is
as peaceable as bumblebee in a
honeysuckle. Look at the Giants last
fall. They didn't have a single argu-
ment Of note with an umpire while
they were piling up that string of
twenty-six straight victories. They
merely went along. playing wonderful
baseball and winning their games
without the sign of a dispute. They
forgot all about the umpires because
they were winning. and they didn't
need an alibi.
But put club with the fighting
spirit of the Giants in a rut, and let
an umpire face a lot of close de-
cisions in an afternoon. and the first
thing you know something will bust
loose. 1t will be either a conversa-
tional bomb or a flying fist that will
try for a bull's-eye on the poor jumps.
1t never fails.
The writer isn't taking up the UNI
pire's side of it because of a belief
that the umpires are perfect. for that
is several knots OF the true course.
No umpire is perfect. They all make
mistakes. just as the players make
their errors. But the umpires are not
out there fighting to win a ball game.
They are simply there to judge the
play and keep the peace. and keeping
the peace often necessitatcs a fight.
II you don't believe it. ask Uncle Sam
about the Kaiser,