Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-09-22
MARYYE BATTLE ENDS NEAR RIOT OPINIONS DIFFER AS TO WIN
ROWDYISM STOPS FIFTH
GAME IN TITLE SERIES;
UMPIRES LAX IN DECISION

Rowdyism broke up the fifth
game between West End and Marys-
willie at Island Park Saturday after
Sgaoon. The near riot started in the
first half of the seventh inning on
a questionable base decision. Gerdes
and Kline were the first aggrccaors,
but later Stricken and Hermal came
to near blows and were taken from
the field. Later they were dis
charged.
Umpires White and Shickley were
off in their decisions. That hap
pens in a baseball game, but they
were the bosses in Saturdays coz
test and had everything in their
own hands, no matter who it hurt.
They had the power to clear the field
and resume play and IL this was inn
possible to make a decision ac-
cordingly.
The Score Was Tied
The score was 1 to l, and was de-
cided by the umpire but baseball
rules say that when a game ends
with the inning unfinished the score
diverts to the previous inning which
gives Marysville the game 1 to 0.
Umpire Shickley was also to
blame for the unsatisfactory end
ing and black eye given local base
ball sport. He failed to exercise his
authority on a number of occasions.
The umpire's duty is to see that each
team gets fair play. This he did not
do when he permitted the crowd TO
block the field. The attendance was
estimated at 5000 and the number
of police on hand was entirely too
small to take care of the field pro-
perly When the interference start
ed it was Umpire Shickley's duty to
see that the field was clear and re-
fuse to play until his orders were
carried out. When the rowdyism
started it was Umpire Shickley's
duty to remove the belligerents at
once.
Marysville's Side
Marysville officials say: That
proper judgement may be formed
concerning the difficulties which
arose during the West End-Marys-
vile game of Saturday, Marysville
officials wish to present the real facts
in the case Some misconceptions
may have arisen following the publi-
cation of certain newspaper articles
which did not present the real facts,
probably through misinformation
rather than malice
There has been a tendency 20
place almost the entire blame on
Player Gerdes, of the Marysville
team. He most certainly was not
the instigator of the trouble and 1t
was the "hot-headedness'' of the
West End players on two separate
occasions which occasioned all the
trouble.
Kline Inshgator
The real instigator of the trouble
was Player Kline, of the West End
team, and Gerdes entered the fracas
only after it had been started by
him. After knocking Player Her
man, of Marysville. from first base
(not from the base path) in COL
l1ision for which there was absolute
ly no excuse, Player Kline made
several attempts to strike Herman
after the latter had picked himself
from the ground and had thrown
. Winters out at home. Herman had
been severely injured in a previous
unavoidable collision with Player
Embick, and Gerdes came to his as
sistance only after Kline's unsports-
Hmanlike attack on him.
The disturbance was queHed
without excessive difficulty and all
promised to be amicably settled
when the trouble was renewed by
PLAYER Stricken, of West End. Her.
man had made a request of Umpire
White for a rule book and Stricken
demanded to know what he wished
with il. Informed by Herman that
his business was with Umpire White,
Stricken made an attack on Herman.
Gerdes at this point again interven-
ed in behalf of his teammate, who
most assuredly was in no position to
fight, and twice knocked Stricken to
the ground before patrolmen inter-
vened.
4 Willing to Play
Despite Umpire Whites third
obviously unfair judgement of base
runners (all against Marysville)
Marysville would have continued the
game with Embick on third and
Kline on first had it been possible
to clear the field of SPECTATORS.
Manager Householder's Statement
II regret that the game on Satur-
day ended unsatisfactory. 1t was an
injustice to the fans, and I am will
ing to do anything to satisfy them.
II the first place the reports that
4 V, est End hackers and boosters
tried to Bribe Biever or any other
Marysville player is absolutely un-
true That there were wagers on
the game is true. There are bets
Z made on every game, but West End
was not concerned in the betting
results. We were in the game to
win. There was no trouble from
West End when Marysville defeated
up by one run in a previous game.
Decisions then were questionable,