The Washington herald., 1921-02-08
EVERS REFORMS,
UMPIRE BATTING
BY CUBS BANNED
flayers Must Be Models
On Field, Says Famous
Battler.

Johnny EVers has turned square"
Cnce the hrebrand OF the National
league, he now sspIres to a less
iurfd role, and thus does another
eoIorful career fall under a blight.
Sohn may become a great manager,
Ut Whatever greatness he may at
taln as the pilot Of teanf he prob
ably never will be as famous for
ftnat as he was as a teams chief
hlcker. And let IL be said right
mere that in order to be chief kicker
Oh the old Cubs a fellow had to
nave quite a kick. John had all the
Kick that was to be desired. All
umpires with good memories can
testify to that.
am not going to do any more
kicking against decisions by the
umplres, says John. Furthermore,
my players this year will be models
OF good behavior on the field. Even
Ihoush We lose An extra inning
game because some blind fathead-
pardon me. That was a slip of
the tongue. As l was saying, even
though We lose an extra inning
game because an umpire misses a
close one, we will not kick-mUch.
l believe. and l hope to convert my
players to the same belief, that an
umpire is human. / have. arrived ct
this conclusion after much thought
and no little study There have
been times-but never mind. To
get back to the point seek TO en-
Dhasize. Having come to the con-
clusion that they are human 1 real
lie that, being human. they must
err now and then like the rest of
US.
VIII Overlook Mistakes.
Therefore, we shall overlook
their mistakes, provided they don't
make too pany of them. If they
lido we shah be forced to believe
that there iS something personal in
1t. which will put a different face on
the matter. In the event of this
coming to pass ! may be tempted
to put a different face on the UNI
ptre. However. l think that even
in times of stress l shall keep my
self well in check, particularly in
view OF the fact that most umpires.
at least in our IS4gue are big tough
guys"
Those who were associated with
John last year could see this change
OF sentiment in regard to umpires
gradually creeping over him. He
got into very few jams with the
judges OF play and only once was
he in serious difficulty. On that oc-
rasion his opponent in spirited
verbal tilt was his old sparring
partner, Bill Klein.
The scene Of the exchange OF
repartee was the Polo Grounds. 1t
was a Saturday afternoon, and up
ward of $4,000 fans looked on and
tried to Ca,cn the gist of ths con-
versation. Those who stood close
by as the wiSe cracks shot back and
forth between the men agreed that
John had muck the better of the
encounter. sveI though he did SsC
put out Of the game. The next iay
John was sra sefully accepting con-
gratulations iron: his friends v-hcn
Sc received l ttltgra from Pres =
dent John A. H: der notifying min
that he was set down Tor three
days.
How Jrhn Was Cured
John was cured. Gr:'ing san
like that for B's psrt in his 7rst
real iEIbroglio of the seas IN had q
sobering effect on him ana hastened
his conversion.
''Nevermore," he quoth. will I
give those buns an Argument
Now he procla inns his intcntion Of
compelling his players to keep their
mouths shut and their hands in
heir pockets when they get the
.ort end of a poor decision. 1t
true that as a man grows older
loses some Of his propensity to
get into scraps. There was a time
when John considered an umpire a
proper object for abuse, but that
was long ago. There is no doubt
about the Eenuineness of his ref
ormatfon. He has seen the error
Of his ways and he will stick to the
straight and narrow path that never
leads to the showers until the game
is done.
That queer noise you just heard
was Frank Chance chuckling to
himself. For Frank has a memory
that is long, and it seems but yes
tsrday that John-but why dig up
the past Give the Trojan a chance,
boys, give him a chance!