Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-06-29
JACK N 'GOWAN DOING
SOME FINE UMP|RlNG
Local Arbiter is Showing Great
Form in Blue Ridge
Circuit.

Jack" McGowan. the local umpire,
who II working IN the Blue Ridge
lamrur this season. has been showing
great form and from all reports, II
viii not be ioug before he moves on
up into the "higshow His work
has rreatly plea SOD the fans and play
,ra an over the tllue Ridge circuit
and his decisions have not brought
thr storms ~ protest that have greet
"a SOME uf the other jumps" IN tho
cirruu
The sport writer's over the circuit
haN,, hcen praising the work Of Jack
nud have noi hcsitatcd &C. boost his
work. pne of the papers declares that
'McGowan Is surely making good as
~ uup" puc of the Hanover. Ia.
new spapcrs writes McGowau has
pleased the fans on each of his several
appearances in Hanover, Ills work is
clean cut"
aThc local umpire. however, perform
81 grcat stunt In q game last week
nt Frederick. Nd. enc of the papers
~ that place ~ discussing the stunt
had the following:
"MeGcwan pulled the dandiest stunt
ever seen on th, local field. when in
tho ninth Knowing that the play at
the plate would be close he threw
himsrm &C. the ground and took long
chances US being spiked in the face
liut The umn knew tho play would
bc Cloac and important lf Rlethen
Rot safe he soore would lie tied. No
souner had NcrrCker wound up 10
.hrow the ball than Rlethen was of
like shot Shuttieworth connected
and iavnc madc fast hclding play
thruwinc tho hall hs,k to Russell to
set Rlcthcu AZ the plate.
"MrGowan threw himself 10 the
ground alongside the plate in order
tn a. surc whether Rlethcn touched
tho rubber when he slid. and before
Russru put the hall On him Covered
with dust tho PLAYERS and the unp
eot up but MCGOWAN Was on hk feet
nrst declaring Illctheu safe.
There was howl from the Hagers-
town rootcrs in the grandstand and
even some 81 the Frederick fans
Thought Rlcthcn was out But on
pla, ~ that kind Il must be reuem-
hrrcd that the umpire was in 4 better
position t. see the play than anybody
else on tho grounds and he must have
known what he was talking about or
clst he would not have declared the
runner safe
There are a lot ~ RIOTERS who
would like 40 advise tho umpire what
ta a. and yet they are the first 70 say
that they wouldn't have the jumps
joh no matter what the salary IL
must be remembered that the arbiter
s, rs every PLAY Or Is supposed to
and he Is closer on Il than people in
the grandstand or in the bleachers.
"a lot ~ fans thought Cation was
safe when he attempted to steal sec
on6 IN the hfth inning but MCGOWAN
called him out
That an Is not smooth sailing for the
umplres IN the Blue Ridge circuit is
evident from ono 81 the Hagerstown.
Md papers which recently published
the follow Inc
We'll, the papers. rather two over in
Frederick. arc after the Jumps Earl.
that graceful looking arbiter. is the
enc ~ whom tho attack is directed
Of courSc there Is no doubt hut that
Esr Is OF often and is about the most
inexperienced Of the umpiring staff.
We believe II Marks would give him
little more attention and work with
hmm oftener than he does the remainder.
Earl wouldnT be half had in a few
weeks Gus Rutland and MCGOWAN.
tho other two jumps. are very good
men and could work games alone for
awhile. Il would at least save some
of tho hall players some money. for il
Seems about one OF the things Earl
iskes much delight is IN fining players