Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-25
Lands KNOWS
HOW IT FEELS
TO Be RAzzED
Gotham Mob Had No Respect
for High Commissioner
Oh Baseball.
By |. E. SANBORN

After the narrowing experience
with that bowling mob of Gotham
baseball fans at the conclusion of the
tie game in the late worlds series
Commissioner Lands knows just how
an umpire feels when he becomes the
target for the jeers of Il crowd of
rooters.
Although wholly blameless for call
ing the game en- account of darkness
il the tenth inning, the high com
missioner was powerless before the
mob of m~alcontents, who thought the
battle ought to have been fought to
a finish and Immediately jumped to
the conclusion the commissioner was
in cahoots with the club owners to
extend the series another game and
reap an additional harvest of coin.
1t didn't mean anything to that
ieering multitude that the club ner
had voted between seasons to shorten
the worlds series from five games
out of a possible nine to four games
out of a possible seven. If coin col
Letting was the sole purpose OF the
fall derby the magnates would have
retained the longer worlds series, or
would have increased its length instead
of voluntarily shortening it. But the
baseball fan, when he gets mad, can't
look backward or forward of the then
present moment. Everything else IS
wiped out of mind by his rage.
New Experience for Lands
1t was a new experience for Lands
and it is a safe bet hat in that long
walk across the Polo grounds arena he
wished a thousand times he was back
in his old courtroom in the federal
building at Chicago with the power to
sentence every one of those jeerlng
bugs to Leavenw0rth for life for con-
tempt of court. But he had no gavel
with which TO compel silence and
there was no bailiff to command to
clear the court and arrest the offend
ers. There was nothing to do but
endure the unjust taunts of an igno-
rant and suspicious gang whose chief
thought was the bets it might have
cashed if the game had been played
to a finish.
Instead of enduring it in dignified
silence and in the confidence that the
rowdies would be ashamed of them
selves when they learned that they
were bounding an innocent party, the
high commissioner threw a sop to the
public by handing over all the receipts
of that game to charity. This was a
sort of admission that the fans were
right in their kick against the act of
the umpires in stopping the game, and
the nearest possible thing TO giving
the patrons their money back.
Grand Stand Play by Lands
1t was a grand stand play as IN
necessary as it was I'll ADVISED, Tor the
fans would have forgotten the incl
- rAa., &C fIaT- nn0nr
cooled off, and it is impossible to
make the other kind of patron believe
baseball is on the level anyway. More
over. it establishes a precedent that
NAV prove very costly. In future the
r~ooters will holler to get their money
back. instead of letting it go to charity,
if another tie game is played IN a
worlds series.
Lands spectacular attempt to re-
store himself to the favor of the fans
was expensive in itself. for a little
matter of more than $4,000 isn't to
he srorned even by baseball folks. In
round numbers, $4,000 of the com
m~issjoner's donation to charity came
out of the fund to pay his own salary,
but he won't have TO worry about that.
IF the councils share of the worlds
series does not pay the cost of con
Quoting the commissioners office, the
eagues are assessed to make up the
takes Money from Players
Nearly $685. 600 of the sum donated
to charity came out of the pockets of
the ball players, for the rules provide
that the athletes shall share in the re-
ceipts of tie games that occur before
four games have been decided. In his
generosity the commissioner dipped
into the pockets of the Giants Yam
KEGS. Reds. Browns, Tigers, Pirates,
and Cardinals, all of whom get a slice
Of the players pool this fall. IT'S a
cinch the members of those teams
would not give three %rousing cheers
for the high commissioner, except with
raspberry trimmings. 8,
And the commissioners grand stand
play cost each of the worlds series
club owners over $21,0 oO, but who
cafes a darn for them?