The Washington times., 1922-12-09

1ously into exterior darkness.
The reasons for our summary e1ec-
kion into the wintry night Of John.
eonian displeasure are quaint and
interesting. Nothing quite 80 logi-
cal has appeared In the public prints
or behind the footlights since Con.
stable Dogberry conducted his IA.
nous cross-examination in Much
Ado About Nothing" ending with
the particularly appropriate worda:
rHe called me an ass! Oh, that
had been writ down an asst
The facts In the case are few but
distinctly noticeable above the
smoke screen that has been dettly
thrown around the whole Discus
sion. On May Is last the Detroit
Tigers were busily engaged In
humping the everlasting daylights
out Of Squire Sam Jones on the To-
cal diamond. ~. ... ..,.N
Along about the sixth inning
Ty Cobb came to bat, with Lou
Blue ON second base. Cobb hit .
gronnder TO shortstop, which Ev-
= croft Scott failed to hold. though
he rot both hands on It.
It had started to driszle bit just
prior to this inning, and. In COM
pAny with two other baseball scribes
flames Harrison, Of The Times,
and George Monitor" Daley. OF The
World" we had slipped back from
the press box to q sheltered posi-.
tion in the lower stand just back OF
the home club dugout.
As soon as Scotty let the bal! SIT
through, him, exercising our tudg.
ment as official scorer, we called
the play an error for the Deacon.
Our conferees, Messrs. Daley ana
Harrison agreed enthusiastically.
AS far as we were concerned the
incident was closed. In. due course
the official score sheet was filed In
the sacred archives Of the American
League office and we never ex.
pected to hear Of the matter again.
It 40 happened that the Associ-
sted Press correspondent was un.
able to discover our whereabouts at
the moment when the play was
made, and he scored 1t hit Tor
Ty Cobb, something he had every
right in the world to do II ne saw
The only difference was that he
was scoring for the "A. p" and we
had the idea that we were drawing
Q stipend for filing the official
verdict. ~ H "E
The scorer for the Associated
Press was Fred Lieb, Of the Teie-
gram. a veteran writer and thor.
roughly reliable Judge Of hits and
errors. But Mr.. Lleb has been
one OF the first to recognize that
scoring II entirely . matter Of
personal Judgment In cases OF this
kind and that tho verdict OF tho
official scorer should be accepted
rs . matter Of record. .r
Up to this time the "A. p" cor
respondent had always accepted the
ruling Of official scorers Of both
clubs, and he would have done 30 in
this case had he been aware OF the
fact that the play had been charged
rs an error to Scott. In fact. more
and more II appears to US that; out.
side Of the glorious generosity OF
Ban johnson. the thing that gave
Ty Cobb his 400 record was the fact
that we had no raincoat.
II we had owned SUCH q garment
we would have braved the storm
with Mr.. Lieb. the error would have
remained an error and some other
official scorer might have had the
pleasure of mourning the wrath Of
the eminent csar Of the American
League. ,.' ~. ..-#
The last day Of the season Cobb
was informed that II he made q hit
achieve an average Of 400 and es-
for hitting 400 or over In three
H
The only drawback to this infor-
nation was the fact that II wasn't
trus. due to the Discrepancy between
the ZAP" and the official score.
Ty made his hit and withdrew from
+, the game, letting pinch hitter take
his last turn at bat for fear he
would spoil his record. =.
Come to think Of II. perhaps. Ty
had . hand in spelling q clear
title to the 400 class. II he had
made q hit instead of sending up
q pinch hitter. there would have
been no controversy.
When the official statisticisn
checked mp tho league records, ne
found that Cobb was ono hlt
short Of the quota necessary for
entrance into the select 400 class.
The discrepancy was Uncovered,
snd' IN ''investfgatlon" Instituted.
Tho investigation was Just -
logical = the ultimate decision.
II was announced from Chicago
that eleven scores were united
against the verdict Of the official
scorer, who alone ruled Il an error.
The official scorer first ruled Il q
hit and then changed his mind"
II must have been q delightful
Investigation. The searchers after
basic truth asked one New York
writer who had witnessed the play
for an expression Of opinion.
we have since been informed by
James Crusinberry, sports editor Of
The Daily News: "Daniei" OF The
Herald. Colonel Bulger OF The I'VE
ming World and Harry Schumacher
OF The Globe that they agreed with
our decision OF the play.
But what boots the vain support
OF these honest Gentlemenf ban
johnson says II looked like q hit
to him from chicaso! "A hit II 10,
therefore. t
FoIlowins out this highly original
scheme Of deciding plays on the
diamond, johnson should require
the American League umpires q
the Polo Grounds to can the dc.
49, -" - - - q.