The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-25
HANS WAGNER SELECTS AN
 ALL-AMERICAN SET OF JUMPS
Evans, EmsIie, 0'Day, Klein And Rigler Are Chosen As a. Greatest American Umpires
Hr HANS WAGNER


 Az. For my all-American selection of
 umpires l have decided that five swould be the right number. I have selected them from all I saw during :, my 30 or more years in professional sbaseban. Here they are:
 Billy Evans. Bob Emslie. Hank
 oDay, Bill Klem, Cy Rigler.
 ,s.That would be most too many for S worlds series. In fact l had in- tended to pick out four, but the < more I figured the more I made up
 my mind that it would be unfair to
 leave out single one of those.
 I've heard of umpires selecting the
 best ball players, but this is the iafirst time I've heard of a ball player : selecting umpires. It only goes to ; show that we all get little mellow | when our hair gets gray and we } 9think about things. I don't believe l. there is one of those umpires who s;Tever made a decision in his life that he didn't think exactly right. h Hank O'Day and Bill K1em, for $ in stance, don't believe there were ever any close decisions.
 They're either out or they ain't,' 1 says O'Day.
 ], ], -s4. Say. Bill" I asked of Klem one { night when we were talking as {, friends, how do you feel after Ssyou've made a bad decision and what do you figure on doing to square it?"
 q don't know, Honus," and he |. meant it, T never made one I4sr I have put Billy Evans at the top, F not because he was necessarily su- A perior to the others, but because he Smas born with a perfect disposition $ for the umpiring business.
 Als Evans never got into an argument JI1 If Y listening that would make the player r think he was giving deep considera- ( tion to what he said. Then he would s make his decision just like judge E does after listening to the testimony. E And. remarkably enough, the player ' would take it that way.
 He Knows How They Think. don't believe that Evans was ever a professional player, but he 'cer- tainIy knows exactly how a ball IN player thinks. He has a wonderful knowledge of the game, it's history, the rules and everything. He has the same kind of knowledge about other sports. Billy has rare judg- : ment in critical moments and knows
 exactly how to handle a game to
 please the public. He never gets riled at what he hears about-pretends not to have heard 1t. Only a good
 judge of human nature could do that.
 Evans Is particularly good on balls
 and strikes and is the best in the business on fair and foul balls. don't believe he ever made a mis-
 take on fair and foul balls. He
 knows all the tricks of the players
 so well that 1t is impossible to fool
 him. A player could always reason
 with him. but he would not and will
 not stand for bulldozing. Evans will admit mistakes if you show him j where he is wrong. He has the ab- { solute confidence of players and public.
 \ Bob Emslie I regard as the great
 est of all the umpires on base de-
 cisions Sonte kind of instinct
 seemed to guide him on all close
 p1ays. If man was stealing second
 and missed touching him by
 qiiarter of an inch Emslie W ould see it, He knew baseball, of course. His
 strong point, though, was his fine
 iudgment on plays not covered by
 the rule book. Bob was and Is
 qillck thinker. He saved many bad situation by making quick de-
 cision on some point not covered by
 the rules Nine times out of ten the
 players would feel satisfied that he
 had done right.
 At one time the players tried to say that Bob had poor eyesight | Some New York player offered to bet hirr that if an apple and an orange
  : teH which was which from the plate. /, That fall Emslie went out and won i the trapshooting tournament in the i middle west. After that the apple ana orange bet was forgotten. Hank O'Day always was won deFful all-round umpire. He was good on balls and strikes, on the bases and on fair and foul balls Opay's long suit was in making diff fiGult decisions. If the play was very difficult he would think 1t over for a moment and then made his ruling. f Nifety-nine times out of hundred he Twas correct.
 : O o 0
 Two in Four Or One Ont of 100.
 Most players never stop to think i how good an average an umpire must , have. player has to look over not ,nore than 20 balls or strikes in game The umpire has to decide on