The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-27
By H. G. SALSINGEK

Later in his career Ty Cobb changed his mind about the umpires, rather his attitude toward them. He became criti- cal and soon was recognized by them as one of the worst kickers in the league. Also, he criticized them pub, licly something he had never permitted himself to do when at the heighth of his career.
 In one of his publicly expressed opin- ions on umpires he said:
 My opinion of an ideal umpire is one who has the judicial attitude. The trouble with the vast majority of um- pires is that they lack this attitude. Some of our well-known umplres act as if they were on the wrong side of the bench. Instead of making decisions on facts in the case many of them make up their minds regarding a play before it is completed. I ask you, is that judicial attitude?
 "1magine, if you can, q judge antago- nizing the person that appears before him, or the persons! Some umpires are worse to get along with than a mother-in-law.
 Condemns Attitude
 "Perhaps you have a legitimate kick on a decision that is close. Perhaps the umpire even missed the play. But, what do you get? The first thing the umpire says is:
 "'G'wan. now, or I'll chase you to the showers if you open that trap of yours once more.'
 "Men under the strain of competition should not and can not be handled in that manner by umpires or anyone else.
 ''The umpires have taken the fight out of baseball. It is believed by many that the clubs pay the fines of players, but even if that is true the man on the field does not want to be regarded as a rowdy.
 Make the umpires adopt different attitude. They need to be called on the carpet just the same as anyone else.
 Any man, whether he is laying bricks, working on a newspaper or on the stage or on the diamond, is inclined to get into .rut, to drift into ineffi- ciency. He needs to be pulled out of the rut ever so often. It is a mighty hard thing to keep out of the rut by yourself.
 Have the man who is in charge of the umpires call on the carpet the uni pire who is having trouble with the players. Then he can ask him how t comes that he is having trouble so often with Players Smith, Jones, Brown when the other umpires are getting along with them. If the umpire can not ex- plain satisfactorily then get someone else.
 "Undue Authority"
 "The umpire should be able to get along as well as the players. He should be able to get along without taking un- due authority. The minute some of these umpires get on blue serge uni- form they set out to make themselves felt. They try to show their power.
 II don't think that anyone pays money at the gate to see any of the umpires perform. If I am not mistaken the reason people come to the ball parks is to see the ball players, but when you notice some of these umpires you imag- inc that all anybody is out at the park for is to see them. They try to make themselves the most important persons on the field.
 Above all things in baseball hate a 'homer.' By the word homer is meant an umpire who always gives the home team the better of the close de- cisiOns because the fans in the stands are with the home club. The umpire k following the course of least resistance, knowing full well that he will be thor oughly razzed if he makes a close de- cision against the home team.
 How a man can lower his self-respect enough to adopt this attitude is beyond me. But unfortunately you can find a few 'hOmers' in every league.
 Praises for Two
 "Jac,; Sheridan was no homer. Tom my Connolly never was a homer. In fact, there are a number of umpires, past and present, who stood up and called plays just as they saw them. All umpires tell you they call them as they see them, but lot of them do nothing of the kind; they call them the way the crowd wants to see them calleu. The men that do call plays as they see them will be wrong at times in their decisions. It is only natural that they should be wrong at times. But you are.