Evening star., 1941-08-06


MeLemore. pany. I reprint
portions Of his provocative letter in
the hope that some measure will
be taken to remedy the situation
before it is too late and something
dreadful and permanent is done to
the morale of the enlisted men.
while the Hon. Leon Henderson
and the Hon. Harold Ickes and all
the other Hons. are busily revising
the Industrial and economic rules
to meet the requirements of an all
out defense effort" the corporal
writes: Il trust that some one will
60 into a huddle and provide us
with a new set of rules for camp
baseball. Unless this is done, con-
fusion will sabotage this vital rec.
reational factor in our morale pro-
gram
II wish you could have attended
q baseball game at Fort Bragg the
other day. With all the changes
that are taking place in other
phases of national life, 1t was in
teresting to note the changes being
wrought in the national pastine.
Take the status of the umpire,
for example. He is an officer down
here. Congress made him a gen
tlernan, which is something new In
the field of umpires, as any fan
will tell you. Umpires just aren't
gentlemen to folks who 60 to ball
games.
"Since most Of the fans and all
Of the players at Fort Bragg are
enlisted men, military courtesy
rears its ugly head the second q
game starts.
The batter, approaching the
plate, must salute the umpire.
''The catcher, protesting a close
one that was called a ball, must
preface his remarks with a courte-
GUS Sir
Then there is the matter Of the
pitcher. When he stands on the
mound and faces the umpire, he
must stand at attention until he
Is given the command Rest II
the command Is Parade Rest and
there is q man on base, the result
is inevitably balk.
Another Of the problems In camp
baseball concerns that most dread
full Of military crimes. insubordina-
ton Suppose q lieutenant coach
ing the ordnance team orders his
players to get In there and win, and
the captain coaching the field ar
tillery team, tells his squad the
same thing, one team Is bound to
be guilty of disobedience unless the
game chances to end in q tie.
And is Pvt. Doakes subject to
court-martial If, after he has been
commanded by an officer to get in
there and sock that Of apple he
strikes out?"
~
But the major hardship In camp
baseball. Corpl. Avery points out, Is
the result of the umpire being an
of1cer. I gather from his letter
that the soldiers Of Fort Bragg are
slowly breaking under the strain Of
having to treat the umpire with
respect.
This Is understandable. 1t would
definitely do something to a base
ball fan to nave to cry "Robber,
Sir!" when the umpire makes a
bum decision at home plate, or
Blind, Sir, Blind" when he calls
one that cut the center, a ball.
At the moment there is no way for
the enlisted man to escape this false
gentility, because the articles Of war
or something like the articles of war,
forbid any activity discourteous to
an oflcer.
Baseball fans in this country viii
sympathize with the plight of the
Fort Bragg soldiers. Every Amer
lean Is born with the conviction that
baseball umpires are thieves, rob-
bers, cheats and ENJOYS of Satan,
and that it Is his inalienable right
to tell umpires just how he feels
about them whenever they step out
on the diamond.
You might Just as well ask an
American to tip his hat to a burglar
as to address an umpire as Sir"
The President should see that
something Is done about this situa-
ton in Army baseball even If he has
to sit up nights and rewrite the mill
tary manual in longhand. He should
either insert a clause in the manual
prohibiting officers to umpire serv-
ice ball games, or make it clear that
from the moment an officer picks
up a whiskbroom and dusts of home
plate, until the game is over and he
puts the whiskbroom aside, he is an
out-and-out, no good, unfair, blind
so-and-so, and deserves to be called
such, even by the fellows watching
the game from the guardhouse.
The Government should play ball
with the soldiers, in other words.
~ 0<w-