Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-01-25
WIN, LOSE OR
DkAW By FRANCIS sTANN
An Umpire of Letters

mention high up that he was elected to the Hall of Fame, one
of the two umpires to be SO honored. But the Hall at Coopers-
town, N. Y, is deficient and now Evans never will know when
he is given his just desserts. How Bill KLEIN was elected and
not Evans is something nobody will ever know.
Billy Evans was more than fine umpire. He brought
style and class to baseball from the day he called his first
man who became general manager of both big league baseball
and football teams. Lastly, Evans had more than a pedestrian
touch when he sat before a typewriter.
When Billy was appointed to the American League STAFF
in 1906 an umpire was considered young at 40. One of his
tender years was unheard of-stil is. But Ban Johnson,
league president, didn't hesitate to sign the youth who had
the $18-a-week sports editor of the Youngstown tOhio)
Vindicator and who simultaneously had umpired. but never
higher than Glass D games.
*4** @
BILLY WAS SOMETHING new to the game, with his
tailored blue uniforms, genteel background and three years
at Cornell. Many umpires of the day were staunch bottle and
knife-and-fork men, large of waist and red of face. Through
out his % years of umpiring in the American League, Evans
kept himself in better shape than some of the players.
John Kieran of the New York Times, noting Evans
grooming and style. once tagged him "Petronius Arbiter.'
But Billy was more than a fashion-plate. He was a top-notch
man on the field, with a tolerance, smoothness and calmness
that further distinguished him.
Ironically, it was Evans who was to figure in perhaps the
most famous player-umpire fight in history, if not the most
famous of all diamond fights. And that happened here in
Washington, under the stands at Griffith Stadium.
Ty Cobb, no less, was the opponent, proving that Evans
was not lacking for moxie. Cobb was an established
fighter, even a notorious one. He had already fought and
~reputedly whipped Buck HerZog In their mucn-puohclZeo
battle in a Dallas hotel room and he was in character when
he few of the handle after Evans had ruled against the
Detroit Tigers.
ONE WIDELY ACCEPTED version is that Cobb challenged
Evans to meet him under the stands, although there are
some who think that Billy was the challenger after Tvs
barbs drove too deep. At any rate, all witnesses agreed it
was a brutal if brief struggle, with Cobb having the best OF
it even before the first blow was struck.
Evans would have preferred a clearing in order to employ
his boxing skill. The confined area in which they fought was
right down Cobb's alley. Ty, who probably didn't know a left
hook could be something other than a curve ball thrown by a
southpaw, allegedly jumped Evans, leading off with his spiked
shoes. They went down, clawing and scratching, Cobb grind
ing the umpires face in the cinders~
Not even many players witnessed the encounter. which
did not end in a unanimous decision because there were those
submit a report to President Johnson, refused to talk OF the
fight until some years later. But when he did, Billy firmly
insisted talk of a draw was downright charitable.
$3.50
"I THOUGHT I WAS a fair sort with my fists" Evans
said, "but Ty was too fast for me. He was the fastest moving
man I ever saw. 1t seemed to me he had at least a dozen
fists working on me. Sure, I lost the decision. 1t wasn't even
close, but that fight cleared the air. From then on Ty and l
were good friends and he never again disputed any OF my
decisions ~
Nearly all umpires start and finish in the same role
umpire. There is no other niche in baseball for the average
arbitrator. Evans was an exception. When the Cleveland
Indians needed a general manager in 1927 they selected Billy,
and later after Tom Yawkey bought the Boston Red Sox and
vainly tried to buy a pennant, he hired Evans to develop win
ming players. Ten years later some of the Evans-developed
personnel won Yawkeys only flag. There was a hitch as
executive vice president and general manager of the Tigers,
another as president OF the southern ASSOCIATION ana an
unparalleled (fr a baseball man term as general manager
of the Cleveland Rams of the National Football League.
Never did Evans stray far from his first meal ticket, a
typewriter. He wrote a syndicated column on virtually all
games as sports editor of NEA-the Newspapers Enterprise
Association.
BABE RUTH, it always was maintained by Evans, was the
easiest player for an umpire to handle. I'm all the years l
umpired games involving Ruth" he was saying a couple OF
years ago in st. Petersburg, "the Babe objected to a decision
Of mine only once"
un.. -. 4a-o u1ao ryon. ballad Putb ont n n StrikeS
and the big guy, glaring at the umpire, threw his bat into the
air. But Billy was perceptlve as well as diplomatic.
"Or Babe looked a little worse for the wear that day" he
chuckled. Frankly, l think he wanted to be tossed out OF the
game. You know how 1t was with Ruth, he had some other
places he wanted to 60.
80. l punished him" Evans grinned. Figuring what was
in his mind, I didn't FIRE him out of the game"