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Show Fans Ask for Two Umpires 5 5S U 2 Danger in One-man System UMPIEE BILLY PHTLE is a high-class high-class umpire. His eyes are as keen ss any, and he is thoroughly conversant with the rules of his profession. In other words, he knows all tho fine points of umpiring. But expert as he was he missed a ball Sunday which micrht have lost the game to the Seals. It was at a critical stage, along about the seventh inning. The Seals were fighting hard for runs. Schmidt was at bat. Soroggins, a left-hander, was pitching. Phyle was standing behind the box because there was a runner on first who might try a steal of second anytime. Scroggihs hung three balls and no strikes oiT SehmidtT It was now serious. Was the next ball to be a strike or a ball? "Was Schmidt to walk , or linger longer at the plate? Scrog-gins Scrog-gins went to his side-arm delivery, and as he let go of the ball his body obscured ob-scured entirely Umpire Phvle 's view of the ball and plate. The Wl was a foot or more inside of the plate. Catcher Daly, being quick-witted, saw that the umpire didn t see, and "pulled" the i hall over the plate. Umpire Phyle confessed con-fessed after the game that he "guessed" the decision, but it was a poor guess, and yet no fault of the official. of-ficial. Pitcher Scroggins being an opaque body. Umpire Phyle couldn't see through him. Up to Magnates. But what has this to do with the price of eggs in China? Can't the magnates of the Pacific Coast league see that if we are to have the single system this year the umpires are going lo do a heap of guessing? It cant be otherwise. Umpires have only human eves. They can't see around corners, or through baseball players, and they can t see screaming liners that bandy kiss first or third, when they are working behind the pitchers. So the umpires must cues?, and guess often. This being be-ing the case, can't the P. C. L. magnates mag-nates see what a nice thorny bed they are making for themselves? Can 't they see that trouble is- in store for them"? Can't they see that baseball will suffer? Can't they see that the fans are going to be sore, and are coing to raise tied? Can ;t they see all tins ? If they can'"t they must be as blind as the blindest bats. The season is about to open. The prospects were never better for a good year all around. The pror-pects are especially good right here in San Francisco. Fran-cisco. We have a new manager who is efficient as well as popular, and we have a new president who is' likewise popular, and trying to give the fans what their hearts most crave a winning win-ning t e am . We arc back at ihc old park wlipre there is o fog and wind, and more sunshine. Everybody would be perfectly happy but for this one thing the single umpire system. If choice were left to the multitude of fans not one dissenting voice out of a hundred would be found against two umpires. Even President Baura was heartbroken when he had to cut his staff to three men. He rebelled against it as long as there was any hope. With presidential opinion and public opinion so firmly and enthusiastically set in favor of two umpires the magnates should be reasonable and not bullhead ed. They should give the fans what they are asking for, and if it is a matter" mat-ter" of dollars and cents let retrenchment retrench-ment come along other lines. Don't let the old game be knocked in the head at a time when everybody is so optimistic opti-mistic and so full of good cheer. Sow is the time for the magnates to reconsider, re-consider, recant, retract, and to retreat before there is any unpleasant disturbance dis-turbance on the field. We don't want any fights or feuds this year. With thousands of strangers insid of our gates this exposition year, we don 't want to have headlines read after thii fashion: "Another umpire mobbed today to-day because he missed a ball that cut the heart of the plate." All that we want is good, snappy baseball with none of the rough stuff, which we won't have if the magnates of the Pacific Coast league persist in working one umpire iu a game. San Francisco Bulletin. |