Salt Lake Tribune | 1916-07-30 | Page 38 | Umps Rarely Wrong, Arbiter Declares

UMPS RARELYWRDiyG, 1IIMCL1S Chill Says They Bat .999 in "Called Play" League;. O'Loughlin Agrees. NEW YORK, July 29. "The umpires in the big leagues bat .999 in the ' called play' league." , The American league arbiter, Umpire Chill, glanced athwart to avoid the skeptical gaze of his rugged questioner. At the same time, however, from the corner of his eve he observed the effect ef-fect that his statement had just created. cre-ated. There were two of them together. They were Umpires Chill and O 'Laugh-lin. 'Laugh-lin. Much talk had been bandied back and forth, but during the conversation they were reticent concerning their as-' sumed diamond proficiency. So much so that when questions were put to them point blank they guite gracefully eschewed them. At last, however, the interviewer managed to corner Umpire Chill and to demand that he answer the question of whether or not an umpire ever rendered a questionable decision. "Isn't there an occasion now and then when you really experience some doubts concerning the decision you have just handed out!" was his fervent question. ques-tion. t ' The umpire shook his head; the muscles of his face tensed; his lips were pinched by his struggle to maintain his diamond indifference. "No one is infallible," he replied. Ump Very Cautious. He studied the color designs on the wall and carefully contemplated the Suestions that were being put to him. is answers were deliberate, sternly so, and slow. "By the time an umpire has broken into the big leagues he has learned to judge plays so well that he scarcely, if ever, makes a mistake?" He hesitated for a moment- evidently he was revolving in his mind the likelihood like-lihood of his saying too much. "Umpires learn to handle plavs down to a mathematical certainty," he presently pres-ently resumed. "Many of the decisions decis-ions at first base are matters of fractions frac-tions of seconds. The play is called by the sound of the ball hitting the first baseman's mitt, and even in a few cases by the pat of the runner's foot against the canvas of the bag. Most times, however, the umpire has his eye glued to the runner's foot." O'Loughlin Interposes. "He's only kidding you about," the genial Silk O'Laughlin, veteran dodger of pop bottles, who has been in the business many years, interposed. "If the thing could be worked out by mathematics mathe-matics they could save money by having hav-ing a machine to do the work instead of an umpire. Like in any other business, busi-ness, a man has to use his judgment. All men are fallible. But, at that, my partner is pretty nearly right about forced play decisions. "Anyone with brains," continued Silk, "can see an umpire is in the best position possible to observe the play. His instinct tells him how to get the proper angle on the thing, while people in the stands are crowded together and can 't change their viewpoint evon if they wanted to. Even a player fifteen fif-teen feet away can't see the action as well as we can." "But," Silk was asked, "isn't there a time when you make a mistake and after the smoke of battle and the tumult tu-mult have finally died realize that you have erred?" "As a rule," he replied, "an umpire um-pire doesn't like to talk about his decisions. de-cisions. When the day 's work is over, it's over, and that's all that there is to it. All I can say is that we do the best -we can." "I will say, though," continued O'Laughlin, "that so far this has been the best year we have had in our league with regard to rowdyism. It never was bad, and I think that this season will be practically free from objectionable ob-jectionable features." An arbiter's efficiency, the umpires claim as in one voice, depends upon his physical condition. In this respect the veteran O'Laughlin says that umpires train all the time. "Ball players may allow themselves to get a little stout in the winter," he said, "but an umpire does not have a chance nor care to go through a period of training every year. None of the umpires I have seen this year are too fat, in mv opinion." Both Chill and O'Laughlin looked to be in first-class physical condition as they dressed in their street clothes after aft-er the game. But thev are to be thanked for more than that. They are to be commended highlv for one item they left out of their talk. Neither of them mentioned what a hard and thankless thank-less job they had. Neither of them gave voice to that immortal phrase grown old and hoary, hut still springing nimbly from the human lip. The phrase is, "A person can't please everybody you know." 1 - t