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Show lEilnl K ff X jnl its Slfe. Charles E. Van-Loan j : , : ; ; : '. - : iziziiizizzzzizizizzl. m3$XSm wk II XX- 'XS'mX "Robber! Robber!" "Oh, you're rotten! Rotten!" "Back to the Old Man's Home for yours !" "Hey. vou called him safe at first! Think again!" The infuriated spectators were rocking the grand stand with their hoots and catcalls, cat-calls, and the New York players swarmed into the diamond, yelling their protest against the changing of the decision. There are times when an umpire changes a base decision, usually when the baseman drops the ball, after making a catch. In tills case the catch had been clean, and it was plain to every fan inside the fence that O'Hlggins's judgment had wavered he had taken a second thought, and that second thought had cost the New York club a run. Hewitt, who had been coaching off first base, seized O'H iggins by the arm and shook him. The other players jammed about him on all sides, plucking at his clothes and yelling into bis ears. If lie had been the old O'Higglns he would have sent three or four men off the field, and backed up his decision with penalties. penal-ties. Me did nothing of the kind, but remained in the storm center, shaking his head. "Lost his nerve," thought the president bitterly. "And that was a rotten decision!" deci-sion!" The Reds, saved by a miracle, trooped to the visitors' bench, sneering over their shoulders. No decision is a bad decision to the team which it favors. Daly Has It Out. A.t last the game went on again, but O'Higgins seemed miles at sea? He floundered hopelessly, made two frightful guesses on simple decisions at second base, kept the crowd in an uproar, and a t the bitter end was escorted to his dressing-loom by the police, for the home team had lost the, game by one run the run which O'Higgins took away from the team. Paly dodjeert the reporters, escaped the commotion at the end of the game, and decided to wait until the umpire appeared. ap-peared. Young Harding was out in ten minutes, neat and natty in a new summer suit-He suit-He nodded at tho president. "Awful, wasn't it?" he asked cheerfully. cheer-fully. Only mfuped to commit himself. "What's the maUe-i with the old man?" he asked. "Don't niiow," Enl Harding, taking out a ciyaret case, "fie won't talk to me. Hi- s In there with hiB clothes half off, sitting on tho bench." Dal v refused a cigaret and Harding strolled pway, twir.ing his cane. Daly looked after htm' sourly. Ten minu tea passed, and then tne president of the league tapped on the door of the dressing-room dressing-room O'Higgins was sltt.ng on the bench In his un jei'dotht s. He did not seem surprised sur-prised to toe Dnly. He had the air of a m.-in who wouid not have been surprised at anything. He kicked up, rose to his fe.-t. and i euehed for liiB trousers. After a time he tpoke. "Well?" said he. was a question, ankcl without hope of a favorable answer. an-swer. "What's the rna t tcr, Con ?" asked the preside: of the league. "What's the trouble?" O'Higgins shuffled Into his trousers without answering. "I told you I wanted to get away," he mumbled at length. "You wouldn't let me. You understand, I ain't blaming you at all. I 1 guess T .lust went to pieces, that's all. I haven't had any sleep since I paw you last." The man was not seekfng to excuse himself, neither was he asking for pity. The dull hopelessness of his tone proved that he appreciated the situation, and ; expected nothing of sympathy. He was simply stating facts. Da'-y sat down on the bench. "Come on. and tell me about It,' he said. "If there's anything I can do money, or " "Money!" The umpire laughed, a hard, fierce note, that was more like a cry. "Money ! T wish It was!" There was a silence, an uncomfortable one for both men. Daly tried to postpone post-pone an unpleasant duty. "You'd better cornp down to the office in the morning," said he. "We'll talk it over then." O'Higgins paused, with his collar In his hand. "No," he said. ".No. You can tell me here. I'm all through is that ii?" As he waited for the verdict of the league, there came a. sharp rap at the door. Daly opened it. "Telegram for you, Con," he said. "I'll sign it." O'Higgins leaped forward, snatched the envelope, and began fumbling it in his fingers. Daly signed the boy's slip, gave him a quarter, and turned in time to see O'Higgins' expression as he opened the message. As O'Higgins pesred at the papar, Daly saw the hard lines -waver and melt. "Some men have many friends aad some have few; still others are baseball umpires." (Kind regards re-gards to Kin Hubbard.) THE umpire is, as a general thing, a human being. He has the same leanings toward to-ward friendly intercourse with his fellows, the same universal desire lor approbation, the same hopes, tho same ambitions, the same sorrow s which stir his more fortunate brethren; but, if ho is a good umpire, he will button all these things carefully underneath his blue serge jacket before he walks out upon tho field. Con O'Hi.sgins was an umpire of tho old school praiso be, there are still a few of them left, even though we howl because their eyesight is not what it oui'O was. Cornelius edged his way into an umpire's um-pire's mask after making a careful study of the national pastime for sev- -iral years. Like all great men, he be-gan be-gan on the sand lots, climbed into a 'minor league and thence to the "big show." There is no royal road to the '..dizzy eminence occupied- by a big league umpire; the candidate must first 1 make good, and then keep on making good. Before O'Higgins became an umpire ho was something else never mind " what: it is enough lor you to know that Con O'Higgins was always respectable, and. no matter what his business, you may rest assured that he attended " strictly to it during business hours. By studying other umpires very closely, close-ly, Cornelius knew what to avoid when lie began his long climb from the sand lot upward to the limelight of the big league. O'Higgins observed that the umpire - rr-ho -traveled in the same ear with the 7 ba J i players, topped at the same hotel, -joined in the &ame rightly fanning z. bee and pawed the same bar rai, made i ho 'great mistake of establishing eon ! lidcutial relations with the meu whose 1 - plav be was paid to judge, and eouse- j . --fluently had more difficulty in separating separat-ing himself from. them upon the field. - "You can't bo one of the boys and ;att umpire at the same time.'' re- -njyrked Mr. Cornelius O'Higgins. ' "' Vic v. as right, for if a bail player. - m the' sudden heat of passion, inclines ..to wallop an umpire on the nose, he "is more than likely lo wallop the nose of the umpire whom he regards as hia close personal friend. Trace this inv ..puUe to its source, and you will find it lies in the same kink of human na-"ture na-"ture which makes some married men -uglier to their wives than they would "dare to be to' any other living female. Con O'Higgins 'decided that he would - never make the error of becoming toe friendly with the boys; consequently consequent-ly be did not seem to know the first -narne of anv man in' auv league. It as "Mister This ' ' and "Mister That'' -with Con at all times, and a ball player ;ji aut to hesitate before walloping an .tiu.pire who nlways addresses him as ""Mister." That sort of emotional insanity in-sanity is likely to come quite high, and .it was Con's idea to make familiarity "so expensive that few could afford to -indulge iu it. Xon Had a Reputation.- " " " Away back in tho old days, - when O'Higgins made his first bow to a big 'league grandstand, there waa more t rowdy ball than there is at the present 'hv Some umpires bore reputations as -fighters, and deserved them. Con came in -from th-: bushes with the beginning "of a very fine reputation of hist own, "V-tb which his fi&ts had nothing whatever what-ever to do. 0 'Higgtns owed his big league ap-poiiitment ap-poiiitment to one man- the captain and -Manager of the toughest fighting elub . T)i tbo league. This man knew Con, "harl seen him work en several occasions, occa-sions, and' believed that he had the emakings of a great umpire, so he mentioned men-tioned the fact in the proper quarters, - and Cornelius 0 'Higgtns came on to the .big town for his tryout. Con did not know it, but the league president bad two scouts in the grand- ttaad'on the day of his initial appearance. appear-ance. They were on hand to note the attitude of the fighting, captaiu-man--ageiv whom we will disguise as Bill Shertlif f, toward the bush umpire 'whom he had recommended. Bill had a reputation himself, most-rly most-rly bad, when it came to dealing with umpires. Bill waa a fright when it ca me to handling the poor, miserable E judge of play; a bulldozer, a bluffer, a .loud talker, a button suatcher and a ! nose puller. And the boss of the league 1 " "as quite naturally interested in get- .'ting a Hue on the attitude of Bill ! Shertlif f toward the umpire lie had ! made, and vice versa. It would be just ' The umpire's hands did not shake, but his face went white as he unfolded the yellow sheetdead white, end hard as marble, every stern line accentuated by the twilight in the room. Daly felt, rather than understood, t hat here v a the answer to the whole mystery: he read it in the white face, set to receive a blow. .As O'Higgins peered at the paper,- Daly saw the hard lines waver and melt and the next thing he knew. O'Higgins O'Hig-gins was shaking him by the shoulder, and thrusting the telegram into hi3 hands. "Look at that!" the umpim cried . "What do I care for the job? Kead that!" This is what Daly read : . Cornelius O'Higgins. Umpire. Polo Grounds, New York Operation wonderful success- Chicago specialist says no danger, and Connie will bo walking by the end of the year. Thank God! MARY. Daly looked from the paper to O'Higgins' O'Hig-gins' "face. "Connie?" taid the president curiously. "Why. who's Connie?" "My little girl," said the umpire. "Twelve years old. Lame. She's been nick a long time. 1 didn' t expect to raise her. There was just the one chance. This operation. That was whv I asked for the time off. .she minht not have come out all right and I thought X ought to be there." "But you didn't tell me!" said Daly. "I tried to." said the umpire stiffly. "You didn't let me." Then he went on buttoning his collar. col-lar. "But I'm going home now." he said The president of the league carefully folded the telegram, stood for a few seconds, sec-onds, wondering what he should say. tok out his watch, then ripped out a sudden order; "Sure you're going home. You've just got time to get that fast night train on the Pennsylvania. You stay until you know that everything Is all right, then report by wire, and I'll assign you to duty." O'Higgins dropped his made-up necktie neck-tie to the floor. "Then it isn't all off?" he said. "I stay?" "You bet your life!" said the president presi-dent of the league. The story never got to the papers, though a number of good reporters tried to sweat it out of the president. There , were many wild surmises about th O'Higgins case, and some of tho young umpires preened themselves for Con's job. They were very much discouraged when the old man came back at the end of two weeks, as fresh as green paint, and apparently ap-parently as good as ever, and the first ! ball player to presume . upon the late : leniency of T nipire O'Higgins took three days' suspension, and bowled for three ; months. Yes, he was the old O'Higigns, all right, and remained so as long as he stayed in the game. O'Higgins never explained matters which was like him and neither did the president, though be realized that lie wai wasting a very fine newspaper story, and told the secretary so. Mrs. O'Higgins was a woman, so she. understood why the president of the league sent her an elaborat e silver to. set at Christmas time. -O'Higgins did not understand. He was not a sentimental man. (Copyright, 1919. by the Bell Syndicate. Syndi-cate. Tnc. ) I not. The third man was only passable, and six towns were howling about incompetent in-competent umpiring. Along In June, when the race was stiffening stiff-ening up, Joe Kerrigan, a veteran of long service, went all to smash, and interested inter-ested parties had no trouble in proving that Joe's eyesight was very, very bad. Joe took his broken heart Into the saloon business, and it seemed as though the- j very devil himself was after the big-league big-league umpiring staff. 0' Higgins Makes a Request. It was at this time that Cornelius O'Higgins, in iiis old derby hat and double-breastod gray traveling suit, put in an appearance at the ofiice of the president of the league. "Mr. Daly," said O'Higgins, "I've never askfd any favors of you " "Go to it!" said the young president. "What's on your mind?" "I want to ask you If you can let me take ten days off?" The president leaned back in his swivle chair and roared until he was red in the face. Boiled down to a thick broth, the '. extract of his wail was to the effect that the league waa In the worst shape It had ever been, from the standpoint of competent com-petent umpiring, and that duty d-u-L-y demanded that Mr. O'Higgins should stay at his post. "I know that," said O'Higgins earnestly. earnest-ly. "But this is i m porta nL." "Maybe this league isn't Important!" interjected in-terjected the president. Then he talked facts, and backed tlmm up with figures. The race was close; O' Higgins, as the best umpire in the business the salve passed without a nod was scheduled to care for the important games. It was , impossible to spare him. "But if you knew " "T know that Kerrigan Is out." said the president. "I know that Harding ain't worth his salt; I know that Fanning hasn't made good ; I" know that all the towns in the league are howling. 'Umpire! Umpire!' Why, man, we can't spare you! You've got to stick!"- O'Higgins did not press the point. He accepted the situation, made no explanation, explana-tion, and went away at last, looking gray and cold. As President Daly watched his veteran umpire slip through the door it struck him that O'Higgins had aged since the beginning of the season. O'H iggins had come to New York to officiate in the series between the New York club and the Reds, both fighting for , first place. His assistant would be young j Harding, a younster from a western leaguegood on balls and strikes, but lacking the firm hand in a pinch. A great deal depended upon the series between the two clubs, a nd Daly hoped that Harding would be benefited by his association with as steady an umpire as O'Higgins. The day after the opening series, every ev-ery morning paper in New York called attention to the fact that the home club might have won the game but for some very rotten decisions by the vet era n, O'Higgins. He had allowed three of the Reds to walk when i t seemed that the New York pitcher had fanned them with balls across tho corners of the plate. One writer contributed a long article, pointing out that Joe Kerrigan had just been dropped because of the infirmities of age. and Joe, so the writer stated, was a babe in arms' compared with O'Higgins. O'Hig-gins. t he Methuselah of the staff. Others wero inclined to believ e that the old man had had an off clay, but none attempted to disguise the fact that his umpiring had been very, very bad-. Business took Daly out of town the next day. but ho road the accounts of tho game in the New York pa pers. O'Higgins. O'Hig-gins. working on the bases, had made three decisions which the critics agreed were the worst ever seen on the grounds, and tine last one had led to a riot. All the papers commented on the f ct that, though surrounded by angry ball players, some of whom had laid hands upon him. O'Higgins had ordered nobody from the field: It was openly charged that O'Higgins O'Hig-gins was going to pieces in a critical series. i "O'Higgins Loses His Nerve!" said the headlines. Daly fired a long telegram at his sec-; retary, and finished his business as soon as possib'e. returning to New York in time for the fourth game. The baseball population of New York was in an uproar. up-roar. O'Higgins the reliable, the most prominent umpire In the league, had marred three games by execrable decisions, deci-sions, and the New Yorkers felt that but for his decisions they might have won all three games, instead of dropping two to their rivals. What Was the Matter With Con? "Well," said . Daly to his secretary, "how was it? As bad as they sav?" "Worse," was the answer. " "If 1 didn't know O'Higgins for a sober man, I'd say he'd been drunk on the field. You never saw such ball and strike decisions de-cisions in your life; the teams are all up iu (he- air, -and he doesn't use any authority whatever. Just lets 'em rave. I think the old man's head is going Pete." "Have you seen him?" demanded Daly. "What does he say ?" "I've been at his hotel everv dav at last twice," raid the tecretarv, "but I haven't caught, him, and when 1 saw him after the game last night he would not talk to mev at all. Just climbed on a car, and went downtown. Thoy tell me at the hotel that he has been" getting get-ting two and three telegrams a day. He's in trouble of some sort." "I wonder If that old rascal has been speculating?" said the president. "J'm going out to the game this afternoon." The president was not in his box when time waa called. He had no wish to answer an-swer the thousand and one questions of the reporters, some of whom were firing them at him in the columns of the papers. pa-pers. Was it true that he intended to take action on O'Higgina's evident collapse? col-lapse? Had he been fully informed of his work In tho past three days? Did hn not know that it was worse than Kerrigan's? Kerri-gan's? The president would eee for himself before be made up his mind. The game began with Harding behind the bat, and O'Higgins on the base line. The bleacherit es hooted and yelled as the old fellow walked to his place. They advised ad-vised him to see an oculist; they offered to buy him a yellow dog to lead him hack and forth from the ball park, and they laid at his feet the loss of the two games, and asked hint what he was going to do about it. Kor three innings a child might have umpired the bases ; the decisions made themselves wide open as a barn door. Then, in the fourth, came the trouble. New York put two men on the bases, with two down, and MeCue, the short-slop, short-slop, rolled a slow, twisting grounder be-t be-t ween t'irt and second. The runner on third dashed for the plate, the runiu-r on second flashed toward third. It was up to MeCue to beat the throw to first, and New Vork could not have had a speedier man on the path. If was plain that the decision would be a close one. for the second baseman had to travel some distance to reach the ball, and nothing but a perfect throw would beat MeCue. Tho infielder scooped the ball, juggled it from his glove to his bare hand, and then whipped it to first. It seemed to every New Yorker in the stand that McC tie's spikes patted the bag before the ball thudded into the fir ft baseman's hands it seemed to the Reds, fighting desperately on the defen-Five, defen-Five, that the ball and foot arrived at the snme time, in which ca.se it is safe enough for us to assume that MeCue should have had the decision. O'Higgins, racing with the play, spread both hands downward as he ran, seemed to hesitate for an instant, and then jerked his right hand high imo tjie ar. H e had done the wrrst thing an umpire can do reversed aclose decision, and called MeCue out after making the "safe' s;gn. The ron r of joy which irreetcd the first motion of O'Higguis s , bands fhanged to a howl of me. 1 I like Bill to "try to own O'Higgins j from tho jump.' ' i Con 's first big league game took .place on Bill Shertliff 's home grounds. : Now, in those days there was a strict rule forbidding the pitcher to "warm up,' or throw the ball about in practice, prac-tice, while in the box. Bill Shertliff was forced to jump a cold pitcher into the game, and the manager instructed this pitcher to "warm up" before delivering de-livering a ball to the batter. ' Don Tt do that. ' ' said Con, warn-inglv. warn-inglv. ' ( You know the rules, Shertliff. Shert-liff. " The genial manager cursed -the rules, and veiled: "Go ahead and throw that, ball!1' ' ' Hold on! ' ' said 0 'Higgins. "If he throws that ball, it will cost him ten, and it will cost you twenty-five, Shertliff!" "Pay no attention to this new umpire." um-pire." said Shertliff. "He's just in from Dubuque, and he's got funnv no- i tions. Throw the ball! " ! The pitcher delivered the ball, and it was returned. Shertliff signaled him to continue. . "Wait!" said. O'Higgins. "Every ball he throws now will cost him twen-: ty-f ive and you one hundred. Throw as many as you like, because this fiue is going to stand! ' ' To make a long story short, O JHig- gins's only friend in the big league paid into tho treasury the sum of $425 for warming up one pitcher, and it cost the pitcher $110 to be warmed, which, it is presumed, Shertliff paid. Shertliff Shert-liff was too stubborn to quit, but four pitched balls was about all he was willing will-ing to stand after the price went up to a century each. After the game, he crossed over behind be-hind 0 'Hipgius and whispered eome thing in his ear. "You're all right, feller," said Bill Shertliff. ""But I had to get that pitcher warm, and I'm willing to pay for it. You're some umpire." And that was exactlv what the scouts reported to the head of the league. That great man roared with delight when he learned that Shertliff 's own umpire had fined him $425 Six his very first game, and the president wisely decided that he need have no fear that the new mau would allow his judgment to be shaded by the fact that Shertliff had got him the job. said how that O'Higgins was a married man. He was certain tha t mail would reach him during- the winter months if addressed to a small Michigan town. The whole league changed during O'Higglns's tenure of office. The ball players who were the bright stars of the zenith declined, and faded away into the minor leagues. The veteran umpires of his early days dropped out, and invested in-vested t heir savings in small business concerns: even the managers changed, and the franchises shifted about; but old Con O'Higgins always reported for duty in the springtime, as regular as the month of April. They called him "old" Con. but he was not old, as years go somewhere between be-tween forty and fifty; but he seemed older and on his weather-beaten countenance counte-nance there appeared the hard lines we sometimes see upon the faces of our judges the stern carvings of conscious authority. After Con's tenth year in the big league, the wise young managers and the players began to look fur signs of a let-down. Each spring they expected to see "the old man" go to smash on balls and strikes, the crucial test for the aged eyes. They expected to see the old hard shell begin to "guess." as the others had done before enforced retirement. They were disappointed. O'Higgins remained the best umpire in the league on balls and strikes, and when it came to "getting on top of a play" on the bases, none of the youngsters' could outfoot him. This waa a disappointment, for O'Higgins O'Hig-gins did not soften with the years. He grew harder, as one of the crack pitchers expressed it. . ,, "Vou don't dare look crosseyed at the old galoot those days, or he'll throw you out of the game. Who does. he think he Is? The owner of the 'league, or the fellow fel-low who invented baseball?" O'Higgins whs not popular. The ball plavers thought he w as too stern, and too" fond of showing his authority. They would have bem glad to see him give way to a younger man. who might, on occasions-, listen to reason, or "stand for" an argument on the field. The crowds had never really loved O'Higgins, because there was nothing about the public side of his character which attracted anything like affection or noisy enthusiasm: A cigar-store Indian Is a good sign and faithful to duty in all eorts of wtather; but nobody ever gave three cheer? for one. Look up the public idols of the day vou will find them very human, and full of faults, which may be the very reasons that make idols of them. They are so much like the rest of us. Foor old O'Hissir.e chose respect and confidence a cold, but solid, backing-end backing-end younger umpires elbowed him aside In the race for public favor. But the league president the third one since O'Higglns's arrival in fast company advised ad-vised the younger men to copy O'Higglns's style as much as possible. None of them ever succeeded. The thirteenth year brought trouble with the umpiring staff. .There were three new men to be tried out, and it is a great deal harder to find a good umpire um-pire than it is to discover a new left-handed left-handed pitcher. If you do not believe that, ask the next baseball magnate who hanoens to run across you In his French touring car. One of the new- men was. Incompetent and tried to bluff his way through. He failed. Another had not the requisite amount of firmness necessary to handle eighteen high-strung athletes. Ball players play-ers are like colts; they know by instinct whether the driver knows his business or Later, Con O'Higgins decided that fining ball players was a poor way to enforce discipline. He began sending men to the clubhouse, and putting scrappy players play-ers out of games. They preferred the tines, but Con had it figured out in his own mind that punishing a ball player's wife by taking her husband's money away was not exactly fair to the wife. They were not long in finding out that O'Higgins could jerk his thumb toward the clubhouse in nine different languages. You may fine a ball player fifty dollars, and he will forgive you; but if you put him out of a close game he vill remember remem-ber it from one end of the aeason to the other. He Squelched the Gamecocks. Before the new man had officiated in a dozen games he bad established himself as an umpire of big-league timber. Tho players knew him for a man who wouid stand no foolishness, a man who said a tiling as though he meant it, said It once, and after that pointed toward the clubhouse. The league "lawyers" found it was no use to try and blurt him f about rules. Con knew the rule book ; from cover to cover, upside down, back- ward both ways from the middle. When ( he .rolled out an extract from the ball i players' Jaw he delivered it as though the weight of the entire league stood at hie back like a stone wall. It was no use tr?ing to scare him. The old Gamecocks tried it once put on their famous mob scene, with the full strength of the company. O'Higgins pointed toward to-ward the clubhouse until their infield was riddled like a sieve, and the Gamecocks finished that game with five pitchers in the lineup, and were beautifully walloped in consequence. "Never again!" said the captain of the Gamecocks. "This guy threw so many men out of the game that we came near having to put a uniform on the bat bov ! He ain't got no heart at all. this umpire; but he has got cast-iron bowels!" The players got on well enough with O'Higgins after they found that thev could neither fight him nor make friends with him. So far as a ball player could see. Con had no more human emotion than the steel mask which he wore. He attended strictly to his business while on the field, that business being to see that the hall players attended to theirs, and before he had been in the league six weeks he broke the hearts of the rowdies by making them wear a path toward tlje clubhouse. The managers screamed, some of the partisan fans roared for O'Higglns's blood; but the great public at large which is generally fair, no matter what anyone may say respected the new umpire, um-pire, while appreciating the fact that he gave them fast, clean gained, free from wrangling and riots. The league raised his salary, and offered of-fered him a long-term contract, which be accepted, after cautiously stipulating for a sliding scale of remuneration. In words of a few syllables, and for a summing up of the whole matter, one might say that Cornelius O'Higgins, big-league big-league umpire, said good-by to friendship, and chose respect, rather than fellowship, as the hard, cold foundation upon which to build Ills career. From the first week, O'Higgins was a mystery. The ball players never knew which train he took, never knew which hotels he favored fa-vored with his modest presence. All they knew of hiin was that he would be on hand In time for the opening of the game, stiff and severe In his plain blue serge uniform. When the last man went out. O'Higgins would disappear into the grandstand on his way to the little room whore he changed his clothes. All his conversation conversa-tion while on the field was about business; busi-ness; he never wasted a word, never commented com-mented upon a play, never allowed anything any-thing remotely resembling familiarity. All his little duties which went with the job were scrupulously performed; O'Hig- gins never slighted anything, and in j time the reporters came to call him "Reliability." "Re-liability." j it was only natural that the shell which I O'Higgins built for himself should harden ; and thicken with the passage of years. I The man began by denying himself i friendship with any one inside the organ-i organ-i ization which paid him a salary; this self-1 self-1 denial grew into the fixed habit of hia Hie. His taciturn demeanor became a sort of a tradition of the league. Had Con O'Higgins smild upon the ball field, the players would have spread the news from one end of the big circuit to the other. Time made of hfm a gruff, surly machine, tabulating balls and strikes with a keen eye, and rendering his dacisions with automatonlike motions mo-tions of his hands. Lonesome Amongst the Crowds. During the months of play, O'Higgins was perhaps the most lonely man who witnessed the games: but if he felf his isolation he never gave any sign. The president of the league had about two or three talks a year with his star umpire usually about new rules. Rarely O'Higgins offered a suggestion, and ft was always a good one. The league president pres-ident depended upon his judgment, stood behind him in his dealings with managers 1 and players. ' The president gained the idea he never |