Show seeing big league dy by BILLY EVANS sport ter dig big league BASEBALL and general manager of the cleveland indiana I 1 was sitting in tile grandstand at youngstown ohio back in 1003 shortly I 1 y after I 1 had become sports editor ot of a youngstown paper score book in my hand and nil all rendy ready for tile the game to start but the game start minutes passed a consultation was held at the homo pinto and bends were turned in iny direction although I 1 vins vas blithely unconscious of their significance ance and then a delegation from tho the two teams marty hogan manager of 0 youngstown and howard inisher Ill slier manager and captain At cCloskey of Iloine homestead stead approached rna me with a proposition that nearly blow blew me ino out of my sent the regular umpire shown up lip had find sent bent word lie was sick and would bo be unable to officiate th there ere was no ono one around to tako take ills bla place and aad so they had decided on me ino as a substitute nothing doing said bald I 1 no pop bottles for mine not on your life I 1 dont know a thing about umpiring and I 1 dont cure care to learn no thanks were up against it bill illel cant help belp it I 1 was adamant avo we cant play without nn an umpire do it for us as a favor well give you IS 15 otherwise tile the game earno la Is oft off and the fans will have to beat it it now how futile to try to dodge fatel fate I 1 I 1 argued and argued but they 11 hung ling on to mo me and argued right back ond and finally though I 1 had absolutely no confidence in my ability to got get away with it I 1 gave in to them its funny to tile nio now as I 1 look back on that game annie I 1 felt like the original fish out of water there I 1 was hilly billy evans a young sports writer dragged from torn the grandstand to umpire a game against my iny will and all the time it m old man alan opportunity knocking at the back door my attitude toward umpiring was much as the average small email boys of today there was something alluring enough about being a ball player but who in thunder entertained any ambitions of becoming au an umpire of course that game had find to he be a tough one it went fourteen innings and was filled with close ones but somehow I 1 got through all right in fact my performance was satisfactory enough to the two teams to earn corn for roa me the request to do the alio same saine tiling thing the following day I 1 accepted ngali over consider considerable ablo protest an and d inside of a few days I 1 was offered it a regular job ds as it interfere too much with my iny sport writing I 1 took it it was toward the end ot of the season reason anyway and 15 a game was not to be sneered at when the lie baseball schedule was played through I 1 went back to my desk on the vindicator satisfied the that t I 1 was through with umpiring forever hut but no I 1 was offered a contract for the following season and as there wa was s a lot more money in it than in my newspaper job at 20 a week I 1 accepted how the umpires camo came and went in that organization I 1 there wore were nebout thirty of 0 us ua that first season some of them lasted a week ot others hers less than that at times I 1 got so disgusted with it all that I 1 was on the verge of quitting myself in fact if it been for that memorable gamo game in niles I 1 feel suro sure that my umpiring career would have ended with tile close of the 1105 season for I 1 was to have an offer during tile the fall of more money than I 1 lind had ever seen before in the newspaper game after being virtually run out of niles my intention to quit was all tile the stronger I 1 had no idea that anything would come of jimmy McA UcAl leors cers words get to the big leagues yet 1 1 I merely put it town down as ills film way ol of saying something rice nice to a fellow who was having a tough time of it and I 1 let lat it go at that it seemed ridiculous that any one could see in me a rank husher busher a potential big league umpire but fit at tile close of the loob 1905 season came an offer from president tt 13 B johnson of tho the american league and I 1 accepted 0 1030 dell syndicate |