Show Seeing ee a Big League I t 1 r By BILLY EVANS BI Big League Ump Unpin ft nd and General Gentrel Manager of oC tin Cleveland Indian India An umpires umpire's Job at best Is a colorless colorless colorless color color- less one though sometimes made more spectacular and less drab by the color of ot the Individual Silk with his Immortal Strike Tuh I 1 had lots of color There been and still lUll are others othera but he is perhaps our best example We e have had an abundance of ot colorful color color- ful players in recent years Ty years Ty Cobb Babe Ruth Tris Sp Speaker aker Frank FrIsch Hack Wilson Stanley Harris Harris- of ot others But few tew umpires are what can be called spectacular There here Is little enough of ot the dramatic In calling balls and strikes es and way wn waving ing them out or calling them safe The ball plo players ers can shine in the field at the bat bot and on the base paths They have their batting averages their fielding averages pIt pitching a averages and stolen base records They may maywin maywin win pennants and world series hit home borne runs with the bases loaded and pitch no-hit no games They often become become become be be- come heroes and national idols overnight over over- night night-as night as In the case of ot Stanley HarTis Har- Har Iris the boy manager who won a worlds world's championship his first year as manager manag r. r But the umpire Who Vho gives a hang about the umpire All AJI he does Is see that tI the game Is played and played according to the rules Isn't that right Did you ever eyer hear anybody cheer for an on umpire So Walsh famous famous famous fa fa- pitcher who tried umpiring after he be was through as os a pitcher objected to the Job because as ns he said said- It lilt was all jeers and no cheers He had been used to cheers No 1 alongside the player er the umpire is Js quite a humdrum individual And yet I liked the Job Im I'm proud to feel teel that I am still a part of our great national national na na- na game And I too too too-l I say it not boastfully boastfully cnn can feel a little pride In my own record my own avera averages es In other words Besides as Jack Jacl Sheridan Sheridan Sheridan Sheri Sheri- dan told me and Tim Hurst has more than once Jokingly remarked You cant can't beat the hours No you cant can't beat the hours three hours three to five although live although my own hours hour ot off the field were not leisure hours but were spent In pounding the old typewriter turning out sport copy cop for new newspapers And back of Jt It all nil I get a feeling eeling of ot Immense satisfaction that L I am a n part of tills this great institution of baseball and have se seen n It grow from comparatively comparatively feeble proportions to Its giant present-day present status And I have learned quite a lot in my ray twenty five five years In Inthe Inthe inthe the big leagues I have learned a lot about human nature and mob ps psychology psychology and that sort of thing And AndI I 1 have learned a lot about baseball Perhaps an experience as lengthy length as mine entitles a a man to some opinion Perhaps you will agree that although I dont don't play baseball my constant contact contact con con- tact with it and with the players gives me an opportunity even eyen greater than the active players to judge baseball ability Does Doe it sound illogical when I say that perhaps I am nm in a better position to judge the merits of a particular particular par par- par particular star than one of ot his teammates or one of ot his opponents Is For this reason if It for no other As Asan Asan Asan an umpire my work was pretty evenly divided among the eight teams In the American league An active player er can In judge an opponent only on that opponents opponent's performance against him As umpire I have had hod the opportunity of ot seeing how John Smith performs seven clubs Each team plays each of ot the other teams about twenty- twenty two games in the course of ot an ordinary ordinary nary season So that the Washington on club let us say has bas two twenty opportunIties opportunities opportunities during the tIle year of ot watching Babe Ruth play I may have more or orless orless orless less games than that to umpire with New York as one of ot the teams but I J have bave the opportunity of seeing how Babe Babo Ruth bits hits In every ball park Inthe in inthe inthe the league I want to make this clear because later on I 1 am going to name my all all- time star all baseball team And then I am going to give my own conception of ot the Ideal baseball pla player er It may maybe maybe maybe be argued that my Job in the American league prevented my seeing many National Na leaguers la fa But at various various va va- rious times Umes I have seen them all both bothIn bothin bothin In and out of ot world series And this combined with the figures In the old record books ought to qualify me In some Jome respect as os a competent Judge fC 1930 1130 Bell Syndicate |