| Show k ei m J Jig Lee League eb ebBy BILLY EVANS By I II Sp Sportswriter BI DIg Big League UM Umpire Upire F ire And General Manager Manger o of the Cleveland Indiana freight y years ears a ago e ed o I became fl d s rIth baseball and I have that connection to this day iro a o of ot those years I spent as 1 vS can n league umpire Then Ihen I erns manager of ot the Clev Cleye- Cleye e- e all 11 club t my bow boss as an umpire IE I If Ira it E and I Ir If j f 1 f ra a newspaper man roan r I toed Ined a newspaper ne man ever er therefore that I 1 have had Opportunity opportunity to view the e game from three Important l at of the tho active participant J M i ki F x vs x 1 44 i I. I q Jf Y Silly IY Evans Evns paying laying yIn field that of the press server cr and and itlie t business e executive o ball game no baseball sea- sea player laer is seen with precisely from these three points J eyes ge f- f What Babe Ruth means cher in Detroit and what he lie Jacob Jaco Ruppert Huppert are two dIfferent things and what he be heT a T newspaper newspaper writer In n 1 Wash Wash- V ash I something else a again aID fortune how- how been een my good see iee Ruth and the thc other great gleat the last Qu quarter century the eyes as it were wee of ot all fhe lw impressions gained from Ile f vIewpoint I hope hone to pass Js series of articles L i came Into the American uch stars as Lajoie Sam Saml J. J l Bill Donovan Honus Wag Wag- Sty ty Mathewson and Mordecai ere e in the heyday heyda of their Ty Cobb was an am ambitious g to fight his way into a re reg- reg With the Detroit Tigers Baseball still was regarded as not quite the Ideal care career r for a young college college college col col- lege graduate was a fabulous price to pay for a prayer player and a a reference reference refer refer- ence once to the lively ball would have ha been understood as a n crack about a gay social social so so- cial function unction In order to qualify Quality as a witness to steal a phrase from the Ule lawyers ers let me briefly sketch my career 4 I was writing sports wIth sports with the emphasis emphasis em em- on baseball for baseball for the Youngstown Youngstown Youngs Youngs- town Ohio Vindicator back in 1903 1003 Youn Youngstown at that time had a team In what was known as the Protective asset association lation from which the old O. O P. P Ohio and Pennsylvania league took root toot Because of oC the Illness of one of ot the lc regular ular umpires I 1 was called from the he pi press ess coop one day over day o er my strenuous strenuous strenuous objections I might add add to to umpire umpire umpire um um- pire a lea league e game Though I thought that contest would never newer end and nd I managed to get through It In fairly fair fair- I ly easy st style le the nest t t day I officiated The following 3 year ear the O. O P. P league Teague was formed and I became beca le an by profession still retaining newspaper work as a winter avoca avoca- tion In that m my first real base baseball aIl Job I went through the course couise of sprouts with which ever every cry active baseball m man n be he player or umpire Is familiar r. r I had good days das and bad ones eus easy ones and tough ones I had to fight and joke and bluff and bully my wa way along Meanwhile I 1 was learning the ins and outs of ot my job from such masters masters masters mas mas- as as' Jack Jacl Sheridan Tim Hurst and Tommy Connolly Sheridan let me remark In passing I believe to be the greatest umpire who ever lived In the summer of ot 1927 I received ed a telephone call from a prominent Cleve- Cleve lander advising me that the Indians were about to be purchased by a group of wealth wealthy Cleveland business men and requesting me to meet them for fora a talk I did and so left the mask masl and indicator indicator indi indi- cator behind forever behind fore er I fondly hoped The new job presented new problems and 1 I had much to learn for to shift shIrt my point of view from playing held field to business office wasn't easy It also gave me a new Insight Into an aspect of ot the game of which I had been only partly aware I discovered immediately that to build a hopeless place seventh ball club Into a pennant contender no matter matter matter mat mat- ter how much money was at ones one's command command command com com- mand was no simple task I learned something about the Intricacies of ot the chain store system of developing ball pla players er t c 1931 Bell Dell W U Service |
