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Show HOT ..i-T-m.' MjMkA immum tjg i (Coprrlelit, 1012. by the Now YorL UcraM Co. All rlsbts rccencd.) i i 7 T ',JIA2s without a country" Is the tir I umpire in a bis league Affiliated 4, t) j t with no particular club, he must g j associate with scores of players, j j yet become intimate "with none, a. ,jj jj lest the finger of suspiciou be na IeTelled at him when some close decision 9' 1 favors a friend. And on the other baud ' j I he must rub all men tbc right way, for if ' Oil" II be antagonizes the players they will dis- (711 I ,1 ' , l pote his every decision, the fans will sec , j f something crooked in the work of a man ery. If whoso decrees never meet with approval, ' 9 lif an( ouce confidence in an umpire Is de- JQ Iff atroyed that umpire might ns well lay - Ii aside Lis mask and chest protector aud njj ifi make a break at selling insurance policies. ' lv Truly a lonely existence is thnt of the " III umpire, and yet these magisters of the big eti g I leagues are for the most part as manly y' II and agreeable a set of men ns may be h'X Kf found' l. ,: "Kill the umpire!" is a cry heard in ' -. ' every ball park. And yet these quiet meu Ij. i bine suits who slip unnoticed in and out of the parks have cronies galore, who i j even call them by their Grst names, swap : cigars with them and actunly know M, v whether or not they arc married. g S ! 'Jake lite popular heroes of the diamond, 3 and every fan in tbc country knows where g he lives, how many children he has and (0 : what their names are. All this is ex- ploited in the newspapers, but no one If has ever gone on record as caring enough t I' to iuriuire whether au umpire was mar- n, I r,cd- If 1 1 Whenever possible umpires travel by ' jj different trains than those used by the (j If teams. If they travel on the same trail . ill ' they keep bj themselves in another car ' ill ho careful must they be not to give uuy r. Ill grounds for stories of marked friendship ' II with the players. They do not stay at the same hotels as the players, and when the game Is "over they depart from the field unostentatiously by a rear gate, unless, un-less, as occasionally happens, a police escort is required for their safety. The one big requirement for all umpires is plenty of sand. Most of them have it. The throwing of pop bottles, rubbish and any old missile that comes to hand is not mythical. Tt was more so in the old days, that is to saj, lvo or three years ago, but it happens even in these cnlighteriPt' limes. . "Bill" Evans Is perhaps the umpire win is more nearly than any other liked by th faus aud players. This is partly becausi he has repeatedly faced a hostile mob without flinching. In fact, he ignores it and shows his disdain, and the mob' ends by liking him for it. When the Chicago teams used to play in the old White Sox field there was a coterie of ardout fnns who were in the custom cus-tom of " occupying certain scats in tha bleachers every day. Thescats"Weie not reserved by the management for these ha id i cs. who paid the admission fee of twenty-five cents as did all who witnessed the games, but if some well meaning fan l appropriated to himself n scat in the cbo-scu cbo-scu secti;- aud refused to vacate on demand de-mand he was unceremoniously pitched down the steps and left to his own devices to find a new scat. J This band of rowdies was particularly ' hard on umpires, and they did not always, coufine thir efforts at persuasion to the use of epithets. One day "Bill" Evans rendered a decision that they did not like. Ho was standing outside the foul line near bird, base and was a fair target for the op bottle colerie. The fact that a man's back is toward them does not figure with the detestable i BkvN Umpires in the Big League Are in a Glass With "The Man Without a 1 1 Country" During the Baseball Season Some of the Things They Have H to Contend With and Some of the Tricks They Try to "Put Over" specimen of humanity who will throw things at an umpire, himself being protected pro-tected and hidden in a crowd, and Evans was soon the objective of a veritable rain of bottles, -glasses and indiscriminate articles ar-ticles calculated to fracture skulls. He did not even turn around to see who was throwing things. ' Ho stood calmly outside the foul, line, and though the heavy glass bottles were thudding to the ground all around him he did not budge. He was struck in the shoulder and in one log above the kuec, but he remained as a rock. Players trotted over to him and begged him to get out into the field where the missiles could not reach him, but he waved them away and ordered the game to be continued. Famous Merkle Decision. Presently ho ran down the field to first base to render a decision on a play there and fans in the grand stand shouted to him to remain there in safety, but another an-other play called him back to second base. Instead of the expected bombardment when he was once more in the danger one. the men who had thrown iKtttlc t him stood up and cheered. The hood mi had recognized and appreciated a mirage which was foreign to their own .laturc "nank" O'Day showed that he had the BbbL'b'" iBBtf .k'-i5"iBBl "Bill'" Evanj right siutt ln him when he rendered the famous Merkle decision against the Giants. In the last inning of the deciding decid-ing game between the Giants and Chicago Merkle apparently scored tho winning run, but O'Day saw that he had not touched second base. The crowd either did not know it or did not care. Every one took It for granted that the game had been won 'by the Giante aud thousands of fan? surged into the field. O'Day pushed his way through the throng to second base, -where Evers was standing with the ball, and yelled "You're '7njj'r TC-T"" "Tw;i"" "" " "" " ' 'TT I Silk O'Loughlln. out:" to Mi.-rkle, who was running to the club house It was all he could do to make himself heard above the howling of the mob, but when the meaning of his decision became known, that the New York team had lost the game and the championship, pandemonium pande-monium was let loose. Men struck at the mupiro. Players eamc to blows in attempting at-tempting 10 rescue him or leave him to I the mercy of the mob. I But O'Day forced his way toward the ,exif. dodging a blow now and then nnd rushing his assailants aside. Before he "'eft the field the management -thought it i ecessary to provide a police escort, and i the umpire who had seen his duty and acted when the man who should have rendered ren-dered the decision was silent, had to leave the ball park protected by policemen be-I be-I cause he had been fnir. I Almost all fans regard baseball players ond umpires .as enemies In the natural course of things, just as cats and dogs arc enemies by nature. And it looks as though the fans had the situation sized up about right. So long as a game is in progress It seems the natural thing for the players to dispute every decision which is iu any way close, but after the game most of the men who play will concede that the umpire was right in the great majority of decisions. I have talked to men after a game In which they had protested pretty nearly half the umpire's decisions, and with a sheepish look they have said: "Huh! I guess ho was right after all." It is the heat of the play that makes the men protc-st. An umpire has got to be just as square as human nature can be. They have to guard themselves against prejudicial decisions. They are built just like other men, and after Home player has heaped cartloads of abuse upon them it Is small wonder if some time the -umpire may actually see a close play a little to the detriment of that player. Some umpires go to such au extreme in their effort to be fair that they render decisions de-cisions against their own judgment because be-cause they arc afraid they will discriminate discrimin-ate against a man for personal reasons. Such a state of mind is likely to break down an umpire's nerve and render him Ubrless. Once he loses faith in his own judgment and decisions he is lost. Others will soon learn his state of mind, and the fans will easily rattle him. Then he is lost. How Umpires Are Recruited. That is why an umpire must hold absolutely ab-solutely aloof from the men whese play he is going to judge. Friendships art quite as dangerous as enmities. If the fans learn that on umpire is friendly to a player they will see favoritism in every decision which benefits hltn. If they k-arn that he has a personaOquarrel 'with a player they will read discrimination into eery decision against that player, aud besides be-sides this either friendship or enmity Is bound to have its effect on the umpire himself one waj- or another. Once a lack of faith in umpires becomes general baseball will go the way of horse iraciug. The integrity of the game, its cleanness, depends upon the umpires. "Umpires arc recruited for the big leagues just as players are. Scouts who watch the work of players in minor leagues and throughout the country also keep their eyes on umpires. When they sec a man who is rendering close decisions in a manner man-ner that makes him stand out as an exceptionally excep-tionally quick, clear headed judge, and standing by his decisions through the mimic warfare which often attends dis- pntcs in minor leaguc-i, they arrange to give him a chance late In the season in a big league. riaycrs are tried out In tho early spring, but umpires are put through their paces late in the season. They arc given a chance to show what they can do with two teams near the bottom of tho ladder and in games which cannot materially affect the standing of the clubs. New umpires are subjected to the worst lend of ragging. The players tako advantage ad-vantage of their Inexperience to protest every decision where- there is -the slightest room for doubt, aud the fans gorge themselves them-selves with abuse in their endeavors to rattle the new mau. There is no personal animosity to.ward him. It Is perhaps just the same spirit that makes the sophomore sopho-more in college bt' the freshman. Mauy a little tragedy is enacted in a ball park when a new umpire dons hi$ mask and chest protector. The world looms big and bright to the man who takes his place behind the catcher for the first t:mc In a big league game. Air castles ''.-i s'fjlBBBBJBBflBt"'-:''' I - - v.aBBB!?v7b3BBBb'' '? x& tp;.? ''B&'V' jflBBBjh &(&" K " - k jhE9bB ft& &'' ' aJp bEBPIbBh iI'.'j yBBfiBfifBfifififififlfififl w-v -jdBBBBBBBBBBBBflBBBI l'iBBBBBBJBBBBBBBBBBJ "Hank"'0'Day rise quickly, but if he cannot stand the lest of ragging and abuse the castles tumble about his head. If he breaks under the strain the chances rre he -will never be of use as an umpire asain, either in big or little league. Somo umpires are open to reason, but most of them stick stubbornly to a decision deci-sion once they have rendered it aud live or die by their first word. "Hank" O'Day I-; one of this kind. "The umpire is always right," he once said. "Especially when I am the umpire." um-pire." i "Silk" O'Loughlln ia another umplru Bfll who abides by a decision once he has 'Rfll stated his nilnd. Mr. O'Loughlln has MM never been known to become ruffled in tho i. "JbH course of a dispute. He dresses In almost T Kfl extreme style, and his boots always re- ''sMflB fleet the rays of tho sun. It Is a sayins 'SflB among the players that they dare not slide 'lIH for a base when O'Loughlin is near it for IflfH fear of damaging themselves against tho tHil knifelike crease of his trouser-legs. ( VBh It ia "Silk" O'Loughlln -whd la-respon- JI siblo for the expression "Strike rnh," VflV which has become- famous. '! For an umpire to put a player out of a M game calls forth greater wrath from the I 1 fans than almost any other act Hundreds ! L of persona attend' certain baseball games i 'H merely to see their favorites in action, and ! BH if that favorite happens to be sent oft tho field they feel they have gone to the ball park for nothing. They do not hear th f trend of the conversation which leads up to the suspension of iht player, and thc-3 liH vent their wrath on the umpire 'as the agent which is working continually fcr ! V their discomfiture. HU Are a Congenial 'Set. ' Hfl Players often try to force the umpire to hSH put them out of the gamt because they B have an engagement and the manager of the team will not let them off for the day. HH Usually an umpire is "wise" to this fact BbH and refuses to put a man out of the game unless his actions become so flagrantly in- HHH suiting that the official realizes he will ll lose caste with the fans and with the visit- 11 lug team if he does not take drastic action. Bl The umpire must rule the game, and the Bl players know it, so they shout all sorts of Hl remarks and execute various pantomimes JBI to belittle him. The umpire is forced to H mo.in.tn.itv !- dig-nltTnbo'v ll elkeyaod. IVII even though he may know that it Is all a Rl put-up game he frequently feels obliged to lE.'l send a player to the club house. flll As a matter of fact, the umpires in the big leagues to-day are a pretty congenial IH set of men with seor.es of friends, but dur- H ing the ssason they must not exploit their H friendships, especially with baseball play- IH There is a. story told of an umpire who IJ tried to pass two men Into a ball game. i n The gatcuian refused to allow it aud the ,H umpire sent word to the manager that he was at the gate with two friends whom Bl he would like to get into the park. VH "If there's au umpire in this town with H two friends," was the message from the a manager, "by all means let them into the H |