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Show I siderateOf"HisUmps" WapF 1IL,, AUStJ E K'S- - 'Nfe '- v" ':l&i9!W 'If Than In Former Years SBfeUJC I a sfJKII 1 1 -Queer Accidents fiNESS ""NXifTT il I Sometimes Lead to WfiSHK ' (V ) S O ifl 1 Hi Wrong Decisions MKK m v v ' I 1 I M A wild-eyed player, rises from the H' dust around Becond base, bruBblng H bis trousers as he makes a rush at Hl the blue clad official whose back- H ward jerked thumb has ruled H' against him on a cloBe play. H The manager trots out .from the H; dugout H The coachers come from their H: places at first and third. H' The opposing players toss the ball H around and adopt that, "Wo should Hj worry" air which is so exasperat- H; ing to the homo crowd. H The fans yell In derision. H For a time it appears that tho H: European war is going to break all Hl over again In the center of that dia- Hj mond. Then the arbiter backs slow- H'1 ly away, the grumbling players rc- Hi sumo their stations, the man vho Hj was called out makes a convcrsa- H tional way to the bench, and tho Hl storm is over. H It's a merry life for the "umps." Hl The wonder is that ho so often is H right, not that ho does not "see 'em." H Players, say some of the best um- Hi pires in tho business, are usually Hr fair, much more so than the crowds H; themBelveB. Rowdyism has died out Hj of the game to a largo extent Hi Umpire Hlgler and "Buck" Her- H zog, manager of tho Cincinnati team, H: "mixed" in a gamo early in! tho sea- Hj son. Higler struck Herzog over tho W faco with his mask. And yet, tho w chances are good that nothing would 1 have happened had it not been for a H bad habit of Umpire Hart which H , caused tho entlro rumpus. H LEABEfG Hj ALESSOK. H: Mai Eauon, in dlacuBBlng the trials ' and tribulations of umpires not long H. ago, remarked that ho once learned H a lesson which he would never for- H "X nover turn, my back on a play H until tho ball is back in the pltch- H or'B hands," declared the National H league arbiter. "There are so many H things that can happen." H But that is Just what Hart din in H tho game which resulted in tho Rlg- H lor-Herzog clash. H ' Leach had reached second safely H and Huggina had taken tho ball from 11 the outfield. Leach was safe by H miles and there was no chanco that H Hart would have a decision to make. H The umpire was facing the play H when Leach went into tho bag. As Hi Leach arose, Hart turned his back Hj and walked to a place behind tho Hi pitcher. He did not wait to see Hj whether Huggina had thrown tho H The result was that Huggina H pulled tho hidden ball trick -while Hi tho field umpire's back waB turned. Hi Naturally, as Hart did not seo tho Bj play, ho could not rule on it Hug- H Eius appealed to Riglor, who called B Leach out Horzog insisted that it H was Hart's duty to rule on the play H. and that Riglor could not see it from HL behind, the plate. H. There were, of course some ele- H ments of juBtice in the position tak- H en. by Herzog. But the funny thing BsBsa wW -BB&m&fifos flBk jf wM&$B$Mm$m$it$MUl, h AJ, 1. -w Va ?C M WHbIbBMbWbIKWM'"" He. nL . 'fill , I f 1123111 ;. of It and tho funny thing that the fans so often fall to see is that Rig-ler Rig-ler was right Leach was caught off tho bag by a good foot. Only, Hart, who should havo made tho decision did not seo it RELATIONS. PECULIAR Ball players and their relations to the umpire aro funny. Not long ago an American league umpire made a close decision on a play which made the playing manager of ono toam look like a mutt in front of his players. play-ers. Tho manager, who is ono of tho best fellow's in the gamo is far from being an umpire baiter, put up an awful yell. Ho camo near b?ing banished from tho gamo. "Why, you poor boob," said tho umps, "ask any of your own players. play-ers. They'll tell you that you were out by a mile." Tho manager did. And tho next inning, as ho took the field, ho muttered mut-tered to tho "umpB" in a shamc-shamo-faced sort of way, "I'm sorry I said what I did. I guess ho had me, all right" That incident is an example of the falrnesB of most ball players toward tho umpires. "I don't mind tho guys that como in and toll thclf managers tho truth," said Billy Evans ono day. "It's tho chaps that insist, even on tho bench, that they got tho worst of a decision who get my goat. "Tho crowds aro pretty Taw on the boyB when they got caught oft first, or happen to mako some boob play that looks bad even if it is close. FAIRNESS GF PLAYERS. "Tho player's only alibi is to register regis-ter a good healthy kick. If ho Ib a . regular guy he will come into tho bench and Inform his boss that ho was out But if ho isn't ho will con- tinuo that holler all afternoon on the bench. Tho result Is that every player on the team believes his eldo has been given the worst of it and they yelp on all tho closo ones until un-til the last man is out" As an instanco of how often the . , player is wrong, the fans aro wrong and tho umpire is right there occurred oc-curred a play in the Federal lcaguo this year which caused tho manager of one team to bo ousted, almost suspended, sus-pended, sent ono player to the club houso and made tho lifo of Umpire Westervelt a nightmare whenever ho appeared In that town for weeks afterwards. It was a closo game. Thero was a runner on first and tho batter drove ono down to second. Tho shortstop short-stop had .been playing over near third and when tho ball was hit he came on the dead run to tako tho throw at second and complete a doublo play. Tho short stop had his speed guaged to a nicety. Ho expected tho second baseman to throw at once. That would havo put him on the bag as ho received tho ball and ho would bo ablo to throw to first without with-out stopping. But for somo reason, probably be cause ho wanted to wait until tho shortstop got nearor tho base, tho second baseman did not throw at once. Tho result was the shortstop short-stop could not check himself. His momentum carried him over tho bag a3 ho received tho ball. Ho mado tho throw to first and got his man there, but Westervelt called tho runner at second safe. To every fan in tho park and to a majority of iho players, tho play was ao quick and It seemed so certain 'that the shortstop had gotton tho ball as ho stopped on tho bag, that everyone thought tho decision was "rotten' But tho shortstop later acknowledged acknowl-edged that-ho-was-xsarrlcd over tho iclSSftrX 5 gvyTJwXcyJrtHMBWi XT&Zi?CsZ, ?Wjx5. V. i If VwJ3 H tall till SvfH uvVHn fHlHBf&i I 41 wiik 18k !i t&l$&w$SSEaL MKPafw hi mllllllllllM Mil - ' . Ko iW iXBssSSSSSsmtK viHbBbb9b19bB i WjfVkitSk WSSSk IHwCr iJWflaHWBBHlB-j r ' BmBBBM&rvMryfBlBW I jvfjO flBBKOIfi IbBSk iOHMSbV' ' i BwKfffffiffPTri 38ws v v' JB m IbWHb! 1 UMPIPE BOB WALLACE ffisMfflr MJBm Vi BllJ9 the bag and was not on it when ho got tho throw. The truth is that the play "was decided unusually well AS IT SHOULD BE. Thoro's another funny thing about umpires that I doubt if one fan in a hundred knows. Probably there aro many readers of this story who bcliovo that an umpire calls a closo one at first aB ho sees it Ho nover does. Ho calls It as he hears It Mai Eacon told mo this. He says that be always calls a first bauo play aa tho.flound-oLiho-foot-strJk- ing the bag comes with tho thump of the ball striking tho glovo. Tho sounds are entirely different If tho foot sound comCB first tho runner is safo and vico versa. "It woijld bo moro than impossible," impossi-ble," says Easou, "it would bo pure guesswork to catch a play at first by eyesight It ia different with a runner going into second or third. Thero you aro almost on top of tho play and can follow tho' course of the ball and the foot with your eye. You can't do It with a runner coming com-ing into first standing up.'; - x r TOMMV LEACH I Theso aro but a few incidents of . hc peculiar relations between tho i umpire and the ball plavor aud thf t fana. Verily, it's a lifo j bIbbVbbIbbH |