his connection with it.




THE UMPIRES


The umpires are always with us, and the umpire problem has been a
vexation of Base Ball since the beginning of Base Ball time, yet neither
the umpires, the public, the club owners nor the league officials need
be discouraged, for it was fully proved in 1912 that umpiring, as a fine
art, has advanced a step nearer perfection. We may well doubt that
perfection in its every quality shall ever be achieved, but we may all
feel sanguine that it is possible to realize better results.

It is true that some men make better umpires than others, exactly as
some men make better ball players than others, but it is also true that
if the men who find it the hardest task to become the most expert
umpires would be given a little more encouragement they might be a
little more successful.

To the staff of umpires of the National League and the American League
it is but fair to render a compliment for their work of last season.
Some of them made mistakes but the general average of work on the part
of the judges of play was excellent.

There was less tendency on the part of the umpires to render their
decisions without being in a position to follow the play correctly. They
were occasionally willing to concede that they might have been wrong