A LITTLE BIT OF THE REAL SPORTING DOPE
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The 'fans'' who are the first to holler
when one of their favorites is benched,
are the first ones to holler when a game
is lost. Times have changed, wonder
fully since the old days when baseball
players were intemperate "roughnecks"
who found it difficult to get into good
hotels because of their roughness. But
the fact still remains that good ball play
ers are surrounded by many temptations,
and as a result some get the swell head
and others get the "busthead." And,
again, many players resent discipline and
get crosswise with their managers, or be
come seized with the idea that they know
better than managers or owners what
should be done on the field. The Dopester
of this department personally knows
nothing of the inside workings of the
Antelopes, but when President Despain
says "indifferent playing" we accept that
as final. And whatever President Des
pain does with the team is his business.
II is money is invested in it, and if he
loses money through mistakes in manage
ment, that is his affair. lint no one who
follows the game can deny that Despain
is perfectly right in insisting upon get
ting the service he pays for, and no mat
ter how much of a favorite a player may
be with the "fans;" that favorite should
come through with the goods all the time.
Once upon a time, a great many years
ago when The Dopster of this department
was a whole lot younger and possessed of
a great deal of knowledge that wasn't so,
he quit a mighty good job in a huff, think
ing away down in his heart that the
boss couldn't get along without him.
That boss and his business are still on
earth, the boss is a millionaire and the
business one of the greatest in its section
of the country. Since then The Dopester
hasn't been so almighty confident of his
wonderful ability. Some ball players may
imagine that their services can not be dis
pensed with, but they might die. Then
the management would have to hustle.
And the wise manager will prefer hust
ling rather than taking chances. There's
a moral concealed somewhere in this
paragraph that others than ball players
might search out with profit.
President Tip O'Neill, long distance
executive of the Western League has de
cided that Lincoln-Omaha protest in fav
or of Omaha. To do so he had to call in
a tallow-spined umps and prevail upon
him to reverse a ruling made a year ago
under precisely the same conditions. The
absent treatment system of presiding
over the affairs of the Western League
is not proving beneficial to the game.
The Western League is of such impor
tance in baseball circles that it should
not be made a kindergarten for umpire
truing, nqr a, refuge for decrepit and.
superannuated umpires. The umpiring
in this loop has passed the joke stage and
become a serious menace to the future
of the circuit. Everything from strabis
mus to paresis seems to be afflicting the
arbitrators that O'Neill sends along.
When Holland first began complaining
about the treatment of visiting players in
Denver we chortled with glee. But of
late we have begun to believe that Hol
land wras not vociferating through his
chapeaii. In Denver umps who wouldn't
dare drive a canine off the diamond else
where, banish visiting players without
the shadoAv of an excuse, seemingly
watching for chances to cripple visiting
teams. On the other hand the Denver
team is permitted to indulge in any old
tactics, and the "pop bottle brigade" is
always in evidence. It's up to Tip
O'Neill to earn his salary by getting out
in this section of the country and giving
this league the personal supervision U is
entitled to.
Fairweather and Towne are exehibit
ing a certified check for $5,000 received
as the purchase price of University
Clark. We have to believe it, but insist
that it proves our oft-repeated contention
that the best place on earth to sell gold
bricks is in the immediate vicinity of
Wall Street, and not out on the farms of
the west.
The man who believes that. Marty
O'Toole was sold for $22,000 also be
lieves that the moon is made of green
cheese.
Grover Cleveland Alexander of St.
Paul, Nebraska, mind you has signed
up for four years at a salary that is said
to make that of a supreme judge of the
United States look like the last week's
change of a ribbon clerk's vacation.
Joe Tinker was laid off for indifferent
playing, then got back into the game and
made a hit every time up, work two dou
ble plays, one of them unassisted, accept
ed a dozen chances without a bobble, stole
a couple of bases, and finished up by
stealing home. We stop the press long
enough to mention this merely, as a sort
o' consolation for some of the local
"fans" who appear to be somewhat dis
gruntled over disciplinary matters.
Denver has got a discouragingly long
lead, but one not impossible to overcome.
The Grizzlies must now hit the long trail,
and for a time at least they will not be
able to compel more than an even break
from the umpires, nor will they feel the
cheering influence of a roughneck pop
bottle brigade behind them. If two or
three teams in the loop will just check the
Grizzlies until our- own Awtelone can
catch their breath, we'll make Mr. Hen
dricks hesitate a bit before purchasing
a pole from which to fly that pennant.
The old pipe dream about reorganizing
western base ball and building a compact
circuit along the Missouri river is again
seen through the smoke. The pipe is
usually lighted up in the vicinity of Four
teenth and Farnam streets, Omaha.
If the Des Moines franchise has really
been sold, what's the matter with telling
the facts? It looks now too much like an
efort to help pull Higgins out of a hole,
though leaving him owner of the club.
Higgins must be pried loose and shoved
off the base ball earth, else Des Moines
will be an incubus on the Western that
will sooner or later strangle it.
We expect to meet 17,000 of our
friends during the Denver-Lincoln series
on the local lot, each one with the proper
introduction at the admission gate. And
we want every bloomin' one of them to
be there with the rootlets. We've got to
wipe that blot from our escutcheon. If
we can manage to make it three straight
from the Grizzlies by fair means and
not by umpire favoritism we'll feel a
lot better than we've been feeling during
the last few days.
We regret very much that President
Despain has not seen fit to select a new
manager from among those knowledge
ous ones in grandstand and bleacher who
know more about running ball teams
than Chance, Comiskey, Connie Mack or
the man who invented the game. We can
sit any old where in Antelope park and
pick out better team managers than any
now disporting themselves upon the dia
mond in this or any ovher country. Some
of them are such splendid ball players
.that they can't hold a job at anything
else or that, either.
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