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 practices of certain managers at one time threatened the very life of the game itself; for always and everywhere the prosperity of Base Ball has depended upon public confidence in its integrity, and whenever and wherever that has been withdrawn serious injury has followed.

Some years ago unprincipled, narrow-minded men in control of league teams conceived the idea of working umpires for rulings uniformly favorable to their players by vicious methods. If the president of the league happened to be a weakling, they would manage it through him. Umpires who would not give their nines the best of every close decision would be protested and changed. The telegraph wires were kept hot with messages from such magnates demanding that this umpire be sent here, and that umpire be sent there, and the other umpire be sent elsewhere, to meet the whims and caprices of these persistent mischief-makers. The result was that upright umpires lost heart and withdrew from the game. Weak and dishonest umpires were handled at will, to the disgust of players and the public, and to the very great injury of the sport.

There was a time when the owner of the New York club practically dictated what umpires should and should not officiate at games upon the Polo Grounds of that city, and at that time this practice was general throughout leagues where weak-kneed presidents would permit it. The result of the pernicious action was shown in many ways. It caused the presence in the game of dishonest and incompetent umpires; it offered a premium on rowdy ball; it begot disgust and mistrust on the part of the