364
An Umpire's Experience in France
Unique Events in the Life of a Baseball Arbiter with the Doughboys
By ALEX SULLIVAN
J
the baseball fans of America, was asACK B A R R Y , the former big
signed to umpire a regularly scheduled
league star, who at one time playleague game in Coblenz, Germany. Ared on the Giants, and is now conriving there he saw thousands of the
nected with the athletic department of
A. E. F. men lined up on either side of
the Knights of Columbus in Paris,
the diamond anxiously awaiting the call
writes an interesting letter on baseball.
to play ball. Having been an umpire
He makes a suggestion, that, if adopted
of experience in the States and with a
by the big leagues, would prevent the
full knowledge that military police prolives of the umpires being in danger in
tection was necessary before the crowd
any particular bitter series of chamof frenzied doughboy fans, Bill said to
pionship games.
an officer who was standing close b y :
Barry has learned of a way to stop
pop-bottle throwing, or cries of
"kill the umpire."
Jack's idea, or at
least the idea that
he received from
Billy Friel, a n o t h e r old - time
p l a y e r and star,
who is also a K. of
C. secretary, is to
have a brass band
on hand and to
have them strike
up
"The Star
Spangled Banner"
when things look
s q u a l l y . Here's
Barry's letter to
William P. Larkin,
American overseas
d i r e c t o r of the
Knights of Columbus:
"While the life
over here, awaiting
Aeroplanes circling over a baseball game in progress
return home,
is
not all sunshine, yet many a hearty
" 'Major, I don't see any M. P.'s about
laugh has been provoked which seems
here, so before I start the game I want
to me to be worth recording.
to feel sure that in the event of a riot
I will have protection.'
"Umpiring baseball games in which
"Said the major: 'Oh, that's all right,
the doughboy was concerned sometimes
Mr. Umpire, don't worry for we have
requires the ability and also the agility
everything arranged for your protection
of men of the class of Hank O'Day, Bill
in case of trouble.' But this seeming
Klem and other such past masters in
assurance did not quite satisfy the u m the art of handling the indicator. Let
pire who insisted on knowing what the
me assure you that when the American
major had in mind. Then it was learnDoughboy has a few hundred francs bet
ed that the colonel had arranged with
on his favorite team it behooves the
the band, which was in readiness, to
arbiter to be very, very cautious as to
strike up 'The Star Spangled Banner,'
his decisions because that same doughif trouble occurred, which meant that
boy knows the game of baseball backeveryone must stand 'Attention!'
wards, so any ruling given should be
strictly according to rule. W h e n I had
"This is a hunch to John Heydler of
an umpiring assignment that I knew
the National League and Ban Johnson
was for a real contest I managed to find
of the American League to have a band
business elsewhere.
travel with the umpires all season, thus
"Bill Friel, athletic secretary for the
assuring peace among players and arKnights of Columbus, well-known to
biters."
Jack Barry also writes to William P.
Larkin, American director of overseas
activities, an interesting letter singing
the praises of T o m m y O'Mara, the K.
of C. secretary, who rode 150 miles in
an aeroplane so as to be on time to u m pire a ball game for the soldiers.
"One of the real live wires of the
Knights of Columbus athletic staff has
proven to be T o m m y O'Mara of Detroit.
Since the signing of the armistice it has
been no easy job to keep the men of
the A. E. F. in an
even frame of mind
because the thought
uppermost in their
minds was a sight
of the Statue of
L i b e r t y , which
monument
would
see them a g a i n
only by an 'about
face,' the doughboy was wont to
say:
" ' W e have paid
our debt to Lafayette—what the hell
do we care now?
Let's go home.'
"When
boxing,
baseball and other
forms - of athletic
entertainment were
needed to inject a
bit of spice into
the o r d i n a r i l y
dreary life of the
in France
A. E. F. O'Mara
would be called and no one better qualified could have been selected.
His success and popularity were often
clearly proven when calls were made
for him to the Knights of Columbus
athletic department.
"While working amongst the boxers
he developed a number of boys who
will most likely be heard from in the
states through the medium of the roped
arena. Just at this present writing,
however, Jack Dempsey has no immediate cause for worry.
"In the field of baseball he first attracted attention as a student of Villa
Nova College, after which he played
and umpired in several minor leagues.
This experience stood him in good
stead while acting as official umpire in
the A. E. F. league games, which assignment required no little ability, for
(Continued on page 373)
B ASEBALL M AGAZINE for O CTOBER
373
traveling from Colombey-Les-Belles,
France, to Trier, Germany, in an aeroplane, a distance of about 150 miles, in
order to be on time to umpire a baseball game, to which he was assigned,
will cause him to go down in history as
the first umpire to perform such a feat.
AN UMPIRE'S EXPERIENCE
(Continued
from
364)
our grand little doughboy is thoroughly
familiar with the rules of America's national pastime so that an umpire must
be quite right as to his decisions.
O'Mara's work here has been highly
commented upon by the army officials
who sent him many congratulatory letters. Next year will likely find O'Mara
a leading umpire in some Class AA
league in the United States; his excellent work here in handling the indicator warrants such a prophecy.
"Without doubt O'Mara's stunt of