For instance, if a player is at bat and another on the bases and two are out and an attempt is made to steal second, as the chief umpire calls the batter out on strikes the public should be clearly informed that the batter is out. If the play looks close at second base the crowd frequently believes the runner has been called out and resents it accordingly. In line with the same play, when the runner is called out and the fourth ball at the same time is called on the batter, the chief umpire should turn to the spectators and to the press box and make it clearly understood that the batter has been given a base on balls. It saves a great deal of annoyance and fault finding. By the way, although it has been said elsewhere, the Editor of the GUIDE would beg the indulgence of repetition by stating that the work of the umpires during the world's series of 1912 was one of the finest exhibitions of its kind ever seen on a ball field, and somehow it seemed as if the players, would they but deport themselves during all series as they did during the world's series might find that there are more good umpires in the world after all than bad ones. BASE BALL WRITERS OF THE SOUTH While the Base Ball writers of the cities which comprise the Southern Association have no organized membership similar to the Base Ball Writers' Association of the major leagues and the organizations which are best known as the class AA leagues, they are a clever, hard-working group of young men, who have labored in season and out of season, not only to build up Base Ball but to build it up on the right lines. Experience of more than a quarter of a century has most abundantly proved that the standard of Base Ball has steadily been elevated. It needs no compilation of fact nor any dogmatic assertion on the part of the Editor of the GUIDE to attest that fact. It is a present condition which speaks for itself. The general tone of the players is far higher than it was and there has come into evidence a marked improvement in the spirit of the men who own Base Ball clubs. In the earlier history of the sport there was a tendency to win by any means that did not actually cross the line of dishonesty. Later there came a season when the commercial end of the game tended to encroach upon the limits of the pastime. This has been repressed in the last two seasons and to-day the morale of Base Ball is of a higher type than it ever has been in the history of the pastime. It is a high class sport in the main, managed by high class, men for high class purposes.