Old Missoula

Rasty Wright – Beloved Baseball Umpire – 1913

Brave Is Attitude of Famous Old Umpire

“Rasty” Wright Battles Against Old Enemy With Cheerful Smile.

Up in the mouth of Hell Gate canyon, where the frost is heaviest and the wind sharpest, “Rasty” Wright, peer of Union League umpires and cherished friend of everyone who has ever come into personal contact with him, is facing the approach of winter, strongest ally of his life-long enemy, rheumatism, with a smile on his face. Crippled so that he cannot walk or use his hands; unable to move a muscle to keep wood on the fire and food in the fireplace, “Rasty” is making his bitter cheerless fight without a whimper or a word of complaint. To his occasional visitors his smile is as cheerful as ever, his greeting as warm as in days gone by. Behind a brave front he hides the agony of a burden that would have crushed most men long ago.

As often as his dwindling resources will permit “Rasty” rides to the city for treatment which scarcely serves to temper the constant pain that the approach of winter is increasing. These visits are growing shorter and rarer; now he is but facing the inevitable end of his battle, forgotten by most of the friends of his prime solaced only by his plucky wife and his own determined optimism.

A Promising Start.

A few years ago Wright stood on the threshold of a brilliant baseball career. A hard-working, sober, well-liked young man with a world of speed and plenty of curves, he seemed due to climb to the summit of pitching fame. He rose rapidly from the minors and was pitching big league ball when the rheumatism first attacked his throwing arm. He dropped back to the minor leagues, but rallied against his enemy and rose again to fast company. The rheumatism got worse, though, and he was finally forced to stop pitching and to seek employment as an umpire.

Game Here as Umpire.

It was as an arbiter that “Rasty” first came to Missoula. His work behind the mask won him at once a place in the hearts of Union league fans. He was fair and honest and put his best into his work at all times. With the players, too, he was a favorite, though ruling them with an iron hand. More than one youngster owes his present place in the baseball world to the keen, frank advice of “Rasty” Wright. He wasn’t afraid to express his opinions and his knowledge of the game made it possible for him to analyze a failing and suggest a remedy.

Forced to Resign.

Then the rheumatism became worse. It affected his legs until he could no longer do his work. For weeks while it was torture for him to move, he kept at his task. When he found that he could no longer do what was expected of him he resigned.

During his first year in this league “Rasty” built a little home on the east side. Last winter he stayed there in continual torment. The cold weather increased his suffering, but he stuck manfully by the job. One week, while he was really too sick to move from the house, he got work as an ice-cutter and stood for hours at a time in the ice-cold water. There was nothing else for him to do, so he took what he could get even though it nearly killed him. This winter he is unable to set foot on the floor. His hands are swollen so that he can’t move a joint. His feet and knees are twice their size. Even his face is swollen. Yet, he doesn’t complain. His friends are greeted with a smile and receive no hint of the torture of that Herculean struggle with an irresistible enemy.

Merry Christmas.

This is the month of Christmas, the season when selfishness is most thoroughly overcome and the spirit of the Friend of All Men is most in evidence. Here in the midst of our holiday gaiety stands a real man, uncomforted and alone, fighting in the darkness a struggle incomprehensible to most of us, while we weakers and more cowardly Older Brothers feast in careless comfort. There is a lesson in it for us all; a chance for everyone of us to reach a hand’s breadth above ourselves. Wouldn’t the sacrifice of some trifle make your Christmas truer if you knew that it eased the bitter way of a crippled, smiling comrade? Wouldn’t it put happiness into your greetings and strength into your heart?

Merry Christmas! The giver, not the receiver, knows the true meaning of those words.

 

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on December 8, 1913.

 

A previous article in The Daily Missoulian in the summer of 1913 alerted Missoulians to the severity of “Rasty’s” condition. One local gentleman, Charles Elsey, initiated a “subscription plan” to help “Rasty” financially in the summer of 1913. He planned to mail a “subscription list” to leagues throughout the country, since “Rasty” was well known in baseball circles. Several hundred dollars were soon donated to help him. Also, not long after the above Christmas article appeared, a generous donation was given to “Rasty,” allowing him to move back to Ohio.

Baseball lore makes mention of more than one “Rasty” Wright. It appears there was at least three of them, and that Missoula’s “Rasty” was actually Clarence Eugene “Rasty” Wright. An article written by Anthony Bush for the Society for American Baseball Research, states that Missoula’s “Rasty” played in the major leagues from 1901 to 1904; for Brooklyn, Cleveland, and St. Louis.

“Rasty” was also mentioned in The Daily Missoulian for his work in counseling the temperamental “Skipper” Roberts who played for the Missoula Highlanders in the early Union Association. The very talented “Skipper” Roberts had a penchant for complaining and losing his temper, as well as a possessing some boxing skills. Though noted as extremely fast on the bases, Roberts was involved in more than one scrape that shortened a promising career in baseball. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals for 26 games in 1913.

For Missoula baseball junkies, Jeremy Watterson wrote a fascinating article about “Skipper” Roberts, with many references to his playing days in Missoula. The article appears in the website SABR – Society For American Baseball Research, linked below:

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/dd1040b1