Posted: Wednesday, 07/17/13
THE TRENTONAIN
By Jay Dunn
jdunn@trentonian.com

Fred Snodgrass, Hack Wilson, Mickey Owens and Bill Buckner were all good ball players. Yet every one of them had the misfortune to misplay a ball at a critical moment in a World Series game. No matter how good they were, their critical misplays will always be part of their legacies.
In baseball parlance, such players are called goats.Curiously enough, however, none of them would rank at the top of anyone’s list of being the most notorious goat of all time. Not even close.
A player named Fred Merkle put himself at the top of baseball’s all-time goat list in 1908. In the past 105 years no one has challenged his status.
Unlike the other famous gaffes, Merkle’s defining moment did not come in a World Series, and it did not involve a misplayed ball. It involved a base running mistake that actually was quite common in his era.
Merkle was the runner on first base when teammate Al Bridwell delivered what appeared to be a game-winning hit, scoring a runner from third, in a crucial September game. All Merkle had to do was run down to second and tag the base, but instead he ran straight to the clubhouse. That mistake cost his team, the New York Giants, the 1908 National League pennant.
Merkle was a teenager and seldom-used reserve on that team. He started at first base for the only time all year Sept. 23 when the Giants hosted the Chicago Cubs in a critical afternoon game. The teams were in a virtual tie for first place, and each led the third-place Pittsburgh Pirates by only one game.
To fully understand what happened that day, there are some facts you need to know.
The game was played in the Polo Grounds, an oval-shaped ballpark with a very deep center field and both clubhouses positioned beyond the centerfield wall. The moment a game ended it was traditional that the spectators were allowed to run onto the field while the players made a desperate dash for those clubhouses. Understand, also, that in 1908 every manager was his own third-base coach. The first-base coach was a player not in the lineup, usually a pitcher. On this day Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity was coaching first for the Giants.
The National League consisted of eight teams and retained the services of only six umpires. More often than not, one umpire worked the game by himself, but for a big game like this two men were assigned. Hank O’Day handled the plate with the assistance of Bob Emslie on the bases.
O’Day, nicknamed “The Reverend,” was probably the premier umpire in the game. He prided himself
in being fair and accurate. On Sept. 4 he had worked a game in Pittsburgh in which the Pirates beat the Cubs, 1-0, on a walkoff single with two out. Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers protested to O’Day that the Pirates runner on first base had failed to tag second. O’Day was forced to admit that he hadn’t noticed but promised Evers he would never make that mistake again. Neither man forgot.
On Sept. 23, when Merkle neglected to tag second base, O’Day noted it. So did Evers, who, despite the fans swirling around him, stood on the bag and called for the ball. Horrified, McGinnity saw what was happening and began running after Merkle. He never caught up with the youngster but he did manage to intercept the throw from right field that was intended for Evers. He flung the ball into the stands and continued running.
Somehow in the ensuing confusion Evers still wound up with a ball in his glove and appealed to O’Day, who deferred, pointing out the call on the bases was Emslie’s responsibility. Emslie admitted he had been watching first base and had no idea whether Merkle properly tagged second.
The umpires then withdrew for a private conference. O’Day informed Emslie that, true to his promise, he had watched second base and could confirm Evers’ claim that Merkle had failed to tag second base. However, he emphasized, it was still Emslie’s call to make. Emslie ruled that Merkle was out, which negated the winning run. O’Day then called the game on account of darkness, meaning it would go into the books as a 1-1 tie and would have to be replayed.
Giants manager John McGraw immediately protested the ruling, claiming the Giants were being deprived of the victory for a technicality. He had a point. What Merkle had done was commonplace at the time, but the rulebook supported Evers’ claim. National League president Harry Pulliam probably didn’t want to rule on the protest. He waited as long as he dared, probably hoping that the pennant race wouldn’t come down to this game. Finally, when he could wait no longer, he upheld his umpires and denied the Giants’ protest.
When all other results were in, the Giants and Cubs shared first place. The Sept, 23 game was ordered replayed, with the National League pennant hanging in the balance. The Cubs won the game this time and went on to win the World Series, which is still the last one they have ever won.
A year later, most of baseball went into mourning when Pulliam used a pistol to take his own life. Not McGraw. “I didn’t know they made a bullet powerful enough to penetrate that thick skull,” he sneered unsympathetically. He was more sympathetic toward Merkle, whom he defended until the day he died. Merkle went on to enjoy a 16-year career and compiled a .273 lifetime batting average. But he never shook the nickname “Bonehead”, which he acquired, fairly or unfairly, on Sept. 23, 1908. It will be his misfortune to always be remembered as the game’s greatest goat.
— Hall of Fame voter Jay Dunn has covered baseball for The Trentonian for 45 years. Contact him at jaydunn8@aol.com.

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