So I get this book in the mail yesterday and it got me to thinking………
WeekendHacker
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My sister sent me this baseball book “100 classic moments in the history of the game” and it got me to thinking – what are the top 10 moments in baseball history? They could be on or off the field moments that impact the history of the game. My quick list off the top of my head:
10. Vandermeer throws back to back no hitters.
9. Cal Ripken’s games played streak
8. Willie Mays catch in the 1954 World Series
7. Strike in 1994 cancels World Series
6. Ted Williams hits .406
5. Nolan Ryan tosses 7th no hitter
4. White Sox throw World Series and get banned from the game
3. Red Sox come back from down 0-3 to win 2004 ALCS
2. Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth’s all time HR record
1. Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier 1947
I’m sure there are other moments that are more important or impacted the game more significantly, but again, this is just a quick list I came up with in about 2 minutes. Any thoughts?
10. Vandermeer throws back to back no hitters.
9. Cal Ripken’s games played streak
8. Willie Mays catch in the 1954 World Series
7. Strike in 1994 cancels World Series
6. Ted Williams hits .406
5. Nolan Ryan tosses 7th no hitter
4. White Sox throw World Series and get banned from the game
3. Red Sox come back from down 0-3 to win 2004 ALCS
2. Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth’s all time HR record
1. Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier 1947
I’m sure there are other moments that are more important or impacted the game more significantly, but again, this is just a quick list I came up with in about 2 minutes. Any thoughts?
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I think the merkle boner belongs on that list.
http://sportsfansnews.com/author/andy-fischer/
http://sportsfansnews.com/author/andy-fischer/
Go Phillies
Tommy John comes back from surgery
Kekich and Peterson trade families
Canseco popularizes steroids
Curt Flood challenges the reserve clause
Rick Monday and flag burners
Addition of LCS and DCS
Ray Chapman dies
Jim Bouton writes Ball Four
at the TV when I saw that. Amazing it was.
Out of control player salaries and its impact on the game between big money and small money teams should also be in there somewhere.
Frederick Charles Merkle was 19 years old in 1908 and in his second year with the Giants. New York's regular first baseman was Fred Tenney. Merkle, on occasion, pinch hit for the veteran Tenney and performed a utility role. The reporters noted that he was an excellent fielder and promised to be a good hitter too.
Merkle played the back up role well throughout the season. In 18 games, he fielded without error and made some noteworthy plays. He injured his foot in mid season and for awhile, there were concerns about blood poisoning. But the young lad recovered and was back on the bench in September for the final drive.
For most of the 1908 season that Alexander calls "the most closely fought and nerve-wracking competition in National League history, " the Giants, the Cubs and the Pirates engaged in a torrid race for the National League pennant. The Giants displayed the might of New York and the swagger of their fiery manager John McGraw. On the mound they featured the brilliant Christy Mathewson, the game's greatest pitcher at that time. Mathewson had the finest campaign of his career in 1908, leading the league in every category. He tossed twelve shutouts and his 37 wins are the modern day NL record. His ERA was 1.43, low even by the standards of the day.
In Chicago, the Cubs might not have scared anybody with their nickname, but they had plenty of might. It was a Chicagoan after all (William Hulburt) who had founded the National League in 1876. And these Cubs had won 223 games in the past two years, all the more incredible given this was with a 154 game schedule. (In their book Baseball Dynasties, Rob Neyer and Eddie Epstein rate the '06 Cubs as one of the best all time teams. Their standard deviation score is ranked second all-time).
The Cubs were the hallmark of a great dead ball era team - fast and aggressive on the base paths, solid defensively and they possesed great pitching. On the mound, their ace was Three Finger Brown, so named after he lost one and a half fingers to a corn chopper. Brown was the National League's second best pitcher behind Christy Mathewson. But he was at his best against the mighty "Matty." He would beat Mathewson nine straight times between 1905-1909.
The Cubs also sported baseball's most famous trio, the double play combination of Tinker to Evers to Chance. Perhaps you have heard of the poem that chronicled their fame. (Newspaper writer Frank Adams, who was a Giants fan, penned these famous lines in 1910 to fill eight lines of print).
Baseball's Sad Lexicon
These are the saddest of possible words
Tinker to Evers to Chance.
Trio of bear cubs and fleeter than birds,
Tinker to Evers to Chance.
Ruthlessly p*icking our gonfalon bubble
Making a Giant hit into a double
Words that are mighty with nothing but trouble,
Tinker-to Evers-to-Chance.
Statistically, it is a matter of debate how good these three men were. But there is little doubt that their contributions were invaluable to the Cubs' cause. Johnny Evers would play a particularly important role in the outcome of the pennant race that year. He knew the rules of baseball well and "stood alone in his almost fanatical obsession with the nuances of his profession."
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The Cubs raced out to a small lead in 1908, but when the dog days of summer arrived, here came the Pirates and the Giants. Pittsburgh then won 20 of 30 and stayed in first for five and a half weeks. On August 24th, the Giants swept the Pirates and moved into first place for the first time. On September 1st, the Giants were 69-45 and still in first. But they could not shake their foes. The Cubs roared back with 9 in a row and were a half game back. The Pirates were right there too, just one game back.
On September 4th, the Cubs and Pirates, both 1 game behind the Giants, squared for battle in Pittsburgh. In the tenth inning, with still no score, the Pirates loaded the bases. Then, Pittsburgh infielder John Wilson, stroked a hit past the diving Evers at second. The runner crossed the plate with the winning run. Warren Gill, who had been on first, broke for the bench before he touched second base.
The cheering crowd poured onto the infield as they would often do after a close, exciting game won by the home team. Gill had done what was the very common practice in those days. The rule technically requiring the runner to touch second was not enforced so that the runner could escape the mob. Years later, Fred Snodgrass, explained this situation to Lawrence Ritter in The Glory of Their Times.
As soon as a game was over at the Polo Grounds, the ushers would open the gates from the stands to the field and the people would all pour out and rush at you. All they wanted to do was touch you, or congratulate you or maybe cuss you out a bit. But because of that, we bench warmers made it a practice to sprint from the bench to the clubhouse as fast as we could."
Anderson (David W) also notes: "..Postgame security was not a high priority among the owners, and once a game ended, often it was every man for himself."
As the crowd at Pittsburgh's Expo Park (Forbes Field was built the following summer) celebrated yet another key victory, Cubs' second baseman Johnny Evers beckoned his centerfielder to toss him the ball hit by Wilson. The throw came in and Evers appealed to umpire Hank O'Day. Evers must have reminded O'Day what rule 59 states about the runner having to touch second base. Accounts differ on what O'Day did and said in response to Evers' appeal. Most agree that O'Day did not see the play.
The Cubs protested the matter to National League President Henry Pulliam. He disallowed the appeal, based on the fact that O'Day did not see the play. Pulliam can't be critisized for his decision and his statment, "I prefer to see games settled on the field and not in this office," seems to be a just one.
But Anderson (David W.) believes:
"the problem lay in what he did not do. While he alluded to the impact a third out on a force play would have, he did not comment on either the substance of the protest or the application of Rule 59... Had Pulliam taken the lead of the Pittsburgh Press and directed his umpires to be aware of the Gill play, there probably would have been no Merkle boner."
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The race for the National League pennant stayed closed through the remaining days of September. The Giants were on fire again, winners of 18 of 19 since September had arrived. But then Pittsburgh beat them twice and on September 22nd, the Cubs won both games of a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds. The Giants and Cubs were now tied for first and the Pirates were just a game and a half back. Pennant fever, a new term Dave Anderson tells us, stirred the nation like never before.
On September 23rd, the Giants and Cubs played game three of the four game set. No one in attendance that day had any idea that they were about to play "the most celebrated, most widely discussed, most controversial contest in the history of American sports."
Typical of a dead-ball era match (average runs scored that year per team was 3.4), this game was low scoring. After eight innings, the match was tied at 1. The Polo Grounds were packed in like sardines and the crowd cheered on the Giants and their ace Mathewson.
Mathewson held the Cubs in the ninth and so the Giants came to bat with a chance to win. There were only three weeks left in the season and a win against the Cubs would put the Giants back in first place. With one out, Art Devlin, the Giants' swift third baseman, singled. The crowd at the Polo Grounds "sensed a Giant victory" and came alive. The next Giant up grounded to Evers at second who tossed it to Tinker covering second for the force. Two out, the winning run still on first.
Up came Merkle, who was pressed into duty that day when Tenney came up lame with back injury. (Ironically, this was the only game in the entire season that Tenney did not start). In his limited role that year, Merkle had just 41 AB's in 39 games. But with the regular first baseman out, Merkle was called to duty. And now he responded and "ripped a long single down the right field line." The ball was fair by only a few feet and it might have scored McCormick but the Giants were taking no chances. McCormick went to third and Merkle stayed at first.
Al Bridwell, the Giants' shortstop who was batting about 285 (not too shabby for the times), stepped up to the plate. The huge crowd clapped a little harder. Bridwell would later say, "The first pitch came in to me and I promptly drilled a line drive past Johnny Evers into right-centerfield, a clean single." The fans roared with delight! McCormick crossed the plate with the winning run but Merkle, instead of touching second, turned and ran quickly back to the clubhouse to avoid the oncoming crowd. The game was over or so he and everyone else thought.
What happened after Bridwell's hit will never be fully ascertained. I have read about eight different accounts of what happened and the confusion is obvious. One account gives you the impression we know what happened, the others vary slightly and one honestly states that we will probably never know what exactly happened.
Evers (He deserves a lot of credit. This time Day was looking at Merkle and he was perhaps doing so because of Evers' appeal in Pittsburgh of the Gill incident) signaled and yelled to the Cubs' centerfielder Hofman. Hofman threw it back towards Evers but the ball went over his head. The Giants' third base coach, Joe McGinnity had sensed what the Cubs might try so he intercepted the ball and threw it into the left field bleachers. The ball or a ball appeared, Evers took it and stood on second.
One version says the umpires did not see Merkle's infraction. Another says Emslie asked O'Day if Merkle touched second. O'Day replied he did not and Emslie called him out. As all this was going on, the crowd "swarmed upon the diamond like an army of starving potato bugs." They were celebrating what they thought was a crucial Giant victory. The two umpires met, saw the gloam of twilight and decided nothing could be settled on account of darkness.
Later that night, O'Day ruled that Merkle was out and the next morning National League Harry Pulliam allowed the ruling, saying it had ended in a 1-1 tie. He stated that if a replay was necessary to decide the pennant, it would occur at the Polo Grounds on Thursday, October 8, the day after the completion of the regular schedule. McGraw, who hated Pulliam anyway, was furious, yet he has left himself open for criticism for not briefing his players on the situation.
Mathewson and the Giants beat the Cubs the next day 5-4. (The Cubs wanted the Merkle game to be made up that day as part of a doubleheader, but Pulliam's ruling stood). In the days to follow, the controversy raged on. No objectivity could be found, of course, in the press. The New York papers, some seven or eight strong, railed against the injustice dealt to the Giants. In Chicago, Evers was a hero. (Some thirty years later, umpire Bill Klem (the only umpire to ever be in ducted into the Hall of Fame), would say that Pulliam's refusal to rule in favor of the Giants was "the rottenest decision in the history of baseball....gutless thinking at League headquarters.")
Regardless of the unpopularity of the ruling (among Giant supporters), there were still three weeks left in the season. In those remaining days, the Giants and the Cubs and still the Pirates, battled down to the wire. Baseball fever was everywhere. Of this, The Sporting News noted:
...There is more interest today in the pennant races than in the outcome of the November election. Politicians are complaining about it, sages are writing about it in their political reviews and editorials are being penned about it, so there can be no mistake in thinking that such a situation exists. One local politician told me that four out of every five times he asked someone what he thought would be the outcome of the Presidential election the reply would be: "Oh, to ---- with that. Who's going to win the pennant?"
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On Friday, October 3rd, the Cubs won their seventh game in eight tries. But that great effort was not quite good enough to catch the Pirates. They won eight in a row and remained in first place. Here's how it stood at that point.
Pirates 97-55 - (Games to play: 2)
Giants 95-54 .5 (Games to play: 5)
Cubs 96-55 .5 (Games to play: 3)
The next day, the Giants lost to Philly pitcher Stan Coveleski. He had now defeated the Giants three times in the last five days. The Philadelphia Inquirer boasted: "Coveleski shot three holes through the Giants' armor in one week's time and has shoved McGraw and his tribe down to third place." Coveleski would not last in the majors but for now, he enjoyed his new fame and nickname - "The Giant Killer."
On that same Saturday, October 3rd, the Pirates won to hold onto first place. A showdown was now set. The Pirates would travel to Chicago, the final game for each team. Here was the situation:
If the Pirates (98-55) beat the Cubs, they would clinch the pennant and render the Merkle controversy inconsequential.
If the Cubs (97-55) beat the Pirates, they would clinch no worse than a tie with the Giants (95-55) and the Pirates would be eliminated. If the Cubs won and the Giants won their last three games against the Boston Braves, the 1-1 tie created by the Merkle controversy would be replayed Thursday at the Polo Grounds.
(Note: In those days, unplayed games that affected the pennant race were not played.)
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On Sunday, October 4th, pennant fever took a hold of the nation like it never had before and possibly never will. Chicago was the stage for one of the greatest days in baseball history. At South Side Park (III), thousands of fans who could not get into the game between the first place Tigers and the second place White Sox, stormed the gates. The swollen crowd watched in delight as the White Sox beat the Tigers and pulled almost even with Detroit. Over at the West Side Grounds (Wrigley Field would be built in 1914) "the largest crowd in baseball history at the time" witnessed "one of the most desperate and determined games in the history of baseball." In Pittsburgh, an estimated 50,000 people gathered downtown to listen to reports from men with megaphones. At the Polo Grounds, a large crowd gathered to watch the gameboard simulate the game.
The Pirates scored two runs against Three Finger Brown but it was not enough. The Cubs beat the Pirates 5-2 and eliminated them from the pennant race. Their fans spilled onto the diamond and the players were "carried over the field" for 15 minutes. Now the Cubs and the nation had to wait.
In New York, the Giants took those three games from the Braves. The Cubs and the Giants both stood at 89-55. Baseball now had its first pennant playoff game (Technically I suppose, this game was part of the regular season). The "Merkle Game", was set for Thursday, October 8th.
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The largest crowd ever to assemble for a baseball game (at that time) showed up at the Polo Grounds for the big game (In 1976, baseball historian Fred Lieb selected it as baseball's greatest game). Over 30,000 filled the Polo Grounds (its capacity was 16,000 at the time) and the large angry crowd that was left over "knocked down the right field fence and threatened to overrun the ball park." Some in the crowd who could not get in "went stark raving mad" and tried to burn down the fence. Others "produced some sort of battering ram and knocked several boards loose in the centerfield fence." Police had to use sticks and firemen had to repel them with hoses. Finally, most of the them retreated to Coogan's Bluff, a high area behind the stadium, and watched from there. Some even stood at subway platforms and in trees.
This game that would decide the National League pennant race and settle the score between these two mighty franchises and cities, begged to be close. The Giants had the best home record (52-24) while the Cubs countered with a nearly equal record on the road.
Christy Mathewson was overworked down the stretch and probably should not have started. He got the crowd going in the first by striking out the side. The Giants scored a run in their half but then the issue was settled rather quickly. The New York Tribune: "One terrible inning brought the Giants the sting of final defeat after a glorious struggling in the face of every possible discouragement and handicap. In the third, the Cubs made their case for justice." They scored 4 with Tinker, Evers and Chance in the mix. The Giants rallied in the seventh and loaded the bases. A run scored on a sacrifice fly but "the crowd gave a cry of despair" on the final out. The Cubs retired the Giants in order in the eighth and nine held on to win 4-2. The World Series would once again be a carnivorous affair.
The Cubs celebrated, taking special glee in knowing they had "p*icked" the Giants' "gonfalon bubble." But first they had to make it through the howling mob. When they headed for the clubhouse, they had to be rescued by police from the crowd who had turned angry.
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In the aftermath of this incredible game and season, some of the Giants' players took the loss real hard. George Toporcer writes: I still remember when the Cubs won the 1908 pennant. I cried myself to sleep that night."
In the press, Fred Merkle was blamed for the loss. But he was supported by his teammates. McGraw, who can be critisized for not informing his players about the "Gill play," said it was criminal to lay any blame on him. The Giants lost it, he said, explaining they had lost five games after the Merkle incident. His teammates in subsequent interviews exonerated him. Al Bridwell: " I think under those circumstances any player would have done the same thing Merkle did. They did it all the time in those days." Chief Meyers: "It was a technicality. We won that pennant and it was taken away from us. As the years went by, the smartest man on the club was Merkle. Bonehead, what a misnomer! He was one of the smartest men in baseball. It shows you what the newspapers can do."
The Chicago Cubs went on to win the World Series in 1908, won 104 games in both 1909 and 1910 and thus it can be argued that they were baseball's first dynasty in the modern era. It's fun to speculate how the '06 - '10 Cubs would be regarded had they not won the 08 pennant over the Giants. As a Giants fan, I am sometimes able to ease the pain of thinking about how the Giants were "robbed" of the pennant, by realizing Cubs fans don't have too many World Series wins to remember. In fact, aught eight was their last.
In 1946, Tinker, Evers and Chance to the Hall of Fame were elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee. Their selection has raised eyebrows. Critics pointed to their questionable overall stats. Supporters, I suppose, point to the three pennants in a row, the back to back World Series, the greatness of the team in the second half of the decade and in Evers case, maybe even his pennant winning protest.
The Pittsburgh Pirates stopped the Cubs dynastic run by winning 110 games and the pennnant in 1909. They won the World Series that year but did not return until 1925. In 1936, the baseball writers of that era chose the first five players to be immortalized in the Hall of Fame. Four of the "Select Five" - the Pirates' Honus Wagner, the Tigers' Ty Cobb, the Giants' Christy Mathewson and the Senators' Walter Johnson - had all been key participants in the 1908 pennant races. (Babe Ruth was the fifth selectee).
In the years that followed 1908, the Giants, led by McGraw, became the only long term dynasty in the National League, winning pennants in 11,12,13,17, 21-24 and the World Series in 21 and 22. McGraw certainly tasted his share of glory, but seemed to be snake-bitten at key moments in the World Series. The Merkle play is the most publisized mistake made by a Giant, but McGraw's Giants lost two World Series due in part to critical errors by his fielders.
Another Fred, centerfielder Fred Snodgrass probably cost New York the World Series in 1912 when he dropped a fly ball in the tenth inning of Game Seven. Five years later, the Giants infield really screwed up in the sixth and final game of the 1917 World Series against Chicago's other team. In the fourth inning, with no one out and White Sox on first and third, the Giants allowed Eddie Collins to race home as third baseman Hienie Zimmerman chased him in vain in a botched pickle play. Zimmerman, like Merkle and Snodgrass, was unfairly roasted. This time, the creative writers overlooked the fact that the goat was first baseman Walt Holke for not covering home.
Fred Merkle went on to have a decent career with the Giants. He was their full time first baseman and played on the pennant winners in '11, '12 and '13. He led the Giants in home runs in 1912, 1914 and 1915. His tenth-inning sacrifice fly won Game Five of the 1911 World Series and his clutch single in the top of the tenth inning of Game Seven of the 1912 World Series would have been the Series winner if the Giants had been able to hold onto the lead.
But the press in this era was, as Bill James notes, "was very aggressive and would crucify a player who made a misplay at a crucial moment, or who played poorly in the World Series." The mistake lingered in mainstream thought and a Broadway comedian joked, "I call my cane Merkle because it has a bone head." Fans were amused and the nickname and the story stuck. Merkle became Fred "Bonehead" Merkle. A teammate said he "took more abuse and vituperation than any other nineteen year old I've ever heard of."
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Fred Merkle finished his career in quite an ironic way. He was traded to the Dodgers in the second half of the 1916 season, who then traded him to the Cubs at the start of the following season. Merkle was Chicago's first baseman for each of the four years he played for them and was part of the pennant winning 1918 team. He then retired from baseball for a while, but returned to play in a few games in 1925 and 1926 with another Giant nemesis, the Yankees.
Merkle retired after the 1926 season, the owner of a respectable 273 batting average and probably still a broken heart. The press still hounded him for interviews and so he retreated to the seclusion of Florida. Finally, in 1950, he accepted an invitation to an Old-Timers Day at the Polo Grounds. It must have been a haunting experience for him, walking back to the site where he got that crucial hit but received so much undeserved blame. This time though, he received a warm greeting and enjoyed the festivities.
Fred Merkle spent his remaining days in Daytona Beach. He became ill and passed away on March 2nd, 1956. Some years earlier, he had given an interview. In the back of a tackle shop, he told the reporter, "I suppose when I die, they'll put on my tombstone, 'Here Lies Bonehead Merkle.'"
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Sources:
Anderson, Dave. Pennant Races, Baseball at its Best.
Anderson, David W. More than Merkle.
Alexander, Charles C. Baseball: Our Game.
Davenport, John. Pennant Races, A Graphic View.
Fleming, G.H. The Unforgettable Season.
Hynd, Noel. The Giants of the Polo Grounds.
James, Bill. Baseball Managers.
Lieb, Fred. Baseball As I Have Known It.
Neyer, Rob and Eddie Epstein. Baseball Dynasties
Ritter, Lawrence. The Glory of Their Times.
White, G. Edward. Creating the National
<< <i>Not sure about top 10 but in the top 100 somewhere has to be Bill Buckner's infamous error in the world series. I remember yelling
at the TV when I saw that. Amazing it was.
Out of control player salaries and its impact on the game between big money and small money teams should also be in there somewhere. >>
I disagree that salaries are out of control. They are high, but that is the choice of the owners and the market.
Babe Ruth's called shot.
The 1989 earthquake.
Maris passing Ruth.
Fernando Tatis's two grand slams in the same inning against the same pitcher.
>
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