With the Pennant on the Line

The 1908 National League season saw a fierce struggle between the Chicago Cubs and New York Giants. When they met with the Pennant on the line, there was a last minute change in the Giant lineup.

The Giant’s first baseman had a sprained back, and substituting for him was an eager nineteen year old named Fred Merkle who was thought to be a rising star in baseball. The game was tied, and in the bottom of the ninth, the Giants were at bat. There were two outs, and two men on base. The winning run was on third, and Fred Merkle was on first.

The batter hit a single, and the runner on third lumbered home. The Giants had apparently won the game and the pennant. Jubilant Giant fans poured onto the field while Fred Merkle was still on his way to second. Alarmed by the crowd suddenly bearing down on him and convinced the game was over, he ran straight for the clubhouse.

He didn’t go all the way to second base. The Chicago second baseman noticed that Merkle hadn’t bothered to touch second. If he could get the ball and touch second himself, the winning run would be cancelled by the force-out. First he had to find the ball.

One of the New York coaches saw what was happening, and he ran for the ball and threw it into the stands. A fan in a brown bowler caught it and started home with his trophy. Two Cubs players chased the ball through the mob and tried to take the ball away from him. When he resisted, they knocked him down, grabbed the ball, ran back to the field, and threw it to their second baseman, who, holding the ball, jumped up and down on the bag to make sure the umpire saw what he had done.

As a result, New York lost the game-and the pennant-and although Fred Merkle stuck it out for fourteen more years in baseball, he never got over the reputation of being the man responsible for what is still to this day called “Merkle’s boner!” A lot of people think they’re safe, think they’re headed home, think they’re going to heaven-but they haven’t touched the base.