Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-01
PLAYERS WHO FAIL, THEN
COME BACK, DESERVE PRAISE
Men Who Are Victims Of Circumstances
Prove Their Gameness by Winning
Back Lost Prestige Through
Brilliant Work.
for the next SIX months, the most abused
man in base ball.
Fans Overlooked Wonderful Catch.

man in base ball.
Fans Overlooked Wonderful Catch.
Immediately after dropping the fly ball
which was hit by Engle substitute
batter, Sncdgrass ria0e Il most remark
able running catch of a line drive off the
bat of Hooper. | was stationed the
foul line that afternoon and was in an
excellent position to appreciate the catch
III ala not Seem to me that SnodgrasS had
chance, but by an almost Superhuman
effort, he made the play. A wonderfully
quick throw to second almost doubled up
Engle, who had raced for third when the
ball was hit, believing the catch would
not be made. If Engle had been doubled
up little mention of the muff would have
been made. and the catch of Hooper's
liner would have been referred to as a
remarkable piece of fielding. That muff
made it possible for Boston to win, and
its costliness overshadowed What took
place afterward
incidentally Mr.. MerkIe, who was
roundly abused for his failure to touch
second in that famous game of 1898
could not keep out of the melee. It is
probable that under the same conditions
many player would have done exactly
the same thing Merkle did in 1908
have seen any number of players COM
NIT even more serious offenses since
Merkie received a great deal of censure
because Johnny Evers was wise enough
to take advantage of the techuicaiity
Other players have escaped criticism lust
as deserved as was Merkle's because the
offense was overlooked. About the time
that the Merkle play took place a PLAYER
did exactly the same thing in an Ameri-
can League game l umpired When I
what he was doing / started in the
direction of the clubhouse, uttering a
little prayer that no one on the opposing
team would notice the slip. Very for
tunately all around they did not
Often Victims of Circumstances.
In the same game in which Snodgrass
made his already much discussed muff
Merkle was the offender in a PLAY which
has already drawn lot of criticism
Speaker hit pop fly in the direction of
first. AS il happens fifty times during
the regular season. there was a miX-Ip.
Merkle figured that Meyers would take it
and Meyers expected Merkle to turn the
trick. At tirst Matty considered himself
ONLY Spectator Upon noting that no
one was going after the ball. ne started
over. Then both Meyers and Merkie de-
cided to take il. The result is always
the same. the bal dropped safely Time
and again the same thing happens during
the regular season. Merke who surely
appears to be victim of circumstances.
had it happen just AT a time when fail
ure to make the catch meant the loss of
the worlds series. 1t certainly is tough
to get the sort of breaks that have come
to Messrs. Snodgrass and Merkle.
Back in 1909 RUDE Waddell was made
the goat" of the meet between the Ath-
letics and Giants. despite the fact that
he did not pitch single game. Wad-
dell had been depended upon to win for
the Athletics. 4 few weeks prior to the
opening of the big event he suffered an
injury to his arm that rendered it USE