Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1913-08-28
HERE IS QUEER BASE
BALL THAT MIGHT Be
COMING UP ANY Time
What Would Umpire Have Done
If Runner Had Not Gone to
First On Balls.
THE MERKLE INCIDENT
Only tho Failure of Player to Hear
tire Managers Command Stood Be-
tween tho White Sox and
History Making Tansle.
THE MERKLE INCIDENT

Chicago. Specials Most of the plays
which show up the insufficlency of the
present code of the baseball rules oc-
cur on the lots or in the non profess
sional games played by boys and men
who probably never saw the inside of a
rule book and have gained most of
their ideas of the game from tradition
Occasionally however, the majors with
their skilled experts and wise managers
furnish q conundrlm that is hard TO
solve.
The historic Merkle incident is fresh
in memory. and so is the more recent
case of Dick Cotter, who went to bat
out of turn and won a ball game that
was afterward thrown out. Within the
last few weeks there was a narrow
escape from Il tangle in an American
league game which probably would
have gone Il long way toward SURFING
up the magnates to bring about some
thing like II real reconstruction OF the
playing code.
Only the failure of a player to hear
his managers command stood between
the White Sox and Il history making
tansle. In the game of May ~ az
comisky park. between Chicago and
Detroit. Ted Easterly was sent to bat
for Joe Berger In the last half of the
two runs apiece and there was one
home player out Willett, who was
slabbng for the Tigers. gave Easterly
n base on balls. AS soon as the fourth
ball was caught Manager Callahan
yelled TO Easterly to come back to the
bench. which in the SoX park is on the
third base side of the home plate.
Rollie Zcidcr was over by first base
coaching for the SoX and 1t was the
managers intention to put Leider on TO
run for Easterly Consequently. he
Thought he would save Ted the appar-
emily needless journey from home plate
to first base and back to the SoX bench.
Easterly Fails to Hear Call.
Easterly did not hear the call of the
manager so proceeded to first base,
and there learned he was to be sue
ceeded by Zcider. who had only to step
from the coacher's box to first base.
While Easterly was leisurely gong
| back to the bench Lord made a single
| which drove Zeider around to third
| base, and an instant later wild pitch
let him score the winning run, winch
| terminated the game.
\ Not until some time later did it occur
to Manager callahan to think what
would have been the result If EasterlS
| had heard the call and had not pre-
vented the Sox manager from pulling
| Il bone play" that would nave m
creased his notoriety If not his reputa-
| ton as Il manager. And what woulo
| have been the actual result no one ye'
has figured out.
Jf E,asterly had not proceeded TO f1rst
base after being given pass there
surely would have been lapse OF ~
feet or nearly that distance, in the
winning run of the White Sox. Easteriy
would not have made the trip 10 nfs'
base and neither would Zeider naNe
done so, as he already was near nrst
IF Zeider had gone out from the Sos
|bench and taken up Easterly's 1ourne!
Lat home plate. going from there TO first
ALI would have been we'll, of course, as
player may be substituted for an
other at any time, according 10 tie
rules.
Must Travel Around Bases.
There is no doubt about the inten,
of the rules that somebody must cover
the entire distance of $50 feet IRON
home plate around TO nome p,ale ~
order to score run legally. They dc
not specify that the round trip mus
be continuous, for that might be con
| strued in the backwoods into ruling ou
all runs not scored without stopping
AT any of the bases. But there Is M
question about the necessity OF cover
ing the whole journey in some way o.
sther. This Is shown by the compulsor,
and perfunctory trip player makes
after hitting a fair ball over the fence
1t is home run and the tally Is al
good as counted the instant the bal
disappears from the umpire's view OF
or over fair ground. But the fortunate
and pleased batsman must go through
all the motions of completing the cir
cult just as if the ball We're inside tn
lot with couple of outfielders runnin.
a race in an effort to stop him befor
ne could complete the round
Taking it for granted that somebod.
had to so from the plate to first bas
after Easterly had been given bas
on balls, what would have been tn
penalty for failure to observe that Gus
tom? Umpire Tom Connolly, dean O
the American league board of arbitfa
tors, who was on the job during tn
game in question. had the guess put u
to him. He was asked what he woul
have done if Easterly had slipped ava
to the bench and Zeider had steppe
from the coacher's box to first base an
nobody else had noticed 1t.
Connolly expressed the opinion tina
there should be some penalty, an
thought he probably would have Gale