El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-05-03

Of bravery, and gameness in face of
! obstacles"
How aBoner' Was Pulled.
The Merkle "boner" is fresh in the
minds of the fans OF eight and ten
years ago, but a new generation has
arisen since then. For its benefit the
story of the "boner" is here retold:
The misplay was made on the Polo
grounds, September %, 1908. in the
presence of Of a $4,000 crowd When
Of the ninth, the score stood 1 to 1.
By the time two men were out, Nc
Cormick was on third, Merlle on first
and Bridwell at the plate
Bridwell shot a single over second
base and Mccormick raced home with
what seemed to be the winning run.
But 1t wasn't. Merkle, instead of
running to second base and touching Il,
suffered a mental lapse in his citation
over what seemed to be a Giant victory
which would have cinched the pennant.
Didn't Touch Second.
Merkle never touched second base,
but detoured on his way and raced into
the clubhouse Johnny Evers. playing
second for the Cubs that day. noticed
Markle's "boner" and knew that n he
could get back the BAH and touch
second base before Merkle he would
force out MerlIle. making the third out
and nulling McCormick's winning
run.
Mcttnhity's Plan Fooled.
Evers yelled to Hoffman. who
grabbed the ball and threw toward
second However. the crowd already
had jumped upon the field and the ball,
instead Of going direct to Evers. hit
one of the spectators and was de-
Elected. By this time Joe McGinnity.
the Giant pitcher. Sensed that some
thing was wrong. lie rushed onto the
crowded diamond and grabbed the ball.
Then he started racing with il toward
the clubhouse. in the hope Of reaching
Merl1le and tipping" him to hurry
back to the diamond and touch the
second sack.
But Frank Chance. the Cub manager,
Joined in the affair by overtaking Nc
Ginnity whose progress was impeded
by the crowd Chance jumped upon
Joe's shoulders and. threw him to the
ground. other Cub players rushed to
Chince's aid and tried to take the bah
from McGinnity's hand Joe seeing
that he was overpowered threw the
crowd.
Kroh and Howard. two Cub recruits.
dove among the feet OF the spectators
and Jointly grabbed the hall which was
being kicked around. Howard threw
the ball to Tinker who tossed 70 to
Johnny and the Trojan" stepping or
second base, and waving the ball high
in the air. called upon the umpires to
declare out Merkle
Giants Lose PIayOff.
IN the meantime. Chance pIowed
through the now amazed crowd.
grabbed umpire Hank O'Day and de-
manded that he decide that McCor-
micks run did not count. owing to the
fact that Merkle had been forced out
O'Day refused to give any decision
until he was escorted to the club
house by a squad of police
O'Day, Immediately upon his arrival
there, declared Merkle was forced out
and called the game a tie. Harry
Pulliam, then president Of the National
league, sustained Banks ruling, and
ordered the game played over
The day set for the playoff was the
last of the season-October Sth tt
found the Giants and Cubs tied for
first place honors with IS games won
and s. lost, giving each a percentage
of $40. The Giants lost that battle.
to 2, and the game gave the pennant
to the Chicago Cups-a gift by Fred
MerkIe