The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-06-25
Bears Draw 'SBooby" Attendance
Corbett's Daily Letter
 On Great Sport Topics
By JAmEs '. coRRETr.


 Occasionally a story of real life rivals that of fiction in romantic accomplish ment such as that of Fred Merkle. the amazing comeback" in 1918.
 doubt if any pages of baseball his tory record the name of a player who has had to submit to more indignities, to more sneers and to more jeering than Merkle. And I know that never since baseball began has any man shown greater gameness, greater courage or more sublime fortitude under the weight of an unjust handicap than has this same Fred Merkle.
 At the age of 19, tall, angular kid, he broke into the majors as a substitute first baseman for the Giants. That was in 1907. He figured in only a few games that year, but showed promise, and John McGraw kept him. Through the major portion of 1908 he sat on the bench. but as the important series with the Cubs came along, the regular Giant first base man was laid up-and Merkle went in to substitute for him.
 And then it was that he executed what many term the worst "boneheadr play ir baseball history, Yet what Merkle did that fateful September day is what hundreds of other players have done be- fore and since. But they were fortunate enough not to have been caught in the act
 The score was tied in the ninth, with two out. Giant. runner on third and Merkle as runner on first. The Giant batsman singled and the man on third raced home Merkle had started for sec ond with the crash of bat against ball, but when he saw it was safe hit and that the man on third had scored with what seemed to be the winning run, Merkle, the 20-year-old youngster, in his frenzied delight over an apparent Giant victory, ceased springing for second, al- though only few yards from the bag, and rushed for the clubhouse.
 Johnny Evers saw Merkle's failure to touch second He yelled for the ball and secured it, even as the jubilant crowd was swarming over the field. Then Johnny touched second and claimed a force out on Merkle, the retirement of the side and the pulling of the supposedly winning run. The um- pire-Hank ODay-ru1ed in Evers' fa- vor and the league sustained him.
 The game was ordered played over. It So happened that the playoff decided the National league pennant of 190S-and the Cubs won the game which Merkle had tossed away through his boyish blunder
 From that day Fred Merkle became a marked man-the target for hoots and jeers from one end of the circuit to the other. His name became synonymous with "brainless.' Newspaper writers scared Merkle with sarcastic paragraphs; i; fans everywhere took savage delight in hooting him. And everywhere he went the crowds were ever on the alert for some slight mental lapse of his, so they might have more ammunition for their verbal bombardment
 The slightest foozIe of mental judg- ment by Merkle ever since that day was seized upon as corroborative evidence that Merkle was bone" champion. Through all those years Fred Merkle, accomplishing, gave to McGraw the best he had. The remarkable gameness that is his enabled him to stand up under the terrific hammering that would have forced 99 men out of every 100 to crumple and quit Day after day Fred MerlSle tried to play the game so we'll that the | fans might forget the mental lapse of 1 1908. He fought a silent. courageous, wonderful fight. The jibes and jeers that were his lot day after day, year after year, cut him through and through. but Fred Merkle never let the world know 1 it. He smiled through the pain and the humiliation.
 l In midseason of 1916 Merkle was traded ' A -fxr 4t.N Co r~11 f1,, McGraws action in letting him go meant that his days as a first-class major I leaguer were near the end. He stayed with the Dodgers through the 1916 season and broke into the world series that year. After playing two games with Brooklyn, Merkle was sold to Chicago, where he performed only so-so last sea son.
 I "Merkle is through was the consen- sus of opinion at the outset of the 1913 season.
 1 Who Is it that is hitting at a fiendish clip and threatens to take unto himself l the batting championship of the 1918 National league? Fred Merkle! Who l is it whose fielding and whose all- around plays are so brilliant that | he stands out above all rivals Fred Merkle! Whose playing is the mishtiest individual factor in the great l nart? Fred Merkle!
 l Here's the hope that Fred Merkle doesn't slump; that he continues all through 1918 a. the spectacular speed oi l the early months as reward for game l ness, courage and patience such as no other athlete ever has shown. 1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Dear MT. Corbett: How many games ! did the Giants win and lose before l they started on their western trip and to whom did they lose the games? = | A. R.
 The Giants had won IS out of 1s | games played before they started on their western trip The only team I that defeated them in the east was the Dodgers.
 Dear Mr Corbett: Kindly advise whether a law was passed by Con- gress or permission granted by com missioners allowing the Washing tor ball club to play scheduled games ir l YsY