The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-29
By HANS WAGNER

Eh V
 The most misused word in all base ball, to my way of thinking, is bone head Anytime I hear some specta- tor we'll "Bone! or "Boneheadi" at a player I always turn to look. Eight times out of ten the man who used the expression is the bone himself It is quite common among fans to call any play they do not understand a bone. It sort of sounds smart to them, I reckon.
 People are queer things, at that. Why is it, I've often asked myself, that some spectators take more joy out of seeing somebody pull what they call 6 bone than they do at seeing him make a wonderful play?
 Of course, there have been some very funny bone plays In baseball, plays that are just as funny to the players as to the fans At other times, though, players make really wonderful play only to have 1t labelled a bone simply because the fans do not understand baseball well enough to get the point.
 To give you a case in point:
 Beinie Wagner, at one time star with the Boston Red Sox, was terri bly, berated one day for pulling a bone when as matter of fact he had pulled one of the smartest plays l ever heard of.
 
 when he got the signal for the hit and run play. With the swing Of the pitchers arm he started for third. The batter hit the ball right, but Heinie could see it was a soft liner going straight into the shortstop's s hands. If it was caught Heinie would be doubled up at second.
 So Heinie stood still and let the
 "Oh. you bone-you bonehead" yelled the fans.
 The next day the newspapers even accused him of pulling bone.
 As a matter of fact his smart thinking prevented double play. Wagner was called out for being hit by a batted ball, of course. But that had prevented double play and the batter was credited with hit. Un- der the rules. you know, if base runner Is hit by batted ball he is out and the batter gets hit. He Had It All [ bopeS Ont. Nobody ever stopped to think that Heinie Wagner had figured out that situation in a flash and had solved it. Instead they called him bone.
 Fred Merkle will go through life 1 being called a bonehead simply be- cause of his failure to touch sec ond in that famous game with the ! n worlds series he was again called a bone for attempting a play that was really a clever piece of thinking that didn't 60 through. He was merely the victim of hard luck. Fred Merkle is one of the smartest men playing baseball.
 Tn that particular game Merkle was badly crippled. but managed to go through on one good leg. Murphy was on third and Baker at the bat in the last inning,
 Baker hit a hot grounder to Merkle who fielded the ball cleanly. He then made a bluff throw to stop Murphy and did so. It was his purpose then to touch Baker as he passed and finally make real throw for Mur- phy, getting both men. It was 8 quickly thought out play. But it went wrong.
 After bluffing Murphy back to the bag Merkle Nrned to touch Baker, who was coming on top of him On ton Baker lodged him and got to the bag safely. h the mixup Murphy made a new start and got home.
 Everybody called Merkle 8 bone head and the newspaper writers did d lot of kidding about it. Ball play CTS. though, appreciated that Merkle had attempted to make a wonder
 
 have gone through nine times out of ten.
 I don't want to get in any argu- ment with my newspaper writing friends. ~but they do many a ball player wrong when they roast him about something they don't under stand. Those boys can pull bones just the same as ball players.
 had a chance one day in Pitts burg to see a ball game played be- tween the scribes out at Schenley Park. The manager of one of the teams was crazy to win and was try ing to be a strict general like he thought McGraw or Fred Clarke might be.
 o o O
 Did He Take ChancesS
 His side had the bases full and this manager got so eager that he reached over to the runner on first and hissed in his ear.
 Steal second. Go on. steal it!"
 q can't" said the other news paper player. There is a man ai- ready on second"
 Never you mind. l am the man.