The Washington times., 1933-12-20

ing r'0rd FLICK or an carrier DAY
would have described a baseball
situation that a moment later
was develop into one of the
most turbulent, dramatic Incl.
d Is in the history of baseball
the exciting finish of a game
that Will be remembered always
as the on, in which Fred Merklt
failed to touch second base.
Are va Listenin'?
But turn the dials of you,
radio and listen in.
"Herc comes the pitch.
BridwelI swings-he hits it.
It's grounder; it has skipped
past Pfeister, the pitcher, and
is bounding out into centre
field. "A hit. The Giants win,
2 to 1. Mccormick has scored.
Another pennant for John Nc
Graw.
"But, no. Just a minute.
There seems to be something
wrong. Johnny Evers is run
ming toward second base, ges-
ticulating, yelling at Hoffman
in center field. For some rea-
son he wants the ball.
"The crowd has StOrmed out
into the field now and is sur
runding Evers, puzzled, Curl
GUS. Above the clamOr HOff-
man has heard Evers, and is
throwing the ball to him. But
somebody in the crowd inter-
cepts it.
"In a moment there's a riot
around second base. Jack
Pfeister, the Chicago pitcher,
lungeS at the man who caught
the ball, and takes it away
from him. But before he can
take a step Joe McGinnity is
upon him, graphing with him.
Joe is the winner; he's got
the ball. And now he throws
it, far over the heads of crowd,
into the bleacherS.
Humphries On Job
Frank Chance is at the
plate now, arguing violently
with Hank O'Day, the umpire.
Hank mods his head as though
in agreement. But before he
can turn away, Joe Humphries
you all know Joe, the an
nOuncer at the prize fights
has him by the coat collar.
1--WE win," he bellows at
the umpire. "We win, don't
we?"
"The crowd has closed in on
the plate now, milling and
pushing, and obviously in a
threatening mood. Here come
the cops. They fight their way
through the crowd, grab O'Day
and his partner, Bob Emslie,
and rush them to the runway
that leads to the dressing room
under the stand.
''But as he goes through the
gate O'Day shakes himself free
from the cops grasp. He turns
and faces the crowd, and yells
at them. What is it he says?
He says the game is called, that
it is a tie. Why, that is i'm
possible. Didn't we see the
Giants win 2 to 1. He says-he
says Herkle didn't touch Sec
Ond base"
An. that's the way the an
nouncer had to leave it. And tn
fans, too. Not until days late
did O'Day's unprecedented deci
sion become official. At the tim
it wasn't exactly vital, for tn
Giants led in the pennant by tW'
or three games, and they won tn
next day, but eventually the pen
nant turned on the decision-i
led to the famous play-off tina
won the flag for Chicago.
Matty VS.. Pfeister
The Merkle game was played il
September, some two weeks be
fore the end of the campaign
Matty was McGraw's pitching
nominee and Jack Pfeister, {
long, skinny left-handed curve
baller and something of a "Giant
killer" was the Chicago standard
bearer. Twenty thousand fans
jammed the old Polo Grounds
and they expected a tight pitch
ing duel. They got it.
One to one, they carried the
battle into the ninth, the peerless
Matty and the inspired Pfeister
In the fifth, Joe Tinker hit
home run, one Of the five blows
Matty allowed as he struck out
nine. An error gave the Giants
the opportunity to tie the score
in the sixth. Steinfeldt kicked
Herzog's grounder, and Bresna
hans sacrifice and Mike Donlin'E
Turkey Mike" who only a few
months ago passed into the great
beyond-lusty single coined the
run.
The ninth began uneventfully
Cy Seymour rolled to Evers, who
tossed him out. But Devlin lacec
a single to center. Moose Nc
Cormick's best was a hopper tt
Evers, and he had to race to beat
that Evers to Tinker to Chance
double play combination, fol
Evers promptly fetched the bal
to Tinker for the force play or
.evlin.
Up Comes Merkle
That brought up Merkle, Fred
Merkle, a 20-year.old youngster, a
to the Polo Grounds
He had spirit and spunk, the kid
did. The situation didn't awe OF
unnerve him. Batting left-handed