After the Cheers
Fred could never discuss that 1908 incident.
Bygone
baseball by C. Philip Francis
Readers of Chatter from the Dugout may recall reading about several unknown players as well as veterans who suddenly and surprisingly reached baseball’s pinnacle or found heartache during the many exciting pennant races before league playoffs and wild cards became part of the game. If some may have wondered what happened to some of the heroes and goats after the unexpected glory or bigtime baseball blunders faded away - then read on.
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Fred
Merkle, New York Giants – 1908: The
name of Fred Merkle is synonymous for bonehead mistakes after his forever famous
controversial running play on September 23rd when he failed to touch second base
that took away the pennant from the Giants and gave it to the Chicago Cubs.
Merkle had appeared in 35 games that year, and that one mental mistake
followed him to the grave. The
distraught 19-year-old rookie planned on quitting the game, but was supported
and encouraged by both Manager John McGraw and pitcher Christy Mathewson to
continue playing the game. Merkle
went on to become the regular first baseman for the Giants for much of his
16-year career, and appeared in five World Series - always on the losing side.
He later played and managed in the minors, and coached for the New
YorkYankees. Fred would never
discuss that 1908 incident up to his death in 1956 at the age of 67.
Floyd
Giebell, Detroit Tigers – 1940: It
was the first of a three-game set in Cleveland and the Tigers needing only one
victory to win the pennant. In the
initial contest the Indians had 27-game winner Bob Feller primed, but rather
than using one of his regular rotation pitchers, Newsom,
Bridges, or Rowe, Tiger skipper Del
Baker selected 31-year-old Giebell who had been promoted from the minors at the
end of the season. The West
Virginia-born right-hander had a major league record of 2 wins with 1 loss, one
victory in 1939 and another in 1940, and was considered to be a wasted effort
with the veteran hurlers ready for the two remaining games.
Giebell amazed everybody, however, by throwing a six-hit shutout that
clinched the flag for Detroit in a raucous Ladies Day contest.
Giebell
never won another big league game. The
following year he pitched 34 innings in 17 games with no decisions, and was soon
back in the minors. Detroit sold
Floyd to the Triple A Buffalo Bisons where he was 5-1.
Following another season with Buffalo the former Tiger signed up for a
three-year hitch in the US Navy, and after the war ended he pitched two years
with Dallas in the Texas League before retiring from baseball.
Years later he thought there might have been a 50th
anniversary affair regarding that 1940 game, but nothing developed.
Jack
Chesbro, New York Highlanders (Yankees) - 1904:
Chesbro
owns the 20th century record for most victories in one season with 41
in 1904 and was elected to the Hall of Fame, but his outstanding career has
always been tarnished by one errand spitball that eluded the catcher allowing
the winning run. It was the
top of the ninth, the score at 2-all, with a man on third when Happy Jack fired
a one of his wetballs over the head of catcher Red Kleinow.
New York did not score in their half of the inning giving the pennant to
the Boston Pilgrims. Chesbro’s
one pitch was labeled as a wild pitch, and long after his death in 1931 his
widow continued to unsuccessfully campaign to have the wild pitch officially
changed to a passed ball.
Chesbro never duplicated his 41 wins and fell to a record of 19 and 15
the next year. He career lasted
only eleven years, and he was out of the big leagues after a 0-5 record in 1909
finishing his career with 198 wins and 132 losses.
Jack played semi-pro ball, coached at Amherst College, coached briefly
with the Washington Senators, and raised chickens.
He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1946 primarily due to his 41-12
with a 1.82 ERA in 1904.
Bill
Terry, New York Giants – 1934:
Bill was a superstar first baseman for the Giants for eleven of his
fourteen-year career, and the last National Leaguer to hit over .400.
He followed John McGraw as the New York manager, and was both manager and
player from 1932 through 1936. “Memphis
Bill” took his team to World Series victory in 1933, and it was before the
next season when he was asked if Brooklyn would be in the pennant race that year. The
humorless manager with a “prickly personality” that kept him from being
popular with the New York press answered with the joking question of, “Is
Brooklyn still in the league?”
When
Casey Stengel’s Dodgers used the unthinking verbal response as a rallying cry
to beat the hated Giants in two late season games allowing the Cardinals to take
the pennant by two games many New York writers blamed Terry for the loss.
He came back, however, to take the NL banner in both 1936 and 1937 losing
both Series to the Yankees.
Although the baseball writers elected Terry to the Hall of Fame in 1954
eighteen years after retiring as a player, he was never bitter and appeared at
many of the HOF activities in later years.
In the 1950’s Bill was unsuccessful in buying the Giants to keep the
team in New York. He died in 1989 at the age of 92.