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Show HYWOPST 5LUNDEP )JFamousBoneHeadmPlays fk. I foMAJop League Diamonds. qj YJT Hth S.FuIlerton. fj) ff3 "y GEORGE MULLIN V , Pitcher Detroit TIgr, Who for Many v Years Hna Been One of the Bet v nt. f and Clevereet Pltchera of the American League. Far be it from me to boast much about It, but it la a fact that what I bolleve 'was tho biggest bone-headed play I ever made, won the American league championship for Detroit, It doesn't do me much credit to tell the yarn, but every word of It is true. The Detroit players all knew about it, but I guess no one in the stands, or sJk.O ' ,.- '4'fai-----;'' XlA ' Georrjo MuIIIn. even in the press box. knew It- It just goes to provo how much of a Tactor luck is In baseball. In the fall of 1908 we wore playfns in Cleveland and, if you remember, they were pushing us hard for the lead of tho race. I was pitching against "Dusty" Rhoodou, a corking good man who always made it hard to beat him even when he wasn't at his best. Charles Schmidt was catching for me. It came down to the first half of the ninth with the score 3 to 2 In our favor, but their toughest bat ters wero coming up and it wasn't a cinch. They came at u.a hard, and got a runner on third, one on first and one man out with Bill Hinchman at bat, and pitchers who have faced Hinchman Hinch-man will testify that it looked' & little uhaky for Detroit just then. For two or three innings I had been worrying over the idea that thoy had our signals- I walked up toward Schmidt and told him to Bignal for a fast ball, but that I would pitch out as T thought they wore getting ray signals. I was bo worrier! over the situation that J entirely forgot to notify either the infield or the outfield out-field what T was going to do. I tried hard to waste the ball but Instead of wasting it. I got it over tho plate, right in the groove. Hinchman had given the hit and run sign. Just hb I expected he would do, and both runners were going when the ball was pitched. Hinchman hit that ball a mile a minute straight through my j legB, T thought it was curtain for me, I but you can Imagine my aurprise whan I turned and saw Schoefer right hack of second base, making a beautiful beau-tiful stop and starting a fast double play that killed Cleveland's last chnnce and Baved tho game for Detroit De-troit It not only saved the game, but it saved the pennant, as we had to beat Chicago on the following Sunday Sun-day to win the pennant and keep from finishing third. When I recovered I told Sciiaef the play I had in mind and we figured out the play this way: If tho Infield had known I was going to pitch out O'Leary would have covered cov-ered second base and the ball would have gone through over tho bag with no ono near it. It would have been Impossible for O'Leary to reach tho ball. My failure to let the infield know what I was going to do saved us. T crossed Schafer, and he, thinking think-ing I was on the level about pitching a fnfit straight ball, played hack of second and saved the game. You can see how a bone-head play by myself would have lost the pendant pen-dant if Schaef hadn't saved it. JLlc-jpyr,?i l wr G. Chapman..) |