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Show ! The Man Who Failed to Touch Second FREDERICK O. MERKLE. !THE spine of a Wiseur.sir. i:;ulj,-'.T J v s 1 1 s t eJ to ihv t- i ro :-. i ta c k I v.i Srpu-mber 1T. l:-'S. This YVis-cor.m YVis-cor.m nvtI;:o h.ul arrived In the t b e h- rnl'.'.cd as thf pick the inid-wwt f:r.-t s'k.rc. 1 1 l.aJ i.-n ::or. j.;v, p t-rotf, c -'-.-. ma r;ir.'.i'n shov.!ik-rs anl a wrt'Sticr's iH-.-k. .lit- !:aJ I p. t il .n ihv a: pa. it in Kts of Tol.l", : ;ir.i: li is 1m.-.cL';' il v.u - tT in r.".-. I p.;i third base a.- a .';r.iir., and i.i t t picKfl up l. rs" basf. 'i'iie initial sa'-k is where In r.-nie hi rep li tat ion. iien lie w as 'U!vn;i( -tl by tno . ew Yoik Giants m t lie summer t from the Tev'Uiueh club of tne Southern M:ciiiL:aii iea'je, hv bade hi is puis tjoud-by tjoud-by and said: "There's not bine up in the big lenue too t"U--!i for me to handle. " Ht- had his lr.ii.d 5-: on l'vi.'!r.!i'i" a biK leau-iier and I ;::.r r.-puiat .u.is v, ore not go'.'i lv sb.ake il "i oi"!. Kr-'dt-riert Merkle was the "is?x!i.-.:n Uad(:cr whr.se pn.t was te.-tt-d on Sei'tent--r 13. P".'t. One slP) has ruined many promising y -j nt: .-iifiiK!.; thr.r h.c V-aue ea-r ea-r -rT: . Th-re h.is be-!i a strikeout with a ftiil house and tne kid has j-.-t his eon-f eon-f ;uer:ee. Hq does nr.i rrvaln b :s i'i..ot :ng as a batter and he slips out of the rr.a-j-'.r box scored. ensa Lionai pit. -hers have arrived. Thry have ben knoclied off the hill In tl-.eir first trial and yanked by the man a(-r. Their heart has been crushed eont.der.ee crufhed before it ever had a ;ban--e to r".ich the spine. They havt-nut havt-nut bl under, d. mind you merely temporarily tem-porarily faih-d in the pinch. They have not hc-'Ti :ibie to throw themselves b.-:k iv. their sir id.. Th bi league parks, ;),.-. it v,l1s of "O.C'O, ::..''-"'0 ?..i.d 'nave seared ihem. AVhen t I'-y 'vc d--part-'.l critics have s.'.id: "Why didn't the manager wait and give him a chance before a str.all crowd?" Popular With McGraw. U isn't always the arm. the angles, the batting eyes, the brain, the ability. The strength ot the spine frequently piavs an important part in the success of a youngster who aims at the major leagues. On September C3, 150S, the Giants and Chicago tjubs were drivintr down the stretch in a spectacular pennant race. Tho nv.ghtv Cubs were in the prime of their lives. They had stopped the Giants in 1905 by winning the pennant in Ifnf;. Tl'iev repeated in 1907 and they w-ere toe to toe with the Giants and Pittsburg Pirates in 1908. Merkl.-. on the bench, had watched mil iiv thrilling games. He had looked at thai great Chicago infield: Chance-to-Evers-to-Tinker-to-SieiulVdt. He had be.-ni introduced to Honus "W'agn.r. tie had associated with Choke-'Em VlerZ"g. linger Bresnahan. Mike Donlin, Si Seymour Sey-mour Art Devlin, Mathewsou. Mavquard. F.owerman and other crushing National leaguers Merkle had gone through the .McGraw course sitting on the bench with the Giants. The lirst opening came when Iron Tennev first sucker, had twisted an ankle an-kle Slerkle was pushed off the bench f '. si iY 1 ' V ' V: V vtp,- , r ...v 4 t5. 1 - u f piaer they have tried to fracture mine. I wouldn't let ti;em. ! "Tor the youngsters who are playing j the game today let them somewhat light i their way to the front as I did. Don't become discouraged. Don't let a wild throw disturb you, and don't let a spectacular spec-tacular play excite you. "Baseball is so uncertain you're a dunce one moment and a hero tne next. Take the applause and the criticism J without drooping your head or raising iz i to the sky. ' "Just when you have an idea that you i have learned ah there is to the game L you'll find someone putting somtthnw I over on you. J ust when ou imagine f that you're not good enough for the t g ; league you'll fail into a great play ai-d they'll want to carry you off the field on their shoulders. lt "Look at my case. I cost the New ' , York club a pennant, yet i played In three world's championships with them. "A good player always is in demand. Don't try to tell the manager how to ' j run the ciuo. When he calis for a play, j foilow his advice. Try your best to do what he wants you to do. Because you may not b a terrific hitter is no reason you wiil not reach the big league. The book shows that I have been a .ZOO hitter hit-ter in one season in the National league. "Bad; in leii I heard them -ay that i I was slowing up and about through. ' That encouiayed me. do you knew it? One of ir:y best years was last season with the Cubs. Dost some of my speed, : yes. but none of my determination. "I believe a good suggestion for a young player is to watch older players . and better players. I started out as a ' pitcher a pi teller on the corner lots of Toledo in l?0o. I never missed a char.cu to see the American association games at home. I didn't go there to watcn tho hit,s and the runs and the scored, but I watched the fellov.s who were pitching. . "I saw them work on the batters with different s.uff and I tried to imitate the , professionals. "If a fe.low will do this I am positive that he will improve as a pitcher, an outfielder, batter or anyming. "Later I piayed third base and I forgot for-got about pitchers. I studied-- the third basemen. When I joined the Newark club in the Ohio and Pennsylvania league they put me on first base and first basing was like a strange book didn't know a ' thing about, it. I knew the other fellows knew more about it than myself, so I kept my eyes on them. "For the big fellows who are slow they will become fair base runners if they will study base running. I'm not ' fast, anything but a speed demon, yet I stole my share of bases. In 1911 I stole forty-nine and in 1912 I stole thirty-nine. thirty-nine. Why, last year I stole twentv-one bases, and players much faster ' than myself did not go that high. Get the jump, get your lead and learn to slide. You don't have to steal every time you pet to first. Get them to thinking that ou are going to steal and you have them nervous. "In batting, my advice is to wait for good balls. Manv youngsters are too anxious at the plate. They f.ill into the habit of swinging when it is close. Batting Bat-ting needs a lot of practice. T.iere are so many different types that It is difficult diffi-cult to advise just what course to foilow. foi-low. Stay away from the wide ones and don't throw your whole bony at the ball. A free swing with a snap from the wrists will snd it over the outfield frequently. "Not too much grimdstand stuT, showy stuff; just Ptraiuh i. sound baseball, base-ball, and the leap from the amateur ficiJ to the big league isn't Impossible." Off the field MerUle is like a sphinx. He lets the other phiyers on the ciub do the talking and Fred sits around a ml listens. The dny he Is the hero when he has won the game with a base hit or a smart fielding play, he does not strut around waiting for any pr;-.:.v?. He re-"i" papers, manzines, hooks and the hi:; scores of tiie oth-T clubs, then early to bed. p nd the ne t game. (Copyright by Sid C. Keener. Pt. IvOijI., I because Merhle was forced at second and the Cuba did not win their protest. I The Cube and Giants finished the sea-! sea-! son tied for the pennant- This tie game was played on October S at New York I and the Cubs won, 4 to 2. They were the 1 championc the champ ions bect-use Ivler- kle, the Wisconsin liauger. blundered. I H;s mental miscue cost thousands and thousands of dollars for the club owner, the fans and the players. No play in baseball ever received so much publicity. "Merkle, the bonehead," "Merkle the dunce," "Merkle the ignorant rummy." is tne way the "Wisconsin Badger was received. So it traveled for weeks, for months and for years. Refused to Weaken. But Fred Merkle did not weaken. He bit his hps. returned to his home and was determined more tnan ever to make guod that is, if he did not draw his release. McGraw refused to agree with the critics. He refused to call Merkle the Drize bone-head bone-head in baseball. Others before Merkle slipped momentarily. Kunners have been known to steal second with the bag occupied, oc-cupied, but never such a blunder on such i a critical piay. McGraw insisted Merkle wouid come through for him. Merkie did come through. He set his jaws and went out to vindicate himself. He succeeded Fred Tenney as the Giants' first baseman a year later and plaved regularly. In the fall of 19 V6 he was traded to the Brooklyn Superbas for Catcher MeCarty, not because McG raw-thought raw-thought Merkle was through, but because ho had Waiter Holke for first base and needed a catcher to save the pennant for his club. In the spring of 1917 the Cubs needed I a first baseman. They looked around and I picked out one candidate. He was Fred Merkle w-ith Brooklyn. Merkle was secured. se-cured. In 1918 Merkle, in his eleventh I year in National league, slowed uo con-siderably. con-siderably. drove in more runs tha'n any ! other player in the league with an average av-erage ot" .2S7. 1 "There isn't a more valuable player on my team than Merkle," said Manager Fred Mitchell after the Cubs won the 1 pennant. . Merkle is a lesson for the rookieis playing play-ing ball today. He has shown thousands and thousands of boys' that one mistake is not sufficient to close the door to the big league. And up to this day they continue to hoot and howl, "Hey, Merkle, you bonehead!" But Merkle plays the game on the field, for the manager, to win, and the jeers from the fans are ignored. ig-nored. His brilliant plays are unnoticed, an occasions! error is not forgotten. Yet he Is in there plugging and plugging. Merkle puts himself face to face with , this: Keep Up the Spirit. "I believe that miscue kept me in the big league over the usual time limit. It was a terrible one, all right, and it happened hap-pened because, when I saw Brid well's line drive sail to the outfield, I had but one thought the winning run, and the game was over. For that moment, everything every-thing else was forgotten. I didn't think so much about myseif as I did the other boys on the club. I knew what that piay cost them. For months I had dreams about that mob at the Polo grounds. "All I wanted was the chance to make up for that blunder. McGraw gave me the chance, and I owe him everything. ! McGraw was the one who continually encouraged en-couraged me. When I would strike out : and the fans would shriek 'bonehead !" i McGraw would say, 'Pon't pay anv atten- ! lion to them, Fred; you'll hit the next i time!" I "It Is easv to break the spirit of aj young ballplayer, and if ever the fans j have tried to break the spirit of a ball- KEEP Y'R HEAD UP, SAYS MERKLE The New York Giants lost the 1908 pennant and thousands of dollars when Merkle failed to touch second base as the runner at first when Al Brid-well Brid-well singled to center field and McCormick scored a run. That play caused Merkle to be hailed as the ''greatest bonehead in baseball." .Merkle refused to weaken even after that mental blunder. Ten years later the manager of a pennani-winuitig club said: "One of the most valuablo plavers on mv club ! is Fred Merkle. '' " " Merkle is a lesson for the youngsters playing ball today. His spino was tested to the extreme when ho forgot to go from first base to second ou a base hit. Jeered, criticised and hooted for vears. Merkle ignored the hoots in the stands. He played the game for his club, the manager, on the field. Brooklyn sought a first baseman in 1016. They admired Merkle and secured him in a trade with New York. The next spring Chicago wanted a first baseman. They admired Merkle and secureei him from Brooklyn. "Don't pay any attention to the fans," advises Merkle. ''They'll jeer you one moment anel applaud you the next. "Their yells always encouraged me. You're a. dunce one moment and a hero the next. Follow the signals of the manager and don't try to tell him how to run his club. "Study players older than yourself. Develop base running. I'm not a flier, yet 1 stole forty-nine bases in 1911." them back as the champions of the leatrue Merkle was the seventh place j hatter 'and getting- his share of the hits. H olav caused McGraw to admire the , k'd tie had secured from Wisconsin. He was same, he stepped Into the biir league 1 ,,it;.',L,-s without blinking an eye. and lie j f-;en'uentiv plunged Into the l.rst ba.; , head first to beat the runner. stuch a thing as having an eye knocked out or the nose punctured by a sp.ke; did nt scare Fred Merkle, ehe v. iscon- s ThS'm; nc'ning up in the big leagues too" touch for Merkle to handle. I The f'nal game of the pennant series be ween' the Cubs anel the Giants was on. The Cubs lined up with Hayelen In right. Hofnmn in center. Schalte in left, c hance " Hrs". Fvers on second. Stelntcldt on ,i Tinker at short. Kung behind tne .at and Pfeister on the rubber. The r;,-.l h-d their tear-in-to-lnem crew with Horzog at the top of the hatting er ier on second, Bresnahan next behind U,e plate, Donlin third. In right . toen i,, 0iT in center. Art Devlin on third. Harrv McCormick in left Merk.e on iirst, "l Hridwell at short and Mathewsou on ''""1'tn 0 for four innings. In the fifth Joe Tinker caught Matty's fade-awn fade-awn v and lifted to deep left center. Re tampered around the sacks it was a home run. The Giants fought back and they tied it in the sixth. No scores in the seventh and eighth. The packt-d house at the Polo grounds prepart-rt for an extra inning fcame. The Cubs were blanked by Mattv in the ninth and the Giants why, they started a rally. They had .McCormick .McCor-mick on third and Merkie on first. With two out the Wisconsin Badger came through with a single which had sent McCormick Mc-Cormick to third. Failed to Touch Second. The hat ter was Brid f 11. The Giants had two gone. The Cubs waited to retire re-tire Brid well and go into extra innings. The Giants knocked the bats against the bench and yelled for a hit. It was it hit a singh- to let t center. The g;i ;ie wa over McCormick crossed he u te a nd the T-,0"0 fans swanm-d on to the field to carry their heroes on their shoulders to the clubhouse. Bridwell ran down the line and touched first with his single. Merkle! Where was Merkle? He saw Bridwell 's drive sail 10 the out field. He tore away from first and he was on his way to well, his first thought was to i reach the clubhouse his side won. I Of course it won McCormick was over ; the plate and it was 2 to 1 for the Giants, j Like a streak of lightning "touching j second" flashed through Johnny Kvers. Merkle failed to touch second. He screamed and shrieked to Artie Hofman I for the ball. H was thrown In and Evers was on second. A free-for-all scrap followed. fol-lowed. Joe McGinnity scrambled through the mob to get the ball. He hurled It in the crowd rushing on the field. Mathewsou Mathew-sou and others tried to carry Merkle back to second base, but it was too late. The most historical blunder in basebail had been committed Merkle falling to touch second and McCormick' s run did not count. The league directors were called !n to' decide the frame. Should it be forfeited to tiie Cubs? Did the run belong to the Giants? The run did not belong' to the Giants |