Show auf juf en r FAMOUS PLAYS ON MAJOR wa VE ftc byj J ZW CROW by GEORGE MULLIN pitcher detroit tigers who for many man years has been one of the best and cleverest pitchers of the amer can league far be it from me to boast much about it but it Is a fact that what I 1 believe was the biggest boneheaded bone headed play I 1 ever made won the american league champ for detroit it doesn doean t do me much credit to tell the yarn but every word of it Is true the detroit players all knew it but I 1 guess no one in the stands oz 01 even in the press boy knew it it just goes to proe prone how much 0 of a factor luck is in baseball in the fall of 1908 we were playing in cleveland and it if you remember they were nere ng us hard for the lead of the race I 1 was as pitching against dusty rhoades A corking good man who always made it hard to beat him even when he wasn gasn t at his best charles schmidt was as catching for me it came down to the first halt half of the ninth with the score 3 to 2 in our favor but their toughest bat were coming up and it wasn gasn t a cinch they came at us hard and got g 0 0 a 0 akk af george mullin 1 I a runner on third ono one on fira and one nan man out with bill hinchman nehman at bat nd pitchers who have faced hinch man will testify that it looked a little shaky for detroit just then for two 0 three innings I 1 had been worrying Norr yIng over the idea that they had our signals I 1 walked up toward schmidt and told him to s gnal tor for a fast ball but that I 1 would pitch out as I 1 thought they were getting my signals I 1 was as so worried over the on that I 1 entirely forgot to notify either the infield or the out field what hat I 1 was going to do 1 I tried hard to waste the ball but instead of wasting it I 1 got it over the plate right in the groove hinchman had given the hit lilt and run sign just as I 1 expected he would do and both runners were mere going when nhen tre tle ball was pitched hit bit that ball a mile a minute straight through ma m legs leg gs I 1 tl ought it w was as curta n tor for me but 3 ou on can imag ne my surprise when I 1 guined and aw schaefer er right bac t c of second base making a beau ticul sop stop and starting a fat fact double play that killed cleveland Clev elands s last chance and saved the gime for detroit it not only saved the game but 11 it avci the pennant as we had bad to beat chicago on the following sun day to win the an I 1 11 I 1 cep from finisi ing third nhen W hen I 1 recovered I 1 told the I 1 had in mind and we figurel I 1 0 it the play th a N way ay if it the infeld had known I 1 was going to pitch out 0 leary N would have rov cov ered second base bage and the ball gone through oer oner the big with no one near it it would have ben b en impossible or 0 leary to ic leich the ball my failure to let the infield know what I 1 was as going to do sa saed saved ved us uc I 1 crossed chafer and he think ing I 1 was on the level about p ochin a fast straight stia ight bill blaed back of second and saved the game I 1 ou ein see kee how a d bone head hv myself voiad have lost the pen nant f hadn haan t saved it copyright 1919 by V G cl apy an j |