Merkle's Boner
Merkle's failure to advance to second base on what should have been a game-winning hit led instead to a force play at second and a tied game.[10][11] On the morning of September 23, Tenney woke up with a case of lumbago, and Giants manager John McGraw penciled Merkle in at first base.In the fourth, Cubs shortstop Joe Tinker hit the ball into the outfield, and when right fielder Mike Donlin could not stop it from going past him deep into the cavernous outfield of the Polo Grounds, Tinker circled the bases for an inside-the-park home run that gave Chicago a 1–0 lead.He shouted to center fielder Solly Hofman, who, though the field was filled with fans, retrieved the ball and threw it to Evers.According to one account, Joe McGinnity, a Giants pitcher who was coaching first base that day, intercepted the ball and threw it away into the crowd of fans.This account also intimated that the ball may not have been successfully retrieved from the crowd after McGinnity's interference and stated that Merkle insisted that he had indeed touched second base.Five years after the play, Merkle admitted that he had left the field without touching second, but only after umpire Emslie assured them that they had won the game.In 1914, O'Day said that Evers' tag was irrelevant: he had called the third out after McGinnity interfered with the throw from center field.On October 2, Pulliam rejected the Giants' appeal of O'Day's ruling and the Cubs' call for a forfeit victory and again upheld the umpires, declaring the force play on Merkle valid and the game a tie.Future Hall of Famer Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown entered the game in relief and got out of the jam without allowing another run.The Giants then returned to the World Series for three straight years, 1911–1913, only to lose each year—to the first of Connie Mack's two Philadelphia Athletics dynasties in 1911 and 1913, and to the Boston Red Sox in 1912.The New York Times game story on September 24, 1908, blamed the loss on "censurable stupidity on the part of player Merkle.
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