This was the year that the infamous Fred Merkle incident took place that resulted in a season ending three way tie between the Cubs, Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates, On September 23, the Giants and the Cubs, were in an intense fight for the pennant. In a pitchers’ duel, Christy Mathewson versus the Cubs Jack Pfiester, the score was 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth as the Giants reserve outfielder, Fred Merkle, came to bat with a runner on first and one out. Merkle lined a hard single to centerfield and the runner took off for third. The next batter, Al Birdwell, singled over second baseman Johnny Evers causing the second base umpire to hit the ground in order not to get hit. The runner on third scored the winning run and the fans mobbed the field. Meanwhile Merkel, in the excitement took off directly to the dugout celebration without touching second base. Second baseman Evers asked the outfielder to throw him the ball to touch second base, but the ball was overthrown. The Giant’s Joe McGinnity , aware of what Evers was planning, ran out of the dugout, and after wrestling the ball away from Evers and shortstop Tinkers, McGinnity picked up the loose baseball and threw it into the stands. Cub players Harry Steinfeldt and Rube Kroh ran up into the stands, snatched the ball from a fan and threw to Evers on second base. Evers tagged second base and insisted that Merkle be called out, claiming he would have been out before the runner scored. Since the second base umpire had ducked, the head umpire ruled for the Cubs and declared the game a tie since the fans had taken over the field. The tie ruling remained since it would not matter unless the season ended with the Giants and Cubs tied for first place; which of course, it did. The game was replayed on October 7 to determine the pennant winner. Over 80,000 fans showed up for the game in New York although the old wooden stadium could only seat 35,000. Fans were everywhere, on top of buildings, perched on lamp posts and on each other’s shoulders. The pitchers were Christy Mathewson of the Giants versus “Three Finger” Brown for the Cubs. The Cubs won in a comeback victory and Fred Merkle openly wept due to his error two weeks earlier that mandated playing the game. For many years thereafter, when someone would make a mistake it would often be referred to as a “Merkle”.
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