Only they hadn't. Al Bridwell had singled home the winning run, but the fans came running onto the field at the Polo Grounds in New York. And the runner on 1st base, a 19-year-old rookie named Fred Merkle, got scared, and ran for the clubhouse that stood behind the center field fence.
He didn't touch 2nd base.
This had happened many times before. The rule stating that a player had to get to the base was usually not enforced under such circumstances. You know: "Everybody does it."
But Cub 2nd baseman Johnny Evers saw this, and yelled for the ball, got it, stepped on 2nd, and got the attention of umpire Hank O'Day, who called the force play at 2nd. This time, the rule was enforced, Merkle was out, and the run didn't count.
Play could not be restored, as there was no way to clear the field of fans. By all rights, the Giants should have been declared losers by forfeit, for an inability to control their home grounds. Instead, it went into the books as a 1-1 tie.
I won't bore you with the details of the recriminations that went back and forth between the Giants and the Cubs, and between the Giants and the National League office, other than to say it was ugly, and it looked more like Republicans vs. Democrats than rival sports teams. I'll cut right to the chase: The NL race finished in a tie between those 2 teams, with the Pirates just 1 game back. And the league office ordered the September 23 game to be replayed on October 8.
Despite having Christy Mathewson, perhaps the greatest pitcher the game has ever known and the most popular athlete of the time, starting that game, the Giants lost, 4-2, with the Cubs bringing in for relief one Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown, known as Three-Finger Brown because of a childhood accident that left him with only 3 usable fingers, and as a result with a nasty curveball.
Merkle was 19, and for the rest of his life, he was known as "Bonehead," and the play became known as "Merkle's Boner." He played on until 1922, and was hardly a bad player.
In 1950, the Giants held an old-timers' day at the Polo Grounds, and invited Merkle. He accepted. When introduced, the fans -- most of them not old enough to have been there 42 years earlier, but nearly all having heard his sad story -- gave him a standing ovation.
Merkle deserved a better fate even than that. Even his manager, John McGraw, said it wasn't his fault. McGraw, along with Connie Mack 1 of the 1st 2 managers elected to the Hall of Fame, said it was the team that let Merkle down, not vice versa. If one of the sorest losers in the game's history could forgive Merkle, and later Giants fans could...
Baseball still thinks of him as the Bonehead. And for a man who has been dead since 1956 and is unable to defend himself, that's just not fair. On the 100th Anniversary of the game in question, in the spirit of ESPN, I wrote The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Fred Merkle for the New York Giants Losing the 1908 National League Pennant.
Though the Cubs won that 1908 World Series, for whatever reason, or collection of reasons, they did not win another until 2016 -- 108 years. They did not even win a Pennant from 1945 to 2016. Some spoke of the Curse of the Billy Goat. But did the Cubs win that 1908 Pennant unfairly? Is there a Curse of Fred Merkle? After all, the Goat Curse came in 1945. How do you explain the Cubs' 0-6 record in World Series play from 1909 to 1944?
I don't think Merkle was a mean enough person to put a curse on the Giants, even if such a thing were possible. I think the Cubs' century-long drought was attributable to bad management. We who are baseball fans, instead of blaming Fred Merkle for his "boner," or even forgiving him, should declare that there's nothing to forgive. Let him rest in peace.
*
September 23, 1908 was a Wednesday. There was a full slate of games that day, in addition to the Merkle's Boner game:
* The New York Highlanders lost to the Cleveland Naps, 9-3 at League Park in Cleveland. Frank LaPorte hit a home run for the Highlanders, but it was for naught. Jack Chesbro was the losing pitcher, and only pitched 2 more games for the team. In 1913, the Highlanders officially changed their name to what many people were already calling them: The Yankees. The Naps were named for their manager and 2nd baseman, Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie. After he left in 1914, they changed their name to the Cleveland Indians.
Lajoie did not have an official at-bat in this game, but drew a walk and was hit by a pitch, and scored both times.
League Park was torn down and replaced by another ballpark of the same name in 1910, which was home to the Indians until 1946.
* The Brooklyn Superbas lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at Washington Park in Brooklyn. Honus Wagner went 2-for-4 for the Pirates. The Brooklyn team had once been managed by Ned Hanlon, and there was a famous circus troupe named Hanlon's Superbas. The team became the Dodgers in 1911, the Robins under the managing of Wilbert Robinson in 1914, and the Dodgers again in 1932, before moving to Los Angeles in 1958.
* The Boston Doves swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Cardinals at the South End Grounds in Boston. The hosts won the 1st game 7-2, and the 2nd game 4-1. They were then named for their owners, brothers George and John Dovey. In 1912, they were bought by James Gaffney, an officer in the Tammany Hall political organization, a "Brave," and he changed the name of the team to the Boston Braves.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-1 at Bennett Park in Detroit. Tris Speaker went 0-for-4, but won. Ty Cobb went 2-for-4, but lost. Cy Young outpitched Will Bill Donovan. Bennett Park was torn down before the 1912 season, with a new ballpark built on the site. It was named Navin Field, renamed Briggs Stadium in 1938, and renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 3-2 in 10 innings at South Side Park in Chicago.
* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Washington Senators, 5-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. That ballpark was torn down in the off-season, and replaced by another ballpark of the same name, which lasted until 1966.
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