The View from Right Field

Hank O’Day, the Man Who Called Fred Merkle Out, Makes the Hall of Fame

I cannot let the news out of Cooperstown yesterday go unnoticed:  Former baseball player, manager and umpire Hank O’Day has been elected to the Hall of Fame.  While O’Day managed the Chicago Cubs in 1914, it was a call he made as an umpire that secured Hank O’Day a place in Cubs history – because it was Hank O’Day who called Fred Merkle out.  Let me explain (this is an edited excerpt from a Wikipedia article, “Merkle’s Boner”):

In 1908, the Chicago Cubs, the New York Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates were involved in one of the closest pennant races ever.  On September 23, the Cubs and Giants were tied for first place, and the Cubs were playing the Giants in New York.  Christy Mathewson was pitching for the Giants.  Jack Pfiester was going for the Cubs.  The game was tied, 1 to 1, going into the bottom of the ninth.

With two outs and Moose McCormick on first, Fred Merkle, a rookie starting his first major league game, singled to right field.  McCormick, the potential winning run, advanced to third base.  Al Bridwell was up next.  Bridwell singled to center field, and McCormick ran home from third.  It seemed as if the Giants had won, 2 to 1.  Except Fred Merkle never touched second base.  As was customary at the time, once McCormick ran home, Merkle ran off the field to the Giants’ dugout.  The problem was rule 4.09, which stated:

"A run is not scored if the runner advances to home base during a play in which the third out is made ... by any runner being forced out".

Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers yelled for center fielder Solly Hoffman to throw him the ball.  Hoffman threw the ball to Evers, or at least tried to, as Giants fans swarmed the field.  Whether Evers ever got the game ball is unclear.  One story is that Joe McGinnity, who was coaching first base for the Giants, got the ball and threw it away.  Whether Evers got that ball or another, he got a ball and touched second base.  

There were two umpires that day, Bob Emslie and Hank O'Day.  Emslie did not see whether Merkle touched second or not.  O’Day did, and he ruled that Merkle had not touched second base.  On that basis Emslie ruled Merkle out on a force, and O'Day ruled that the run did not score.  The field could not be cleared for the game to continue, so O’Day ruled the game a tie.  The Giants protested to the National League president, saying that the rule was not enforced on walk-off hits, but O’Day’s decision was upheld.  The Cubs had not lost, and they were still tied for first place with the Giants.

The account in Wikipedia, however, fails to mention one thing.  This same situation had arisen just 19 days earlier in a game the Cubs played in Pittsburgh, which Hank O’Day also umpired.  The Cubs made the same claim in that game as they did on September 23 against the Giants: that the winning run shouldn’t count because the runner on first never touched second base.  But O’Day was the only umpire in the Pittsburgh game, and he did not see whether the runner touched second or not.  Therefore, he let the run score, and the Cubs lost the game.   But on September 23, when the situation arose again, O’Day was ready.  When the ball was hit, O’Day looked out to second base to see if the runner on first, Fred Merkle, would touch second.  Merkle didn’t, and he was called out.*

It was decided the game would be replayed at the end of the season if the Cubs and Giants finished the season tied for first.  They did, and it was replayed on October 8.  The Cubs won that game, Mordecai Three Finger Brown beating Christy Mathewson.  The Cubs went on to beat the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, four games to one.  It was the Cubs’ second World Series championship - and their last, so far.

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* G. H. Fleming, The Unforgettable Season, p. 206-08, 245-46.

The Fiscal Cliff Is Coming. Where Is President Obama? – Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I noted that the fiscal cliff is coming, and I asked where President Obama was.  At that time he was in Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, instead of being in Washington trying to get some agreement through Congress.

President Obama is now back in Washington (sort of), but he is still not meeting with Congress.  Instead of negotiating this past week, President Obama was campaigning again.  Tuesday he met with small business leaders at the White House.  Wednesday he met with a group of middle-class Americans and with corporate leaders.  On Friday he was, in the words of the old Willie Nelson song, “on the road again,” visiting a toy factory in Pennsylvania.

About the only thing not on the President’s schedule last week was a meeting with Congressional leaders.  The White House says that there will be a meeting with Congress “at the appropriate time,” whatever that means.  But meanwhile, the President is campaigning for the re-election he already won.  Why?

Some commentators say that the President is trying to bring public pressure to bear on Republicans.  Maybe that is it.  It is probably part of it, but I can’t help but wonder if the main reason is something else.  I wonder if it’s not that the President doesn’t like negotiating.  It’s not like giving a speech or giving 90-second canned answers in a phony debate or a press conference where you get to pick who asks the questions.  Negotiating requires a real back and forth.  It requires knowing your facts and being able to discuss issues with, and compromise with, somebody on the other side.

From Bob Woodward’s book, you get the feeling President Obama isn’t very good at negotiating – or at least he wasn’t during the budget/national debt ceiling-crisis in the summer of 2011.  It seems like he’d rather give a speech than try to work through a compromise with somebody who doesn’t agree with him.  He seems to have trouble dealing with, maybe even understanding, people who disagree with him.

Whatever the reason, President Obama has not been talking with Republicans to try to avoid the fiscal cliff.  It doesn’t matter if he isn’t good at it.  It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t like doing it.  He has to talk with, and negotiate with, people who don’t agree with him – because the country needs to get this done now. 

President Obama Is Keeping a List

Here is what President Obama said yesterday while “campaigning” at a toy factory in Pennsylvania yesterday for his plan to avoid the fiscal cliff:

"Joe Biden was in Costco and he wanted to buy some of this stuff, but I told him he had too much work to do. … Now, of course, Santa delivers everywhere. I've been keeping my own naughty and nice list for Washington, so you should keep your eye on who gets some K'NEX this year. There are going to be some members of Congress who get them, and some who don't."

The question, of course, is whether President Obama was joking or not.  I don’t think he was.  I think he may still be ticked off that he had to give in on extending all of the George W. Bush tax cuts back in 2010.  And now he is going to show who won the election by being Mr. Tough Guy this time.

If I am right, we are in for a long month – and an even longer four years.  Harry Truman once said “[i]t is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”  President Obama does not seem to be following that advice.