Merkle's Boner killed Giants in '08 pennant race

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The New York Giants and Chicago Cubs were tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth with runners on first and third and two outs for the Giants. When Al Bridwell lined a pitch by Jack Pfiester into right-center for a single, Harry McCormick trotted home with the apparent winning run as bedlam ensued among the Polo Grounds multitude.

But wait: The runner on first, 19-year-old Fred Merkle, stopped between first and second when he saw McCormick cross the plate and headed for the clubhouse in center field.

It was Sept. 23, 1908, near the end of a fierce three-way National League pennant fight among the Cubs, Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates, and forever more the play would be known in baseball history as Merkle's Boner.

From the distance of nearly a century, it seems obvious that any ballplayer should have realized he needed to reach the next base to remove the possibility of a forceout. But Merkle was merely following an accepted practice of the day: When the winning run scored in the bottom of the ninth, the game was instantly over -- or so it seemed.

Unfortunately for Merkle and the Giants, Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers -- immortalized earlier that season in Franklin P. Adams' "Tinker to Evers to Chance" poem -- was smarter than most ballplayers. Calling for a ball, any ball, he stepped on second base and claimed a forceout that negated the Giants' run.

Most fans left the old ballpark in Harlem thinking the Giants had won, thereby stretching their league lead over the Cubs to two games. Only when the next day's papers hit the streets did they learn the umpires and National League president Harry Pulliam had upheld Evers' claim. The game had ended 1-1 and would have to be replayed if the two teams ended the season tied for first place.

Which, of course, they did -- and the Cubs easily beat Giants ace Christy Mathewson two weeks later to win their third straight pennant. After that, they disposed of Ty Cobb's Detroit Tigers in five games to win their last World Series for at least 98 years.

And so, like the Cubs' subsequent futility, Merkle's Boner lives on.

"I wish I had never gotten that hit," momentary hero Bridwell said years later. "It would have saved Fred from a lot of unfair humiliation."

Ironically, Merkle made his first career start that day only because the Giants' regular first baseman, Fred Tenney, was hurt. Mercurial manager John McGraw believed in parking young players on the pine until they aged like fine wine. Merkle played in just 15 games in 1907, 38 in 1908 and 79 in 1909 before becoming a regular in 1910 and batting .292 in 144 games.