Quote:
Originally Posted by tbob
Slip- actually Snodgrass never mentioned the sun. He was a class character and admitted he just dropped the dang ball, a catch he made 99.9% of the time. McGraw felt so sorry for him that he gave him a raise, just like he eventually made Merkle the captain of the team to show his support. McGraw, to others, could be a rowdy and mean jerk but at times Muggsy had a heart of gold toward his players. Most of his players loved him.
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Just reread the Fred Snodgrass chapter in, "The Glory of Their Times." You are correct no mention of the sun. I know I read it somewhere that the sun was involved in that play. I may have read it in John McGraws book, "My 30 years in Baseball," but gotta go with Fred's own words. I guess the sun wasn't a factor.
I always thought of Billy Martin as being a modern day John McGraw. Both were hated by umpires, league officials, opponents, short tempers, would fight with anyone, did anything to win. Both knew which players they needed to ride and which players to lay off of. TOTAL players managers, would stick up for their players unless they made mental mistakes.