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Dave SBob and Peter..again, Matty's "honesty" depends as to whose story and which account you want to believe...
As Matty told then sports reporter Sam Crane of the New York Press: "Merkle was on second with Mathewson, and as Evers, Tinker, and Pfeister all rushed toward second, Matty, according to his own story, to which he will take an affidavit if such a ridiculous act is necessary, took Merkle by the arm and said 'Come on to the Clubhouse we don't want to mix up in this", and both Matty and Merkle left the base together"...
In Mugsy's defense...the play and rejected appeal had actually occurred 2 weeks prior in a Cub game with the Pirates. The following day when the article and "ruling" appeared in the New York globe, the Giants were playing Brooklyn at the Polo Grounds. Neither Mugsy or any of his players (he claimed) read or understood the rule..and
knew nothing about it...