Posted By:
Kevin CummingsI agree that it was the brilliance of Johnny Evers rather than the stupidity of Fred Merkle that was responsible for "Merkle's Boner."
Johnny Evers did know the rules in and out. I am certain I read somewhere, although I have not been able to put my fingers on the source, that a week or so prior to the Cubs/Giants game the exact same play occurred in a Cubs/Pirates game. It was common, at the time, if a batter batted home a runner who was on third base to win a game, for a runner on the other bases to just leave the field instead of bothering to touch their subsequent base. Evers insisted that this was a force out, which would negate the run, and warned the umpire that day that should a similar play arise again he was going to insist on the umpires calling a runner out if he failed to touch the succeeding base at the end of a game.
And who was that umpire that Evers warned? None other than Hank O'Day, the man who called Merkle out!