Let's see some postcards

[rickalaska]

George - Great story! The catcher on my team in high school missed a popup and got his nose broken, so I can imagine what would have happened to Gabby... Great card! I owned that one at one time.

[rickalaska]

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[GeoPoto]

Originally Posted by rickalaska

This is an oversized postcard (5x7) - not sure how they could get them through the mail without destroying them.

How about the PO charging twice as much if there is writing. Lucky for us collectors 100+ years later, the PO was incentivizing senders to leave them spotless!

[rickalaska]

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[rainier2004]

My nicest 796s arrived in the last couple days, thanks to Rick and JVB.

Sorry the scans are so huge...

Interestng that the Bridwells were printed with those lines on the upper/left border, most if not all seem to have this and its the only one.

[rickalaska]

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[Baseball Rarities]

Awesome Novelty Cutlery postcards of Walsh and Plank. Exceptional condition.

[rickalaska]

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[GeoPoto]

Originally Posted by rickalaska

In Merkle's defense, he was a rookie and I would have asked, where was the first base coach on the play...

Related to understanding how even a rookie could make what seems to be a mindless mistake, it is important to remember that back in that time, it was standard procedure for all the players that were on the field the instant the game ended to race into the dugout and thereby avoid being mobbed (and possibly stripped or injured) by the over-excited crowd.

[RUKen]

Originally Posted by rickalaska

In Merkle's defense, he was a rookie and I would have asked, where was the first base coach on the play...

It was standard practice at the time for players to exit the field immediately on a game-winning hit. The same thing happened in a Cubs-Pirates game a few weeks earlier, and Evers tried the same thing, but the umpire(s) wouldn't allow it. McGraw was aware of what Evers had tried, and should have warned his players, but did not.

The first base coach would have been a player who was not in the game (rather than a retired player hired specifically to stand near first base). In this case, I think it was Joe McGinnity, who chased after the ball when he saw Evers calling for it. He apparently got to it before Evers, and then threw it into the stands. Evers later claimed that two of his teammates retrieved that ball, but more likely he got another one from the bench.