While it’s fun to watch baseball bloopers on YouTube, some of the best bloopers were never captured on film or (at the very least) aren’t available for public viewing. Here are a few of my favorites.
The 1962 Mets were so bad it wasn’t even worth playing their two makeup games (they finished the season 40-120). They remained terrible through most of the decade. The right side of the infield was so clumsy that first baseman Dick Stuart was known as Dr. Strangeglove, and second baseman Chuck Hiller was called Dr. No. But the man who captured the hearts of New Yorkers with his ineptitude was first baseman Marvin Eugene Throneberry (his initials spell MET), better known as Marvelous Marv. Marv merits his blooper show, but one example suffices to give you an idea of ineptitude.
At home at Shea Stadium on June 17, 1962, the Mets gave up four runs to the Cubs in the top of the first, partly because Throneberry was called for obstruction during a rundown play. He appeared to have made up for it in the bottom of the frame when, with the Mets trailing 4-1, he knocked in two runs with a triple. But he was called out on appeal because he missed first base. When Mets manager Casey Stengel jumped out of the dugout to argue the call, the ump told him, “Don’t bother, Casey. He missed second base, too.”
Fred Merkle was a pretty good baseball player. Unfortunately, he is mainly remembered for a baserunning mistake on September 23, 1908, at the Polo Grounds when his team, the New York Giants, hosted the Chicago Cubs during a tight pennant race between the two squads. The score was 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth when Merkle, then 19, singled with two outs to put runners at the corners for New York.
Giants shortstop Al Bridwell then hit what appeared to be a game-winning single. But Merkle, seeing fans swarm onto the field in celebration, headed toward the clubhouse without touching second base. Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers retrieved the ball (or whatever ball he could find in the madhouse on the field) and stepped on second base. Merkle was ruled out, negating the run. When the umpires couldn’t clear the field, they called the game because of darkness. The game was replayed on Oct. 8 and became a pennant tie-breaker. The Cubs won 4-2 and won the World Series.
Some thought the title was tainted, as the Cubs didn’t win another World Series for 108 years.
Speaking of base-running gaffes, the great Babe Ruth has a pretty bad one to his credit. Ruth could run but would have done better not in one situation.
The 1926 World Series between the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals came down to a deciding game seven at Yankee Stadium. The Yanks trailed 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth, with Ruth at first with two outs and Bob Meusel at the plate. Meusel had hit .315 that year and batted in 81 runs in just over 100 games. With Grover Cleveland Alexander pitching in relief, Ruth decided to try to steal second base. Catcher Bob O’Ferrell threw him out on a close play, and Meusel was left looking at the end of the season without ever swinging the bat.
Another notable blunder on the basepaths belongs to Philadelphia Phillies catcher Tim McCarver. In the first game of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 4, 1976, McCarver came up to face Larry Demery in the top of the second with the bases loaded. McCarver smacked a deep fly that cleared the fence for what should have been a grand-slam homer. But McCarver, running fast out of the box, passed teammate Garry Maddox between first and second base, waiting to see if the ball had cleared the fence. The umpire called McCarver out. Fortunately, there were less than two outs, so McCarver still got credit for a hit and three RBIs — a grand-slam single.
In 1895, New York Giants third baseman Mike Grady made four errors on one play, a record that still stands today. Grady bobbled a ground ball, ensuring the runner would reach first. He threw the ball anyway, which sailed wide of the bag and enabled the runner to advance to second for error No. 2. The right fielder retrieved the ball, saw the runner rounding second, and threw to Grady at third. Grady dropped the throw (error No. 3), the ball rolling away toward left field. Grady scrambled after the ball and attempted to throw the runner out at home. He threw it over the catcher’s head — error No. 4.
The day the tarp got Coleman (photo, St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Before Game 4 of the 1985 National League Championship Series between the Dodgers and the Cardinals, St. Louis outfielder Vince Coleman was warming up on the field when he did not notice the automatic tarp had been deployed and was subsequently rolled up in the tarp. The injury ended his season, and he was unable to play in the World Series when the Cards advanced. St. Louis eventually lost to the Kansas City Royals in that year’s Fall Classic.
Joel Zumaya, a middle reliever and setup man for the Tigers, had a fastball that could reach 104 mph. Unfortunately, that fastball wasn’t available to Detroit in the 2006 American League Championship Series against the Oakland A’s. Zumaya couldn’t pitch because of a sore wrist that Tiger General Manager Dave Dombrowski later disclosed was due to Zumaya playing too much Guitar Hero, the PlayStation 2 video game.
Okay, you can go back to YouTube and your video games now. But watch out for Guitar Hero.
Matt Sieger, now retired sports reporter/columnist who worked for New York State and California newspapers, did his undergraduate work at Cornell University and received a master’s in journalism from Syracuse University. He is the author of The God Squad: The Born-Again San Francisco Giants of 1978. This article first appeared in The Vacaville Reporter on March 26, 2020.
