The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Once a World Series goat, always a World Series goat
The 1912 World Series was in the 10th inning of the eighth game (one had been a tie). The New York Giants had scored a run in the top of the inning to take a 2-1 lead and would be world champions as soon as ace pitcher Christy Mathewson secured three more outs.
They thought they had their first one when Clyde Engel, a pinch hitter for the Boston Red Sox, lofted a fly ball to center field that seemed routine. It seemed routine, that is, until Giants center fielder Fred Snodgrass dropped it. Engel, hustling all the way, wound up on second base.
The next batter, Harry Hooper, got into one and sent what appeared to be a game-winning homer into right-center field. This time Snodgrass raced to the fence and made a remarkable catch to save the ballgame, at least for the moment. However, after a walk to Steve Yerkes, Tris Speaker delivered a runproducing single that tied the score and sent Yerkes to third. Larry Gardner’s fly ball brought home the winning run. The Red Sox were world champions and Snodgrass was a World Series goat.
Nothing else Snodgrass did in his nine-year career ever seemed to matter. Even the spectacular play he made on the very next batter didn’t seem to matter. Snodgrass lived to be 86 years old but when he died the headline of his New York Times obituary referred to the World Series ball he dropped.
Once a World Series goat…always a World Series goat. Over the years the goat herd grew.
The seventh game of the 1924 Series went to the bottom of the 12th inning with the Giants and Washington Senators tied, 3-3. Washington’s Muddy Ruel lofted a foul pop that looked like it would easily be the second out of the inning. Catcher Hank Gowdy ripped off his mask and circled under the ball when metal struck metal. The catcher had stepped on his own mask.
Gowdy stumbled and was unable to make the catch. Ruel remained at the plate and ripped a double, then scored the winning run on Earl McNeely’s bad-hop hit.
In 1929 the Philadelphia Athletics led the Chicago Cubs, two games to one, but the Cubs carried an 8-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning of Game Four. The A’s bunched a few hits and scored four runs. There were two more runners on base when Mule Haas came to the plate with one out.
Haas launched a fly ball to center field that looked like the second out, but it wasn’t. Center fielder Hack Wilson lost the ball in the sun and by the time he found it, it was rolling freely in Shibe Park’s very spacious center field. Haas circled the bases and the A’s were within in a run. They eventually scored 10 in the inning and won the game 10-8 with a big assist from Wilson.
As Cubs manager Joe McCarthy prepared to leave the ballpark later that day he was approached by a boy who asked for a baseball. “Come back tomorrow,” snapped McCarthy, “and stand behind Wilson. You’ll be able to pick up all the balls you want.”
McCarthy later became the Yankees manager and in 1941 his team had a 2-1 lead over the Brooklyn Dodgers, but the Dodgers appeared to be on the verge of drawing even when they led Game Four, 4-3, with two out in the bottom of the ninth. Pitcher Hugh Casey thought he had the third out when he struck out Tommy Henrich.
Ooops. The third strike bounced past catcher Mickey Owen and Henrich reached first. According to the scoring rules of the day an error was charged to Owen. The Yankees went on to score four runs and win the game, 7-4. The next day they wrapped up the World Series.
In the seventh game of the 1946 Series the Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals were knotted, 3-3 with two out in the bottom of the eighth inning. Enos Slaughter, the runner on first, took off on a 3-2 pitch to Harry “The Hat” Walker and Walker lined it over the head of shortstop Johnny Pesky for a hit. Center fielder Leon Culberson fielded the ball and returned it to Pesky, Pesky caught the ball with his back to the infield and for a moment he did… Nothing. Slaughter, running through a stop sign, raced for the plate while Pesky held the ball. When the shortstop finally realized what was happening he was able only to launch a weak throw home that was off line. Slaughter scored what proved to be the winning run of the World Series.
In 1986 the Red Sox won three of the first five games against the New York Mets and appeared headed for their first World Series victory since 1918 when they took a 5-3 lead in the top of the 10th inning of Game Six. In the bottom of the inning the first two Mets batters were retired, but the next three singled and a wild
Baseball
pitch tied the score and put Ray Knight on second base. Mookie Wilson then rolled a ground ball in the direction of first baseman Bill Buckner which should have ended the inning and sent the game into the 11th.
It didn’t. The ball rolled between Buckner’s legs and Knight scored the winning run. The Mets went on to win Game Seven and Buckner became a World Series goat.
Buckner had 2715 hits during his 22-year career, but that seems to be secondary. He will be best remembered as a World Series goat. It isn’t fair, but that’s how it is. The same is true for Fred Snodgrass, Hank Gowdy, Hack Wilson, Mickey Owens and Johnny Pesky.
They all will bleat forever. Hall of Fame voter Jay Dunn has written baseball for 50 years. Contact him at jaydunn8@aol.com