Touching All the Bases

Fred Merkle

By Robert Ringer

"Touching all the bases" is an appropriate metaphor that may well have its roots in the tragic tale of Fred Merkle's "bonehead" play nearly a century ago. At the time, Merkle was only nineteen years old and in his second major league season with the New York Giants.

Merkle's infamous mental lapse took place on September 23, 1908, in the last half of the ninth inning against the Chicago Cubs. With the score tied and two outs, the Giants had runners on first (Merkle) and third (Moose McCormick), when Al Bridwell singled to centerfield.

On the hit, Merkle was still on his way to second base when McCormick crossed home plate with what appeared to be the winning run. But when Merkle saw McCormick score, he thought the game was over and didn't bother to go all the way to second base. Instead, he headed straight for the clubhouse.

Unlike Fred Merkle, however, the Cubs' Johnny Evers was alert to what was going on. He immediately realized that even though the runner had already crossed home plate, the run wouldn't count if a forced runner (Merkle) was thrown out at second. He yelled to the Cubs' centerfielder "Solly" Hofman to throw him the ball. By at least by one account of the chaotic scenario, the ball went over Evers' head, and Cubs third-base coach Joe McGinnity scooped it up. Realizing what was about to happen, McGinnity threw the ball into the stands.

Relentlessly, Evers climbed into the stands and retrieved the ball (or, according to some accounts, "a" ball), called to one of the umpires that there was a force play at second base, and touched the bag. The umpire, who also had been alert enough to note that Merkle had not bothered to touch second base, called him out. Because of the ensuing chaos, and with darkness setting in, the game was ruled a tie. The Giants disputed the tie ruling, but the National League office upheld the umpire's decision.

After that historic game, the Giants, who had been in first place prior to the game, fell apart in the last two weeks of the season. Further, to rub insult into injury, the Cubs won the pennant. (Little did Cub fans realize, of course, that it would be their last pennant of the century.)

Today, ninety-seven years after the fact, this historic moment is still referred to in baseball lore as "Merkle's Bonehead Play." And Fred Merkle became forever labeled "Bonehead Merkle" for his infamous mental lapse.

Poor Fred Merkle. He got labeled a dunce for making the same kind of mistake most of us make many times throughout our lives. Everyone forgets to "touch all the bases" at one time or another.

In politics, for example, we see this same lack of follow-through occur all the time. Most of us are not old enough to remember Harry Truman's upset of New York Governor Thomas Dewey in the presidential election of 1948, but we've read about it and seen it on television many times.

While Truman traveled the country and "gave 'em hell" from the back of his campaign train, Dewey coasted. He was focused on prematurely celebrating rather than on touching all the bases and making certain that Truman wouldn't rise from the dead.

Not only was Dewey an odds-on favorite to beat Truman, the failed haberdasher from Missouri, but some headlines the morning after the election actually declared Dewey the winner.

As an author, I can assure you from firsthand experience that writing a book is all about follow-through and touching every base. For each book I write, I have a checklist of over one hundred items that I painstakingly address after I work my way through twenty to twenty-five drafts. If an author's aim is quality, he has to be willing to invest an enormous amount of time and effort in making certain that no important steps are missed.

Finally, and most important of all, there's life itself. You shortchange yourself if you fail to touch all the bases during your short stay on the conscious side of this planet. Reading, for example, is an activity you would do well to embrace. The last thing in the world you want to do is miss the one book that might have had a major impact on how you lived your life.

Likewise, make the effort to get up out of your chair, walk over and pick up the camera, and take a picture of that special moment in time that will otherwise be lost forever. Take the time to listen to your kids … play sports with them ... laugh with them ... communicate with your spouse ... exercise ... listen to good music ... be active. Make a conscious effort to touch all the bases while you're here, because you have no way of knowing if you're ever going to pass this way again.

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