Fred Merkle Marquee

On September 23, 1908, with the Giants and Cubs tied for the pennant, he was on first when a teammate singled home the winning run. He ran toward the clubhouse instead of touching second, as almost everyone did then. Johnny Evers got a ball, touched the bag, and the umpire called him out. The game was replayed, Chicago won it and the pennant, and the writers named the play after him.

He was a nineteen-year-old substitute that day. He then played sixteen seasons, most of them as the Giants' regular first baseman, and drove in 84 runs in 1911 and 84 more in 1912. Sixteen seasons gave him 1,580 hits, 290 doubles, 733 runs batted in, 272 stolen bases and a .273 average.

He played in five World Series with three clubs and lost all five. He would not talk about 1908 for decades and stayed away from the game, until the Giants brought him back for an old-timers' day in 1950 and the crowd cheered him. He died in 1956, at sixty-seven. No Hall of Fame ballot ever listed him.