Baseball Hall of Shame

                                     One of the gifts I received for Christmas was an old baseball book about baseball bloopers. Well, I love watching movie clips and old baseball videos of such things, so this book was a natural gift for me. The first chapter is about epic fails on opening day. Naturally, the first one was in Brooklyn.  The date: April 9, 1913. Charles Ebbets brand new ballpark, Ebbets Field was opening for the first time. A series of embarrassing events began to unfold. 

                                               Thousands of fans lined up to wait for entry at dawn. They waited and waited; the ballpark’s superintendent had forgotten the keys to the front gate and had to send an official home for the spare. They continued to wait. When the gate was finally opened, the fans poured in and marveled at the new ballpark. But the builder had neglected one thing, there was no press box! So, the grousing reporters had to cover the event from the stands. 

                                              Finally, the band struck up some patriotic music, and the dignitaries and players began to file towards center field for the flag raising ceremony. Ebbets suddenly disrupted the procession by dropping to his knees behind second base to search for the 15 cents he had dropped. Harry Stevens, the hot dog magnate to was walking with him offered to help him look for the coins. Ebbets declined, saying ” No, I don’t want your help, you might find them.” Ebbets was known for his frugality. 

                                                 Ebbets eventually rejoined the procession as it arrived at its destination. Bursting with pride, he turned to an aide and said, ” the flag please.” The aide’s face turned red as he told his boss, ” Sorry Charlie, we’ve forgotten the flag.” Ebbets Field would be the site of many gaffs during its long history in Brooklyn. Opening day in 1913 just set up the Flatbush Faithful for what would come later. 

                                                For this article I will concentrate on Dodger miscues and bungles, but I will also add future and former Dodgers when they messed up like Kirk Gibson on opening day, April 9, 1981. Gibby had been called up by the Tigers at the end of 1979 but had experienced his first opening day on the road in 80. Opening day in Detroit was like a holiday, and the young outfielder was looking forward to it. Gibson had prepared for the season by playing left and center field. When he looked at the lineup card that day, he could not believe it, he was playing right. 

                                                 Understand that right field on a sunny day in early spring in Detroit is not an easy place to be. Gibby went to Sparky Anderson and told him he thought he made a mistake. Anderson replied that Gibson could play right, Gibby with his huge ego agreed. Events that followed proved them both wrong. The first ball hit to him was in the 2nd inning by Willie Upshaw. A long fly ball to deep right, Gibson misplayed it off of his head. The official scorer graciously scored it a stand-up triple. 

                                                 The next inning with Moseby on third and one out, Mayberry hit a soft liner to right, Gibson charged and caught the ball at his shoe tops. Moseby scored from third. Gibson could have thrown him out, but as he went to throw the ball, he dropped it. Fans began to boo. In the top of the fifth, Ernie Whitt led off with a high fly to right. Gibson staggered towards the ball; it was right in the sun. He was not very good at using his sunglasses at that point in his career, but he had them down. He saw the ball, then did not see it, saw it again, and then lost it in the sun. The ball bounced off of his ear for a three-base error. He later said he had never been so embarrassed in his life. 

                                                Whitt scored on a sac-fly making it 2-1 Blue Jays. Gibson was booed by 51,000 fans unmercifully. In the 6th, Bonnell hit a fly ball to deep right that Gibson tacked down and caught, he was greeted with mock cheers by the crowd. After the game, which the Tigers ended up winning, 6-2, he told reporters that he had some tough times, but they won anyway, and he would learn from his mistakes. He finished with ” see, I feel better already.”

                                                  On August 31, 1934, Dodger a center fielder had one of the worst cases of absentmindedness ever. Len Koenecke, in his first full season with the team had showed considerable skill with the bat, hitting .320 with a team leading 14 homers. But bunting? That was something different. In a game against the Giants that day at Ebbets Field, in the 2nd inning, Sam Leslie beat out a single. With 1 out, Stengel flashed the bunt sign to Koenecke. He squared to bunt and laid down a nice one about 3 feet in front of the plate. Giants’ catcher, Gus Mancuso thought he had a good chance to get Leslie at 2nd, so he fired the ball to SS, Travis Jackson, but the ball sailed into CF and Leslie continued to 3rd. 

                                                   Mancuso heard someone behind him cheering for the sprinting Leslie, the catcher turned around and was totally surprised to see Koenecke jumping up and down cheering his teammate on. He had totally forgotten to start running. Stengel could not believe his eyes, he began screaming at Koenecke, “run to first you idiot!” By this time Giant CF, Hank Lieber had run down the ball and thrown to third, but Leslie was safe, Koenecke suddenly realized he was supposed to be running and took off for first. 3rd baseman, Johnny Vergez alerted to the gaff, fired to first beating Koenecke by 60 feet. The embarrassed player returned quickly to the dugout where he received a tongue lashing from Stengel he would never forget. Koenecke had a 3-year MLB career. He was 30 when he made his Dodger debut after 42 games with the Giants in 32. 

                                                 One of the more famous gaffs made by the Dodgers happened at Ebbets Field on August 15, 1926. The Boston Braves were leading the Dodgers 1-0 going into the bottom of the 7th inning. Otto Miller, the Dodgers regular 3rd base coach lamented to Wilbert Robinson, “getting tired of going out there, nothing ever happens when we are batting.” Hearing his coach’s complaint, catcher Mickey O’Neil jumped up and told Miller “Sit still Otto, I’ll handle it this inning.” He figured a change might bring the team some luck, it did, the wrong kind.

                                                  The Dodgers were known as the Robins then, and they mounted a rally and tied the game. With one out, they loaded the bases with Hank DeBerry at 3rd Dazzy Vance on 2nd, and 2nd baseman Chuck Fewster on 1st. Up came Babe Herman. He blasted a ball to deep right field. DeBerry scored, but Vance worried that the ball might be caught stayed at 2nd until he saw the ball ricochet off the wall and then he started toward 3rd. Meanwhile, Fewster, who from his vantage point knew the ball would be an extra base hit was hot on Vance’s heels.

                                                   Herman, knowing he had a double for sure, decided to try for 3rd base. With his head down he galloped past 2nd and headed for 3rd. O’Neil saw disaster coming and yelled at Herman, back back!. Vance who was headed towards home, thought O’Neil was yelling at him, He headed back to 3rd arriving just about the time that Fewster did, and a couple of seconds later, here came Herman. 3 men on 3rd. Fewster thought he was out and started walking towards the dugout. Meanwhile the relay throw had reached 3rd baseman Eddie Taylor, who was confused but tagged Vance and Herman anyway. 2nd baseman, Doc Gautreau sneaked in got the ball, chased down Fewster and tagged him. 

                                                  After the dust settled, the umpire ruled that 3rd belonged to Vance since he got there first, Herman and Fewster were called out. Herman had doubled into a double play! A thoroughly disgusted Wilbert Robinson said that was the first time those three got together on anything. It was the first game of a doubleheader. Brooklyn would win 4-1 with Vance the winning pitcher, his 6th of the year. Johnny Wertz got the loss. Brooklyn won the 2nd game easily 11-3 behind Jessie Barnes. Herman was 2-3 with a double and 3 driven in. 

                                                    A much more recent baserunning blunder occurred on October 4, 2006, at Shea Stadium in the first game of the NLDS between the Dodgers and Mets. Jeff Kent and then J.D. Drew, led off the 2nd inning with singles. Russell Martin then blasted a pitch from John Maine that caromed off of the base of the right field wall. Kent had held up at 2nd to see if the ball was caught, when he saw it wasn’t, he took off. Because of his late start, Drew was right on his heels. 

                                                     3rd base coach, Rich Donnelly, waved them both home. Mets RF, Shawn Green pegged the ball to 2nd baseman, Jose Valentin, who fired a perfect throw to catcher, Paul LoDuca, who tagged Kent as he was diving headfirst for the plate. Caught in no-man’s land between 3rd and home, Drew decided to try to score since LoDuca had spun around on the play at the plate and did not realize another Dodger would be foolish enough to try and score. 

                                                      LoDuca was struggling to get to his feet when he noticed Drew bearing down on him, he lunged toward the plate and tagged Drew out as he slid headfirst. It was a 9-4-2-2 double play on a hit no less. LA would end up losing the game, 6-5, and were swept in the series. Had they scored more than 1 in the inning, the outcome might have been different. What is amazing is that all three of the Met players involved in the play, had at one time been Dodgers. Valentin was a Dodger in 2005. LoDuca was traded during the 04 season and Green in the winter of 04 to the D-Backs.

                                                       The greats can also have momentary lapses. Pee Wee Reese during a game in 1947> Reese walked in the 3rd inning of a game that the Dodgers would win 6-5 over the Cubs. Teammate Carl Furillo swung mightily at a pitch and his bat headed towards first. Pee Wee stepped off the base to retrieve the bat. When he did so, Cubs catcher, Clyde McCullough, fired the ball to first baseman Eddie Waitkus, who tagged Reese out. Pee Wee had neglected to call time out. He should have known better after playing 4 years under manager, Leo Durocher who famously said, “Nice guys finish last.”

Manny aiming for Mannywood

                                                        During his 10th game as a Dodger, Manny Ramirez was nowhere to be seen when the top of the 9th inning started. He had gone to the bathroom and not told anyone. The game was held up for several minutes until he was found and sent back out to his position in left field. The Dodgers knew about his many quirky behaviors, and it did not take long for a Manny Moment. It looked like a great trade for LA; he was 19-40 in his first 10 games with 4 homers and 13 driven in. 

                                                          It was the 8th inning of an eventual 8-6 win over the Phillies when the incident happened. Ramirez had singled setting up an insurance run. Later in the inning he was forced out at home plate and jogged towards the dugout. Joe Torre realized he had not shaken Manny’s hand for his hit. He was about 8 feet away from Torre when Joe put his fist out, Manny did the same and started to come back and Torre said, ” Don’t worry about it.” Ramirez thought he was being given the rest of the game off. 

                                                         Torre did not notice that Manny had taken all of his bats and gone into the clubhouse since he had to relieve himself anyway. It was brought to his attention when the Dodgers took the field and left was empty, that is when Juan Pierre told Torre what had happened. He sent someone to find him and get him back on the field. With his dreadlocks flying, Manny jogged out to his position while buttoning up his jersey. After the game he told the reporters that he had to pee. Jeff Kent said ” When he pees, he has to take of his jersey? ” His teammates chided him with, here, we play 9 innings. Ahh, Manny being Manny if nothing else was very entertaining. 

                                                      This has been a fun bunch of tales to tell. There are many others in the book so I shall have to work on a second chapter, and who knows, maybe a 3rd.