Quote:
Originally Posted by rickalaska
In Merkle's defense, he was a rookie and I would have asked, where was the first base coach on the play...
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It was standard practice at the time for players to exit the field immediately on a game-winning hit. The same thing happened in a Cubs-Pirates game a few weeks earlier, and Evers tried the same thing, but the umpire(s) wouldn't allow it. McGraw was aware of what Evers had tried, and should have warned his players, but did not.
The first base coach would have been a player who was not in the game (rather than a retired player hired specifically to stand near first base). In this case, I think it was Joe McGinnity, who chased after the ball when he saw Evers calling for it. He apparently got to it before Evers, and then threw it into the stands. Evers later claimed that two of his teammates retrieved that ball, but more likely he got another one from the bench.