Fenway 1912 by Glenn Stout

Author:Glenn Stout [Stout, Glenn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780547195629
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 2011-10-11T07:00:00+00:00

NO MORE MOONLIGHT BASEBALL, SILK

It was a sloppy, back-and-forth game that spoke to Chicago's desperation in the face of a deteriorating season. Boston took command early, taking a 6–2 lead, but in the sixth the White Sox routed Bedient and scored five runs to surge ahead. Then Bill Carrigan's single in the seventh chased Eddie Cicotte, and Ed Walsh came on in relief for what seemed like his one hundredth appearance of the season. Charley Hall singled to center field, scoring a run and sending Carrigan on around second base.

That was when everything got weird. Carrigan took a wide turn at second, and Chicago center fielder Jimmie Callahan threw behind him, catching the Boston catcher between bases. A rundown ensued that eventually involved the entire Chicago infield as Carrigan darted this way and dashed that way, back and forth, racing away from the ball in great loops and skirting the outfield grass like a Little Leaguer who didn't know the rules. Finally, somehow, he dove back safe to second base.

As soon as he did several Chicago players stopped chasing Carrigan and started charging after umpires Silk O'Loughlin and Fred Westervelt, arguing that, while avoiding being tagged, Carrigan had run outside the baseline. But whether that was a violation of the rules was not exactly clear. Even the Boston Globe wondered "if there is any line drawn for such a play."

Within a few moments O'Loughlin was surrounded by virtually the entire Chicago team, half of them screaming and the others dramatically throwing their gloves in the air and waving their arms. He listened for a remarkably long time before finally walking away as Fred Westervelt made a show of taking out his pocket watch to move things along. But each time O'Loughlin returned to his place, the White Sox resumed the argument. The crowd got restless and booed the White Sox unmercifully, but even they grew tired. Over the next twenty minutes, as the White Sox continued to hound the umpires and Bill Carrigan stood patiently on second base, hundreds, if not thousands, of fans grew impatient and left Fenway Park. It was more than twenty long minutes before the game was able to resume.

After nine innings the game was tied, 8–8. The tenth inning was played in twilight, and with the game still tied, most observers expected it to be called because of darkness.

But now the umpires got their revenge on the White Sox. As reporters in the press box and fans at the top of the stands could clearly see, outside the park automobile drivers had turned on their headlights, the gas street lamps had begun to flicker on, and the electric streetcars were illuminated. But O'Loughlin and Westervelt, giving Boston every opportunity to win, refused to call the game. By the twelfth inning it was so dark that it was hard for those in the press box to see the outfielders, much less their scorebook. The players were becoming impatient too, and in the top of the inning

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