SPECIAL EDITION Vol. 8, No. 4: “Let’s get this lumpy, licorice-stained ball rolling!” Special Merkle Edition, Sept. 23, 2008 Chairman’s Column Fred Merkle Redivivus By Keith Olbermann By John McMurray (
[email protected] ) It might have been the very words his name suggested that had gotten me One-hundred years later, hooked. the allure of the Merkle game “Murky?” The entire event certainly was. Then, because of the holy hell endures. Not only did Fred Merkle’s that must have unfolded on that September afternoon so long ago and more failure to touch second base during recently, because even by the time of this other September afternoon in 1982, a game between the Giants and Cubs the witnesses were probably all gone and only the silent and conflicting pages of have a direct effect on the storied 1908 history were left to speak. pennant race, but it also launched “Quirk?” Clearly that one was apt to describe how poor Fred Merkle came to decades of debate that will never be be the victim of the nightmare in the first place. resolved definitely. It was the ultimate “Pickle?” Obviously the young, talented, unjustifiably-assailed player had remarkable game of a remarkable gotten himself into one, and one from which, on that 74th anniversary, he still sporting era, where major league seemed nowhere near extrication. Forces, powerful and insistent, had put him baseball as an established institution there in one of history’s vises, and they were determined to keep him there. was still finding its way. I had already done five anniversary pieces on Merkle, and the story was such There are many baseball incidents that may be considered Continued on page 17.