Touching Second
Reviewed by Ed Sims, a former president of SLA and professor emeritus of English at Springfield College
APRIL 24, 2005 archive
Readers expecting to find detailed autobiographical information in this work about the acclaimed middleman of the famed Tinkers to Evers to Chance double play combination will need to look elsewhere. Co-authored by Evers (widely considered the brainiest player of his day) and John J. Fullerton (pioneering sports writer and a founder of the Baseball Writers Association of America), it was first published in 1910. The manuscript, according to the authors, was originally written by Fullerton and was revised and corrected by Evers.
Republished as part of the McFarland Historical Baseball Library, the authors describe the game as it was played during the first decade of the 20th century. The book’s title is based on Evers’ knowledge of the rules which enabled him to alter the 1908 National League pennant race. In a September game, the New York Giants thought they defeated the Cubs 2-1 with a run in the bottom of the ninth. Fred Merkle, who was on first base, walked off the field. Evers called for the ball, touched second, and the runner was called out. At the time, runners often didn’t advance to second when the winning run scored. Irate fan reaction caused the game to be called and replayed. Evers and the Cubs won and went on to win the World Series.
The authors offer a variety of anecdotes about the history of the early game. For example, the addition of a second umpire came about as a result of a knowledgeable observer. This time it came from a reporter and not a player. At the Polo Grounds in 1908, he noticed that the umpire moved from behind the catcher onto the field when a hit and run or a bunt was in play. He suggested to the Chicago manager that the umpire would be unable to observe the catcher stop, trip or otherwise impede the batter’s move to first base resulting in a double play. Both teams used the ploy twice. Once again, fans were irate. The second umpire was added the next day.
The 29 chapters cover nearly all components of the game, including assembling a potentially winning team, position playing, batting, pitching, “the inside game,” Spring training and scoring. Fullerton calls the scorers “the recording secretaries and historians of the game. I started recording . . . by cutting notches in a pine stick with an IXL two-bladed knife.”
Johnny Evers saw baseball develop “into an exact mathematical sport” yet he observed that the game needed “more dash, less mechanical work, more brains by individuals and fewer orders from the bench.” His aggressive intelligent play included all of the above. Fullerton describes Evers at the age of 19 as “a bundle of nerves, a lot of woven wire muscles, and the quickest brain in baseball.”
Except to illustrate the authors’ ideas, Evers’ reluctance to discuss his many personal exploits limits the potential range of this otherwise valuable history. Readers seeking more information might choose Baseball in the Big Leagues by Evers and Fullerton (McFarland)or Gil Bogen’s Tinker, Evers and Chance: A Triple Biography (SABR).
Evers, John J. and Hugh S. Fullerton. Touching Second. McFarland, 2005. 285 pp. $27.00.
Copyright © 2005 by Ed Sims