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Lyr Add: Bonehead Merkle (Chuck Brodsky) Related threads: Lyr Req: Unbridled Reins (Chuck Brodsky) (11) In Praise of Chuck Brodsky (24) Chuck Brodsky does great show! (5) Review: Chuck Brodsky in Barrie Ont. Canada (5) Help Chuck Brodsky recover stolen instruments (5) Lyr Req: Restless Kid (Chuck Brodsky) (7) C. Brodsky & Still On The Hill on radio (5)
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Subject: Lyr Add: BONEHEAD MERKLE (Chuck Brodsky) From: Jim Dixon Date: 17 Jul 07 - 08:17 PM Heard this on the radio the other day, and I found it a fascinating story. When was the last time you heard a ballad about a baseball game? Turns out, Chuck Brodsky has a whole album of them, called, appropriately, "The Baseball Ballads." The lyrics are from Chuck Brodsky's web site, neatened up a bit by me. BONEHEAD MERKLE Chuck Brodsky September twenty-third, nineteen-hundred and eight: Cubs against the Giants, Giants at the plate. Bridwell came to bat. There were two outs and two on. It was the bottom the ninth, and the infield it was drawn. Two weeks left in the season, it was a classic pennant race. The Giants had a one-game lead and the Cubs were giving 'em chase. The Polo Grounds were rocking. The score was tied at one. Moose McCormick was on third base, and he was the winning run, Which brings us to Fred Merkle, whose name would soon be cursed. He was the other runner, and he took his lead off first. Bridwell drilled a line drive out into right center. McCormick could've walked on home, and the Giants were the winners. The Polo Grounds erupted. Thousands rushed the field. The players all ran for their lives, with the fans right on their heels. Merkle was halfway to second by the time McCormick scored, But then Merkle made a beeline straight to the clubhouse door. Well, the door to the clubhouse, it was in the outfield wall. Merkle never did touch second, and the Cubs retrieved the ball. The throw back to the infield reached the wrong couple of hands. Giants coach McGinnity threw the ball up in the stands. And after a long deliberation, the ump ruled Merkle out. It would take too long to clear the field of this unruly crowd. Since night games were unheard of then, and it would soon be dark, He called the game a one-one tie, and would have to sneak away from the park *** Giants manager McGraw argued that this Rule Fifty-Nine Never was enforced, so why should it be this time? But only two weeks earlier it ran on all the wires: The same play happened to the Cubs, and with the very same umpire. None of the New York papers deemed this story fit to print. So it was that, thanks to them, their team was ignorant. All throughout the baseball world, and elsewhere, people knew it: A runner has to touch his base, and Merkle didn't do it. *** So the matter was turned over to the baseball powers-that-be, Who upheld the ump's decision, and they ruled prophetically That if the season were to end with the Cubs and Giants tied, They'd have to replay the Merkle game so first-place could be decided. Well, they replayed the Merkle game, and fee-fie-fo-fum, The Giants lost the pennant, and Merkle was the bum. The papers let him have it. Well, they gave it to him good. They ran the kind of headlines only New York papers could. Well, they dubbed him Bonehead Merkle and made up Merkle words. One might "pull a Merkle," and "to Merkle" became a verb. Some would yell, "Touch second, Bonehead!" when he stood on first. Little kids yelled "Moron!" and the older kids much worse. *** And it haunted him his whole life, until forty-two years later, In front of thirty-five thousand former Merkle-haters, Back there at the Polo Grounds for an old-timers' game, There was a long standing ovation when they announced Fred Merkle's name. [To listen to an archived radio program that contains this song, click here. The song begins 1 hour, 6 minutes, and 30 seconds from the beginning of the sound file.] |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Bonehead Merkle (Chuck Brodsky) From: Big Jim from Jackson Date: 18 Jul 07 - 11:02 AM Chuck also has some other baseball songs scattered out on a couple of other albums. One about Moe Berg, a big league catcher and CIA agent, and one about Richie Allen and the letters he scratched in the dirt come to mind. Chuck is a wonderful performer and a very fine song writer. |
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