The supreme irony of the 1912 World Series is that a classic post-season contest is best remembered today for a simple error.

            It should not be so. The Boston Red Sox and New York Giants staged one of the superb tussles of the ages that autumn, topping it with a memorable seventh game (actually it was the 8th, one having ended in a tie) that ended in extra innings. That game, played Oct. 16 in Boston, is still the only World Series finale in which the winning team came from behind in its final at bat to claim the title.

            New York's Christy Mathewson and Boston's Hughie Bedient had matched each other through nine, the score tied at 1-1. In the top of the 10th, Fred Merkle's line single -- juggled by Tris Speaker -- allowed Red Murray, who had doubled, to score the go-ahead run. Ironically, the great Speaker was charged with a muff -- but not the last muff of the day, nor the most important.

            Clyde Engle opened the bottom of the inning by lifting a fly ball to Fred Snodgrass in center. Years later, Snodgrass explained it this way: "He hit a great big lazy fly ball...I waved Murray off and -- well, I dropped the darn thing." More irony: the next batter, Harry Hooper, laced a line fly to deep center. Snodgrass raced back and made an over-the-shoulder catch, nearly doubling Engle, who had already rounded third.

            After a walk, Mathewson appeared to have retired Speaker on a foul pop. But Merkle and catcher Chief Meyers, either of whom could have caughtthe ball, let it drop in confusion. Reprieved, Speaker lined a single to right that scored the tying run andsent the winner to third. Speaker took second on the play at that base so Mathewson walked Duffy Lewis to face Larry Gardner with a force in effect. Gardner's fly ball to deep right, the third out if Snodgrass had held his famous "muff," scored the run that gave Boston one of the most dramatic world's titles in the game's history.

ELSEWHERE IN BASEBALL

 

Fenway Park in Boston and Navin Field in Detroit open on the same day, April 20.

         

The Detroit Tigers stage a one-day strike May 18 after Ty Cobb is suspended for attacking at New York's Hilltop Park.

IN THE WORLD

 

Arizona becomes the 48th state Feb. 14, ending a half-century period of Western territorial development.