Harvey Haddix' famous game

[greymule]

Most baseball fans know that Harvey Haddix of the Pirates once pitched 12 innings of perfect baseball against the Braves, only to lose in the 13th (May 26, 1959). However, the game ended on a strange play, and I'm trying to figure out why the league ruled the way it did.

Felix Mantilla led off the bottom of the 13th by reaching on an error by Don Hoak (though apparently Rocky Nelson missed a routine scoop at 1B). The next batter sacrificed Mantilla to 2B, and Hank Aaron was walked intentionally. Then Joe Adcock hit a liner that just barely cleared the outfield fence. Aaron, thinking the ball to be in play, stopped running between 2B and 3B when he saw Mantilla score the winning run. Aaron then started toward the dugout and was called out for abandoning his effort. Adcock finished running around the bases, and everyone left the field with the final score 2-0.

However, upon reviewing the play, NL president Warren Giles ruled that Adcock should have been called out for passing Aaron between 2B and 3B. So Adcock was credited only with a double, and the official score was changed to 1-0.

But Adcock passed Aaron only because Aaron had abandoned his effort (and was called out for doing so). If Aaron was out, how could Adcock be out for passing him on the basepaths?

Does anyone know the answer to this?

[Rich Ives]

I don't remember the part about Aaron abandoning - in fact I've never seen it recounted that way.

[bluezebra]

". Aaron, thinking the ball to be in play, stopped running between 2B and 3B when he saw Mantilla score the winning run. Aaron then started toward the dugout and was called out for abandoning his effort." "However, upon reviewing the play, NL president Warren Giles ruled that Adcock should have been called out for passing Aaron between 2B and 3B."

Read your statement. Aaron stopped between 2B & 3B. Adcock passed Aaron. Aaron was called out when he headed for the dugout. Adcock was out BEFORE Aaron technically abandonded his effort.

However, if Aaron was called out BEFORE Adcock passed him, the ruling by Giles was erroneous. OBR 7.08...Even though an out is called, the ball remains in play in regard to any other runner. This rule also covers the following and similar plays: Less than two out, score tied last of ninth inning, runner on first, batter hits a ball out of park for winning run, the runner on first passes second and thinking the home run automatically wins the game, cuts across diamond toward his bench as batter runner circles bases. In this case, the base runner would be called out "for abandoning his effort to touch the next base" and batter runner permitted to continue around bases to make his home run valid. If there are two out, home run would not count (see Rule 7.12). 7.12 Unless two are out, the status of a following runner is not affected by a preceding runner's failure to touch or retouch a base. If, upon appeal, the preceding runner is the third out, no runners following him shall score. If such third out is the result of a force play, neither preceding nor following runners shall score.

"However, upon reviewing the play, NL president Warren Giles ruled that Adcock should have been called out for passing Aaron between 2B and 3B. So Adcock was credited only with a double, and the official score was changed to 1-0."

Since Mantilla scored before the outs on Aaron and Adcock, the ruling was correct.

Bob

[greymule]

Just a guess, but I suspect that the umps watched the entire play unfold, and after Adcock had circled the bases, they called Aaron out for abandoning effort. After all, with Aaron heading straight to the dugout and Adcock running the bases, the umps were probably doing double-takes. Later, when Giles reviewed the play, he saw that Adcock had "passed" Aaron before Aaron had actually been called out—though he should have been called out well before Adcock passed him.

I don't see how Adcock could possibly have passed Aaron before Aaron abandoned his effort. However, Giles probably reasoned that, though Aaron had indeed abandoned effort, the umps hadn't actually called it at the time Adcock passed him. On the other hand, I would think that a reviewer of the play would say, "OK, Aaron should have been called out the moment he abandoned effort. By the time Adcock passed him, Aaron was already out." If you're going to review part of a play, you should review the whole play.

Yes, if Aaron stopped between 2B and 3B and Adcock passed him, then Aaron abandoned effort, they would both be out. But I would think that if that had happened, the passing would have been obvious and they would have called Adcock out immediately.

Wow! Imagine if Mantilla had gone into a lazy trot and Giles ruled that both Adcock and Aaron were out before Mantilla crossed the plate. Two runners on, one out, ball hit over the fence, NO RUN, and one of the most famous games of all times is picked up in the top of the 14th!

[Edited by greymule on Feb 25th, 2003 at 04:13 PM]

[bluezebra]

Stopping between 2B and 3B is not abandonment. A runner holds up half way (go half way on a fly ball, freeze on a line drive), until it's clear that the ball has left the field, fell in for a hit, or been caught. Aaron had stopped and was watching the ball go out.

Bob

[greymule]

One version is that Aaron thought the ball was in the park and that the game had ended as soon as Mantilla touched home. Another is that Aaron thought the ball had bounced over the fence for a double. Apparently, the type of mesh fence they had in Milwaukee sometimes made it difficult to tell whether the ball was in or out.

I'd love to see a film of the play, but I'm not sure one exists. At least I've never seen one. Imagine a perfect game in the 13th inning today and no recording of it.

The story is that before the game started, Don Hoak told Haddix he thought he was going to pitch a perfect game.