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Thu Oct 15, 2015 8:14 am
Babe Herman:
Herman was an outstanding hitter, but a markedly below-average fielder who led the NL in errors in 1927 as a first baseman and in each of the next two years playing in right field. Fresco Thompson, a 1931 teammate, observed: "He wore a glove for one reason: because it was a league custom." Herman developed a self-deprecating attitude about his shortcomings; when informed by a local bank that someone had been impersonating him and cashing bad checks, he said, "Hit him a few flyballs. If he catches any, it ain't me." His style of play, along with that of the entire team, led to Brooklyn being dubbed "The Daffiness Boys," with sportswriter Frank Graham noting, "They were not normally of a clownish nature, and some of them were very good ballplayers, indeed, but they were overcome by the atmosphere in which they found themselves as soon as they had put on Brooklyn uniforms."
During a game on August 15, 1926, at Ebbets Field against the Boston Braves, he tried to stretch a double off the right field wall into a triple with one out and the bases loaded; Chick Fewster, who had been on first, advanced to third base – which was already occupied by Dazzy Vance, who had started from second base but was now caught in a rundown and was dashing back to third. All three of them ended up at third base, with Herman not having watched the play in front of him, and the third baseman, Eddie Taylor, tagged all three just to be sure of getting as many outs as possible. The slow-footed Vance had been a major contributor to this situation, but according to the rules, Vance (as the lead runner, not forced to advance) was entitled to the base, so umpire Beans Reardon called Herman and Fewster out. Thus, Babe Herman was said to have "doubled into a double play." He would later complain that no one remembered that he drove in the winning run on the play (Hank DeBerry was on third when Vance was on second and Fewster was on first; when Babe got his hit, DeBerry scored). This led to the following popular joke:
"The Dodgers have three men on base!"
"Oh, yeah? Which base
Herman was an outstanding hitter, but a markedly below-average fielder who led the NL in errors in 1927 as a first baseman and in each of the next two years playing in right field. Fresco Thompson, a 1931 teammate, observed: "He wore a glove for one reason: because it was a league custom." Herman developed a self-deprecating attitude about his shortcomings; when informed by a local bank that someone had been impersonating him and cashing bad checks, he said, "Hit him a few flyballs. If he catches any, it ain't me." His style of play, along with that of the entire team, led to Brooklyn being dubbed "The Daffiness Boys," with sportswriter Frank Graham noting, "They were not normally of a clownish nature, and some of them were very good ballplayers, indeed, but they were overcome by the atmosphere in which they found themselves as soon as they had put on Brooklyn uniforms."
During a game on August 15, 1926, at Ebbets Field against the Boston Braves, he tried to stretch a double off the right field wall into a triple with one out and the bases loaded; Chick Fewster, who had been on first, advanced to third base – which was already occupied by Dazzy Vance, who had started from second base but was now caught in a rundown and was dashing back to third. All three of them ended up at third base, with Herman not having watched the play in front of him, and the third baseman, Eddie Taylor, tagged all three just to be sure of getting as many outs as possible. The slow-footed Vance had been a major contributor to this situation, but according to the rules, Vance (as the lead runner, not forced to advance) was entitled to the base, so umpire Beans Reardon called Herman and Fewster out. Thus, Babe Herman was said to have "doubled into a double play." He would later complain that no one remembered that he drove in the winning run on the play (Hank DeBerry was on third when Vance was on second and Fewster was on first; when Babe got his hit, DeBerry scored). This led to the following popular joke:
"The Dodgers have three men on base!"
"Oh, yeah? Which base