Snodgrass's Muff and the End of the 1912 World Series

On October 16, 1912, at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Giants 3-2 in ten innings to win the World Series. The game was the eighth of the Series, with one earlier contest ending in a tie. It produced one of baseball's most enduring goat stories, and an injustice that followed a man to his grave.

Fred Snodgrass, the Giants' center fielder, dropped a routine fly ball off the bat of pinch-hitter Clyde Engle to open the bottom of the tenth. Engle reached second base on what should have been a simple out. The error became known forever as "Snodgrass's Muff," and when Snodgrass died in 1974, the New York Times led his obituary with the dropped ball rather than the life he had lived.

The label was always unfair. After the muff, Snodgrass made a spectacular running catch on the next batter, Harry Hooper, robbing him of extra bases. The Giants still had chances to escape the inning. Tris Speaker popped up a foul ball that catcher Chief Meyers and first baseman Fred Merkle let drop between them, a far more consequential failure. Given new life, Speaker singled to score Engle. Larry Gardner then hit a sacrifice fly to bring home the winning run.

Christy Mathewson took the loss despite pitching well enough to win. Giants manager John McGraw never blamed Snodgrass. In his memoir, McGraw wrote that after the Series he raised Snodgrass's salary by $1,000. But the public needed a scapegoat, and Snodgrass carried the weight for 62 years.

The 1912 Series remains one of the most dramatic in early baseball history, played between two powerhouse clubs in front of packed crowds at brand-new Fenway Park.