“From the L:ighter Side!”
There’s No Crying—Or Sleeping!—In Baseball!
A recent article in Baseball Digest had some interesting information about baseball ejections. My favorite incident from the article occurred back on June 8, 1920, one hundred four years ago yesterday, in front of 12,000 fans in a game played at the Polo Grounds between the Reds and the Giants. Here’s the scene:
Giants’ left fielder George Burns hit a shot down the left-field line and legged out a double. Apparently, there was some dispute about whether it was fair or foul, and home plate umpire Barry McCormack called it fair. That brought Reds’ manager Pat Moran out of the dugout to protest the call. During the extended argument, Reds’ centerfielder Edd Roush decided to “put his glove on the ground and took a nap.”
[see Edd Rousch in the featured photo below, looking like he just got up from his nap!]
Sure enough, according to the article, he fell fast asleep; and teammate Heine Groh’s attempt to “rouse Rousch” failed. When the game resumed, umpire McCormack got tired of waiting for the slumbering future Hall of Famer to return to his position, and so ejected him for “delay of game.” Greasy Neale, who would later go on to fame in the NFL, replaced Rousch in center. The Giants went on to win the game, 5-4
