Pitcher Bill Werle got Bill Nicholson to hit a high infield popup in front of the mound. As trained, he called for an infielder to make the play. “Eddie’s got it! Eddie’s got it!,” he yelled.
Then, he watched the ball fall untouched as catcher Eddie Fitzgerald, first baseman Eddie Stevens and third baseman Eddie Bockman looked on.
A rookie sat next to his manager and watched Roger Maris gun down a runner trying to go from first to third.
“Kid, you won’t see a throw like that again in a million years.”
Three innings later, Maris duplicated the feat.
The rookie turned to the manager and said, “Time sure flies up here in the Majors.”
Los Angeles third baseman Pedro Guerrero committed several hard-to-believe fielding errors during one game. This was during the same time that Dodgers’ second baseman Steve Sax was undergoing his horrendous and well-publicized fielding slump in which he couldn’t throw the most routine ball to first without trouble.
In the post-game meeting, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda was at a loss with Guerrero. “What are you thinking out there,” Lasorda asked.
“Two things,” Guerrero said.
“What’s the first thing?”
“God, don’t let them hit the ball to me.”
“And what’s the other thing,” Lasorda said.
“Don’t let them hit the ball to (Steve) Sax.”
During the local match, a spectator was surprised to see a dog walk onto the pitch and start pitching, eventually striking out the other all star team, and scoring two home runs.
“That’s incredible!” he exclaimed to the man next to him.
“Yes,” he said, “but he’s a terrible disappointment to his parents. They wanted him to be a footballer.”
On June 17, 1962, in a game between the Mets and the Cubs at the Polo Grounds,
“Marvelous” Marv Thronberry slammed a two-run triple. But while he was catching his breath on third base, Chicago firstbaseman Ernie Banks called for the ball and appealed that Marv had missed first base. The appeal was upheld and he was called out. Mets manager Casey Stengel ran out from the dugout to argue the call until umpire Dusty Boggess said, “Forget it Casey.He didn’t touch second either!”