The Phillies Get Caught Buzzing
A buzz under the dirt, geese over the grandstand, a coal miner's lasting record, and a voice that called a country back to the ballpark.
Ed. 09.17.26
The Phillies Get Caught Buzzing (1900)
Phillies coach Pearce Chiles had a strange twitch, and it only showed up at home, where he always stood in the same wet spot in the third-base box. Cincinnati's Tommy Corcoran finally went digging and pulled up a wooden box wired to a buzzer. Backup catcher Morgan Murphy had been reading signs from the center-field clubhouse and zapping them to Chiles through the dirt. Every modern sign-stealing scandal has a great-great-grandfather, and he lived in a puddle in Philadelphia.
A Coal Miner's Birthday Present (1931)
Earl Webb dug coal in Tennessee before he ever played pro ball. On his birthday in 1931, he doubled in both games of a doubleheader against Cleveland, tying George Burns's record of 64 in the opener and breaking it in the nightcap. He finished with 67. Ninety-five years later, it is still the major league record.
Maris Looks Up (1961)
In the 12th inning at Tiger Stadium, with Tony Kubek on second, Roger Maris stepped out of the box and stared at the sky. A flock of Canada geese was crossing over the right-field roof. Maris watched them go, stepped back in, and hit his 58th homer off Terry Fox for a 6-4 Yankees win. In the loudest September of his life, he found the one quiet thing in the building.
Should We Be Here? (2001)
Six days after September 11, baseball came back. Ballparks sang "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch. In St. Louis, before the Cardinals played the Brewers, broadcaster Jack Buck stepped to a microphone and read a poem he had written called "For America." Then he asked the question on everyone's mind and answered it himself. "Should we be here? Yes!" Twenty-five years later, that answer still holds.
