RetroSimba

In a game against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field, Ernie Banks and the Cubs gave new meaning to the term, “Let’s play two.”

Banks, the Cubs’ sunny slugger, always wanted to play as much baseball as possible and his desire for doubleheaders led to his catchphrase.

On June 30, 1959, only one game was played between the Cardinals and Cubs, but “let’s play two” aptly described the madcap antics when two baseballs simultaneously were put into play.

Follow the bouncing ball

The Tuesday afternoon game matched starting pitchers Larry Jackson of the Cardinals against Bob Anderson of the Cubs.

In the fourth inning, the Cardinals led, 2-1, when Stan Musial faced Anderson with one out and none on.

With the count at 3-and-1, Anderson threw a pitch high and inside to Musial. The ball grazed Cubs catcher Sammy Taylor and plate umpire Vic Delmore, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and rolled to the backstop.

Musial headed to first base on what was called ball four.

Taylor, thinking the ball glanced off Musial’s bat and was foul, argued with Delmore and didn’t pursue the ball. Anderson left the mound and went to the plate to join in the discussion.

Cubs third baseman Al Dark, realizing the ball was in play, ran to get it, but a batboy, high school freshman Bobby Schoenfeldt, thought the play was dead. He picked up the ball and tossed it to the field announcer, Pat Pieper.

“I saw Dark flying toward me, but I already had thrown the ball away,” Schoenfeldt said to the Chicago Tribune.

Cardinals manager Solly Hemus said Pieper had the ball in his hand, but “dropped it like a hot potato” as Dark approached.

Pieper said, “Dark yelled at me, ‘Give me the ball.’ I told him to pick it up.”

First-base umpire Al Barlick said, “When Dark charged in from third base, I thought he was joining in the argument.”

Double trouble

As Dark reached for the ball, Delmore, unaware of what was happening behind him, absent-mindedly handed a new baseball to Anderson.

After arriving at first base, Musial said, “I heard our bench yelling for me to run,” and he took off toward second.

Dark and Anderson saw Musial attempting to advance.

Anderson hurriedly threw his ball and it sailed into center field.

At the same time, Dark threw his ball, which Banks, the shortstop, fielded on one bounce on the third-base side of second.

As Musial slid safely into second base, he looked up and saw second baseman Tony Taylor jump for a ball over his head.

“I didn’t even know there was a second ball,” Musial said.

Musial got up, started toward third, got tagged by Banks with the original ball and was called out by second-base umpire Bill Jackowski. Boxscore

Nonsense factor

The Cardinals argued Musial was entitled to second base because the batboy interfered with a ball in play. Barlick, the crew chief, disagreed, saying it was unintentional interference and Musial tried to advance at his own risk.

Hemus contended Musial “should have been safe because he was confused and deceived by the second ball, which went into center field,” but the umpires refused to reverse their decision.

The Cardinals played the game under protest, but it didn’t matter because they added a run in the seventh and another in the eighth and won, 4-1. Jackson pitched a four-hitter and retired 18 of the last 19 Cubs batters.

The Chicago Tribune concluded the game set a new standard for “baseball daffiness” and “not even Bill Veeck of the White Sox could have conjured up such a zany episode.”