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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Greetings everyone, Welcome to this Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: where we bring you a new tidbit from history every day.

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Speaker 1: Today is August four, nineteen. The day was August four,

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Speaker 1: nineteen eleven. A Major League baseball player named Herman Schaeffer,

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Speaker 1: or Germany as he was nicknamed, stole first base in

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Speaker 1: reverse during a game. Germany Schaefer made his major league

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Speaker 1: debut in October of nineteen oh one, playing for the

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Speaker 1: Chicago Cubs. Schaefer worked as a baseball player, coach, or

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Speaker 1: scout until he died in nineteen nineteen, but during his

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Speaker 1: baseball career, he was known for his antiques on the field.

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Speaker 1: He entertained crowds by pulling pranks like wearing a rank

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Speaker 1: cote onto the field, bringing a lantern onto the field,

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Speaker 1: or walking along the foul line as if it were

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Speaker 1: a tight rope. One of his most remembered stunts is

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Speaker 1: stealing first base. A base is stolen when a runner

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Speaker 1: moves to the next base without the ball having been

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Speaker 1: hit into play and without a fielding error. The official

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Speaker 1: score awards stolen bases. On August four, nineteen eleven, Schaefer

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Speaker 1: was in Chicago, playing for the Washington Senators against the

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Speaker 1: Chicago White Sox. In this era, stealing basis was a

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Speaker 1: popular strategy that included the double steal, which happens when

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Speaker 1: two base runners attempt to steal a base on the

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Speaker 1: same play. When this game was in the bottom of

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Speaker 1: the ninth inning, the score was zero to zero, Schaefer's

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Speaker 1: teammate Clyde Millon was on third base. Shaffer stole second,

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Speaker 1: hoping to draw a throw from the White Sox catcher

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Speaker 1: Fred Payne and allow Millen to steal home, but the

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Speaker 1: catcher held the ball. This led Schaeffer to try and

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Speaker 1: steal backward to first base on the next pitch so

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Speaker 1: he could attempt the double steal again, but again he

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Speaker 1: did not draw a throw from the catcher. White Sox

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Speaker 1: manager Hugh Duffy ran out onto the field to argue

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Speaker 1: with umpire Tommy Connolly about letting Schaefer steal first. While

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Speaker 1: they argued, Schaefer made a run for second base again,

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Speaker 1: Schaefer was caught in a rundown, or when a base

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Speaker 1: runner gets stuck between two bases. At this point, Milan

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Speaker 1: headed for home plate, but Milan was tagged for the

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Speaker 1: third out and the inning was over. The Senators argued

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Speaker 1: that the play did not count because the White Sox

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Speaker 1: had ten players on the field, counting the Soxes manager,

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Speaker 1: even though he had not played a game in years,

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Speaker 1: but the umpire ruled against them as they had caused

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Speaker 1: the chaos in the first place, and the official score

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Speaker 1: only credited Schaefer for one in base, even though the

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Speaker 1: umpire said that stealing first base was legal. Milan did

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Speaker 1: later score and the Senators won the game, won to zero.

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Speaker 1: Newspapers reported on the events of the game the next day.

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Speaker 1: In August five, report in the Richmond Item Out of

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Speaker 1: Indiana said, the umpires and bugs will keep guessing all

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Speaker 1: summer over what right has a man to steal bases?

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Speaker 1: Backward outfielder Davy Jones recalled Schaefer's stealing first base in

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Speaker 1: nineteen o eight against Cleveland, but this story has not

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Speaker 1: been verified. In ninety a rule was passed to call

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Speaker 1: players out if they ran the bases in reverse order.

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Speaker 1: I'm e jeffco and hopefully you know a little more

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Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. And if you'd

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Speaker 1: like to follow us on social media, you can find

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Speaker 1: us at t D i h C Podcast on Twitter, Instagram,

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Speaker 1: and Facebook. We'll be back with more history tomorrow. For

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Speaker 1: favorite shows.