Germany Schaefer stole first base - August 4, 1911

On this day, baseball player Herman "Germany" Schaefer stole first base from second base. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Greetings everyone, Welcome to this Day in History Class,
where we bring you a new tidbit from history every day.
Today is August four, nineteen. The day was August four,

(00:26):
nineteen eleven. A Major League baseball player named Herman Schaeffer,
or Germany as he was nicknamed, stole first base in
reverse during a game. Germany Schaefer made his major league
debut in October of nineteen oh one, playing for the
Chicago Cubs. Schaefer worked as a baseball player, coach, or

(00:48):
scout until he died in nineteen nineteen, but during his
baseball career, he was known for his antiques on the field.
He entertained crowds by pulling pranks like wearing a rank
cote onto the field, bringing a lantern onto the field,
or walking along the foul line as if it were
a tight rope. One of his most remembered stunts is

(01:09):
stealing first base. A base is stolen when a runner
moves to the next base without the ball having been
hit into play and without a fielding error. The official
score awards stolen bases. On August four, nineteen eleven, Schaefer
was in Chicago, playing for the Washington Senators against the
Chicago White Sox. In this era, stealing basis was a

(01:32):
popular strategy that included the double steal, which happens when
two base runners attempt to steal a base on the
same play. When this game was in the bottom of
the ninth inning, the score was zero to zero, Schaefer's
teammate Clyde Millon was on third base. Shaffer stole second,
hoping to draw a throw from the White Sox catcher

(01:54):
Fred Payne and allow Millen to steal home, but the
catcher held the ball. This led Schaeffer to try and
steal backward to first base on the next pitch so
he could attempt the double steal again, but again he
did not draw a throw from the catcher. White Sox
manager Hugh Duffy ran out onto the field to argue

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with umpire Tommy Connolly about letting Schaefer steal first. While
they argued, Schaefer made a run for second base again,
Schaefer was caught in a rundown, or when a base
runner gets stuck between two bases. At this point, Milan
headed for home plate, but Milan was tagged for the
third out and the inning was over. The Senators argued

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that the play did not count because the White Sox
had ten players on the field, counting the Soxes manager,
even though he had not played a game in years,
but the umpire ruled against them as they had caused
the chaos in the first place, and the official score
only credited Schaefer for one in base, even though the

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umpire said that stealing first base was legal. Milan did
later score and the Senators won the game, won to zero.
Newspapers reported on the events of the game the next day.
In August five, report in the Richmond Item Out of
Indiana said, the umpires and bugs will keep guessing all
summer over what right has a man to steal bases?

(03:24):
Backward outfielder Davy Jones recalled Schaefer's stealing first base in
nineteen o eight against Cleveland, but this story has not
been verified. In ninety a rule was passed to call
players out if they ran the bases in reverse order.
I'm e jeffco and hopefully you know a little more

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