MLB Lists: A goofy, spooky list of major league oddities

And Here’s One That Sounds like Fake News

Herman Schaefer was a unique MLB talent – a base stealing specialist who stole first base. From second.

Twice.

To be precise, there is some evidence of him doing it twice. There is confirmation that he did it at least once.

The apparent first steal of first from second came “around 1908” when Schaefer was playing for the Detroit Tigers against the Cleveland Naps. The only evidence for this is a story by teammate Davy Jones, which was repeated and eventually made its way into a book and later to the internet. Supposedly, with Jones on third and Schaefer on second, Schaefer took off for first, yelling loudly in an apparent attempt to draw a throw to first and allow his teammate to score.

The catcher didn’t bite, and since there was literally no rule against what Schaefer had done, he was allowed to stay at first. On the next pitch he took off for second again with another scream. The catcher threw to second, and both he and Jones, according to Jones, ended up with stolen bases and a run.

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For Schaefer’s second steal of first there was newspaper documentation. Playing for the Washington Senators against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 4, 1911, he “swiped first” again from second with another runner on third. The Sox catcher didn’t fall for the ploy either, but then Chicago’s manager Hugh Duffy came out to argue with the home plate umpire about allowing Schaefer to do this although why he would do that is unclear. While Duffy pressed his self-defeating case, Schaefer took off for second again. (Calling time was a seemingly sloppy matter back then.)

The catcher then threw to second and the Washington runner broke for home, but was thrown out.

The 1911 incident was later documented by SABR.org, but they call the alleged 1908 steal “almost certainly a fabrication,” whatever that means.

In any event, baseball eventually banned “stealing first,” probably in response to Schaefer. Rule 7.08i now reads: “After [a batter] has acquired legal possession of a base, [if] he runs the bases in reverse order for the purpose of confusing the defense or making a travesty of the game…[the] umpire shall immediately call “Time” and declare the runner out….”

Jeez, those rules guys probably wouldn’t have liked Schaefer taking the field, as he did sometimes, in galoshes while carrying an umbrella either.

We hope you enjoyed this MLB list of the oddities of the game of baseball!