Germany Schafer, 1911 Washington Senators
Photographer: Library of Congress George Grantham Bain Collection
Photo Subject: Herman A. "Germany" Schaefer, trying out the other side of the camera during the Washington Senators visit to play the New York Highlanders (Yankees) in April of 1911.
Folklore:
In 1920, baseball passed a rule that states:
"After he has acquired legal possession of a base, 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".
It is commonly accepted that this rule was drafted because of the antics of Germany Schaefer, the man credited with stealing first base – twice. The first reverse steal cannot be officially documented, but as told by fellow Detroit teammate Davy Jones to Lawrence Ritter in his book “The Glory of Their Days”:
Jones was perched on third base in the late stages of a tied ballgame. Schaefer was on first base. Hoping to draw a throw that would allow Jones to race home with the go-ahead run, Schaefer stole second. However, the catcher, wise to the strategy, held onto the ball. “So now we had men on second and third,” Jones recalled. “Well, on the next pitch Schaefer yelled, ‘Let’s try it again!’ And with a blood-curdling shout he took off like a wild Indian back to first base, and dove in headfirst in a cloud of dust. He figured the catcher might throw to first–since he evidently wouldn’t throw to second–and then I would come home same as before. But nothing happened. Nothing at all. Everybody just stood there and watched Schaefer, with their mouths open, not knowing what the devil was going on.”
Even if the catcher had thrown to first, Jones said, he was too flabbergasted to move off third. “The umpires were just as confused as everybody else. However, it turned out that at that time there wasn’t any rule against a guy going from second back to first, if that’s the way he wanted to play baseball, so they had to let it stand. So there we were, back where we started, with Schaefer on first and me on third. And on the next pitch darned if he didn’t let out another war whoop and take off again for second base. By this time the Cleveland catcher evidently had enough, because he finally threw to second to get Schaefer, and when he did I took off for home and both of us were safe.”
Painting Detail: Printed on 13” x 19” canvas and painted using Schmincke Mussini and Marshall’s oil paints. Finer details, like cap pinstripes, were made using Prismacolor pencils.
Acknowledgement:Folklore directly taken from “The Glory of Their Times”, Lawrence S. Ritter.