07.17.2005 14:19

Lightning and Red Murray


On todays' Brainy History:
July 17, 1914 Giants outfielder Red Murray is knocked unconscious by lightning after catching a flyball, ending 21 inning game, Giants win 3-1
This wasn't Murray's only run in with lightning. Five years earlier, here's what happened:
August 16, 1909: New York and Pittsburgh play to a 2-2 tie, stopped after eight innings because of a drenching downpour. ... Outfielder Red Murray prevents a loss for Matty [Christy Mathewson] with one of the greatest catches ever seen at Forbes Field. With two outs and two on [in the bottom of the eighth], Dots Miller belts a long line drive off Matty into the growing darkness. With everyone straining to follow the ball, a bolt of lightening [sic] flashes and Murray is seen making a bare-handed grab on the dead run to end the inning. Bill Klem then calls the game.
Source: the excellent Baseball library article on Bill Murray.
Red Murray, OF 1906-15, 1917: Cardinals, Giants, Cubs