This is the tenth in a series of examinations of baseball-related legends and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of all the previous baseball legends.

Let’s begin!

BASEBALL LEGEND: A Cubs outfielder misplayed a ball in the outfield due to falling into an exposed manhole!

STATUS: False

In the 1970s, former Cubs pitcher Warren Hacker recalled a game the Cubs played against the Dodgers in the mid-50s (Hacker’s recollection was collected in a few places after first appearing in Chicago Today)…

We lost a lot of close games in those days because the Cubs weren’t scoring a lot of runs. But this one took the prize. I’m pitching one day against Brooklyn in the old Ebbets Field and we’re ahead, 2-0, in the bottom of the ninth.

They got the bases loaded, two out. Then somebody hits this fly to right-center, and over goes [Eddie] Miksis, who was our centerfielder. But he falls into a hole. Really, there was a manhole out there and the groundskeeper forgot to put the top on it. Miksis falls right through, three runs score, and we lose, 3-2.

I looked out there and thought a midget was playing centerfield.

At 3.8 runs a game, the Cubs WERE well under the league average of 4.25 runs per game in 1956, but otherwise, was that story correct?

Basically, nope.

The event Hacker was remember happened in the bottom of the THIRD INNING in a scoreless game between the Cubs and the Dodgers on June 27, 1956.

With one out, the ball was hit to Eddie Miksis is deep center field. The game had been delayed twice by rain, so there was an open drain by the wall. Miksis slowed down to avoid the drain, and instead he banged into a drain cover leaning against the wall. The ball ended up being a double.

A single plated the run and that was it for the scoring in that inning.

So rather than being a game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth, it was a one-out hit that led to the first run scoring in the bottom of the THIRD inning.

Thanks to Arthur R. Ahrens’ great research for clearing this one up.

BASEBALL LEGEND: Tommy John once made three errors on a single play.

STATUS: True

Tommy John might be the only baseball player who is known better for a surgery performed on him than his actual career, which is a darn shame, because John had a very good career – he has the most victories of any pitcher not in the Hall of Fame (“just” 11 shy of 300 – the quotes is because it was remarkable he stuck around long enough to get the 288 in the first place!).

Still, Tommy John is best known for an injury he suffered in the middle of the 1974 season while pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers (for whom he was 13-3 on the year).

John tore a ligament in his throwing elbow. Such an injury (which is fairly common in pitchers, as the stress of throwing pitches is quite taxing on the elbow ligaments) would essentially ruin a pitcher’s career. However, in John’s case, a surgery was performed taking a tendon from John’s right forearm and using it to replace the damaged ligament in his elbow. After skipping the 1975 season to rehab the arm, John was back in 1976 pitching as usual.

He went on to make the All-Star Team three more times (he also had made the All-Star Team in 1968 when with the Chicago White Sox).

John spent most of his later years in the Majors (he ended up winning more games AFTER the surgery than he did BEFORE) pitching for the New York Yankees.

John pitched for the Yankees until 1989, when he had clearly lost it, at a remarkable 46 years of age. Just the fact that he was a capable pitcher for the Yankees in the mid-to-late 80s is remarkable for a pitcher in his mid-40s.

However, the story we’re discussing today is when John had a slightly less capable moment on the diamond.

John induced a number of ground ball outs, and as a result (or perhaps as a necessity) he was a good fielding pitcher.

But in a game in New York against the Milwaukee Brewers in late July of 1988, John had one of the most ignominious moments in baseball history.

Leading 4-0 in the top of the fourth inning, John got a groundout to start the inning. He then walked the next batter, Jim Gantner.

The next batter, Jeffrey Leonard, hit a ground ball to John that began a serious comedy of errors.

John bobbled the ball, allowing Leonard to reach first base.

But John then compounded the error by throwing the ball wildly past first base into right field. Gantner was rounding third base and coming in to score ahead of the throw in from the rightfielder, Dave Winfield, with Leonard advancing to third base. John then compounded it even FURTHER by catching the relay throw by Winfield (John was the cutoff man) and promptly firing it wildly past the catcher, allowing Leonard to come home and score, as well.

So on one single ground ball, John managed to make THREE separate errors leading to TWO unearned runs scoring (including the batter who hit the grounder)!!

The event tied a Major League Record for most errors by a pitcher in an inning, and almost certainly was the most errors a pitcher ever committed on a single play!

However, John had some solace – he won the game, as the Yankees went on to beat the Brewers badly, maintaining the Yankee hold on first place in the American League Eastern Division (the last time that year that the Yankees were in first place – perhaps the errors were trying to tell them something?).

BASEBALL LEGEND: Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Joel Hanrahan won a game on July 9, 2009…for the Washington Nationals!

STATUS: True

Relief pitcher Joel Hanrahan was traded from the Washington Nationals to the Pittsburgh Pirates (along with outfielder Lastings Milledge) for outfielder Nyjer Morgan and relief pitcher Sean Burnett.

At the time, Hanrahan had an 0-3 record on the season.

On July 9, 2009, Hanrahan collected his first win of the season.

The only problem was that the Pirates had the day off!

You see, back on May 5, 2009, the Nationals were playing the Houston Astros in Washington D.C. The game went to extra innings, but ultimately, with the game tied after the top of the eleventh inning finished, the umpires decided to temporarily suspend the game and finish it at a later date. Hanrahan had been the Nationals pitcher in the top of the eleventh inning.

So before the Nationals played the Houston Astros in Houston on July 9, 2009, the two teams picked up where they left off (the game was in Houston, but they played the rest of the game as though it was in Washington – so the Nationals batted in the bottom of the inning). The Nationals came to bat in the bottom of the eleventh inning, and after a one-out walk, newcomer Morgan came in to pinch-run for a batter. A single moved him to second base.

The next spot would be Hanrahan’s in the lineup, so obviously, a pinch-hitter came up and promptly hit a ground ball to short. The Astros got the force at second, but the relay throw to first was wild, allowing Morgan to come in to score (he had moved up to third on the ground ball).

So, since Hanrahan was the last pitcher to pitch for the Nationals, he was awarded the victory, even though he was no longer on the team! You see, suspended games are treated as though they finished on the day back when the original game took place. So actually, Hanrahan technically HAD a win when he came over to the Pirates – it’s sort of like a time warp (the craziest example like this would be what would have happened if Alex Rodriguez had hit a home run when the Yankees were playing a makeup game last year – had he done so, since it would have “technically” taken place before the game where he hit his 500th home run, it would thereby make the home run everyone thought was his 500th home run now his 501st home run and his 499th now his 500th – luckily he did not homer, or else many heads would explode).

Okay, that’s it for this week!

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com

Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Arthur R. Ahrens, Baseball Hall of Fame, Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Dave Winfield, Ebbets Field, Eddie Miksis, Houston Astros, Jeffrey Leonard, Jim Gantner, Joel Hanrahan, Lastings Milledge, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees, Nyjer Morgan, Pittsburgh Pirates, Sean Burnett, Tommy John, Warren Hacker, Washington Nationals