Fred Snodgrass drops two fly balls in crucial World Series game 2

Jeez, give the guy a break, he only dropped one.

Here's the story. Game 8 of the 1912 series (one game had ended in a tie) between the Red Sox and Snodgrass' Giants. The game is a 1-1 tie after nine innings and the visiting Giants score in the top of the 10th to take the 2-1 lead.

With the legendary Christy Mathewson on the mound, one run looked pretty tough for the Red Sox.

Clyde Engle, pinch hitting for Wood, hit a lazy fly to center. Fred Snodgrass settled under it and dropped it, Engle going to second. The next batter, Hooper hit a long fly into the gap in center right, and Snodgrass made an excellent running catch to make the out and prevent a run from scoring. Engle advanced to third and Yerkes walked, bringing up the dangerous Tris Speaker. Speaker popped up foul to the first base side, near Fred Merkle of 1908 baserunning blunder fame, but Mathewson called him off, shouting for catcher Meyers to take it. Meyers couldn't get to the ball and Speaker got another chance, singling in the tying run. Two batters later Larry Gardner sacrificed in the winning run, flying out to right.

Snodgrass' error became known as the "$30,000 muff" referencing the difference between the winning and losing shares in the Series.

My feeling is that Snodgrass is something of a scapegoat here. Certainly his error puts the tying run on, but Mathewson's ill advised quarterbacking on Speaker's foul prevented a second out, and gave Speaker the chance to drive in the run. Mathewson, however, was a god in baseball at the time, and could do no wrong.

It was much easier to blame Snodgrass.

But lets not make it worse than it was. One fly ball, not two.