{"product_id":"scapegoats-baseballers-whose-careers-are-marked-by-one-fateful-play-9780786413812","title":"Scapegoats: Baseballers Whose Careers Are Marked by One Fateful Play","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Christopher Bell\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: McFarland \u0026amp; Company\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: McFarland \u0026amp; Company\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Baseball - History\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Everyone wants to be able to perform well at important moments, especially in the world of sports, where both team and individual efforts are necessary for success. A person who does well for the team is praised for his or her contributions. But when the team suffers a loss, especially at a key point in the season, one person is often blamed for it even though the team is just as responsible.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e This work considers baseball players whose careers have been defined and misrepresented by one moment in which they botched a play, costing their teams an important victory (often a pennant or World Series win), and ever since have taken most of the blame for the team's breakdown.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e It covers Fred Merkle, whose controversial failure to tag second base after a game-winning single lost the pennant for the Giants in 1908; Fred Snodgrass whose dropped fly ball contributed to the Red Sox's second championship in the 1912 series; Mickey Owen, whose passed ball resulted in the Dodgers losing Game 4 of the 1941 World Series to the Yankees; Ralph Branca, who delivered one of the most talked about home runs in history to Bobby Thomson in the 1951 NLCS; Mike Torrez, whose home run pitch to Bucky Dent was the final, improbable event in the Sox' great collapse of '78; Tom Niedenfuer, whose blown save in the 1985 NLCS cost the Dodgers the pennant; Donnie Moore, the California Angels pitcher remembered for giving up a home run in Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS; Bill Buckner, whose E-3 caused him to be blamed for the Red Sox's World Series loss in 1986; and Mitch Williams, blamed for his three-run home run pitch to Joe Carter in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series that lost the world championship for the Phillies.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"McFarland \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46897634181271,"sku":"9780786413812","price":2817.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9780786413812.webp?v=1770363741","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/scapegoats-baseballers-whose-careers-are-marked-by-one-fateful-play-9780786413812","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}