The Steve Bartman of 1936

September 3, 1936. A police officer may have cost the Cubs a victory. Henry Hanson was an ordinary Chicago cop. He was working security at a Cubs-Dodgers game. In the first inning of the game, young Cubs first baseman Phil Cavarretta hit a ball down the right field line, right were Hanson was standing guard. Hanson didn’t see the play clearly, but figured that because he was standing in foul territory, it must have been a foul ball. He picked it up and tossed it over to Dodgers right fielder Randy Moore who was charging toward the play. The umpires saw this little exchange and called timeout. After a long deliberation, they sent Cavarretta back to first base. If Hanson hadn’t touched it, Cavarretta certainly would have had a double or a triple on the play. Because the Cubs didn’t score the rest of the game, and they lost it 1-0 in the tenth inning, the Chicago newspapers blamed the loss on poor Henry Hanson…the Steve Bartman of 1936.