"Merkle's Blunder"

The "Merkle Blunder" and baseball's most famous do-over

They should not have put it in quotes if it's a term they coined to substitute for the historical term, in my opinion.

We should try to get the word "Merkle" to be used frequently for some crazy sex toy, so in a few decades when it's made it into the Urban Dictionary and people giggle at the word "merkle" in mixed company, the play will have to be called Fred's Error.

 

I've always seen it referred to by baseball historians as "Merkle's Big, Throbbing, Magenta-Headed Boner." Occasionally shortened (heh) to "Merkle's Boner" for brevity's sake.

Also, noted Giant fan and windbag Chris Berman refers to the athlete in question as Fred "Got No Time To Touch Second Cause I'm Going To The Clubhouse Right Now To Do Something About This Jock-Splitting Boner" Merkle.

 

Fred Lindstrom for one is happy about the all the attention paid to Merkle's whatever.

 

At first, I thought, I didn't have a problem with renaming of it. We don't use other words that have changed connotations over the years (bigpern23 used the word "gay" as an example, and he's right.)

But then I got to this passage in the NYDN story:

And then it becomes obvious how stupid the NYDN looks for going so far out of its way to rename such a famous event.

At the end of the NYDN story, there is also this passage:

He was not known as "Bonehead" because of his Blunder, of course.

It's a very inconsistent editorial decision, and it looks foolish after reading the story. If you're going to go so far to change it to "blunder," then why include all those details about his nickname, "Bonehead"?

If they wanted to avoid the word BONER in big type -- which is the only reason they would have changed it -- why didn't they just call it "The Merkle Game," which would be just as familiar to baseball fans anyway?

 

Blunderheaded Merkle?

 

It's strange that one of the tabs would pass up the chance to use Boner in big type.

 

was it in the paper that way? because i think they might have changed it for the web. because in the comments, the word "boner" is bleeped out. Might have something to do with that.

as for changing the name, I'm against it. What's next? Douglas "Directionally Challenged and Could Have Used a GPS" Corrigan?

 

Awesome.

 

"Shaving Device" Shines?

 

"Snodgrass's Pussycat"?

 

"Primitive Video Game" Jones?

 

Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart, and Bobby Bauer were the trio that made up the Bruins' famous Kraut Canadians of German Heritage Line