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A foul ball may mean a strike on the hitter, but fortunately, it also means that everyone on base is safe. Or does it? Joe Medwick of the famous Gas House Gang Cardinals teams of the mid-1930s found out that there are exceptions to every rule.
With Stan Bordagaray at bat, Medwick took off from first base, intending to take third on the hit-and-run. Bordagaray fouled the ball into the stands,
and the Reds catcher, Gilly Campbell, reflexively reached back to home plate umpire Ziggy Sears for a new ball. Then, just for fun, Campbell launched the
ball down to third to Lew Riggs, where Sears, forgetting that a foul had just been hit and that he had given Campbell a new ball, called Medwick out.
The Cardinals were furious, but, not wanting to admit his error, Sears refused to reverse his call, and Medwick was
thrown out - on a foul ball. The St. Louis Cardinals won the nightcap game anyway (5-1)
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