Bob Anderson (baseball)

Anderson was involved in one of Major League Baseball's most unusual and weirdest plays of all time in its long history, which occurred during a game played on June 30, 1959, at Wrigley Field between the Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals.

Anderson was pitching and Stan Musial was at the plate with a count of 3–1. Anderson's next pitch was errant, evading catcher Sammy Taylor and rolling all the way to the backstop. The home plate umpire Vic Delmore called ball four, however Anderson and Taylor contended Musial had foul tipped the ball and because the ball was still in play, and due to Delmore being embroiled in an argument with the catcher and pitcher, Musial took it upon himself to try for second base. Seeing that Musial was breaking for second, Cubs third baseman Alvin Dark ran to the backstop to retrieve the ball, however that ball wound up in the hands of field announcer Pat Pieper, but Dark ended up getting it back anyway.

Absentmindedly, however, Delmore pulled out a new ball and gave it to Taylor. Anderson finally noticed that Musial was trying for second, took the new ball, and threw it to second baseman Tony Taylor at which Anderson's throw flew high over Tony Taylor's head into centerfield. Dark, at the same time that Anderson threw the new ball, threw the original ball to shortstop Ernie Banks. Musial, though, did not see Dark's throw and only noticing Anderson's ball fly over the second baseman's head then tried to go to third base, however, on his way over there, was tagged by Banks, and after a delay was ruled out. Oddly, in the final accounting, this most unusual and different play made no difference in the result, a 4–1 victory for the visiting Cardinals.^[3]

• Career statistics from MLB · Baseball Reference · Fangraphs · Baseball Reference (Minors) · Retrosheet · Baseball Almanac
• Bob Anderson at SABR Bio Project