<div class="description">
Herman (Germany) Schaefer (1876-1919) was known as one of Major League Baseball's great pranksters. The second baseman played 15 seasons with six teams (1901-1918), and had a career batting average of .257. His name is associated with a rule change that occurred because he stole first base. Possibly in 1908, according to some, Schaefer was standing on first, and another runner was on third. Schaefer ran to steal second base, hoping the catcher would throw to second, and that the runner on third would break for home plate. When the catcher didn’t throw, Schaefer ran back to first, and still didn’t get a throw. A second attempt at the delayed double steal worked, with the runner from third crossing home safely as the catcher threw to second. In 1920, a rule was added to prevent a player from running the bases in reverse order once he had legally occupied another base. Among other antics, Schaefer was known to have worn a raincoat to his position in the infield when it was raining, and to have carried a lantern onto the field when he thought it was getting too dark to play.</div>
1915<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1915-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
This file was contributed to Wikimedia Commons by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Cleveland_Public_Library" class="extiw" title="w:en:Cleveland Public Library"><span title="public library system in Ohio, USA">Cleveland Public Library</span></a> as part of a cooperation project. The donation was facilitated by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Public_Library_of_America" class="extiw" title="w:Digital Public Library of America">Digital Public Library of America</a>, via its partner Ohio Digital Network.<span style="text-align:left">
<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p4014coll27/id/245">Record in source catalog</a></li>
<li>DPLA identifier: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://dp.la/item/5af1333d4d3e483eee6cd432d73466a2">5af1333d4d3e483eee6cd432d73466a2</a></li>
<li>Cleveland Public Library identifier: BB Schaefer, Herman (Germany)</li></ul></span>