July 7: Out Cold at Third Base

The Main Event

• July 7, 1931 – On first base when Chuck Klein singled, Fred Brickell was knocked out when he ran into the Brooklyn third baseman. Manager Burt Shotton pulled his foot onto the bag, but Brickell was called out for coach’s interference. The Phillies lost 5-1.

On July 7, 1931, the Philadelphia Phillies hosted the Brooklyn Robins at Baker Bowl in a game that would be remembered less for its final score than for one of the strangest baserunning rulings in franchise history. The Phillies fell to Brooklyn, 5-1, but the lasting story from the afternoon involved outfielder Fred Brickell, Phillies manager Burt Shotton, and a well-intentioned but rule-breaking act of “coach’s interference.”

What Happened at Third Base

In the bottom of the third inning, with two outs, Fred Brickell stood on first base. Star slugger Chuck Klein came through with a single to right field, sending Brickell around second and toward third. As Brickell slid in, he collided hard with the Brooklyn third baseman and was knocked momentarily unconscious before he could touch the bag.

Seeing his dazed runner lying just short of third, Shotton — who was coaching third base that day, as many managers did in that era — rushed over and physically pulled Brickell’s foot onto the bag. It was an instinctive gesture from a manager trying to protect his player and his team’s chances in a tight game. But baseball’s rules were clear even then: a coach cannot physically assist a baserunner. The umpires had no choice but to call Brickell out for coach’s interference, erasing what should have been a run-scoring opportunity and ending the inning.

Coach’s interference calls are exceedingly uncommon in baseball history, which is part of why this play from Baker Bowl has been preserved in accounts of unusual and rare in-game rulings. The rule exists precisely because moments like this can happen: a coach’s competitive instinct to help an injured or disoriented player runs headlong into the principle that runners must advance and touch bases under their own power. Shotton’s intervention, however well-meaning, was a textbook violation, and the Phillies paid the price in the box score, coming up empty in an inning that had real scoring potential.

Fred Brickell’s Career With the Phillies

Fred Brickell, was born in Kansas in 1906, spent eight seasons in the major leagues as an outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies. He broke in with Pittsburgh in 1926 as a 19-year-old and spent five seasons there, often buried on the depth chart behind Hall of Famers Paul and Lloyd Waner and standout Kiki Cuyler. Despite the lack of playing time, Brickell hit a strong .312 in his Pirates years.

Traded to the Phillies in August 1930, Brickell finally got his chance at everyday duty. The 1931 season was his only true full-time campaign, as he appeared in 130 games and hit .253 while playing alongside Klein in the Phillies outfield. He spent two more seasons in Philadelphia before retiring after 1933 with a career average of .281. Brickell later became the father of Fritz Brickell, who played parts of three big-league seasons with the Yankees and Angels in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Burt Shotton’s Years Running the Phillies

Burt Shotton is remembered today primarily for guiding the Brooklyn Dodgers to National League pennants in 1947 and 1949 and for serving as Jackie Robinson‘s first permanent big-league manager. Long before that, though, Shotton spent six seasons, from 1928 through 1933, as the Phillies’ skipper — an unglamorous stretch overseeing a franchise starved for pitching.

The 1931 team Shotton managed finished 66-88, a modest improvement over the historically bad 52-102 mark from the year before, when Philadelphia’s pitching staff allowed a staggering 1,199 runs. Shotton was known as a calm, understated presence in the dugout, a contrast to the fierier managers of his day, and he was often referred to in the press as one of the game’s “strong, silent men.” His willingness to physically help Brickell back onto third base — even though it backfired — reflected the same protective, hands-on instinct that would later define his relationship with his players in Brooklyn.

Why This Play Still Gets Told

Nearly a century later, the July 7, 1931 game endures in baseball trivia and rules discussions precisely because it captures something timeless about the sport: even a manager who knows the rulebook can be overtaken by the impulse to help an injured player in the heat of the moment. The Phillies lost the game 5-1, a fairly ordinary result for a team mired in the second division during the early 1930s. But the image of Burt Shotton dashing out to physically place Fred Brickell’s foot on third base — only to see the umpires rule his own player out — remains one of the more curious footnotes in Phillies history.

Philadelphia Baseball Events for July 7

• July 7, 1906 – The Phillies defeated Brooklyn 12-0, after having beaten them 10-0 the day before. It was the only time the team scored 10 or more runs while shutting out the opposition on consecutive days.
• July 7, 1909 – The Phillies walk six straight New York batters, setting a major league record (broken the next year in the American league). With one out, starter Harry Coveleski walked four straight. With one strike on the next batter, he was replaced by Frank Corridon who walked in the next two.
• July 7, 1920 – Mack Wheat tries to bunt over two runners, but instead hits into a triple-play when the pitcher catches his bunt and the runners can’t get back to base in time. One of the runners was Art Fletcher, who had hit into a triple-play earlier in the year while a member of the Giants.
• July 7, 1964 – Outfielder Johnny Callison hits a three-run homer with two out in the ninth for the NL All-Stars, as they win the mid-season classic at Shea Stadium 7-4.
• July 7, 1977 – The Phils beat the Mets, finishing out their longest undefeated homestand. Over eight games, they swept four games each from Pittsburgh and New York.
• July 7, 1993 – With a 5-3 lead in the ninth, Mitch Williams allows a single and two walks to load the bases. After walking the next batter to force in a run, he’s ejected. Larry Anderson allows a single but retires two to keep the game tied. It stayed that way until the 20th when Mike Williams allowed a run on two singles and an error. Lenny Dykstra won the game in the bottom of the inning with a walk-off double.
• July 7, 1995 – Signed free agent Kevin Elster, who played in 26 games with the Phillies over the rest of the season and hit .208.
• July 7, 1999 – Traded Jose Flores to Seattle for Domingo Cedeno, who hit .152 in 32 games with the Phillies over the rest of the season.
• July 7, 2004 – Bobby Abreu becomes the first player selected for the National League All-star team by the fans in the “final vote” selection process.
• July 7, 2009 – A sell out crowd at Citizens Bank Park sees the Phillies drop a 4-3 loss to Cincinnati. It was the first game of a sell out streak that lasted more than 250 games.
• July 7, 2019 – Jay Bruce goes deep twice against the Mets, giving him 10 home runs as a Phillie. He also had 14 home runs before being traded by Seattle. According to Stats, Inc., he was the first player to hit 10 or more home runs for two teams before the All-star break.

Philadelphia Baseball Events for July 7

• Ernie Sulik (born 1910) – Played only one season in the majors and it was with the Phillies in 1936. The outfielder hit 5-36-.287/.353/.386/.739 in 122 games.
• Mel Clark (born 1926) – A utility outfielder with the Phillies from 1951-1955, Clark hit .280 in 210 games.
• Sammy White (born 1928) – Signed by the Phillies as a backup catcher prior to the 1962 season, which would be his last in the majors. In 41 games he hit .216.

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