Warren Gill


Warren Darst Gill, nicknamed "Doc", was a professional baseball player who played first base for the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 1908 Major League season.
Gill is best known for failing to touch second base in a game against the Chicago Cubs on September 4, 1908. With the game tied at 0 in the bottom of the 10th, Chief Wilson stroked a two-out single that scored the winning run. However, Johnny Evers saw that Gill did not touch second base. Umpire Hank O'Day, the only umpire working the game that day, said he did not see it and called the game over with a Pirates victory.
Three weeks later on September 23, 1908, New York Giants player Fred Merkle repeated Gill's error during a game against the Cubs. The Cubs' capitalization of this error was followed by a losing streak which became known as the curse of Fred Merkle.
In 27 major league games, Gill posted a.224 batting average with 10 runs and 14 RBI. Defensively, he handled 244 total chances at first base without an error for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.