The Baltimore Orioles of 1894–96 was the best team that baseball had seen up to that time, and also the craftiest. One of Baltimore’s favorite tricks was to plant a few extra baseballs in strategic spots in the tall outfield grass. Any balls hit into that area that looked as if they would go for extra bases were miraculously held to singles.

One day, however, an opposing batter drove a ball to left-center field, where one of those balls had been hidden. The left fielder picked up the hidden ball and threw it in. The center fielder, not seeing what his teammate did, picked up the hit ball and threw it in. The umpire, seeing two balls coming into second base, called time and then awarded the game to the visiting team by forfeit.