Chuck Hostetler - The "Hostetler Flop"

The "Hostetler Flop"

Hostetler remained with the Tigers in 1945 as they won the American League pennant and advanced to the 1945 World Series. When the World Series was played, Hostetler was 42 years old. Hostetler "begged" Detroit manager Steve O'Neill for a chance to appear in the World Series. Ultimately, Hostetler appeared as a pinch hitter three times in the World Series but did not get a hit. However, he is most remembered for the "Hostetler flop" in Game 6.

In the seventh inning of Game 6, with the Cubs ahead 4–1, Hostetler pinch hit for Skeeter Webb to start the inning. He hit a ground ball and was safe on an error. He advanced to second on a ground out by Eddie Mayo, and when Doc Cramer hit a single to left field, Hostetler ran through manager Steve O’Neill’s stop sign at third base. He tried to put on his brakes half way home, lost his footing, fell to the ground, and was tagged out while scrambling around on all fours.

One press account described it this way: "Hostetler fell flat on his face between third base and home in the seventh inning and was tagged out, helping break up a two-run Tiger rally." Detroit sports writer Joe Falls later called it "the Hostetler flop." Another account described Hostetler's efforts to swim home: "He tripped and fell rounding third base and tried unsuccessfully to 'swim' to the plate."

After Hostetler was thrown out, Hank Greenberg hit a home run that would have scored Hostetler if he had held up. Instead, the game went into extra innings, and the Tigers lost, 8–7. As a result, Hostetler was the goat. One writer noted that Greenberg's home run would have ended the Series if only Hostetler had "stayed on his feet." After the game, a dejected Steve O'Neill said: "We would have won if Chuck Hostetler had only caught my signal to hold up when he was rounding third."

In January 1946, the Associated Press reported: "Chuck Hostetler, utility infielder who gained questionable fame for his world series high dive rounding third base, has been released." In fact, Hostetler did not appear in another major league game after his base running error in the 1945 World Series.

Years later, Hostetler spoke with baseball historian Fred Smith and recalled the embarrassing incident: "I’ll never forget it. I played only two years in the majors with the Tigers but this is what anyone ever talked about." Fifty years later, baseball writer Joe Falls was still peeved about Hostetler's blunder. In a column in the Detroit News, Falls wrote: "If anyone symbolized the futility of wartime baseball — both in Detroit and America — it was outfielder Chuck Hostetler of the Tigers, the man who fell on his face in the 1945 World Series."

Hostetler died in 1971 at age 67 in Fort Collins, Colorado. His obituary noted: "Hostetler gained some degree of fame when he was blamed for the Tigers loss of the sixth game of the 1945 World Series."