Marv Throneberry was at the plate in 1962 for the newly-minted New York Mets franchise. He hit a line drive to right field and ended up at third with an apparent triple, but was called out for missing first base.
Mets’ manager Casey Stengel rushed out to argue the call but was told by the umpires that he also missed second. Gaffes like those led Stengel, famous for his quips, to utter one of his most famous lines: “Can’t anybody here play this game?”
Such was the nature of the often cantankerous but beloved first manager of the Mets.