It will be reviewable by instant replay this season, but in 1914 the “Neighborhood Play” had no name, and its use by one American Leaguer was a big story.
The Chicago Daily News said:
“There is a story going around the circuit which undertakes to show how Buck Weaver, the White Sox shortstop, fooled all the umpires…Buck’s long suit was acting as pivot on a double play, taking the ball from the second baseman.”
Buck Weaver
The paper said when Weaver joined the Sox in 1912, he “noticed that he was often failing,” to turn double plays.
“He lay awaken nights figuring how he could increase his speed in pulling off (double plays), and finally decided that if he could not get the batter no one could, as he was the owner of as strong a whip as any shortstop in the land.
“The solution of the puzzle came to him by accident. In dashing to second to take a throw from (Morrie) Rath he overstepped the bag and was a stride closer to first than usual when he got the ball. Instead of stepping back and touching the sack, he made the throw to first base and, much to his surprise, the umpire called both men out.”
When Weaver returned to the dugout, Manager Jimmy “Nixey” Callahan said:
“’You got away with something that time, Buck.’”
Weaver told his manager:
“’I was a whole stride over second when I got the ball. But say, I could away with it by accident, what’s the matter with trying to pull it off right along when the man at bat is fast and likely to beat me out if I wait for the throw? I can save a quarter of a second or so by going over the bag.’”
The paper said Callahan encouraged him to try it.
“And Buck did. He worked the trick successfully against the Naps six or seven times, twice in one game with (George) Hildebrand umpiring the bases.
“’He worked it on us several times,’ said Jim McAleer, formerly of the Red Sox, while Clark Griffith admits that Washington suffered the same fate.
“Even Connie Mack was forced to murmur, and when Connie Mack kicks, something must be wrong, and possibly as a result of the protest of the manager of the world’s champions, the umpires will watch Mr. Weaver more carefully this year when he is acting as pivot man in the double play.”
After 1913, when he participated in a career-high 73 double plays, Weaver never played as many games at shortstop, so it’s unknown whether umpires, in fact, watched him “more carefully” when he attempted the Neighborhood play.
Baseball History Daily 