Yankee fan & proud of it!
My two cheesier (and thus more dubious) inclusions:
Fred McGriff, aka "Crime Dog"
Dave Winfield (in 1983, killed a seagull between innings, forcing the ire of Canadians and environmentalists)
How soon before someone includes Barry Bonds for "cheating the system"?
Please read Baseball Fever Policy and Forum FAQ before posting. 2007-11 CBA
Rest very peacefully, John “Buck” O'Neil (1911-2006) & Philip Francis “Scooter” Rizzuto (1917-2007)
THE BROOKLYN DODGERS - 1890 thru 1957
Montreal Expos 1969 - 2004
Team Veteran
Gerry Priddy: highly touted rookie, clubhouse lawyer, extortionist.
Registered User
Randy Johnson: Animal Cruelty!
Breakin hearts since 1920
I have no reason at all to doubt that you read that somewhere, but it seems to me that something as serious as murder would not be omitted or glossed over in any players' legitimate bio. Just my two cents. But, It's very possible that one writer had access to info that others did not. Who knows? You may very well be right.Originally Posted by TRfromBR
Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours. - Yogi Berra
..Let's Play Ball..
I agree with you completely and certainly don't want to spawn or disseminate any false charges of murder, particularly on a pitcher as great as Clarkson. Accordingly, I preface the introduction of the information cited below with the notation that I, too, find it very surprising it is not common to all biographies on Clarkson, and that I can not authoritatively certify its accuracy.
Though this is not my original source for the allegations against Clarkson and two other White Stockings, it is all I have been able to retrieve online:
The Tinkers to Evers to Chance of felons, Clarkson was part of a trio of Chicago White Stockings criminals in the 1880's. In 1885 Clarkson won 53 games. Later he slashed his wife to death with a razor. In 1963, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame (Take that, Pete Rose!).
The article, titled "The Sports Felon Hall of Fame", then goes on to make similar allegations against fellow players John Glenn and Terry Larkin. In a separate entry to the so-called Felon Hall of Fame, there are additional allegations against Cobb, Cesar Cedeno, and "Pacer" Smith, pitcher for the old Red Stockings, who, it is stated, was convicted and executed for two murders and an attempted murder (five year old daughter, teenage sister in law, and wife.)
Smith apparently has been the only major leaguer ever executed. (Hanged November 29, 1895, in Decatur, Illinois.) Amazingly, his former catcher, Frank Harris, received a reprieve for an entirely unrelated murder that very same day.
For this and other info, see www.maximonline.com/articles (Maxim, January 2002.)
Last edited by TRfromBR; 02-14-2007 at 09:16 AM.
Stratman
The biggest criminal in baseball is the Commissioner, Bud Selig. Under Selig’s watch, baseball and the fabric of its record books were forever tainted, the core of its integrity destroyed. To this day, MLB’s drug policy is a joke. The proverbial fox is guarding the henhouse. Fans stayed away from baseball after the strike in 1994 cancelled the World Series. Selig turned a blind eye to the bulging biceps, astronomical increase in homers and jokes that were made out of the record books while gullible fans ooohed and ahhhed at the carnivalesqe freak show that brought them back in droves, like flies to feces. “Wow, McGwire really hit the piss out of that one!!!!!!!”
Contracts for mid-level talented players have skyrocketed and baseballs blue collar fans have been pushed out of the ballparks. A seat in the upper deck in Yankee Stadium that cost $16.50 in 1996, should not cost $65.00 today. Baseball is now a $6 BILLION industry. Selig didn’t know? Yeah right! You can believe the old used car salesman if you want but I’ll sell that one to those who believe that presidents don’t lie.
Cardinals and MLB fan
Everyone knows how Albert Belle was a good slugger? Well, wait until you embark into his dark life. He is a troubled man, and so far, he threw objects at trick-or-treaters, stalked his ex-girlfriend, among other problems.
Then you meet a former 20-game winner, Sammy Stewart. He has been a criminal for a long time now. Currently, he has 26 arrests, 43 criminal charges, and 6 prison stints. From 20-game winner to 26 arrests...
..Let's Play Ball..
Amen to that, Brother!
..Let's Play Ball..
AMEN TO THAT, BROTHER!
Learning all the time.
I have been been back Down Under for a week after 2 months in USA (unfortunately out of baseball season). Baseball here is very low key, and even our national comp - when there is one - gets little, or no publicity. We have a local league with just 4 teams, but I don't get to any games because I am generally working weeknds, or doing stuff with my son (not a baseball fan).
If Clarkson did murder his wife, I wonder why he was never charged (or was he) and convicted. If he really did commit a murder surely he would not have been a candidate for the HoF?? Then again murder may not be deemed as bad as betting on the game (aka Pete Rose), unless of course you murder the Commissioner!!
"A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz." ~Humphrey Bogart
No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference. ~Tommy Lasorda
..Let's Play Ball..
I can't say for sure, but I don't believe he was charged at all. This could have been because of his stature as the greatest pitcher of his day, or because it was a so-called "honor killing," or something else altogether. I just don't know. In fact, I don't even know if the story is true, which is why I posed my original post as a question.
And, with respect to the rules of the Hall, I doubt any extracurricular crimes would necessarily bar selection eligibility.
P.S. 1 With all the tremendous athletes there have been in Australia, have any tried to break into professional baseball over here?
P.S. 2 Murdering the present Commissioner might not be a convictable offense. You'd have to find 12 peers who'd find it unjustified.
Last edited by TRfromBR; 02-14-2007 at 03:41 PM.
Breakin hearts since 1920
And the hits just keep on coming....
Beer Night - It's extremely doubtful that any team will ever dredge up a more misguided, ill-advised promotion than 'Beer Night' at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium on June 4, 1974 (with apologies to Disco Demolition Night!)
For some unfathomable reason, it didn't seem to occur to the Indians' front office that selling beer to fans for ten cents a cup might just cause a slight crowd control problem in a couple of sections. A total of 25,134 beer lovers (Municipal Stadium held 78,000 people, which shows you how badly the Tribe were doing that year!) showed up for a game against the Texas Rangers. When the dust had cleared, some 65,000 ten-ounce cups of beer had been knocked back. Do the math; that's nearly a quart of beer for every man, woman and child in the park that night. It's safe to assume that the vast majority of kids didn't have any and that there were some teetotalers in attendance, so NOW do the math!
The brewskies kicked in early, as 40 fans leaped onto the field and began doing somersaults and cartwheels. Then, a woman skittered onto the field and attempted to plant a smooch on umpire Nestor Chylak at home plate (she failed, but no word of how old Nestor felt about that). Next, a streaker ran out onto the field and was chased over the right field wall by security. He was wearing one sock (I'll leave it up to your imagination as to where he wore it...) This must have been hell for the parents to explain to their small kids following the game. The Indians' brass should have thrown in free psychiatric visits for the first 100 children.)
In the seventh inning, things really became lively (read: UGLY). Drunken Indians fans began pelting the Texas bullpen with beer, cups, tennis balls, firecrackers and smoke bombs. Rangers manager Billy Martin evacuated his players from the pen, which made the fans angry, as the bullpen was no longer a target-rich environment for their fun. The fact that Cleveland was losing the game couldn't have helped, although by that point, it probably didn't matter much what the score was. Cherry bombs exploded onto the field. A few deranged fans tied firecrackers onto strings, lit them and dangled them into the Rangers' duguot.
With two out in the ninth, the Indians staged a comeback, scoring two runs as John Lowenstein hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Ed Crosby and tying the game at 5-5. Cleveland had the winning run on third when, suddenly, 6 fans leaped over the right field fence and surrounded Rangers' outfielder Jeff Burroughs, who said after the game, "They grabbed at my glove and took my hat. I tried to call time out but nobody heard me. I was getting scared because I felt the riot psychology."
Burroughs pulled his arms to his face like a boxer doing the rope-a-dope, protecting himself from harm as the fans swarmed all over him. Billy Martin and the rest of the Rangers ran out to right field to help him. Several were waving bats as weapons over their heads. Martin later said, "I saw knives and chairs and other things. We just couldn't let our teammate get beaten up." Martin was no stranger to being out of control while intoxicated, so he may have sized up the situation quite well.
Fans wielding chairs and broken bottles came pouring onto the field from all directions. A group of concerned Cleveland players ran out to help the Rangers being attacked by crazed, drunken fans. (a week earlier, these same two teams had been involved in an ugly, bench-clearing brawl. Now here they were, teaming up with each other.) Security guards rushed onto the field. In the ensuing riot, three Rangers were injured and Cleveland pitcher Tom Hilgendorf was hit on the head with a steel chair (it wasn't bolted down??), as was umpire Chylak, who was covered with blood (he should have left with the woman who tried to kiss him!)
After the game, Indians manager Ken Aspromonte said, "When Chylak got hit on the head, I knew I had lost the game!" Sure enough, Chylak invoked rule 3.18 which allows the senior umpire to declare a forfeit if the field is not cleared in a reasonable length of time. The game was awarded to Texas. It was just the ninth forfeit in the major leagues since 1905. Chylak would later comment that he's seen better behavior in a zoo. He should be thankful there wasn't a good crowd that night!
Rangers + Indians = Cowboys + Indians. Yep, that about sums it up. Little Bighorn had NOTHING on this scene!
Billy Martin said, "That was the closest I've ever saw to someone getting killed in baseball."
At the time the game was called, there were approximately 5,000 people on the field. There were, of course, several arrests. The streaker was not charged, as he was a juvenile. American League president Lee MacPhail summed up Beer Night by saying, "There was no question that beer played a part in the affair."
Ummm, yeah. Okay, thanks, Lee....
Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours. - Yogi Berra
..Let's Play Ball..
Thank you Dodgerfan1. That has to be the funniest baseball story I've ever heard. It really was a riot.
Last edited by TRfromBR; 02-14-2007 at 04:22 PM.
Registered User
Denny McLain invokes some measure of discust from most Tiger fans. Especially when you consider that he was caught robbing so many retirement funds more than once. The fact that he did it not when he was desparate but, when he was seamingly on top of the world. After serving time for income tax indescresion, the now grotesqly fat McLain had his own successful sports show in Detroit. I'm going by memory but, I think it was called something like The Eli and Denny Show.
Ron LeFlore, still and always my favorite baseball player, was discovered by Billy Martin in the Jackson State Pen serving time for armed robbery. As a MLB player, he improved his game every year and became a supestar. It seems that his decline coincided with the time soon after the life movie was made about him. He decided that he was too good to show up for practice, etc... was shipped to Montrealthen Chicago where a total melt-down of his life played itself out. Questions about the validity of his age then, later, two of his children drowned in the family pool on two separate occasions.
Learning all the time.
TR, may I recommend you check out the International baseball Forum. I haven't posted there for a while but there are posts relating to Aussies in MLB. Last year there were at least 6 Aussies who were in the 40 man roster for MLB clubs at some stage of the year, these being:
Grant Balfour Cincinatti Reds (0 games)
Travis Buckley Seattle Mariners (0 games)
Chris Snelling Seattle Mariners (30 games)
Justin Huber Kansas City Royals (5 games)
Peter Moylan Atlanta Braves (13 games)
Phil Stockman Atlanta Braves (4 games)
There are at least 12 who played AAA, 7 AA, 11 A-Advanced and 10 A League. A furthe 26 played Rookie or Independent League and 53 who have been signed but were on disabled list, have yet to appear or are contracted but still at the MLB School over here.
And to my knowledge, none of them are confirmed criminals!!
"A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz." ~Humphrey Bogart
No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference. ~Tommy Lasorda
Team Veteran
[QUOTE=Dodgerfan1]And the hits just keep on coming....
Beer Night - It's extremely doubtful that any team will ever dredge up a more misguided, ill-advised promotion than 'Beer Night' at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium on June 4, 1974 (with apologies to Disco Demolition Night!)
QUOTE]
The best thing about 10 cent beer night is that the Indians had three or four of them scheduled IIRC. Anyone who has an early 1974 program would be able to verify that.
For that era, 1974 wasn't that bad of a year for the Indians.
Breakin hearts since 1920
Hank Thompson, 129 HRs, 482 RBI, 3 assaults, 1 car theft, 1 armed robbery, 1 murder - One night in 1948, Hank Thompson was having a beer with his sister when he spied one Buddy Crow, a guy he remembered from his sandlot days. Crow, Thompson recalled, was a mean drunk who once stabbed a man to death. The two had never liked each other. Thompson gave Crow a sarcastic greeting and Crow took offense. Thompson had become one of the first black major leaguers the year before while Crow's career had gone nowhere.
Thompson then invited Crow over for a beer, but Crow walked over to Thompson waving a knife. "I'm gonna get you," he said, as he closed in on Thompson. Hank whipped out a .32 automatic and told Crow to stop. Crow didn't. Crow got shot dead. The next day, Thompson was at spring training. Such are the perks of being a big leaguer. In later years, Hank would recall, "I killed a man and the next day, I was playing ball like nothing had happened." It wouldn't be the last time he was bailed out by baseball.
When Branch Rickey was looking for a man to break baseball's color barrier, he wanted someone dignified, someone of impeccable background and morals to show America that black men could be heroes too. Jackie Robinson was certainly that man. Hank Thompson was certainly not. As the third black man to make the majors, he faced the same pressures that Robinson faced. Unfortunately, Thompson didn't have the strength of character that Jackie had to overcome and rise above them.
Thompson's first arrest came at age eleven. He was caught stealing jewelry from a car near his home in Dallas. He was sent to Gatesville Reform School where he started playing ball. As a teen, he began hanging around Dallas ballparks asking if he could pitch BP for the Dallas Steers, a Texas League team. One of the KC Monarchs, the premier Negro League team, spotted him and suggested he go for a tryout. Within weeks, 17-year old Hank was playing alongside future HOFer Satchel Paige.
Thompson played two seasons for the Monarchs and was drafted into the Army in 1944. He served as a machine gunner overseas and was engaged in the Battle of the Bulge. "If there was ever a moment that I did something for society, that was it, "Thompson told Sport Magazine. "But you can't make three good days balance off the rest of a man's life."
The last place St. Louis Browns signed Hank (along with Monarchs teammate Willard Brown) mainly to boost attendance. He hit just .256 in 27 games and the Brownies released him and he rejoined the Monarchs for the '48 season. That's when he shot Buddy Crow.
The fact that he had killed a man didn't bother the NY Giants, who signed him in 1949. With the help of the Giants, the killing was ruled justifiable homicide, and the murder charge dismissed. In New York, Thompson became a star. The media dubbed him and Bobby Thomson the 'Tom-Tom Twins.' Hank hit eight crucial homers in NY's mad dash to the 1951 pennant. He hit .364 in the 1954 WS against Cleveland. He once hit three homers in a game and became the first black hitter to face a black pitcher (Don Newcombe), as well as the first black to play in both leagues. He was also a member of the first all-black outfield in major league history, playing alongside HOFers Mays and Irvin.
No sooner had he joined the Giants than Thompson began playing the big shot. He flashed $100 bills around town and bought a Lincoln Capri. He bought racks of expensive tailored suits. In 1953, he was arrested for felonious assault in NY after a scuffle with a cab driver who hit Hank over the head with a sawed off baseball bat. Thompson required fourteen stitches.
He had learned to drink hard liquor in the Army and developed a serious drinking problem. After most games, he would relax with 2 or 3 Scotches before dinner and a whole fifth afterward. The booze took its toll, as he slowed down considerably and was plagued by injuries. He was sent down by the Giants in 1957 and was finished with baseball at age 31. He found nothing but trouble waiting for him. He had blown almost every penny he earned in baseball on booze, women and cars. He took a job as a bartender for $85 a week.
His first year out of the game, he was arrested for stealing a car. The next year, he was arrested again for unlawful entry (B&E) and assault. He had struck a girlfriend and taken $3 from her purse. He got seven days in jail. It didn't teach him any lessons. In 1961, he walked into a Harlem bar and asked the bartender, "Do you know me?" The bartender said he didn't, and Thompson, pulling out a pistol, said, "Good! This is a stickup. Put the money on the bar." He was arrested a block away with $37 in his pocket. The charges: robbery, assault, carrying a concealed weapon and armed robbery. Giants owner Horace Stoneham and baseball commissioner Ford Frick didn't do society any favors by pulling some strings and having Hank released on probation. He went right out and stole two pistols from a friend's print shop and held up a liquor store in Houston for $270. The cops caught him the same night flashing money around a nearby nightclub. It was his seventh arrest. This time, baseball didn't come to his rescue. He was sentenced to ten years at the Texas Penitentiary in Huntsville.
That's where he was when he told his story, in 1965, to Sport Magazine titled "How I Wrecked My Life - How I Hope to Save it." Prison seemed to have finally knocked some sense into Hank Thompson. He became an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous and worked as an athletic coach for first offenders.
He would later write, "The only person to blame is me, so if I blame drink.... I'm the guy who did the drinking. If I tell you I came from a broken home.... so did millions of other kids.... If I tell you my father beat me with a strap.... I'm in jail, not my father. Don't ask me to blame society or the fact that I'm a Negro in a white world, or the fact that I was washed up as a major leaguer when I was 31 years old. I'm the one who kicked society in the teeth."
It sounded as though Thompson was ready to start over again at age forty, but by then, it was too late. On Sept 30, 1969, shortly after he was paroled, he suffered a stroke and died.
It is refreshing to know that, at least for a time, Hank Thompson decided to take account of his own life, take personal responsibility for it, and not attempt to pass blame on society, a bad childhood or other outside influences. Hank Thompson had ruined Hank Thompson's life, and no one else. He is fondly remembered for a list of tips for kids that I post here in closing....
1) Get advice about money; how to save it, how to invest it.
2) Live a clean life.
3) Stay away from those goodtime people who pretend to be your friends.
4) Stay away from liquor.
5) Stay healthy.
6) Baseball is the cleanest sport we have, so treat it decent.
Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours. - Yogi Berra
Learning all the time.
Great story and the bottom line, taking something out of the mire of his life is that has an inspirational ending:
"A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz." ~Humphrey Bogart
No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference. ~Tommy Lasorda
..Let's Play Ball..
What are the odds? This gives a whole new meaning to "Hammerin' Hank."
Last edited by TRfromBR; 02-21-2007 at 03:03 AM.
..Let's Play Ball..
Irvin, Mays & Thompson, before Hank went away to college.
Last edited by TRfromBR; 02-21-2007 at 12:35 AM.
Breakin hearts since 1920
Barbaro Garbey - Fixed games and got away with it - For all its sensitivity to gambling and fixes, major league baseball welcomed a known game-thrower into its fold in 1984, Cuban refugee Barbaro Garbey, who played for the Detroit Tigers in 1984-85 and the Texas Rangers in 1988.
Garbey was a star for the Havana Industriales and Cuba's national team in 1976-77. The next year, a scandal rocked the game when he and seventeen other players and coaches were caught accepting money to throw games. They were suspended for life and the American press, in their smug, clever way, dubbed the group "The Black Bean Sox."
The following communication was issued by Cuba's National Sports Institute:
Names of the players involved have been deleted from the record book, since they do not deserve the honor of appearing in the history of our nation's baseball. The players' zeal for profits (a no-no for good communists), egotism, individualism (another no-no), mercantile spirit (gasp!) and lack of respect for the people are attitudes that cannot be tolerated in a society of workers. Sports and athletics as merchandise are practices of a capitalist society that have been banished from our nation forever.
Garbey would have been disgraced for life in Cuba, but he happened to be in the right place at the right time; 1980 was the year of the "freedom flotilla" - when 125,000 people were allowed to leave Cuba and come to the United States. Most of them were refugees, but Cuban dictator Fidel Castro took advantage of the evacuation to get rid of several thousand convicted criminals, mental patients, homosexuals and others regarded by the Cuban government as 'undesirables'. Dishonest baseball players were included in the group.
Commissioner Bowie Kuhn was certainly aware that there might be some prospects among the refugees, and asked major league teams to refrain from signing them. That, of course, was an open invitation to some of the less scrupulous teams, and Tigers scout Orlando Pena was assigned to check out the new talent at Fort Indiantown Gap - a refugee holding camp in Pennsylvania. he spotted Garbey, whom he described as "skinny, sort of starving."
"Get me out of here and feed me well, "Garbey told Pena, "and you'll see how good I can hit." The Tigers had had success with ex-cons Gates Brown and Ron LeFlore, and they signed Garbey for $2,500 on June 6, 1980. The kid was right. He could hit. Garbey ascended the minor league ranks, batting .364 for Lakeland in the Class A Florida League, then .286 and .289 for the double-A team in Birmingham.
Garbey had left Cuba without his wife and two children, and suffered bouts of depression over it. He tried unsuccessfully to get them out through legal channels. Someone offered to smuggle them out for the strange sum of $37,000, but he didn't have the money. Depression and treatments by a psychiatrist didn't stop him from hitting, though. In 1983, he tore up the AAA, hitting .321 for Evansville.
The next season, Detroit overlooked the fact that Garbey had attacked a fan with a bat in Evansville, and brought him up to the big club. He started off the 1984 season hitting .392 in his first 55 at-bats (Gates Brown was his hitting coach) and finished at a respectable .287. During the ALCS, he got three hits in nine chances.
Garbey never liked talking about his days in Cuba, but he did admit that he was paid to fix games in 1978. He claimed he took money to keep the games close, but not to lose them (yeah, right). He refused to divulge who paid him or how much, but freely admitted his motivation - a monthly salary of 95 pesos. "How are you going to buy a television in Cuba that costs 700 pesos?" he asked.
Sources in Cuba gave Sports Illustrated a different version of Garbey's history. The magazine said Garbey didn't just shave runs, he literally threw games and he did it for two years. Garbey's sister-in-law was tracked down by the media and said, "I don't want to hear anything about him. We don't want to have anything to do with him."
After a mediocre 1985, the Tigers traded Garbey to Oakland, who sent them to their Triple A club in Tacoma. The same year, he was stopped by police for speeding. When the cop approached the car, Garbey tried to throw a folded dollar bill out the window. He was arrested for cocaine. (Maybe a buck is a good bribe in Cuba?? Or was the dollar bill actually rolled up and not folded? Inquiring minds want to know!)
Garbey came back to the majors to play games for the Texas Rangers in 1988, but hit just .194 and was finished in baseball.
NOTES BY DF1: This is a classic example of 'look-the-other-way' mentality. If we didn't see it, it didn't happen. We can lay shame at the foot of major league baseball for even allowing a known game-thrower like Garbey into the league, and it seems to me that although Bowie Kuhn at first did the right thing in warning the league against signing these guys, did nothing to punish the Tigers for hiring Garbey. That doesn't send a very firm message about virtue and playing by the rules, does it?
Turkey Mike Donlin - The outfielder was charged in Baltimore with assaulting Minnie Fields, an actress, and her escort, ernest Slayton. Both had black eyes and Fields had been knocked unconscious. Donlin pleaded guilty, claiming he was drunk at the time and didn't know what he was doing. The sentence was six months in jail and a $250 fine. Donlin was one of the roughest, toughest players in the bad old days of baseball.
Here is a quick list of Donlin's 'acheivements':
1901: Donlin's Oriole teammate, HOF pitcher Joe McGinnity, got into an argument with umpire Tom Connolly and spit in the arbiter's face. When Detroit's Kid Elberfeld came out to put in his two cents, Donlin decked him.
1902: Arrested for assault. (He seemed to like assault)
1904: Suspended for one month for 'drunken behavior' (a punishable offense!)
1906: Donlin charged with assaulting a train conductor.
1908: Went into the stands and attacked a heckler.
1911: Reinstated by baseball after a two year suspension for 'drunken behavior' and assault. He played the Vaudeville circuit while serving his suspension, spending time in jail for assault during that time (the Minnie Fields incident).
NOTES BY DF1: It is very likely that Donlin would be in the HOF by now if he didn't have such a checkered career. Booze led to violence which led to jail time, and that seems to be what has kept him out of the Hall, IMO. He had a .333 career BA and hit well over .300 for 11 of his 12 major league years. But this has all been talked about before....
Last edited by Dodgerfan1; 02-21-2007 at 04:54 AM.
Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours. - Yogi Berra
Breakin hearts since 1920
The tragedy of Ray Chapman was baseball's most famous fatality, but by no means the only one. Hundreds of minor league players have been killed during games. Inexperienced pithcers have poor control. Young hitters aren't disciplined enough to judge the break of a curveball or quick enough to duck from high, inside fastballs coming at their heads faster than they've experienced before. During a 1947 semi-pro game in Pennsylvania, the left fielder and center fielder for the Pennburg team were both struck by lightning and died.
In 1915 alone, 59 people were killed playing baseball, according to an article in the NY Times that year. 38 of them involved batters being beaned, six were as a result of fights, six were caused by what was termed 'overexertion' and three stemmed from collisions. Just about every year, before and after 1915, a few players have been killed in baseball accidents.
Please note, I am certainly not trying to be ghoulish or sensational here. These are just a couple of black moments in baseball history as documented at the time. After so many of these types of stories appeared in the Times, there was a small movement to ban the game which, of course, never amounted to anything.
The first professional baseball player to die as a result of the game was none other than the very first (recorded) professional player, Jim Creighton of the Brooklyn Excelsiors. He took a big cut at a pitch in 1862, missed, and "sustained an internal injury occasioned by strain."
Pinpointing the first amateur fatality in a ballgame is difficult, but this short, sad article appeared in the Times on June 12, 1877:
DEATH ON THE BASE-BALL FIELD
Richmond, June 11 - A young man named John Emmett Crowder, while playing in a baseball match this afternoon, fell dead after making a home run. Death was caused by apoplexy. (Many deaths and illnesses back in those days were attributed to vague maladies such as apoplexy, consumption and the vapors.)
After dozens of similar stories ran in the Times during baseball's early years, under such sensationalistic headlines as: "DEATH CAUSED BY A BASEBALL" and "DIES OF BALL GAME INJURY," the Times realized there was drama in these tragedies that made for good business, and began reporting them with more frequency as in-depth stories. These are just a scant few of the more touching tragedies:
July 11, 1887. Headline - "THE SAD DEATH OF LITTLE EDDIE M'DADE"
McDade, according to the Times, was catcher for the Mt. Vernon Baseball Club, a group of men who worked in the Manayunk mills around Philadelphia. When they got off work at 1:00 PM, they would don uniforms and play ball. McDade was just 15 years old:
Eddie McDade was there, and he looked pretty in his light blue cap, with "Mount Vernon" braided across his bosom, the red belt, white knickerbockers, blue hose, and canvas shoes. Eddie had caught out one batsman: Tommy Muldoon had hit for a base, and Mike Curley held the willow, when Eddie put on his mask and came up to the plate to keep the runner from stealing second base. Pitcher Jimmy Watson was shooting the dollar and a quarter League ball in great style, and the clever little catcher gave him good support.
Mike Curley split the air twice when he made a swing at the curving ball. It was a foul tip, and instantly young McDade threw back his head and put up his gloved hand, but he missed and he dropped to the ground. The ball had struck him in the neck. He was gasping for breath as he arose to his feet and pushed off the mask.
The crowd of 300 gathered around McDade as he staggered around the field. A close friend named Billy Carlin took him in his arms and carried him to a wagon. "Billy, get a doctor, I'm gone," McDade muttered. "It's my last game." Then he fell over, unconscious. Most of the crowd then went to the McDade home, to which a doctor had been summoned. An incision was made in Eddie's neck below the break, and a gutta-percha tube inserted to allow the young man to breath. The article continues:
The tube was short, and it slipped and worked unsatisfactorily. The boy died at 7:50 o'clock.
August 16, 1885 - "KILLED ON THE BALL FIELD"
Louis Henke, first baseman for an Atlanta nine, was at the plate in a game against Nashville. He got good wood on the ball and started for first base.
Marr, Nashville's first baseman, assumed a position to meet him, and standing with bent knee, Henke ran against him with tremendous force. He rose, staggered and fell. The audience, not realizing the gravity of what had happened, cried out, "Run, run; make for home!" But it was no use, for Henke was terribly hurt.
Henke was taken into a tent by the field, where he "writhed in frightful contortions" as the game continued. Doctors rushed him to a nearaby hotel, where it was determined that he had ruptured his liver. A telegraph was sent to Henke's wife, who was in Cincinnati. The article resumes:
All night long, the members of the club surrounded the dying man. Between Henke and Bittman, the second baseman, a strong friendship existed. One would never sign to play with a club unless the other was taken also. Henke, observing his friend by his side this evening, whispered, "Bitt, do not play to-day; I feel that I am dying."
"What shall I tell your wife for you?" Bittman inquired.
"Just tell her I got hurt in yesterday's game and died from it." Within three minutes, Henke was dead.
October 2, 1904 - "CAUGHT THE BALL AND DIED"
John Garcia was probably the first black man to die playing baseball. The Times described the 28-year old as 'so dark that he easily passed for a Cuban, whether he was or not.' On this day, he was catching a game in Jamaica, New York, with a crowd of 2,000 people in the stands. In the second inning, a batter lofted an extremely high foul pop directly over the plate. Garcia pushed him aside and circled under the ball.
"Let him have it! Let him have it!" yelled the Captain of the Giants, whose shouts were re-echoed by several other players.
There was a moment of silence, a loud report when the ball struck Garcia's hand. Then Garcia fell over on his face like a log.
"Not o-u-t," the umpired drawled, inaudibly, as he saw the ball rolling away from Garcia's hand.
"He's hurt! He's hurt!" came from a hundred throats as players and spectators began to crowd around Garcia.
Several teammates hoisted Garcia up and ran across the field to St. Mary's Hospital, which was right across the street. The doctor tore open the catcher's shirt to feel for a heartbeat. "No use," he said, "He's dead. His heart has given out."
According to the Times, the excitement of the game, perhaps the tension he was under while he was waiting for the ball to come down, had killed him.
Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours. - Yogi Berra
Breakin hearts since 1920
The quote from the Times article above also reveals a bit about the early game that I didn't know. It sounds as if the catcher's mask wasn't always worn during a game unless the catcher felt that there was more of a risk of injury. Apparently, after there was already one out and a man on first base, McDade then put on his mask so he could edge forward toward the pitcher and thus, closer to the batter. I guess that makes sense but I found it interesting that, even when catcher's masks were being used in baseball back in 1887, they weren't used by some catchers (probably most, if not any, would be my guess) until there was a perceived need for it.
Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours. - Yogi Berra
Breakin hearts since 1920
Jim Rivera - "To the best of my knowledge," said Ford Frick, "this is the first time a commissioner ever had to make a decision on a morals charge."
Frick placed White Sox outfielder "Jungle" Jim Rivera on probation for one year after he had been accused of raping a woman in Chicago in 1952. The charge was dropped by the grand jury, but Frick said Rivera would be punished because baseball had "an obligation to the public to maintain the highest standards of morality among all men who are connected with the game."
The slap on the wrist 'probation' had no effect on the number of games Rivera played. In fact, most people are completely unaware of it to this day. Rivera went on to play ten more years in the majors, with a lifetime BA of .256. He led the AL with sixteen triples in 1953 and 25 stolen bases in 1955.
Ed Bouchee - The Philadelphia Phillies first baseman was arrested in 1958 in his hometown of Spokane, WA for indecent exposure before a six-year old girl. Bouchee, 25, admitted exposing himself four other times with girls aged ten, eleven, fourteen and eighteen. He was placed on three years probation (not by Frick, this time, but by the law) and spent two months receiving psychiatric treatment at the Institute of Living in Hartford, CT.
"Bouchee has responded completely to treatment and is now ready to take his place in society," said commissioner Frick when Bouchee was reinstated on July 1. A lifetime .265 hitter, Bouchee hit .285 with 15 HRs the next season. He was traded to the Cubs in 1960 and finished his career as one of the original 'amazins' in 1962.
Pete Rose - "You know why I get all the women?" Pete Rose used to joke. "Because I always go in head first."
Ummm, right, Pete. Either that or because they were all loose?
Before his rookie season of 1963, the Cincinnati Reds played a series of exhibition games in Mexico City. One night, at a strip club, Rose got up on stage and had sex with one of the performers.
Rose married Karolyn Engelhardt that winter, but he remained a notorious womanizer throughout his career. He kept girlfriends in every single National League city, and in a few potential expansion cities, too, just to hedge his bets (if you'll pardon THAT bad joke...)
One of his mistresses, a Tampa woman named Terryl Rubio, smacked him with a paternity suit in 1979. Her baby girl was curiously named Morgan, the last name of one of Rose's longtime teammates. Rose didn't contest the suit and settled out of court. At the time, somebody hung a huge banner in Candlestick Park that read 'PETE ROSE LEADS THE LEAGUE IN PATERNITY SUITS."
Karolyn Rose was amazingly tolerant for sixteen years, though on one occasion at Riverfront Stadium she punched a woman who was wearing a diamond pendant necklace identical to one Pete had given her. The woman, Carol Woliung, was a Playboy bunny and Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader. She became the second Mrs. Pete Rose after Pete and Karolyn divorced in 1984. Karolyn received a $1.25 million settlement.
Rose later let Sports Illustrated in on his method of ending a marriage, "Hey, just give her a million dollars and tell her to hit the road."
Classy guy, that Pete....
Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours. - Yogi Berra
Rox 2007 NL Champs
Ain't it! Certainly lives up to his name with the women.Classy guy, that Pete....
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