Death at the Ballpark: A Comprehensive Study of Game-Related Fatalities of Players, Other Personnel and Spectators in Amateur and Professional Baseball, 1862-2007

265 Pages·2008·3.35 MB·English

by  Robert M. Gorman

Death
at the Ballpark
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Death
at the Ballpark
A Comprehensive Study
of Game-Related Fatalities of Players,
Other Personnel and Spectators
in Amateur and Professional Baseball,
1862–2007
ROBERT M. GORMAN
and DAVID WEEKS
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Gorman, Robert M.
Death at the ballpark : a comprehensive study
of game-related fatalities of players, other personnel and
spectators in amateur and professional baseball, 1862–2007 /
Robert M. Gorman and David Weeks.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-3435-0
illustrated case binding : 50# alkaline paper
1. Baseball—Miscellanea.
2. Baseball injuries—United States.
3. Baseball—United States.
4. Deaths.
I. Weeks, David.
II. Title.
GV873.G68 2009 796.357—dc22 2008036625
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2009 Robert M. Gorman and David Weeks. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: Illustration depicting the death of Edward Likely
from a self-inflicted foul tip in Lincoln, Nebraska,
on June 13, 1887 (St. Louis Globe-Democrat);
Calla lily illustration by Mark Durr
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
To Bill Kirwin, mentor and friend—
your encouragement and support will never be forgotten.
—ROBERT M. GORMAN
To my good friend Dr. T. R. Machen,
who taught me long ago that you can accomplish
almost anything with a little ingenuity and perseverance.
Also, to my two children, Sarah and Alden, who ensure
that I never have a boring day.
—DAVID WEEKS
And to all the victims and their survivors.
We hope that we have dealt with your tragedy in a respectful manner.
Acknowledgments
While in the great game of baseball the pitcher is officially given the win (or the loss),
the success of his team is clearly not due to his efforts alone. He has eight other teammates
on the field with him, and their skill on defense and ability at bat has as much, if not more,
impact on the outcome than what the man on the mound does. The same can be said about
researching and writing a book. Authors, like pitchers, are ultimately responsible for the
results, but they do not do it alone.
We would like to begin by thanking all those librarians out there who generously sup-
plied us the microfilm and other resources we needed to complete our project. They are the
silent partners of the research process and we are truly fortunate to have them. Most espe-
cially we thank Carrie Volk, head of the interlibrary loan department at Dacus Library, Win-
throp University, who, assisted by Ann Thomas, went to extraordinary lengths—including
cajoling, begging, and beseeching libraries around the country—to secure the materials we
needed. In addition, Ms. Volk was invaluable in taking our rather poor PDFs and microfilmed
and photocopied illustrations and turning them into something usable for this book.
We are deeply indebted to Dr. R. Norman Taylor, M.D., of Rock Hill, South Carolina,
who served as an expert advisor concerning matters medical, particularly those cases covered
in chapter 9. He helped clarify many of the fine points of medicine and provided additional
insight and understanding as to the nature of illness and disease.
We are beholden to Dr. Jason Silverman, teacher, scholar and racquetball player extra-
ordinaire, who spent countless hours proofreading the final product of our labors. His sug-
gestions have made this a much better work. Our thanks, too, to Peter Morris, author of the
award-winning AGame of Inches, and Trey Strecker, editor of Nine: A Journal of Baseball His-
tory and Culture, for their invaluable critical comments on the draft manuscript.
Of course, none of this would have been possible without the loving support of our wives,
Jane Gorman and Laura Weeks. They were there for us day in and day out as we dwelled in
the land of death.
Any errors or omissions in this study are those of the authors alone. We encourage read-
ers to contact us via email ([email protected] or [email protected]) or at the Dacus
Library, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC 29733, concerning corrections or additional
information.
vi
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vi
Preface 1
Introduction 5
I • PLAYERS
1—Beaning Fatalities 9
2—Other Pitched-Ball Fatalities 29
3—Thrown Ball Fatalities 36
4—Bat and Batted-Ball Fatalities 41
5—Collision Fatalities 54
6—Health-Related Fatalities 62
7—Fatalities from Weather and Field Conditions 72
8—Fatalities from Violence 81
9—Erroneously Reported Player Fatalities 90
II • FIELD PERSONNEL
10—Play, Health, and Field-Related Fatalities Among Field Personnel 109
11—Violence Against Field Personnel 119
III • FANS
12—Action-Related Fatalities Among Fans 131
13—Fan Fatalities from Falls, Risky Behavior, and Violence 146
14—Health-Related Fatalities Among Fans 172
15—Weather and Field-Related Fatalities Among Fans 179
Appendix A: Uncategorized Fatalities 191
Appendix B: Unconfirmed Fatalities 193
Appendix C: Chronology of All Fatalities 196
Chapter Notes 211
Bibliography 237
Index 245
vii
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Preface
When one thinks of baseball, rarely do thoughts of tragedy come to mind. It is a game
associated with warm, sunny days and leisurely outings to the local ballpark. Yet injury and
death have been associated with the game from its beginnings.
Even the most casual fan has heard about baseball’s most renowned fatality, the beaning
death of Cleveland Indians player Ray Chapman. On the afternoon of August 20, 1920, the
Yankees notorious headhunter, Carl Mays, threw a pitch that struck Chapman on the left
temple. A surgical attempt to save Chapman’s life proved futile and Cleveland’s 29-year-old
shortstop died early the next morning. It is the only undisputed case of a play-related fatal-
ity among players in the major leagues.
Little known are the literally hundreds of fatalities among players, field personnel, and
fans that have occurred in other baseball settings, including minor league, semipro, college
and high school, and sandlot games. At one time, in fact, baseball was considered the most
dangerous of all sports in terms of the number of injuries and fatalities.
What follows is a comprehensive study of game-related baseball fatalities among play-
ers, field personnel, and fans at all levels of play in the United States. Rather than merely
recounting the deaths, we will place them in context, addressing the factors that led to them
and the changes in the game that resulted from them, including style of play, the develop-
ment of protective equipment, crowd control, stadium structure, and so forth. Earlier ver-
sions of our research have appeared in Nine: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture.1
The focus of this study is on “baseball” in a rather strict sense. For example, while we
have included some fatalities resulting from baseball-derived games such as stickball, pepper,
and one-a-cat, we have not included softball-related fatalities. The same is true of ball and
bat games played prior to the “New York Game,” formalized in the mid–1840s when Alexan-
der Cartwright listed the rules governing his New York Knickerbockers, an event which most
baseball historians consider the foundation of the game as we know it today. Therefore, we
have excluded deaths like that of young George Goble who, in 1834, died a day after being
struck by “a ball club” while he was “playing ball” near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. There is
just no way of knowing if these types of deaths are truly “baseball”-related.
A definition of what we mean by “game-related” fatalities is also in order. If the death
occurred as part of the game in some fashion or within the grounds (stadium, field, parking
lot) where a game was being played, we considered it a game-related death. This criteria seems
obvious if one is talking about a beaning or a collision. But what about the fan who has a
heart attack or is murdered at the ballpark?
Fan deaths, regardless of cause, are included if they occurred on the grounds. A death
that occurred outside the playing field after a game is not included unless it was a carryover
1