OTDIB – May 16th – The Shaggy one drives in eight

Phil Gurnee ♦ May 15, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

On this date in baseball May 16th

May 16th, 2008 – Ex-Dodger Jayson Werth drives in eight runs

Jayson Werth ties the Phillies’ single-game RBI record when he drives in eight runs in Philadelphia’s 10-3 win over Toronto. The 28 year-old center fielder, who equals the franchise mark shared Kitty Bransfeld (1910), Gavvy Cravath (1915), Willie Jones (1958), and Mike Schmidt (1976), accomplishes the feat with three home runs in team’s 10-3 victory over Toronto in the friendly confines of Citizens Bank Park.

When the clean-cut Jayson Werth patrolled left field for the Dodgers my wife swooned over him. When he was cut loose by Ned and ended up a Phillie he grew one of the early beards that now dominate baseball and she hates beards thus ending her relationship with the shaggy one. Werth was one of Depo’s best moves, and one of Ned’s worst.

May 16th, 2000 – Cubs fan starts a brouhaha by stealing a Dodger hat

After a fan steals Los Angeles’ catcher Chad Kreuter’s hat and hits him in the back of the head, many Dodgers, including coaches John Shelby and Rick Dempsey, go into the stands and start fighting with the Wrigley Field faithful. When the melee ends, several fans are arrested as the game is delayed nearly ten minutes, and there is litter all over the field.

May 16th, 1970 – Manny Mota foul ball kills first MLB fan hit by batted ball

During a game against the Giants at Dodger Stadium, Alan Fish, sitting with friends from the Poinsettia Playground in the second row seats along the first base line, is struck in the head by a foul ball off the bat of Manny Mota. The 14 year-old boy will die four days later to become the first fatality as a result of a batted ball in major league history.

Damn, this must have happened just days before I moved to Los Angeles. I have zero recollection of this but it had to have been a big deal at the time. Every time I go to a game and I’m with someone I comment on how shocked I am that more fans aren’t seriously hurt at baseball games.