RIP Bill Mazeroski

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Honestly, as I get older and grumpier, I understand trying to limit court storms. I absolutely love them in one-bid leagues in March, but someone is gonna get critically injured or worse at one of the power four arenas someday soon and some school is gonna be out millions and that's gonna be that.

 

[MarkWatney]

Well, I'm sure possible liability had a lot to do with the collective decisions to lower the football fields and modified designs in newer stadiums to make it tougher for big crowds to spill out onto the playing surface. It's not exactly a trivia modification; as I recall improving TV camera sight lines and improving sight lines for seats in the first five rows behind team benches (previously mostly blocked by hulking linemen standing on the sidelines) were also cited as primary reasons.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Back when we were a proper country and stormed fields after big baseball wins. I always think of the 1976 ALCS ending with everyone this side of three-year-old me on the field at Yankee Stadium and Chris Chambliss running for his life off the field.

As I recall, Chambliss didn’t get a chance to touch home plate before running for his life. Once the fans left hours later, Chambliss came back out with the umpires to touch the plate, only the plate had been dug up and was gone. He touched the space where the plate had been, and my understanding is the Royals made a weak attempt to claim that he technically never touch the plate and the run shouldn’t count. Which, of course, was brushed aside.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

One of them died years ago:

https://memorials.decarbofh.com/book-of-memories/279419/dattilo-harry/obituary.php

 

[maumann2]

It would be a kind of fitting ending if either or both of those guys could make an appearance at Maz's funeral. They'd have to be 80ish themselves by now.

I'd have to suspect they'd been looked up at some point in the intervening 65 years -- on various anniversaries like the 25th/50th, when Maz was available to comment??

Seconded. I'd love to hear the backstory of how they got out there and what happened to them since.

I've seen a great piece on the two guys who jumped onto the field and patted Aaron on the back after his 715th. They both ended up in jail until one of their fathers bailed them out. Charges were dropped the next morning. Went on to become responsible adults, which is more than I can say for most baseball players after they retire.

Hank Aaron, two fans reunite

 

[wicked]

Last championship court storming I remember was the Celtics in 1986.

Court-storming/field-rushing is awesome when it’s a pro championship or March Madness, but storming the court when you beat 18th-ranked Podunk is becoming more common. And it’s dumb. Act like you’ve been there before.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I don’t know about those two kids, but here’s the story of the kid who got the home run ball. He ended up losing it in a sandlot game the next year.

https://www.mlb.com/news/bill-mazeroski-s-home-run-ball

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Last championship court storming I remember was the Celtics in 1986.

Court-storming/field-rushing is awesome when it’s a pro championship or March Madness, but storming the court when you beat 18th-ranked Podunk is becoming more common. And it’s dumb. Act like you’ve been there before.

Last one I remember was when the Mets clinched the NL East in ‘86. The fans tore up the Shea turf and the Mets got mounted policemen for the playoffs and the Series.

 

[Bubbler]

Seeing the fans run on the field at County Stadium in 1982 after the Brewers won the ALCS is one of the central moments of my life. I was 11 and didn’t do it, but I wish I had.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

As I recall, Chambliss didn’t get a chance to touch home plate before running for his life. Once the fans left hours later, Chambliss came back out with the umpires to touch the plate, only the plate had been dug up and was gone. He touched the space where the plate had been, and my understanding is the Royals made a weak attempt to claim that he technically never touch the plate and the run shouldn’t count. Which, of course, was brushed aside.

One of my all-time favorite stories. Just love the image of Chambliss going out there and trying to find the plate.

 

[HanSenSE]

Still waiting on whoever hit the brake lights in the Dodger Stadium parking lot as Gibson was taking Eckserley deep.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Still waiting on whoever hit the brake lights in the Dodger Stadium parking lot as Gibson was taking Eckserley deep.

I can only imagine the screams in that car. "YOUGOTTABE****INGKIDDINGME!!!!"

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Last championship court storming I remember was the Celtics in 1986.

Court-storming/field-rushing is awesome when it’s a pro championship or March Madness, but storming the court when you beat 18th-ranked Podunk is becoming more common. And it’s dumb. Act like you’ve been there before.

Lakers fans stormed the court after they beat the pistons in 88. Pistons won both finals on the road in 89-90. Bulls did too in 1991. That’s all I got.

 

[da man]

Biggest HR in baseball history …

Pirates legend and Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski dies at 89

One of the biggest, for sure.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I love seeing the wall beyond Forbes Field because it looked like a forest, from Maz to the final out of the joint on videos. Basically the backdrop of every high school field I ever saw until I moved to the big smoke in Y2K-ish.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I can't ever forget the two dudes in leisure suits escorting Hank Aaron around third and a young Craig Sager (dressed accordingly) circling home plate upon 715. And I barely remember it because I was like 5 or 6. My mom, of all people, told me who Babe Ruth was and I was like, who.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

My moment came in Jacksonville when Carl Yastrzemski was elected to the Hall of Fame and our 17 year old stringer said: “Who’s that?”

 

[maumann2]

I had two of those.

1. I had a Tigers mini helmet on my desk in Rocky Mount. A prospective news hire was in for an interview, probably around 1997-98, came up to me and said, "My Dad was from Detroit and he said they were really good in 1984!" (And 1968, you little twerp!)

2. I did a look back at the 1979 race on the 30th anniversary from the perspective of someone who was in the stands and sent it back to the desk in Atlanta. I told editor Josh Pate, "Hey, I did this from memory so if there is anything you see that's factually incorrect, feel free to fix it." His reply: "Mark, I was six weeks old. You probably remember more than I do."

 

[MileHigh]

I can't ever forget the two dudes in leisure suits escorting Hank Aaron around third and a young Craig Sager (dressed accordingly) circling home plate upon 715. And I barely remember it because I was like 5 or 6. My mom, of all people, told me who Babe Ruth was and I was like, who.

I believe one of them with Aaron was Craig Sager.

 

[wicked]

It still amazes me that they were afraid those kids wanted to kill Aaron just because he was black. (Wasn’t the slander out there that Ruth was part black? White supremacists aren’t known for logical thinking I suppose.) What a trash fire of a country we live in.