Snopes debunks a 1908 myth.

"In late September [1908] the third team in the National League race, the Pirates, was playing the Cubs. In the ninth inning, with Chicago ahead 2-0 and the visiting Pirates at bat with the bases loaded, second baseman Ed Abbaticchio hit a rocket down the right-field line. [Umpire Hank] O'Day ruled it foul, the Cubs won the game, and went on to win the pennant by one game over the Pirates as well as taking the playoff from the Giants.

Several months later, though, a woman fan brought a lawsuit to court, alleging injury suffered when she was struck by Abbaticchio's smash, an occurrence attested to in sworn statements by various witnesses. But the court ending up ruling against her -- not because her story wasn't believed, but because it was conclusively established that she had been sitting in fair territory at the time."

Comments

What you posted wasn't the whole story.

Here’s how Snopes debunked that — from the link:

[N]obody apparently ever has been able to ascertain the name of the woman fan, the name of the judge who made the intriguing decision, or the date of the hearing.

Absence of any definite details about the lawsuit made the story smack of an old wives’ tail [sic]. So the Baseball Digest
staff took out its Sherlock Holmes cap and pipe and went to work.

A thorough, tedious search of all official records of all state and county courts in Chicago for two years following the game (after which the statute of limitations would preclude such a suit) failed to reveal any such lawsuit filed against the Cubs (in fact, no lawsuit against the Cubs by any fan). A day-by-day search of the Chicago newspapers from the morning after the game until well into 1911 failed to disclose any mention of any such legal action.

While 1908 legal records of both Chicago and Pittsburgh clubs have been lost in antiquity, no official of either club could recall ever having heard any mention of any such suit.

William E. Benswanger, officially associated with the Pirates from 1913 to 1946, their owner and president the last 14 of those years, and a rabid fan long before his formal association with the club, had never even heard of the story!

Lee Allen, historian of the Hall of Fame and undoubtedly today’s outstanding authority on the game’s history, has been unable to find any evidence of any such legal action.

The Chicago Tribune

‘s Harvey Woodruff, one of the most respected and thorough reporters of all time, never even mentioned any fan’s being hurt at the game; though he wrote dozens of notes as well as the long lead story on the contest [and even recorded that a woman had gone into labor and given birth in the stands during the game].

It is reasonable to assume that Woodruff, alert and thorough enough to record the intimate details of an accouchement in the grandstand, certainly would have reported any excitement in the crowd occasioned by a woman’s being hit by a line drive; especially on a key play of the game.

What I don’t understand is how you were able to copy/paste from that Snopes page. I couldn’t do it; I had to view the source page and copy/paste from there.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Sep 30, 2008 2:27 PM CDT reply actions