Fan-Antics
A brief look at a few famous and infamous fans
By C. Philip Francis – August 1, 2004
Part 2
While the majority of the many baseball addicts who attend games sit quietly and watch the game, some became as famous as the players they idolized – maybe even more so. To a special group baseball became a religion.
You recently read about Hilda Chester and her famous cow bell whose life revolved around the Brooklyn Dodgers. Another Dodger fanatic was Jack Pierce, a Brooklyn restaurateur, who also attended most home games at Ebbetts Field in the 1930’s and 1940’s to cheer on Dodger third baseman Cookie Lavagetto. Instead of taking a coke and hot dogs to his third base box, Jack went to the many home games carrying two bottles of Scotch, two bags of balloons, a helium tank, and one large banner. As he belted down his whiskey throughout the game the Dodger rooter would yell out “COOKIE, COOKIE” and pop a few blown up balloons. When Lavagetto was called into service during World War II, Pierce quickly turned his attention to Joe Medwick.
There have been a number of notable and passionate fans over the years including Pearl Yount and Dorothy Young who attended all weekend and holiday games at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis to root on their favorite Cardinals. Another celebrated St. Louis fan was plumb “Screechin’ Screamin’’ Mary Ott who sat in the bleachers with her trademark of a “piercing laugh which was best described as a whinny.” She and her second husband had a fine understanding whereby he stayed home to prepare the meals while she attended the ballgames. While “Screech Owl” McAllister harassed the opposition at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field in the 1930’s, fans at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field were entertained by Harry Throbe who danced and cheered on the Reds in his white and red striped suit.
Boston fans have always considered being somewhat on the boisterous or notorious side. At the beginning of the last century several hundred baseball-mad Bostonians calling themselves the Royal Rooters got together to boost their beloved Beaneaters who became the Braves. When the Rooters realized the Boston Pilgrims, later the Red Sox, sold cheaper tickets they changed their allegiance to the Pilgrims of the American League. The Rooters were at the first ever World Series in 1903 when the Pilgrims met the Pirates, and even traveled to Pittsburgh to help cheer their team on. It may have worked as the Boston Pilgrims of the newly established American League beat the favorite Pirates five games to three in the initial World Series.
In his entertaining book called Veeck – as in Wreck, Bill tells about one particular fan named Emmie. She was “…a huge blockbuster of a woman, the wife of a milkman, who had an emotional tie to the (Chicago) Cubs more than partisan, it was maternal.” If her favorite seat behind the boxes was occupied Veeck escorted Emmie directly to the seat. If it was occupied, she would first politely ask patron to move. When no one moved, Emmie would pick up the unsuspecting fan, and throw him out of the nearest exit. When that happened a Cub official would quickly present a season ticket to the angry fan hoping he would not run to a nearby police station.
Braves Field, the home of the Boston Braves from 1915 through 1952, had a single-deck with uncovered pavilions along the foul lines, and bleachers in right field called “the jury box.” In the 1940’s the Braves’ right fielder, Tommy Holmes, was the fans’ favorite of those sitting in the “jury box.” Holmes was in the 28th game of a 37-game hitting steak in 1945 when a soused up fan began working on him with, “So you’re the great Holmes, why you couldn’t carry Ted Williams….” When he batted again, Tommy immediately hit into a double play.
After Holmes returned to his right field position he heard, “If I wanted to go to the circus I would have gone to the Garden (The Boston Garden that hosted many activities such as the circus.).” The Boston player then missed a line drive with the bases full, and now had to hear, “I know I am going to the Garden ‘cause I have never seen anything as bad as this.” Not long after Holmes heard a small man in the first row say, “I am going to take care of this.” The fellow talked to the big Irish cop, Big Dan, and by the time Tommy returned to right field the fellow with the big mouth was gone. When he asked what had happened, the little fellow said, “He’s gone, we threw him out of the ballpark.”
In the 1920’s the Kessler Brothers, Bull and Eddie, “set the standards for abusiveness” for the Philadelphia A’s. The two men would station themselves on opposite sides of the ballpark where they would constant berate players on both teams, especially Philadelphia’s Jimmy Dykes. The A’s owner-manager Connie Mack tried to bribe the Kesslers with season tickets, and when that failed, Mack took the two brothers to court.
Patsy O’Toole is the only fan ever to have his seat changed by a president of the United States. For twenty-five years the foghorn-voiced O’Toole sat behind the Detroit Tigers’ dugout yelling out, “Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy. Keep cool with O’Toole.” From time to time he would shout out, “You’re a bum” to a visiting ballplayer, and “You’re a great guy” to any Tiger player. In Game 3 of the 1933 World Series between the New York Yankees and the hometown Washington Senators held at Griffith Stadium Foghorn O’Toole attended the game and sat directly behind President Franklin D. Roosevelt. After listening to several of Patsy’s loud and annoying bellows, President Roosevelt had the obnoxious fan moved to the other side of the park