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Submitted Heckling Stories 1 : 2 : 3 : 4 : 5 : 6 : 7 : 8
I'm a former Chicagoan, Bleacher Bum, who lived within 2 blocks of Wrigley before moving to Los Angeles. But I am still a Cubs' fan and go to as many of the Cubs' west coast games as possible. Cubs fans are famous, of course, for throwing back opponents' home run balls.A couple of years ago, I sat in the outfield seats in San Diego while the Cubs were there on a road trip. It was ball day in San Diego, so every fan had received a baseball upon entering the stadium. The Cubs have a large west-coast following, and the outfield that day was filled with more Cub fans than Padres fans.In the early innings, some Padre hit a home run into the outfield seats. Cub fans immediately responded in unison by hurling their ball-day souveniers onto the field. There must have been 1500 balls lobbed onto the field before the runner reached 1st base. The game had to be halted for 10 minutes while officials cleared all the baseballs off the outfield.I don't think San Diego has scheduled ball day when the Cubs were in town since that day.
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At a recent Twins game Rick Reed was pitching for the Twins. Up in the bleachers in left field, there was a huge sign that read "Reed Fan Club." On that night, Reed got shelled, he was out of the game by the third inning, and when I looked back up there, it said "Lawton Fan Club." This was right after the Reed-Lawton trade.
At the recent Mike Mussina almost perfect game a group of us Sox fans chanted "perrrr-fect" (as in Darrr-yl) whenever Mussina fell behind in the count.
At a Rockies game: There was a guy in the outfield totally heckling Juan Pierre with "Pierre. You suck." Pierre paid no heed, so the fan turned to the Rockies bullpen and said, "hey, Jose (Jimenez). What do you guys think of Pierre? He stinks, huh?" the pen just stared daggers back at the guy. The guy says, "Oh it's ok, I hate him too."
July 28, 2001, seats right near the bullpen Colorado Rockies Bullpen at Dodger Stadium. THe Rockies were getting tossed around, and some guys were commenting on how annoying the bullpen phone's ringing was. Once the Rockies were seriously getting whooped, the guys made ringing sounds very very loudly and very very shrilly. Fred Kendall, the coach in the pen, stood there, near the fans, motionless, and turning bright red the entire time. Next heckle. A girl was trying to get Pitcher Justin Spier's attention in order to take a picture of him. He obliged, and she was on cloud nine. At the end of the game, she thought she had bonded with Justin somehow and asked him for a ball. He put up one finger to motion that he was going to get one. Instead, he walked quickly out of the bullpen without looking back. The girl, not wanting to be shown up, yelled clear across the stadium, "Hey, Justin! Are you guys heading into the playoffs? Just want you to know, tickets! start being sold by September."
It seems that three umpires were discussing a play and the organiststarted playing Three Blind Mice. She was escorted from the game.2. There was a pitcher named Park. His fans were at the game holding cardsP A R K for encouragement. Well he was pitching terribly and the fansmoved the cards to read K R A P.
I am an American Legion Baseball coach in Princeton, IN (Post 25). During a game, the umpire, who I thought was doing a good job was hearing it from the fans. After a close play at the plate, a fan yelled. "Hey ump, more baseball knowledge is flushed down the toilet when I use the restroom than what you know" I have to admit it was pretty funny, and the umpire even got a kick out of it.
Several years ago, Larry Walker was playing right field for the Expos. In a game between the Expos and the Dodgers at Dodger Sadium, the Dodgers had a man on (Jose Offerman). One of the Dodgers hit a high pop foul, which Walker caught near the seats. He flipped the ball to a fan, and started to trot off the field. Meanwhile, Jose Offerman kept running the bases because it was only the second out. Walker had to get the ball back and put it into play. Whenever he's in right I always yell, "Hey, Larry! How many outs are there?"(btw, I understand he gave the fan a signed ball and bat.)
In 1995 ALDS playoff at Yankee Stadium in New York, a day or two after the OJ verdict, someone sitting close to the visitors on-deck circle shouted to Mariners' Vince Coleman: "Hey Vince, you've got a worse criminal record than OJ!" (Coleman had pled guilty to misdemeanor charge of throwing a fire cracker at a fan while with the Mets)
Several years ago a buddy and I took our kids to a Golden State Warriors' game to watch them play the Washington Bullets (now Wizards). To encourage fan support, the team was offering a free pizza meal (pizza, salad, drink) at Pizza Hut with your Warriors ticket stub. The catch is, the Warriors had to score more than 120 pts and/or win by a margin of 40 pts. Surprisingly there was a fairly large crowd--about 3/4 full, but the game was lousy so the crowd was dead. However, after they finished the 3rd quarter ahead 95-60, the fans realized we had a chance for the pizza deal. With about 3 minutes left and the score hovering at about 110 the crowd started chanting PEE-TZAA! PEE-TZAA! PEE-TZAA! Jud Bueschler scored a layup with 20 seconds left that put them up 121-80 and the crowd errupted!!!The next day my buddy and I went to lunch at Pizza Hut and laughed the entire time!
I'm at Camden yards several years ago O's/Tigers sitting about four rows up from first base. About the fifth inning a concessionaire man starts yelling in this loud obnoxious voice, "Ice cold icy ice... Ice cold lemon chhhiilll........ Ice cold icy ice... Ice cold lemon chhhiilll..." Over and over again. Eventually the whole section followed along. He had the first base ump and Cecil Fielder(1B Detroit) lookin' over and shaking their heads for the rest of the game... (You just had to be there).
Philadelphia and the Pirates back in 97 at the Vet...both teams are in a dreadful slide, but they're trying their best to keep about 10,000+ somewhat entertained on a hot July afternoon. Now, Gregg Jefferies wasn't one of my most favorite players to begin with, but this day he earned some special treatment. Everytime he came to the plate, there were runners in scoring position..and he'd either whiff or weakly hit into a DP or something. Later on in the game, the Phils have the bases loaded and nobody out..and up steps...Gregg Jefferies. He takes a cut at the first pitch and popped up WEAKLY to the first baseman. While the ball was in mid-flight, I stood up and yelled at the top of my lungs, "Way to go, Captain Clutch!", which got me a few well-earned laughs. After the inning ended, he trotted out to the outfield, and I stood up again and yelled out "Hey Jefferies, you should be on 'America's Most Wanted' 'cause you've been stealing money for YEARS!" The entire section !(as sparcely populated as it was) roared with approval.
We were at a Seattle Mariner's playoff game in 95 against the Yankees. Paul O'Neill was up and the whole stadium booed. (Mariners fans hate the yankees and hate O'Neill because he's a cry baby). Anyways, after about the third pitch, this one guy in our section yells out " Hey o'Neill- you're an idiot" as loud as he could. It was pretty funny and gave our section something to laugh about.
Me and my friends were at an Cleveland Indians vs. Reds game at Cinergy last year and Bartolo Colon was really just dominating. every time the reds struck out we would put a "K" sign like an inch from a reds fans face. the guy started yelling then this old guy (who had had just a bit too much to drink) said "shutup junior" and promptly spilled his beer on the guys head, it was great!
When the Arkansas Razorbacks were playing Oral Roberts this season, they had a pitcher that threw to first twice for every time he threw to the plate. We started chanting "throw to first, throw to first!" and then when he would throw to first we would all stand and cheer. We scored six runs in the inning and they had to take that pitcher out. When the next guy came in we kept up the chant.
At a Mets-Phillies game once, Richie Ashburn, a noted glove man, was broadcasting. Dave Kingman, a noted nonglove man, was playing first base for the Mets when some lacing broke in his mitt. He called time and went to the dugout to get it fixed. As they were making repairs to Kingman's glove, Ashburn commented, "They should have called a welder."
A friend and I were among the fans that joined the impromptu (and unauthorized)celebration on the field at Shea Stadium in '86 on the day the Mets clinched the NL East Pennant. We started the game in the nosebleeds of the upper deck. In our section was a gentleman sporting a trumpet. Every time Darryl Strawberry, Wally Backman or other Mets player would come to bat, he would give a little two-toned toot on the trumpet that would set off the "DAAARRRYYYL" or "WWWAAAALLLLLLLYY" chant. After the 7th inning, my friend and I snuck down to the field level seats in order to be in position for the celebration on the field (we were teenagers, what can I say). Once on the field, everyone was there was looking to take a little something with them to remember the moment. The most abundant resource? Sod. Lots of it, flying around the air in all directions. Then I noticed our trumbet-toting pal from the upper deck, struggling to climb atop the left field wall. After exerting a great deal of effort to get up there and get himself situated and balanced (this took a few minutes), he started to play his trumpet. He probably got out something like three notes before he got absolutely pummeled by pieces of sod, what seemed like hundreds of them came from everywhere. A few more twisted notes later and our friend was knocked from his perch. Classic New York moment.
There's a commercial in Southern CA that goes, "It's Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!" I heard a guy named Matt Lothian (a pure heckler) yell to Cal Ripken (in Anaheim), "It's Caaaal Ripken and his BALD SPOT!" Ripken actually looked over and shook his head in the middle of the inning!!
I play ball for my high school team and American Legion for my town and we love heckling. A personal favorite of mine is when a foul ball goes by a first or third base coach and he misses it, to yell "Pull your skirt down Alice." This also works when ground balls go between player's legs.
A classic moment at Chicago in Wrigley: It was Randy Myers (their closer at the time)Poster Day. Lo and behold, Randy is called in to save the game and proceeds to blow up and the Cubs lose the lead in the top of the ninth (I forgot who they were playing at the time). Well, the Bleacher Bums had had it and it began raining Randy Myers poster (with him still on the bump)!!! The game was delayed for at least 15 minutes while the ground crew gathered up the discarded wall coverings. As bad as I felt for the guy, it was one of the funniest things I've seen ever seen at a ballpark.
I'm a Yankee fan in Central Jersey. Last season, I was watching a Yankee game on TV, with my dog in the room. There was a call that went against the Yanks and I yelled at the TV. "Bad call! Bad call!" The dog heard the word "bad" and got up and left in shame, not knowing what she'd done wrong. Fortunately, dogs have short memories, unlike cats, who seem to remember every slight. So, a week later, I went to a Trenton Thunder game (Class AA) at Waterfront Park, and waited for a bad call. I didn't have to wait very long. Being a 7,000-seat ballpark, all the seats are pretty close to the field, so the players and umpires can usually hear you. And I pointed at the ump and yelled, "Oh, ump! Bad call! BAD call! BAD! BAAAAD! What did you do? WHAT did YOU do?" The ump didn't give any sign that he heard, but the entire seating section heard me and laughed. A great moment in baseball-fan history.
Late '80s in Buffalo, NY, home of the AAA Bisons. I shared season tix right behind home plate with a friend who has to be one of the best hecklers of all time -- a booming voice and good material to back it up. A frequent visitor to Buffalo was Skeeter Barnes, a career minor-leaguer with a pretty good bat. But whenever he batted in Buffalo, my friend got the whole crowd chanting, 'Skeeeeeeter, Skeeeeeter, Skeeeeter.' He always offered a dirty look right in our direction -- and the entire time I was in Buffalo, I never saw Skeeter Barnes have a good day at the plate.
This works really well when your in the outfield bleachers..."Hey, (insert name here) coach said move to the right!" repeat this all game from beginning to end. I had Greg Vaughn throw a baseball at me.
Yankee baseball is a religion in my family. I was at a Yankees/Blue Jays game up in Toronto a few years ago at the SkyDome. So myself, my aunt, my mother, and her friend were sitting in the upper tier of the stadium, amidst a group of other Yankee fans. John Olerud missed a very easy play and my aunt stands up and shouts at the top of her lungs, "GET A BIGGER GLOVE OLERUD!" Needless to say, our whole section was rolling for a while about that one.
At the recent "FujiFilm Photo Day" at Dodger Stadium, a group of teenage males were waiting to take pictures with the players. As Chad Kreuter walked by, one of them asked to take a picture with him. Chad ignored him and proceeded on. One of the guys yelled, at the top of his lungs, "Look at that, walking away like a man who just got his hat stolen." Needless to say, Chad gave one of those killer glares.
I was at an Orioles/Mariners game at Camden Yards a few years ago in early May...was a great game for the most part, then the rains came and chased away most of the crowd. After the rain delay ended, my friends and I moved down to the left field seats about 4-5 rows from the wall. Anyway, the O's were ALL over the M's that night. Later on in the game, M's left fielder Rob Ducey is in there...forgot who lifted one his way, but it was an easy play...only he dove for it and missed HORRIBLY..ball rolled to the wall and a few more runs came in. Well, b/c of that error, Pinella had enough and pulled the pitcher..during the break, one of my friends stood up and yelled "DUUUCCCEEEYYYY...YOU GOT SOME 'SPLAINING TOOO DOOOOO!" in a PERFECT Ricky Ricardo voice. Needless to say, the fans left in our section were just floored from that one. Ducey heard it and all he could do was just chuckle and shake his head....
This is actually my dad's story. He was at an Orioles game back when Reggie Jackson was playing for the O's. (I believe it was 1976.)He had 1st row seats behind the screen, but off center so he was closer to the on deck circle. My dad hated Reggie so when Reggie came to the on deck circle before hitting, my dad was all over him. Reggie took his swings to get loose hearing all this. He then proceeded to the plate where he whiffed...as my dad continued to heckle the whole at bat. On his way back to the dugout, Reggie walked slowly back, glared towards the screen to find my dad's seat, and proceeded to fling his back at the screen where my dad was sitting. He then went into the dugout with an "if looks could kill" face. My dad was so proud that he had gotten under Reggie's skin.On a side note, my dad met Reggie once on a business trip while waiting in a hotel bar/grille where the Yanks were staying. He said Reggie was a really nice guy.
At the Yuma Bullfrog games fans in the bleachers along third base cheer for the Usher. He always works the same area and his name is Joe. It all started during the Bullfrogs inaugral season. A bunch of drunks in Joe's section became bored with the game and began cheering for Joe. It stuck and is now encouraged.
When a player makes an error, one can yell "I always thought your name was Ernie, because everytime I looked in the boxscore it said E-(players last name)."
I was at the Boston Red Sox/Devil Rays game and the Red Sox were up 8-3, so the guy next to me yells, "Hey Trot(Nixon), how about you give your glove to Manny(Ramirez) so the Devil Rays can catch up!"
An ump missed a really obvious call and a father of one of my friends who was playing said "C'mon up. Ray Charles could have made that call." I thought it was pretty good.
I was at a braves game last month at Turner Field, when the Braves played the Phillies. Booby Abreu was looking at the grass with his hands on his knees and I said to Bobby Abreu" Hey Bobby games over there, quit watching the grass grow.
"Hey, Tony, you've been stepping up to the wrong plate!" - Heard when Tony Gwynn came up to bat with a hefty uniform size. He has professed a love for his mother's fried chicken in the off season.
When i played semi-pro baseball, oneof the other teams had a pitcher thatwas very , very skinny and someone on my team yelled out "who dressed the fungo"the ump had to call timeout for a minutebecause everyone was laughing so hard.
For several innings an older man (50-60) is calling out to Ricky Henderson, "Ricky, Ricky, you're my favorite player. You are the greatest". Finally Henderson turns arounds and smiles and the man says "Yes, you've been my favorite player since I was in fourth grade".
Pittsburgh in the mid 1950's had a very poor team. To get some enthusiasm, there was a suggestion that a statue of Honus Wagner be erected in front on Forbes Field. The immediate response from the fans was that it should be put between second and third because it would stop more balls than any shortstop the Pirates had.
A few from the Phoenix left field bleachers:
1. To Joe McEwing of the Mets who is fidgety even in the field: "Joe, you make coffe nervous";
2. To Rusty Greer who was caught [allegedly] with a corked bat in the Arizona Fall League: "Cooorrrky...Cooorrrrky";
3. To Cliff Floyd whose pants that day were so long they covered his shoes: "Cliff, your mom let you out of the house like that?!!";
4. To Cliff Floyd, same day later: "Cliff, my mom can take those pants up for you... really she be glad to";
5. To Lenny Harris after he had been traded to the Mets and had misplayed a ball in the field: "Lenny that the first good play you've made for us this year" (Harris had hit about .200 for the dbakcs that year prior to the trade). Unfortunately, Lenny later got a key hit the next inning and came back pointing to his Mets cap and saying we're winning. Be careful of who you heckle.
With a bunch of friends, I was there to witness Barry Bonds hit his 500th homerun. However, prior to the start of the game, many Frisco fans were already there, chanting, "BEAT LA! BEAT LA!" having seats behind the visiting dugout, My buddies and I watched the Dodgers' reaction to the fans. One of the players turned to another and said, "What's that they're chanting?" The other player jokingly replied, "I think they're saying, "We are gay.""
During the 1997 season, in the right field bleachers at Wrigley Field, the fans were letting outfielder Darren Daulton have it throughout the entire game. During a double switch in the eighth inning, Daulton was taken out of game. As he was about to jog off the field, a fan stood up and yelled, "Darren we still love you. I even voted for you for the All-Star team, in 1985." Daulton turned back and with a big grin on his face, tipped his cap.
Attending a spring training game in Vero Beach, I obtained great seats directly behind the Dodgers dugout. Thedugout being bleachers against a chainlink fence. Late in the game, the Dodgers brought in Mark Guthrie to halt a Reds rally. He promptly threw a gopher ball and gave up a home run. As the ball cleared the fence, he yelled a few "vulgarities" which were easily heard in the stands. I promptly stood up and yelled, "Hey Guthrie, tell us how you really feel..." This got quite a few laughs from the Dodgers bench and the stands.
Made the trip to pay respects to Detroit Tiger stadium last year. We went to see the Twins and of course cheered the Twins and heckled the Tigers for three games. The last game we were in the upper right field deck with a family with young kids, who were rather upset that we were heckling the Tigers. The one that broke their spirits came as they started "Lets go Tigers; Lets go Tigers and they heard "to the Zoo" as the tag line.
One year some friends and I decided we would become regulars at the Oklahoma City 89ers (Texas Rangers AAA) games. One of the first things we initiated was to heckle the ball boys, coaches, and the umpires. Whenever a foul ball was hit on to the field the chant "Pick It Up - Pick It Up" went out until the ball was retrieved. Then to show our gratitude "Tip Your Hat - Tip Your Hat" until the hat was tipped. After years, long after many in the group have stopped being so juvenile, many returning umpires, coaches and ball boys continue to tip their hats after picking up the ball.
During a Lakeland Tigers (Class A, Florida State League) game, the Tigers got the wrong end of a call at first base and a particular fan stayed on the base umpire all night. During a break when they were changing pitchers, the umpire took off his cap and wiped the perspiration off his head. The heckler yelled out "Put your cap back on! We don't want to see that much of you!" Yes, you had to be there.
My sister and I were at game 6 of the NLCS in Atlanta this past October to see the Mets Vs the Braves. Being huge Mets fans, we showed up in full gear to support our guys. Every time our boys did well, we were screaming and hollering. When the boys messed up, we hollered encouragement. The funny part is this.. there was a guy, about 2 or 3 rows behind us (we were only 2 rows back from the wall, so the outfielders could hear us very well) who insisted on screaming at Roger Cedeno every time he was on the field.. this went on for the first three innings.. all we kept hearing was " CEDENO... YOU STINK.. CEDENO, YOU STINK!!!" When Cedeno was replaced in the 4th inning by Benny Agbayani, the loudmouth behind us didn't catch it... he was still hollering "CEDENO, YOU STINK!" My sister, hollers, Cedeno's not even on the field you moron.. everyone around us laughed... the guy doesn't say anything for a little while. Then they bring in Turk Wendell. so I'm hollering "GO GET EM WENDELL!" and apparently this is all it takes to start up loudmouth again because its "WENDELL YOU STINK WENDELL YOU STINK" . Turk only pitches one inning and then he is replaced, and the guy is still hollering "WENDELL YOU STINK" My sister turned around, and told the guy "ITS ONE THING IF YOU ARE GONNA HECKLE.. BUT AT LEAST KEEP UP WITH THE LINEUP.. THATS COOK ON THE MOUND !". The whole section was roaring at this point.. The guy didn't say another word the rest of the game, even when the braves (sadly) won the game to go on to the World Series.
I was talking to a couple of coaches about my "batting" when I asked the question "what do you think is wrong"?? One of them said , you stand to close to the ball !!! I said , you think so ? yes, after you hit it.
Having lived through the "Gory Years" of the Seattle Mariners, I was treated to a litany of flubs, fumbles and foibles by that motley crew. During one meaningless late-season game, their catcher at the time, Scrap-Iron Stinson was having a particularly hard time reaching third after hitting a leadoff double. A grounder to second and a long fly ball weren't enough. Finally a passed ball that rolled half way to Portland allowed the lead-footed Stinson, huffing and gasping for breath, to plod into third where we were waiting. Sarcastically sharing our excitement with him caused him enough grief that, with the third base coach holding him back, he "invited" us to join him on the field (you could have such conversations in the concrete crypt known as the Kingdome in those days). To which I replied, "Sure, you want us to come out there, because it would take two hits and a homer for you to make it over here!" Co-incidentally, the manager was fired the next day.
I went to Game 2 of the 1999 World Series in Atlanta. I set out in centerfield where all of the extra media was sitting. About the 6th inning, someone from the media desks came down wearing a very tacky Mets jacket. He was interviewing and recording a couple of Yankee fans sitting beside me. He was asking them how they felt about the Yanks getting revenge on the Braves for what they did to the Mets in the NLCS. I started yelling BRAVES IN 6 so he couldn't record anything. He finally turned around towards me and I said "didn't you get Chipper's memo about putting on your Yankee gear?" It was classic
My favorite heckle was when Boston fans starting chanting to Darryl Strawberry during the 1999 ALCS."JUST SAY NO! JUST SAY NO! JUST SAY NO!"
It was on April 30th, 1999, the Yankees played the Royals @ the "K". A Kansas City radio station decided to stage a walk out at the game. The walk out was do to the fact that the Yankees were making way too much money for their own good. As opposed to the Royals, who produce excellent stars that end up going to teams that have a higher pay roll. they wore Royals shirts that had "Share the Wealth" printed on the back. A leader wearing all black sat in the front row in left and guided the crowd. When the Royals were batting they cheered, but when the Yankees were batting the crowd turned it's back and paid no attention to the game. The fans threw all homerun balls back in warm-ups, and during the game. After the Royals batted in the fourth inning the fans filed out. In their empty seats they left signs that had a skull and crossbones on them.
At a Mets-Cardinals game in August-"McGwire beats his kid"
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