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Submitted Heckling Stories 1 : 2 : 3 : 4 : 5 : 6 : 7 : 8
In the summer of 1987 my father took me the Braves play San Diego. We were sitting just above the Braves dugout and I was having a grand old time. In the ninth inning my dad yells "Hey Tanner (Chuck Tanner was the Braves manager at the time) do you need to borrow a fork- he's done." The subject was Rick Mahler, whose pitching skill had cost the Braves 7 run lead. Tanner just shook his head, but Zane Smith- (who would have been the winning pitcher) looks up and says" Mister, how big is that fork?" I've never forgotten the "stick a fork in him, he's done" line. Then there was Skip Carey who said "and rounding Third is Bream, he's coming home- running like he's under water." I was in a bar in Augusta at the time, and our whole table had to go to the bathroom we had laughed so hard.
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Late '70s, Arlington Stadium. Rangers and the Blue Jays, both 100 or so games out of contention, in Sept. Maybe 2000 people in the park. Late in the game, this kid in left-center starts playing "Charge" on his trumpet. Badly. Nobody says anything, so he does it again. I yell, "Let's hear it, home plate!" A second later, a voice comes from behind the plate, - "@#$%, centerfield!" Even the 'Jays' cf - I think it was Danny Ainge, if I remember correctly - was doubled over with laughter.
When Derrell Thomas played for the Padres and he was in centerfield, he would lead us in our favorite chant..."Dodgers suck, Dodgers suck" by keeping the beat with his arm.. A couple of years later, Derrell was out in centerfield in good old Dodger Blue. When I hollered to him, "The Dodgers still suck, Derrell." he looked up at us and nodded his head in the affirmative. Ya gotta love a guy like that.
Overheard at LSU baseball game. Game was tied in the bottom of extra innings. Opposing pitcher was overweight. Fan shouted to the pitcher "go ahead and throw a gopher ball so you can go home and get something to eat!" Same game..Same pitcher..the first baseman was skinny and the fan shouted to the left fielder "tell the pitcher to stop eating the first baseman's food!"
Hey there. I just saw your website by a friend's referral, and as a diehard baseball fan I was impressed with your idea. However, as a diehard Yankee fan and regular "Bleacher Creature," I insist upon making a correction. On one section of your site, you quote one of the funniest section 39 chants as "Our seats suck...our seats suck." This is grossly incorrect, as our seats in sec 39 are among the best in the house, and we know it. What you probably DID hear if you were at the stadium was our regular tormenting of our box seat neighbors in rightfield with "BOX seats suck! Box seats suck!" That tends to go along with "We have fun; you have none..." and "twenty-six dollars...twenty-six dollars" since the RF bleachers are the same distance/view to home plate but only cost $8. I could get into our chants towards the opposing teams, but if you posted them on your site, you would probably need a parental advisory
Date: June 16-17, 1995 Place: Prince George's County Stadium, Bowie, MD The Setting: Baysox ahead by a run, going to the top of the 9th. The Canton-Akron Indians get the tying run on base, and with two out infielder Pat Maxwell strides to the plate. We have made our way from their seats behind home plate to the standing room area down the left field line next to the Canton-Akron bullpen. We heckle the various pitchers in the bullpen and left fielder Ray Harvey as they mingle with various Boy Scouts, little leaguers, and fathers and sons all gathered in the standing room area. The Baysox hurler works Maxwell to two strikes. Finally, Pat takes a pitch down the middle for strike three, ending the game in favor of the hometown heroes. Maxwell, obviously perturbed, gathers up his equipment and makes his way down the left field line towards the visitors' clubhouse. As he passes us, my larger-than-average friend yells out "You might want to swing next time, Pat!" Maxwell turns, fury in his eyes, and exclaims "$%&*$#$--" Right from the middle of the field! Directed towards a group of people consisting mainly of 8-year-old kids! We stood in stunned amazement. So the step we took next was entirely justified: We went back to the game the next night. And EVERY time Maxwell stepped to the plate we heckled him. We got the entire section we sat in directly behind the plate to heckle him. Mercilessly! Needless to say, Maxwell went hitless. But this was far from the end. We attempted to call him at his hotel, but gave up quickly, as we realized we were approaching the line between being dedicated fans and stalkers.
During the 1995 AL Playoffs between Seattle and New York Yankees Seattle Fans at the Kingdome would chant "Donnie Strikeout clap clap clap" to mock the "Donnie Baseball clap clap clap" chant done at Yankee home games when Don Mattingly was batting.
Yankee fans think about the Red Sox constantly. It doesn't matter if it's spring training or October. It doesn't matter if the Yanks are playing the Devil Rays or the Braves. I think it's gotten to the point where Yankee fans enjoy us losing, and the subsequent torturing of Sox fans, more then they enjoy winning. Here is my proof: Stan's bar, across the street from the bleacher entrance at Yankee Stadium (you should go some time just to check the "local flavor"). Last October the Yankees had beaten the Braves to win the World Series. Guess what chant broke out amongst the drunken losers in sweat pants? "Boston stinks, Boston stinks, Boston stinks". Trust me, I heard all about it the next day.
A friend and I were among the fans that joined the impromptu celebration on the field at Shea in '86 the day the Mets clinched the NL East. 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 "DAARRYYL" or "WWAAALLLYY" chant. After the 7th, we snuck down to the field level in order to be in position for the celebration on the field. 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 in all directions. Then I noticed our trumpet-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.
When Wally Joyner was playing for the Angels, I used to grimace for him when they would come to Oakland. Every time he came to bat, one fan would take particular delight in chanting "WAAAALLLLLYYYY!!! Hey WAAALLY!" just like Beaver Cleaver calling out for brother.
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."
In August of the 2000 season a buddy of mine had four tickets to a Red Sox-Angels game at Angel Stadium right behind the visitors dugout. This was shortly after Carl Everett, the Red Sox centerfielder had come off suspension for head butting an umpire. So my friends and I took advantage of the situation and told Everett every chance we got things like, "Hey Everett, just pretend the ball's an umpire maybe you'll hit it!" Or when he was on deck we would tell him,"Hey Carl you don't need that bat just head butt the ball!" And of course we got what we were looking for when Everett acknowledged us by staring straight at us and waving his hand in disgust. We were all over him, but it was well deserved.
Well, I went to an Expos game in early June, and I was enjoying the game, when it was time for the fielding crew to come on the field and give it a shine. I'm telling you that there were more cheers for them to beat the opposing time than when the Expos scored a run, It was just funny seeing fans go wild on the fielding crew.
When Bartolo Colon was struggling at the beginning of Game 4 in the AL Division Series (Sox ending up winning 23-7), I stood up and screamed "Tienes Nada, Colon. Tienes Nada!!!" Which translates to "You've got nothing, Colon. You've got nothing." It feels good to heckle someone in their native language.
I am a Red Sox die-hard, and attended all of the playoff (wildcard series and ALCS Series) games played at Fenway last season. My buddies and myself came up with this legendary chant to throw El-Duque off his game, but most fans in attendance winced or were too shocked to join us. Because of this, the Sox lost the game. Oh yeah, the chant: "BACK ON THE RAFT! BACK ON THE RAFT!"
Game 6 of the 1996 Series in New York. Jimmy Key started the game for the Yanks and Greg Maddux for the Braves. A fan in the upper deck held a sign, which read, "Hey Atlanta, Tonight is your Appo-Maddux." A little Civil War humor.
One of the funniest things I ever heard was on a Red Sox/Royals radio broadcast several years ago. After umpteen pitching changes, the Royals manager came out of the dugout AGAIN, much to the frustration of "the mouth" who was right near the crowd noise microphone. He proceeded to yell loud enough to be heard clearly on the broadcast saying.... HEY!!! CAN I PITCH TO?!?!?!? I nearly drove into a telephone pole laughing at that one...
I was lucky enough to obtain seats to game one of the 1998 ALCS at Yankee Stadium and it turned out to be the infamous Knoblauch blockhead game. My seats were in the front row of the bleachers and I was wondering about the infamous bleacher creatures before the game. As they announced the national anthem a high school band from jersey fanned out along the outfield fence to play it, before I knew it there were 50 drunk creatures chanting in unison "You're band stinks". And they wonder why they don't serve beer in the stadium bleachers anymore.
I attended an A's/Padres game at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego with a friend. We were sitting just to the side of the Oakland A's dugout. Mike Mohler was pitching for the A's and was struggling. As the A's pitching coach stepped to the top of the dugout, it was obvious he would be heading to the mound soon. The coach looked right at us and we shouted to him, "Yank the Tooth". He turned back toward the field. It took a few seconds but once the coach got the joke, he began cracking up and gave us a thumbs-up.
During the 1985 or 1986 season when George Foster (left fielder for the Mets) and Doug Sisk (a pitcher for the Mets) were both struggling big time, a fan had a poster that stated "George Foster couldn't get a hit off of Doug Sisk!"
My favorite and it both got me tossed and is an original to the best of my knowledge is " Mr. Umpire after a call like that doesn't your face mask irritate your hemorrhoids?" My second favorite was to a catcher after a couple of passed balls; "Even the Ancient Mariner stopped one in three". I have also used this one at basketball games. I have always liked it but then I have actually read Coleridge. The third one which unfortunately is a one time only heckle was when SMU had a basketball player named Timme. He was inbounding the ball three rows in front of me when I bellowed "Hey Timme, which one of those dogs with you is Lassie?" He turned and laughed.
As a lifelong, diehard Red Sox fan, it is a difficult task to attend college in New York City. On my first visit to Yankee Stadium (dragged by friends to see a Seattle game), I had to wear my Sox hat. I was ready to endure beer on my head and anything else the infamous bleachers could throw at me. Well, I started getting heckled immediately (as expected), but I gave it all right back to them. I yelled right back, I more than stood my ground. And, eventually, I - a Boston fan who refused to be intimidated - actually elicited a cheer and a round of applause from the Yankee Stadium bleachers. I think they actually respected a girl who could be so unafraid and bold in the name of baseball.
At Dodger Stadium several weeks ago -- shortly after the Dodger brawl in the Cubs stands -- a fan behind the Dodger dugout yelled at Chad Kreuter as he approached the plate: "Hey Kreuter, I just bought your cap on eBay!!!"
At the old Orlando SunRays games: As the visiting team's lineup was announced, the crowd would respond "WHO?" after each name. The announcer would repeat the name, and the crowd responded, "Ooohhhhh."
While working the Plate a few days back in Pine Bluff Arkansas at the 11yr. old State Cal Ripken Tournament, I called a pitch that a fan took exception to. He felt the pitch was a "little" low. (knee high when it crossed the front of the plate, but dropping rapidly)As I call the pitch a Strike (#2 on this batter, I hear off to my left in the first base seats, "Come on Blue that pitch was any lower it would of had grass growing on it!" 26 years as a umpire, that was a fresh one for me, I got tickled, had to call time and compose my self, and give a thumbs up to the old dude setting way up high on the first base side.
When I umpired in the minor leagues I used this come back in the parking lot after a game when someone handed my partner the card for an eye doctor: "Hey, we don't go to where you work and rock the Slurpee Machine!" That pretty much ended it!
One of the funniest things I ever heard at a Mets game. Some woman asked for a hot dog. The vendor yelled across the section, "ketchup or mustard?" The woman asked for both and the entire section booed her loudly.
I was at the Stick with only 5000 fans. Jack Clark was running towards right field in-between innings. It just happened to be really quiet at that moment. My friends stands up and yells" Hey Jack, right field is over there". Clarks looks at my friend while jogging to right shaking his head. The entire section we were sitting in starts busting up. After that , every time Clark headed out to right during that game, a group of people from our section would stand up , point to right, and yell "rightfield is over there"
In the early 90s, I was at a Mariners/Yankees game. Jay Buhner was playing right field for the Mariners, and during batting practice someone started yelling "JAY, JAY, WHY'D THEY TRADE YA JAY? WHY'D THEY TRADE YA JAY????" (talking about Jay getting traded from the Yanks to the Mariners). The fan continues..."WHY'D THEY DO IT JAY? WAS IT GEORGE OR WAS IT LOU...JUST NOD YOUR HEAD....WAS IT GEORGE? (no response) OR WAS IT LOU?" Buhner starts nodding, never looking back at the stands, it was classic.
In the middle 90's, the Braves traded Jermaine Dye, one of the best teams of the decade, to the abysmal KC Royals for Michael Tucker. Tucker went on to play in the World Series for the Braves, while Dye slumped in KC. Things got worse for Dye, and he was sent down to Triple A Omaha. I was at a game in Omaha where Dye made the last out of the game, stranding the tying and winning runs in scoring position. As he was trotting off the field, some loudmouth next to me yelled, "Michael Tucker would have gotten a hit!"
I was recently at the Phillies home opener against the Mets. The Philly fans love to heckle Mike Piazza, a native of the area. The place would erupt with boos every time he came to the plate. When it got quiet after his name was announced, I stood up and yelled, "Piazza! You stunk as a Dodger, and you stink as a Met!" Everyone around me laughed and raised their beer glasses. The place got even rowdier when Kevin Sefcik ran into Piazza at the plate. It took Piazza a long while to get up. Now something I can't take credit for: Rickey Henderson, famous for his holier-than-thou attitude. He was called out on strikes during one of his at bats. He didn't like the call and argued with the ump, prompting the fans to yell at him to get back into the dugout. When he entered left field in the next inning, the entire left field side of the Vet stood up and waved their arms and chanted, "Rrrriiiccckkkeeeyyy! Rrrriiiccckkkeeeyyy!" The chant got even louder when he dropped a routine fly ball. It turned out to be a bad month for Rickey because he was later placed on waivers and eventually released.
A few years ago at a Salem Avalanche (Class A Rockies affiliate) game, my wife and I sat right behind home plate. The other team had a guy with a big hole in his pants. Every time he came to the plate I kept yelling at him, "Hey dude, get a seamstress!" or "Hey, man. You've got a hole in your pants, you hear me? A big fat rip on your butt" that sort of thing. I was sure to yell it very loud. There was no way the whole ballpark couldn't hear me, let alone this guy. Anyway, every time up he knocked cover off the ball. Other fans started to pick up on what I was saying and by the time of his last at-bat people were yelling to me, good-naturedly, from all over the stadium to be quiet, since this batter was knocking the stuffing out of the ball. I just laughed at the end of the night. I congratulate whoever that guy was for keeping his cool. I like to pick out stupid stuff to yell at players, such as uniform problems, batting stances, etc. Too many people yell out the obvious heckles. I like to get on a guy's case about the things no one else rips a player for.
Rochester Red Wings AAA games, an opposing player is always selected as the Big Mac strikeout player of the game. If the player strikes out, fans get a free Big Mac. Starting in 1997, University of Rochester students at games began the practice of chanting "Big Mac, Big Mac" whenever the strikeout player comes to bat.
In May of 1998, the Columbus Clippers were in Rochester, NY, for a series against the Red Wings. Due to the vagaries of minor league scheduling, the final game of the series began at 11 a.m. on a sweltering Thursday morning. Clippers catcher Mike Figga had hit a game-winning home run the previous night, so he was fair game. But rather than heckle him when he came to the plate, we razzed him while he was catching. We blamed him for bad pitches and heckled his pitch calls when Rochester batters reached base. We also changed "Figga, Figga" while he was behind the plate. At the end of the game, which the Clippers won in extra innings, he looked at us, grinned and stuck his tongue out, before heading to the shower while we congratulated each other on getting into his head.
One time, at a red sox game, I was sitting next to a gut who had one too many beers. He started in on Mark Lemke, his only lines were the likes of "Lemke, you stink, Lemke, don't quit the day job" but the thing is, a guy who had had probably as many, or even more, beers was sitting next to him. After every single line he would yell at the top of his lungs, YEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH, it was great. you had to be there
In July of 97 Cleveland hosted the All Star game I was sitting in my seat right next to the visiting teams on deck circle. I said to Chili Davis, "Hey Chili. I'm going to the All-Star game. Too Bad your not." He gave me the look of death and promptly hit into a double play with the bases loaded.
For the last several years, the Seattle Mariners have been known throughout baseball as having a, shall we say, "weak" bullpen. Of course, this leads to some fun during the singing of "Take me out to the ballgame", but only if you do it just right. Often, when our bullpen is in particularly bad form, I will sing the song but change the lyrics from "it's root root root for the Mariners, if they don't win it's a shame" to "it's root root root for the Mariners, if they don't win it's because of the bullpen" It really only works if you get the words in with the same rhythm and inflection as the original lyrics, but if I get it just right, the fans around me about die laughing. The great thing about this heckle is that you can change the lyrics to fit whatever your team's weakness is: "if they don't win, it's (insert name of fielder who made an error) fault" or "if they don't win, it's because so and so can't hit" or whatever. Try it! It's fun!
Years ago I was in Olympic Stadium watching the Expos play the Mets. A friend and I were just about the only two in right field. Every time Darryl Strawberry came out, we hollered, 'stwaaa beeeeewy'. While warming up in the 5th inning, Darryl couldn't take it anymore, pointed to us and said, 'I'm gonna kick your butts!" I responded by throwing my arms in the air and hollering 'WE Win!"
We had a blast here in Pittsburgh when the Indians came in '99. Buses full of Tribe fans and sat everywhere (the Pirates had even advertised the game in the Cleveland papers. The traditional Pittsburgh-Cleveland rivalry is bad enough as is, but now that they are considered a rich baseball team with some personality problems, we really let them have it. Some examples: Roberto Alomar: "Time Out. Ump has to get a rain suit on." David Justice: "How's Halle Berry these days?" (To put the icing on that particular cake, several young female Tribe fans had Justice jerseys on, 3 of which were directly in front of us) Omar Vizquel: "It's Omar the tentmaker!" Cleveland fans in general: "Where were all these 'die-hard' fans when the Tribe played in a rathole of a stadium and were the laughingstock of the league?" "4 words: 10 cent beer night" "You actually let Albert Belle play there?" "You have your AAA team in Buffalo? Where's the incentive?" Best of all, it was a blisteringly hot afternoon, and we beat them at their own game 14-11 with four dingers. The best part of the whole day was in the tailgate party in the lot beforehand: Somebody had recorded, karaoke style, over the lyrics to "Cleveland Rocks", naturally changing it to "Cleveland stinks", and played it over, and over, and over... He got challenged to at least 5 fights that I'm aware of.
Game 4 of the 1999 ALDS between the Red Sox and Indians. After Jason Veriteck's homerun, giving the Sox an insurmountable lead, the fans started to chant "We've got Pedro...we've got Pedro", letting Cleveland know that they had the daunting task of having to face and beat Pedro Martinez in game 5 to advance to the ALCS. It was pure electricity.
I have not seen this on your website but maybe I missed it. I have gone to several games in the bleachers of Yankee Stadium by the bleacher creatures. They usually chant "Box seats Suck." Then the box seats fans chant "We got beer"(because bleachers are not allowed to sell alcohol). Also whenever a cell phone rings during the game and someone starts talking on one, they chant "Cell Phones Suck," so that the person cannot here the person on the other side of the call.
I attended an A's/Padres game at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego with my friend, Brian Thornton. We were sitting just to the side of the Oakland A's dugout. Mike Mohler was pitching for the A's and was struggling. As the A's pitching coach stepped to the top of the dugout, it was obvious he would be heading to the mound soon. The coach looked right at us and Brian shouted to him, "Yank the Tooth". He turned back toward the field. It took a few seconds but once the coach got the joke, he began cracking up and gave us a thumbs-up. Brian is full of those sort of remarks. It's a lot of fun to heckle intelligently and now rely on offensive idiocy to try and be funny.
This one is hard to explain: it is for when the coach goes out to talk to his pitcher. Starting when he first comes out of the dugout to when he finally reaches the mound then again as he leaves the field. You chant either grass, dirt or stones, etc.. depending on what he steps on. Example; Grass, Grass, Grass, Grass, Dirt, Grass, Grass, Grass, Grass, Dirt, Dirt, Dirt, Mound. We did this over the course of the game by the end the coach was so annoyed he spent his trip out jumping around backstepping and all trying to mess us up, but with practice we were perfect. This chant gets into their coach's head and is so fun to do.
We were heckling Albert Belle at Tropicana Field last year when I blurted out the following after Albert muffed a play:''Did you graduate from the Dave Kingman school of fielding?''
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