Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as Jim Leyland loves America.

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Today’s story is about a fan’s vicious assault on an umpire.

It was Sept. 16, 1940, and a feisty fan named Franie Germano was sitting in the stands at Ebbets field watching his beloved Dodgers.

Brooklyn was squaring off against the first-place Cincinnati Reds and the game was close.

The Dodgers were in the lead until the Reds tied the game in the ninth. 

Then, in the tenth, umpire George Magerkurth called two Reds runners safe after Dodger second baseman Pete Coscarart dropped the ball.

The call was controversial because it was a reversal of the field umpire’s call and caused Brooklyn to lose the game 4-3.

Naturally, the Dodgers and their fans were pissed.

Leo Durocher, the Dodgers manager, came out and lost his shit, kicking dirt and raising hell, and ultimately, getting tossed.

After Durocher left the field, Germano picked up where he left off.

For a moment, Germano was living every baseball fan’s secret dream.

Pretty sure we’ve all wanted to fight an umpire at least once or twice, probably a few times if Angel Hernandez has worked any of your team’s games.

But George Magerkurth (the ump) was no stranger to throwing blows; he had actually fought as a professional heavyweight boxer in the Midwest.

The 51-year-old umpire survived, uninjured.

Germano, who was on probation, was hauled away to the Raymond Street jail after his arraignment on a charge of third-degree assault.

The wild incident turned Frankie into a folk hero in Brooklyn.

Dodgers fans were so delighted with his performance that they even raised money to pay for his lawyer.

Durocher was fined $100 by the National League for "inciting to riot."

When the time came, Magerkurth showed up to Germano’s court date and said he didn’t want to press charges.

In April 1941, Germano became a free man, and as he was exiting the courthouse in Brooklyn, he actually ran into Magerkurth.

The two men shook hands and parted ways.

HOW MANY GOAT’S CAN YOU NAME?

This has been getting a lot of steam on X.

Would love to see how many people can name 10 or more.

BASEBALL TRIVIA

Find the answer in the bottom of this email!

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Bucky has faded into baseball obscurity over the years, but for three glorious at-bats he was a major leaguer.

Unfortunately, he went hitless, making him a member of a select group no ballplayer ever wants to be apart of; those with a lifetime batting average of .000

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:

• The Outlaw: Live hard, die hard

• The Hot Dog Incident: One ballplayer, two hot dogs

• The Spy: Catcher becomes an international spy during WWII

BASEBALL TRIVIA ANSWER: Brooks Robinson (4)