Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The newsletter that loves baseball as much as Billy Crystal loves the Yankees.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about a player who injured three fans with an explosive.

We’ve covered Vince Coleman before, he was one of the greatest base stealers to ever lace up his spikes.

In his first season, he won Rookie of the Year and had 110 stolen bases; which led to people drawing comparisons between him and the GOAT, Rickey Henderson.

But Coleman was a bit of a clubhouse cancer, and after his leg got crushed by a tarp, he wasn’t as valuable on the field.

After playing in St. Louis for six years, he signed with the Mets for the ‘91 season, and that’s when his career really started going sideways.

Plagued by hamstring injuries in ‘91 and ‘92, he played about 70 games in each season and averaged about 30 steals a year.

During those years, Coleman also had a physical altercation with his manager, and verbally assaulted his third-base coach.

The dude was completely unhinged.

Finally, in ‘93, Coleman finished off his terrible tenure in New York by injuring three fans in the stupidest way possible.

After a game at Dodger Stadium, he got into a Jeep with his teammate Bobby Bonilla and Dodgers outfielder, Eric Davis.

As a joke, Coleman threw an M-100 “Firecracker” towards a group of autograph seekers about 20 feet away.

And if you don’t know what an M-100 is, these things are pretty damn powerful.

The blast injured three people, including an 11-year-old boy and a toddler.

On August 3, ‘93, the LA district attorney’s office charged Coleman with one count of unlawful possession of an explosive device.

He was facing up to three years in prison.

Coleman said there was never any ill intent; the whole thing was just an honest accident - a prank gone wrong.

But this quote from a sports journalist referencing the legendary Nolan Ryan-Robin Ventura fight pretty much sums up the public sentiment about Coleman at the time.

Vince Coleman took an unpaid leave of absence from the team, and shortly after, the Mets told him that he would no longer be welcome back.

Coleman hired Robert Shapiro, OJ Simpson’s lawyer, to represent him in the case.

Ultimately, he got slapped with three years of probation and 200 hours of community service.

Vince also agreed to pay restitution to the victims.

Within four years, he was out of the big leagues altogether.

NFL STARTER JACKETS

Homage.com is a treasure trove of sports and pop culture nostalgia.

They’ve done collabs with everyone from Topps Baseball Cards to Ferris Bueller, and their latest drop is just in time for football season.

Quick Links:

• 49ers

• Chiefs

• Bears

• Dolphins

• Cardinals

• Broncos

• Steelers

• Packers

They’ve also got a few MLB teams left, but most of them are sold out.

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:

For a guy named Bunny, you’d think he would have at least ONE stolen base.

There’s no explanation online about his nickname, but catchers are notoriously slow, so I assume it was meant to be ironic.

Madden spent most of his career with Boston, but only appeared in 56 games total throughout his three seasons in the big leagues.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

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

• The Collision: This guy is the reason we have padded outfield walls

• The Spy: Catcher becomes an international spy during WWII

• The San Diego Chicken: Baseball’s most iconic mascot and his epic rise to fame