Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as Mattress Mack loves the Astros.

Let that man throw out the first pitch!

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about one of the strangest game delays of all time.

Baseball games have been delayed for all kind of reasons: rain, snow, strippers running on the field, etc.

But a fish falling out of the sky???

That’s exactly what happened during a game between the Hanshin Tigers and the Tokyo Yakult Swallowers back in 2016.

Wladimir Balentien, the Swallowers left fielder, was just minding his own business when the flying fish landed next to him in the outfield.

The smell was so overwhelming that he couldn’t play another pitch.

Balentien called time and walked away from his position, while an umpire came out to investigate.

As you can imagine, he was just as confused as everyone else.

Game footage shows everyone just kind of standing around the fish looking bewildered and trying not to get too close.

The bat boy got stuck cleaning it up and then they got back to baseball, but the question on everyone’s mind was “where tf did this fish come from?”

Was it thrown from the stands?

Was it a curse from the baseball Gods?

Was it some kind of sick practical joke?

To this day, we really don’t know.

The most reasonable theory is that a bird dropped it’s lunch while flying over the stadium, which would make perfect sense.

Ultimately, however it happened, it remains one of the oddest games delays in baseball history.

It was a good omen for the Swallowers too - they won that game 5-1.

WHAT TO WATCH

In honor of Tim Wakefield we’re recommending the documentary “Knuckleball” this week.

Streams on: Xumo & Vudu

Why its awesome: If you don’t already, this doc will give you an appreciation for the mastery that goes into being able to throw the knuckleball as your main pitch.

Tim Wakefield, R.A. Dickey, Phil Niekro, and others are all profiled in the movie.

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:

Purcell was born in Paterson, NJ and was responsible for recruiting the legendary King Kelly to play on his first professional team.

He also recorded the first hit in Phillies history.

Over the course of his career, Blondie played with 10 different teams including the Philadelphia Quakers who he also coached for.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

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

• The Breaking Point: Donnie Moore shoots his wife

• The World Series Riot: Detroit goes ape shit

• The Backstop: Johnny Bench cheats death twice