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THE HEIST
Good evening. This is Dead Legends. We’re the kind of guys that write our newsletters with a mouth full of seeds.
Let's dive in.
Today's story is about a secret mission to steal a corked bat.
In the summer of '94, things were heating in Major League Baseball.
The Indians and White Sox were locked in a tight battle for the top spot in the AL Central, and on July 15th they faced off against each other in a heated game at Jacobs Field.
In the first inning, White Sox Manager Gene Lamont was tipped off that Albert Belle had a corked bat.
Lamont challenged the use of the bat.
Umpire Dave Phillips confiscated it and put the bat in his locker.
Cleveland knew the bat was corked, so it was only a matter of time before they were busted.
So they hatched a plan.
Jason Grimsley realized there was an escape hatch in the ceiling of the clubhouse, and figured there was one in the umpires’ dressing room as well.
He volunteered to go on the mission.
Grimsley took one of Paul Sorrento's bats as a replacement for the corked one.
Flashlight in mouth, he shimmied his way through the ducts, dropped onto a refrigerator near Phillips' locker, and swapped the bats.
After making the switcheroo, Grimsley returned with Belle's lumber — feeling pretty damn good.
One problem: Sorrento's bat had his name on it.
After the game, the umpires noticed the discrepancy, and immediately alerted the authorities.
Police confirmed their suspicions.
Bud Selig, the commissioner at the time, told the Indians that he would get the FBI involved if they didn’t return the bat.
If they cooperated, there would be no repercussions for the team.
The Indians obliged, and turned in the original bat.
It was x-rayed and sawed in half with both Belle and Indians’ General Manager John Hart present as witnesses.
After determining that the bat was indeed corked, Belle was given a 10-game suspension, which was lowered to seven games upon appeal.
Throughout the investigation, it was never revealed who the bat burglar was.
It wasn't until 1999 (five years later), that the public learned that it was Grimsley who pulled off the heist.
In a New York Times article, Jason admitted to being the bat thief and went into detail about the intricacies of the plan.
He spoke about how he had done surveillance of the situation earlier in the game and created a mental map of the mission.
Through the adventure, he was nearly caught twice:
Once by a member of the grounds crew when he miscalculated which room he was above, and then again by an unknown person who entered the umpires’ dressing room shortly after he climbed back into the ceiling.
If you're asking me, this is the kind of teammate you want; it's clear there's nothing this guy wouldn't do for his squad.
All-in-all, Grimsley came out completely unscathed in the mission, and got the story of a lifetime in the process.
Moe Berg would be proud.
FLAMIN’ HOT DEALS
Dugout Mugs was founded by former big leaguer, Randall Thompson — they make drinkware for people who are obsessed with the game.
The products are super high quality too - they’ve got over 45,000 five-star reviews on their website.
From time to time, they also run EPIC deals, and tonight is one of those nights.
For example, these flame-tempered bat mugs are 50% off until midnight.
They come in all 30 teams.
Aside from the mugs, they’re also running a 50% discount on these dope wine glasses, shortstop mugs, and bottle openers - just use the code STRIKEOUT50.
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:
Tuffy played five years in the show, mostly for the D-Backs.
He went undrafted out of high school, but played college ball for ASU and eventually even made the USA national team.
His numbers in the MLB are nothing to write home about, but he had a great college and minor league career.
These days, he’s doing some broadcasting for the D-Backs.
THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE
If you like this story - check out some of our past favorites:
That's it for today. Tomorrow we're back at it like a bad habit. See ya!
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