THE SUPERFAN

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as monkeys love bananas.

Which is a lot by the way, just ask Munenori Kawasaki.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about a cab driver from Baltimore that became one of the most recognizable baseball fans in the world.

Throughout the years, baseball has had some notable super fans; people like John Adams, Billy Crystal, and Laurence Levy.

But before any of those guys ever attended their first baseball game, William Grover Hagy aka “Wild Bill” was at Memorial Stadium with his dad watching the Baltimore Orioles.

Bill was born in ‘39, so by the time the St Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Orioles, he was already a teenager.

He became an instant fan of the birds, and grew up watching some of their all-time greats, including Brooks Robinson who debuted for the club in ‘55.

Wild Bill drove a cab driver for a living, which he really liked because he could make it to all the O’s games.

He always showed up with a full beard and his straw hat.

During the late 70s and early 80s, he sat in section 34 and led the fans in the classic "O-R-I-O-L-E-S" chants.

It became known as "The Roar from 34” and the people LOVED it.

These were some of the golden years for Orioles fans, and as the team kept winning, Bill became synonymous with “Orioles Magic.”

Ultimately, Hagy became so famous that he was even meeting presidents and getting write ups in the New York Times.

One time, Bill did an interview with the Today Show and they asked him why he had decided to become the Orioles “unofficial cheerleader.”

“It’s a good time. Drink all the beer you want. Make all the noise you want. Never get in any trouble. What more could a man ask for?”

- Wild Bill Hagy

Eventually the front office noticed how contagious Bill’s energy was, and they started letting him lead the chants from atop the dugout.

Unfortunately, his love affair with the team came to an end in ‘85.

The Orioles introduced a rule that was going to forbid fans from bringing their own beer into the game; Bill vowed to boycott.

At the end of the last game he attended, Bill threw his cooler on the field and never returned to Memorial Stadium again.

However, he did make a return to Camden Yards on one of the most iconic nights in baseball history.

On September 6, ‘95 Cal Ripken broke the record for consecutive games played, and Wild Bill was in attendance to lead his famous cheer for old times sake.

He also showed up to Ripken’s Hall of Fame ceremony which ended up being the final cheer of his career.

BASEBALL TRIVIA

Find the answer at 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:

Turns out, John “Egyptian” Healy was not from Egypt - not even close.

He was from Cairo, Illinois and that’s how he got the nickname.

Healy has one of the worst records you’ll ever see, the guy could not win.

John’s career started in 1885, and by the end of it, his .310 winning percentage was the lowest of any Major League pitcher in the decade.

One silver lining was that he got to be one of the ballplayers on the Baseball World Tour, back in 1888.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

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BASEBALL TRIVIA ANSWER: 29