Extra Innings · Beanballs & Bleachers
Bullpen Versus the Bleachers
Manning v. Grimsley (1981)
Charge: Battery - visiting relief pitcher threw a hard ball toward heckling bleacher fans and hit a spectator (suit against the pitcher and his club)Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the First CircuitDocket: Beanballs & Bleachers
Could a jury find a pitcher intended to hit or frighten hecklers when his warm-up throw sailed into the bleachers and struck a fan?
The facts
During a 1975 game at a Boston ballpark, a visiting relief pitcher was warming up near the right-field bleachers. Fans there heckled him repeatedly, and he looked straight at them several times right after the taunts. He then threw a ball at more than 80 mph at a sharp angle from his normal pitching direction. It passed through the protective fence and hit a spectator. The trial judge took the battery claim from the jury, and the jury cleared the defendants on negligence.
You have the facts the court had. Guilty or not guilty? Call it in the game with your friends, then see what the court actually decided. Wrong call, you drink.
Citation: Manning v. Grimsley, 643 F.2d 20 (1st Cir. 1981)
Read more at law.justia.com. The source reveals the outcome.