43 Years Ago Today
On this day at Exhibition Stadium, Dave Winfield accidentally threw a ball that struck and killed a seagull during a game.
At first glance, it sounds like the setup for a joke.
During the bottom of the fifth inning, Winfield tossed his warm-up ball toward the dugout, inadvertently hitting a seagull and killing it.
Anyone who remembers Exhibition Stadium knows how much seagulls flocked to the place.
Debate swirled over whether Winfield acted intentionally. I once thought he might have
aimed at the bird, but surely he assumed it would fly away. Hitting it from 80 feet required remarkable—if accidental—precision.
His manager, Billy Martin, quipped, “That’s the first time Winfield’s hit the cutoff man all year.”
Strangely, after the game, Winfield was arrested for causing “unnecessary suffering of an animal.” It’s unclear what the police were thinking—perhaps they disliked the Yankees as much as I do, but I wouldn’t have arrested him. Winfield was taken to the police station, and Pat Gullick paid his $500 bail for his release.
The following day, the charges were dropped. The crown attorney explained, “It is always a key issue to find criminal intent, and I am satisfied there was none here.”
Before the police arrived, Winfield’s teammates teased him about the incident. Afterward, however, the mood changed. As Billy Martin put it:
“I’ll tell you one thing. We will get their four starting pitchers arrested when Toronto comes down to New York next week. We will have somebody call the police and say they were molested in the hotel.”
That comment tells you everything you need to know about Billy Martin.
Paul Godfrey even traveled to New York to apologize to Winfield in person.
An autopsy revealed the seagull was already unwell before being struck, explaining why it didn’t avoid the ball. It was expected to die within the next couple of weeks regardless.
The following winter, Winfield visited Toronto with a painting depicting seagulls flying and a red maple tree, which he auctioned to raise $32,000 for Easter Seals.
The Yankees won 3-1. Dave Stieb went the distance for Toronto, allowing six hits, three runs, three walks, and five strikeouts. Shane Rawley earned the win for New York, also pitching a complete game.
Winfield finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
37 Years Ago Today
Dave Stieb lost a perfect game with two outs in the ninth inning. The previous season, he had lost no-hitters in back-to-back starts, each with two outs in the ninth.
The Jays came out on top, winning 2-1 over the Yankees.
The Yankees weren’t yet the powerhouse they’d become a few years later, but their lineup featured some strong hitters.
Here was their starting lineup:
Steve Sax
Luis Polonia
Don Mattingly
Jesse Barfield
Mel Hall
Rob Geren
Randy Velarde
Alvaro Espinoza
Roberto Kelly.
In the ninth, Hal Morris pinch-hit for Velarde, and Ken Phelps—of Seinfeld fame—pinch-hit for Espinoza. But it was Kelly, the ninth hitter, who doubled to break up the perfect game. Sax then singled to end the shutout, but Stieb retired Polonia to close out the win.
The Jays managed just five hits. George Bell had two, while Ernie Whitt and Mookie Wilson each drove in a run.
Stieb finished with a two-hit complete game, striking out 11 and throwing 90 pitches (65 for strikes). The win improved his record to 11-6 with a 3.90 ERA. He’d end the season 17-8 with a 3.35 ERA over 33 starts and 206.2 innings—a low total for him, considering he threw 288.1 innings in 1982—with just three complete games.
