The Brawl at Ebbets
It was Sept. 16, 1940, and a feisty fan named Franie Germano was sitting in the stands at Ebbets Field watching his beloved Dodgers.
Brooklyn was squaring off against the first-place Cincinnati Reds and the game was close.
The Dodgers were in the lead until the Reds tied the game in the ninth.
Then, in the tenth, umpire George Magerkurth called two Reds runners safe after Dodger second baseman Pete Coscarart dropped the ball.
The call was controversial because it was a reversal of the field umpire’s call and caused Brooklyn to lose the game 4-3.
Naturally, the Dodgers and their fans were pissed.
Leo Durocher, the Dodgers manager, came out and lost his shit, kicking dirt and raising hell, and ultimately, getting tossed.
After Durocher left the field, Germano picked up where he left off.
““Durocher gets thrown out, Cincinnati wins the game. Now I’m mad. I’m burnin’. I jump down to the field, and I’m walkin’ out toward the clubhouse, where the Dodgers go. Who walks right in front of me? The ump!
I said, ‘Hey, George! Why don’t you go back to the minor leagues? You’re a bum!’ He called me a name. I called him a name. He made like he was going to push me out of the way. I thought he was going to hit me. I started throwin’ punches—right hooks! Uppercuts! Then I thought, Hey, this guy’s too big for me! I’m gonna sit on him! So I did.””
For a moment, Germano was living every baseball fan’s secret dream.
Via Life Magazine
Pretty sure we’ve all wanted to fight an umpire at least once or twice, probably a few times if Angel Hernandez has worked any of your team’s games.
But George Magerkurth (the ump) was no stranger to throwing blows; he had actually fought as a professional heavyweight boxer in the Midwest.
The 51-year-old umpire survived, uninjured.
Germano, who was on probation, was hauled away to the Raymond Street jail after his arraignment on a charge of third-degree assault.
The wild incident turned Frankie into a folk hero in Brooklyn.
Dodgers fans were so delighted with his performance that they even raised money to pay for his lawyer.
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Durocher was fined $100 by the National League for "inciting to riot."
When the time came, Magerkurth showed up to Germano’s court date and said he didn’t want to press charges.
In April 1941, Germano became a free man, and as he was exiting the courthouse in Brooklyn, he actually ran into Magerkurth.
The two men shook hands and parted ways.
