Dave Winfield Vs A Seagull

It was August 4, 1983 and the Yankees were playing the Blue Jays in Toronto.

In the bottom of the fifth, Dave Winfield threw the ball he was warming up with back to the bat boy and accidentally hit a seagull.

The bird died pretty much instantly.

Life went on, the Yankees won that day, and Winfield went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s.

But after the game he was abruptly arrested for causing “unnecessary suffering of an animal.”

The authorities claimed it was unclear whether or not Winfield intentionally threw at the bird.

Photo Credit: Bluejayhunter.com

Billy Martin seemed to take the situation pretty lightly.

He was quoted saying, “That’s the first time Winfield’s hit the cutoff man all year.”

The people of Toronto were actually on Winfield’s side, calling for the charges to be dropped - mostly because the whole situation was so ridiculous that they feared it would make them the laughingstock of the league.

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The day after his arrest, the charges against Dave were dropped.

Apparently, they did an autopsy on the gull and found out that he was already in bad health - which is probably why he didn’t fly away when Winfield chucked the baseball at him in the first place.

The event was declared an accident and Winfield was innocent of any animal endangerment.

When he returned to Toronto, Dave brought a painting of seagulls with him and presented it to the organization as a peace offering.

The painting was auctioned and sold for $32,000.

All the proceeds went to the Easter Seals Society.