My Stolen Hat
Jim, could you take us through the day in Yankee Stadium when you attempted a diving catch in foul territory, only to have someone grab your hat from the stands. I remember you jumping into the crowd and Don Baylor making the run out there too. What was the fans reaction when you jumped in the stands? How was Don Baylor as a teammate?
Brian,
Springfield, MA
There’s not much to take you through. It was a September game against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium, 1986. I went for the foul ball and the guy took my hat.
It wasn’t Don Baylor that ran out there, it was Roger Clemens who was the first one on the scene. Roger pretty much parted the sea. Even though it was Yankee Country, we had a lot of Red Sox Fans at that game, and the Yankee fans who were sitting in that area were mostly reasonable people (save for the one who was trying to steal my cap). The fans pointed out which person had my hat and as he was trying to stuff it down his pants.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:04 am
That was a memorable moment. I think the fans in that section were a little freaked out when Jim Rice hopped in. Very cool.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Clemens only jumped in there because he had roid rage.
..
Sorry, I’m still a little scorned from when I asked him for an autograph when I was about 7 years old and he told me I’d have to pay for it. Then I sent him my only copy of his rookie card a few years later asking for an autograph and he told me he wouldn’t sign it because it wasn’t a Topps card (or some other brand, I forget.)
Way to almost ruin baseball for a little kid Roger. >:\ Thankfully Mike Greenwell was there to sign an autograph for me, as was Troy O’Leary and the incredibly nice Scott Cooper.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Actually the hat snatcher was a Bosox fan from Saugus.I forget his name,but the papers did not make mention of his true allegiance to the Sox.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
It’s my understanding that it was Cap Day at Yankee Stadium and the gent who copped the cap had lost his own and was under the mistaken impression that Jim was wearing it. He later found it under his seat where he had put it for safe-keeping
Ron
May 16th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Some interesting follow up comments on this posting are here, along with a story on the hat caper:
http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/ask_14_rice_my_stolen_hat/
May 16th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I was a freshman in college in North Carolina and this game was on national TV so I was psyched to watch it.
Funny story, I use this game as a reference point in my life. The night prior, I had drank an excessive amount of Tequila at a party (I know it’s hard to believe that a freshman in college would be drinking) and got violently sick. The next day (the day of the hat theft) it was close to 100 degrees and I was painfully hungover. It was the very last time I ever drank tequila. So I tell people that the last time I drank tequila was when Jim Rice got his hat stolen in Yankee stadium.
June 12th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Man, that takes me back. I was at that game and the crowd was just nuts. It was just one of those days when there was something in the air. I’ve seen Sox/Yanks at both ballparks but never experienced anything like that again. Jim may have been too busy doing his job to notice the inflatable lady in the tiers. Fights in the stands, popcorn being thrown everywhere. The Yanks were going nowhere that season - it was their “manager of the month club” period - so the fans were a bit touchy and, well, we all know where we ended up in ‘86.
May 7th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Ginger ,I had Saturday plan section 15 season tickets to the Yankees and I was also at that game, I had a great view of the play . Jim forgot to mention the collision he had with Spike Owens going for that foul ball. Both players smashed their heads into the wall padding down the 3rd base line . After the collision Spike didn’t move and while Jim was sitting there dazed …… Some fan reaches down and takes his hat that was lying on the ground. Jim, being very concerned about the condition for his short stop, didn’t realize for several minutes that his hat was MISSING ! After Spike was taken off the field , Jim was looking around for his hat and the hat was M.I.A. Fans sitting in that section did pointed out the thief to Jim. When the hat thief declined to return the hat after Jim called for it, Jim jumped over the wall. Following Jim into the stands were players from both teams as both Boston and Yankee benches and bull pens emptied onto the field and into stands to support Jim . Jim got his hat back. not sure what ever happened to the hat thief after stadium security latched on to him.
June 19th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
I happened to know the “hat thief”. I was home watching on TV and when it happened and couldn’t believe it. Contrary to someone’s comment on the other board, he did not use the N word but did challenge Rice to take the hat out of his pants
The “thief” did have to go to court, believe he was fined and put on probation for a short time. He did later become a police detective in NYC. Imagine that?
Does anyone know where to get a video clip of that event? I’d like to see it again.