Ballplayer Slugs Music Teacher Fan – Aug. 31, 1904

By Joe Pietaro
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Updated: August 31, 2021

Picryl

Not exactly the Malice at the Palace, but there was an ugly scene in Cincinatti on this date in baseball, August 31, 1904 when Frank Bowerman entered the stands to strike an opposing fan who was heckling him. It was during the sixth inning of a matchup at, oddly enough, a field called Palace of the Fans in the Queen City in a doubleheader between the New York Giants and Cincinatti Reds.

Bowerman, the Giants catcher, ended up being escorted from the ballpark by police and was booked at a local station house for assaulting a music teacher named Albert Hartzell. The backstop was released the following day when Hartzell decided not to press charges.

The Giants swept the doubleheader, 3-2 in 11 innings in the first game and 4-1 in the shortened ‘nightcap.’ Before you begin questioning why the second game was only seven u=innings (like the last two years), it was because the road team had to catch a train back to Gotham.