posted
I was just reading a book about Alfred Hitchcock in which he described some of the scenarios he came up with but never used in films, and among those scenarios was this one:
quote:"Some years ago, I was in New York for Rope, and the publicist took me to my first baseball game. We watched from the broadcast booth, and I made a few drawings. I asked him how many people were watching the game, and he said sixty thousand. I thought, what a perfect spot for a murder! A murder on a baseball field. One of the players is shot, and there are sixty thousand suspects.
"Then, it actually happened a few years later."
I'm curious about the "it actually happened" statement, because I'm not aware of any such occurrence of murder in professional baseball, at any level. My guess would be that this is a reference to Eddie Waitkus, the Phillies' first baseman who was shot in 1949, the year after Rope came out (and thus became the inspiration for Bernard Malamud's The Natural.) But it seems a rather poor match, because Waitkus wasn't murdered (he survived the shooting and returned to baseball the following year), he wasn't shot on a baseball field (he was ambushed in a hotel room), and his assailant wasn't an anonymous spectator (she was a mentally ill, obsessed fan who was immediately captured).
An episode of TV's Ironside had a plot that was somewhat similar to this scenario, but of course it wasn't produced until many years later (1969), and the targeted player wasn't killed.
posted
The Last Boy Scout had a shooting death on the field during a football game, but it wasn't much of a "WhoDunIt" since (IIRC) it was a murder-suicide, player-on-player kind of thing.
-------------------- "They got a name for the winners in the world; I want a name when I lose" -Steely Dan Posts: 480 | From: Tampa Bay, FL | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Not a murder, but the 1920 beanball death of Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was quite a tragedy. He was a talented player who might have led the Indians to the pennant. Carl Mays, the Yankee submarining pitcher, is remembered primarily as the guy who killed him.Of course, 1920 was a little early for Alfred Hitchcock's attention.
A lot of other major leaguers suffered serious injury from being hit by pitches, including Tony Conigliaro.
-------------------- Blinded by the lite Posts: 89 | From: West Virginia | Registered: Jan 2006
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forcadragons
I'll Be Home for After Christmas Sales
posted
Perhaps it was when Reggie Jackson tried to shoot the Queen?
-------------------- We're sorry to bother you at such a time like this, Mrs. Twice. We would have come earlier, but your husband wasn't dead then. Posts: 130 | From: Southampton, England | Registered: Mar 2006
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Players on the field are in the open, but most are really too far from the stands to afford a particularly good shot. Also, drawing a gun in a crowd is bound to be noticed, and you won't have much of a chance to aim.
Posts: 675 | From: Schenectady, NY | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
Also there is a good chance the shooter will be noticed firing the gun and get caught in the act. A smart criminal trying to murder someone wouldn't even think of trying this unless he wanted to get caught, tried, and sentenced for the crime.
Barbara R.
Posts: 378 | From: Boonville, Missouri USA | Registered: Dec 2003
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quote:Also, drawing a gun in a crowd is bound to be noticed, and you won't have much of a chance to aim.
Presumably the shooter isn't going to brazenly draw a gun in the middle of a crowded grandstand. In the Ironside episode I referenced, for example, the assailant wasn't obvious because he using a gun disguised as a 35mm camera with telephoto lens, and he had plenty of time to aim because any observers assumed he was lining up a (camera) shot.
posted
That's fine for TV, but it's unlikely such a weapon would be useful in real life, especially from a distance.
Posts: 675 | From: Schenectady, NY | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
Your best chance to pull it off would be with a long range rifle w/ a telescopic sight. Go up to the lights or in a private "Super box". Many parks use fireworks during or after a game. Time your shot with the fireworks.
-------------------- Where I come from we believe all sorts of things that aren't true. We call it History. Posts: 506 | From: Massachusetts | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by eif: Your best chance to pull it off would be with a long range rifle w/ a telescopic sight. Go up to the lights or in a private "Super box". Many parks use fireworks during or after a game. Time your shot with the fireworks.
-------------------- "You hold the Prince so I can duct tape his bottom to keep the bugs out." - My Mom Posts: 193 | From: The Fabulous Finger Lakes, New York | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by White Canvas: Sort of like the plot of this?
I have heard of the title but I have never seen it.
-------------------- Where I come from we believe all sorts of things that aren't true. We call it History. Posts: 506 | From: Massachusetts | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Also, drawing a gun in a crowd is bound to be noticed, and you won't have much of a chance to aim.
Presumably the shooter isn't going to brazenly draw a gun in the middle of a crowded grandstand. In the Ironside episode I referenced, for example, the assailant wasn't obvious because he using a gun disguised as a 35mm camera with telephoto lens, and he had plenty of time to aim because any observers assumed he was lining up a (camera) shot. - snopes
quote:Originally posted by White Canvas: Sort of like the plot of this?
I have heard of the title but I have never seen it.
The climax is waiting to see if the protagonist will stop an assassin in a theatre box who is waiting for a climactic point in the music to fire.
-------------------- "You hold the Prince so I can duct tape his bottom to keep the bugs out." - My Mom Posts: 193 | From: The Fabulous Finger Lakes, New York | Registered: Aug 2005
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