Woody Woodward vs. Flour: Photograph?
May 14, 2007 9:05 AM Subscribe
Does any photography exist of the 10-pound sack of flour falling and almost killing Woody Woodward of the Cincinnati Reds?
I only heard about this incident recently. According to Wikipedia, in 1971, a sack of flour was dropped from an airplane, and missed Woody Woodward by only 15 feet. I've never heard of this before, but since there is photographic evidence of almost every play in baseball, did anyone ever take a picture of this? I am willing to buy a book to see someting this crazy.
I only heard about this incident recently. According to Wikipedia, in 1971, a sack of flour was dropped from an airplane, and missed Woody Woodward by only 15 feet. I've never heard of this before, but since there is photographic evidence of almost every play in baseball, did anyone ever take a picture of this? I am willing to buy a book to see someting this crazy.
The incident is referenced on enough reliable baseball sites that I'm sure it really happened. However, since it happened in the ninth inning of a September game, there probably weren't a lot of fans left in the park, and in those days not every game was televised.
The fact that not a single site I could find that mentions the incident has a photograph leads me to believe there aren't any published anywhere.
posted by cerebus19 at 9:58 AM on May 14, 2007
The fact that not a single site I could find that mentions the incident has a photograph leads me to believe there aren't any published anywhere.
posted by cerebus19 at 9:58 AM on May 14, 2007
Wow! I have never heard of this before. This is some great baseball lore, that's for sure. Maybe a Cincinnati newspaper would have something in their archives?
posted by vito90 at 10:13 AM on May 14, 2007
posted by vito90 at 10:13 AM on May 14, 2007
I think someone is fooling around with Wikipedia. A search on ["woody woodward" flour] on NYT.com pulls up only a 1964 article. This would have been covered if it had actually happened.
posted by caddis at 11:19 AM on May 14, 2007
posted by caddis at 11:19 AM on May 14, 2007
My guess is that it did happen. It's referenced on many, many sites, including the reliable baseball-reference.com.
As for a photo, though... seems highly unlikely that a camera, back then, was focused on a certain outfielder.
posted by ORthey at 11:47 AM on May 14, 2007
As for a photo, though... seems highly unlikely that a camera, back then, was focused on a certain outfielder.
posted by ORthey at 11:47 AM on May 14, 2007
It's referenced on many, many sites, including the reliable baseball-reference.com.
Really? I see 42 Google hits, some of which clearly are not relevant, and half of which are some form of wiki. Yes, a couple appear legit, but they easily could have taken the information from one of the wiki sites. For something this interesting you would expect more Google hits, and it didn't make the New York Times. If it had really happened it would have made the sports section, if not the main section.
posted by caddis at 12:31 PM on May 14, 2007
Really? I see 42 Google hits, some of which clearly are not relevant, and half of which are some form of wiki. Yes, a couple appear legit, but they easily could have taken the information from one of the wiki sites. For something this interesting you would expect more Google hits, and it didn't make the New York Times. If it had really happened it would have made the sports section, if not the main section.
posted by caddis at 12:31 PM on May 14, 2007
caddis, you're right that a lot of these links seem irrelevant and/or shaky at best. However, why would the NY times necessarily write about this? They don't do much sports, and certainly not much about the Cincinnati Reds. Maybe searching the online archives of a Cincy newspaper?
posted by ORthey at 1:42 PM on May 14, 2007
posted by ORthey at 1:42 PM on May 14, 2007
caddis - searching proquest I came up with some legit sources from newspapers. The most recent was from Dayton Daily News. Dayton, Ohio: May 25, 2000. pg. 1.D
It reads
"It is hard to believe you can be fined and suspended for protecting your own players from goofy fans. This says we can't do anything to protect ourselves? Adding nine or 10 extra security people doesn't help, either. When you have 30,000 to 40,000 fans, one deranged person can do pretty much what he wants."
Graves is right. A fan raced out of the stands a few years ago and stabbed tennis player Monica Seles in the back. Reds pitching coach Don Gullett remembers Dodger Stadium in 1970 when a plane flew over and somebody dropped a sack of flour that exploded in a cloud of white close to shortstop Woody Woodward. Woodward was looking for an anti-aircraft gun.
posted by jourman2 at 1:51 PM on May 14, 2007
It reads
"It is hard to believe you can be fined and suspended for protecting your own players from goofy fans. This says we can't do anything to protect ourselves? Adding nine or 10 extra security people doesn't help, either. When you have 30,000 to 40,000 fans, one deranged person can do pretty much what he wants."
Graves is right. A fan raced out of the stands a few years ago and stabbed tennis player Monica Seles in the back. Reds pitching coach Don Gullett remembers Dodger Stadium in 1970 when a plane flew over and somebody dropped a sack of flour that exploded in a cloud of white close to shortstop Woody Woodward. Woodward was looking for an anti-aircraft gun.
posted by jourman2 at 1:51 PM on May 14, 2007
It's a great question. I would guess if there was a photo, it would be of the aftermath, and it would have been printed in the LA Times sports page on September 5, 1971, since the incident happened at Dodger Stadium. My library doesn't have access to archives of the LA Times online before 1986. You could check with a research or major public library near you to see if they have LA Times on microfilm. It would be really cool if you could find it.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:52 PM on May 14, 2007
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:52 PM on May 14, 2007
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posted by jourman2 at 9:52 AM on May 14, 2007