MLB's forgotten campaign against the 'derelicts' who pocket foul balls

[MichMan]

Countless fans will bring their gloves to Major League Baseball games this week, hoping to snag one of the most iconic of American souvenirs — a baseball.

But 100 years ago, doing so could land you in jail. Even if you were a kid.

That’s what happened to 11-year-old Robert Cotter after he caught a ball in the bleachers at Philadelphia’s Baker Bowl in July 1923. As he left the ballpark, police arrested the boy and hauled him to jail, where he spent the night. “Authorities planned to make a test case out of the occurrence,” a news story reported at the time.

The hardcore tactics came out of a belief that baseballs were private property. By the time of Cotter’s arrest, many teams had begun to relax that attitude, coming around to the expectation that fans could keep balls hit into the stands.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/mlb-s-forgotten-campaign-against-the-derelicts-who-pocket-foul-balls/ar-AA1BGusv?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=LCTS&cvid=61fb5daaf092440c888a61336bba80e6&ei=13

[SheltieLover]

1. Sounds very republiCON

Poor kids just wanted a ball to play with.

[magicarpet]

2. Get Pam Bondi on the case,....

..... she would give those kids capital punishment for snagging an off the field foul ball if they hope to take it home.

Shoot the kid dead. Then hang the body from the rafters until it rots. As a deterent to others who might walk off with an official baseball.

[303squadron]

3. According to BB historian Bill James

Foul balls hit into the bleachers during the dead ball era were retrieved by roving bands of kids who would trade the baseball for a soda. After a while, the retrieved balls would have been hit so many times by bats and whatever stands they hit coming down that they would become out of round. Hence, one of the reasons for the “bottle bat.”

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Fun Story

The NFL just recently relaxed their rules about footballs in the stands.
Players used to get fined. Now, they get away with a few. And those few funds get to keep the football!