WORST DAYS: DISHONORABLE MENTION

1. Lawnmower of Doom, December 9, 1979, Shea Stadium

It sounds too bizarre to be true but it’s too genuinely tragic to be funny: On December 9, 1979 at Shea Stadium, a 20-year-old was killed by a flying lawnmower.

During halftime of the Jets-Patriots game that day, a group called the Electronic Eagles put on a remote control airplane display. The grand finale was a red 40-pound lawnmower loaded with enough juice it could use its blade like a propeller and fly. All the planes had stayed over the field but this machine malfunctioned and plunged into the stands hitting two New England fans, one of whom, John Bowen from Nashua New Hampshire, died six days later.

2. Jacob Ruppert’s greed costs two fans their lives, May 19, 1929, Yankee Stadium

       Always in search of a quick buck, baseball owners used to routinely sell more tickets than they had seats for. On May 19, 1929, Yankee fans paid a heavy price for Jacob Ruppert’s greed. After being treated to back-to-back homers by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, the fans were drenched in the fifth inning by a sudden cloudburst that opened over the Stadium. Desperate to get to shelter fans in the right field bleachers panicked, starting a stampede. Sixty-two people were injured and two killed. Ruppert promised afterwards to abandon the practice of overselling.

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