Much has been written about Ray Chapman, the Cleveland Indian who died in 1920 after being hit by a pitch. But baseball’s history of fatal moments includes another grim first, and it happened in a game involving the Indians.
On Sept. 29, 1943, at Griffith Stadium, Cleveland was playing Washington in the first game of a doubleheader when a bad throw from third baseman Sherry Robertson sent a ball into the stands in the ninth inning. With two outs and Mickey Rocco on first, Ken Keltner grounded to Robertson, who fielded it and threw to first. The throw sailed over Mickey Vernon and into the front row.
That’s where Clarence Stagemyer was sitting.
Stagemyer, 32, was the chief of the correspondence section of the Civil Aeronautics Authority and had moved to the Washington, D.C. area five years earlier from York, Pennsylvania. He was known as “Stagey” back home, where he had managed baseball and softball teams and also umpired.
A knee injury he suffered as a boy kept him from playing. He had attended William Penn Senior High School, the same alma mater as former Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Bruce Arians.
The ball struck him in the head. A Senators doctor examined him, and Stagemyer said he was fine, but the doctor urged him to go to a hospital. He was diagnosed with a concussion and fractured skull and died the next day.
Stagemyer is believed to be the first fan whose death resulted directly from a ball thrown or hit into the stands in a Major League game.
Bob Gorman and David Weeks, who researched game-related fatalities, included the Robertson-Stagemyer case in their 2009 book, “Death at the Ballpark: A Comprehensive Study of Game-Related Fatalities of Players, Other Personnel and Spectators in Amateur and Professional Baseball.” In their account, they noted that Robertson’s family ties may have mattered too.
Robertson was the nephew of Senators owner Clark Griffith and the younger brother of Twins owner Calvin Griffith. He had a 10-year major league career, but in 1943 he posted an .897 fielding percentage at third base, a mark the researchers considered poor, and they described his arm as erratic.
A doctor initially said Stagemyer’s death “might have resulted from natural causes following the shock of injury.” The coroner’s office ruled it accidental.
Like Chapman, Stagemyer died the day after he was struck. He is buried in York, Pennsylvania.
“That’s just a freak thing,” a 2009 newspaper story quoted Gorman as saying.
The story picked up two more strange footnotes years later. Robertson died on Oct. 23, 1970, after a car crash in Houghton, South Dakota.
He had been leaving one hunting trip and heading for another when his car left State Highway 10 and hit a tree. He suffered multiple skull fractures, and his death was ruled accidental, just as Stagemyer’s had been.
And York, Pennsylvania, Stagemyer’s hometown, was also the birthplace of former Indian Vic Wertz. Wertz’s name is attached to one of the most painful scenes in Cleveland sports history: Willie Mays’ over-the-shoulder catch in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series. That game was played on Sept. 29, 1954, exactly 11 years after Stagemyer died.
The 1943 game itself ended soon after the throw into the stands. Hank Edwards singled for Cleveland, Rocco scored and Keltner moved to third, but Gene Woodling made the final out and Washington won, 6-2.
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