On March 13, 1915 Wilbert Robertson agrees to try to catch a baseball dropped from a plane
1915: During spring training in Daytona Beach, Fla., Brooklyn manager Wilbert Robertson agrees to try to catch a baseball dropped from a plane. But it’s not a baseball that comes down from somewhere between 500-700 feet; it’s a grapefruit.
The fruit strikes Robinson on his expansive chest. It explodes, splashing on his face. The force of the impact throws him backward and he falls to the ground. Rubbing his face, which is reeking with the juices of the shattered fruit, Robinson thinks he’s badly hurt.
But when he assures himself that he’s not bleeding or injured, he laughs. It is believed by some that the prank is set up by one of Robinson’s outfielders, fun-loving Casey Stengel, who has the team’s trainer substitute the grapefruit for the baseball.
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