by Bruce Nash
Philadelphia Phillies slugger Sherry Magee was in a deep sleep, dreaming of chasing a fly ball, when he leaped out of an open third-story window.
Miraculously, Magee, a chronic sleepwalker, survived without any broken bones or internal injuries. He blamed it all on the late-night snack he had of green grapes and ham sandwiches.
In its account of the bizarre incident, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported: “From a third-story window of the Junction Hotel, Magee, with a shriek that he was after a high flyer, jumped more than 12 feet to the roof of a stable below. Had the roof not stopped his fall, he would have been killed upon the stone pavement of the hotel yard.
“As it was, the player proved to be only slightly injured. The physicians at the German Hospital could not find a broken bone and, after an examination, sent Magee back to his hotel.
“‘I’ll be back in the game in three or four days,’ declared the ballplayer.
“Dr. John Boger says that the ballplayer had been working under mental strain for some time. He was completely absorbed in the race of the Phillies for the pennant, working like a beaver and wanting everybody else to do likewise. [Philadelphia finished the season in fourth place.]
“His wife, who was asleep in the same room, was awakened by excited cries from the ballplayer: ‘Get together, come on . . . We’ve got ’em now.’
“Mrs. Magee went to procure some water. As she was returning with a pitcher, she saw her husband spring out of the bed with a wild leap and make for the window. She screamed and fell in her haste to catch Magee in time.
“The ballplayer was after a high flyer in his sleep. In his mind’s eye, he saw it soaring just beyond the open window. With a frenzied leap and one arm raised high in the air, he jumped through the open window.
“Mrs. Magee stumbled over to the window and looked out. About 12 feet below, upon the roof of the stable, was the form of her husband in a heap. Everybody in the hotel was aroused. All expected to find the ballplayer dead or dying. ‘Not a broken bone,’ said the doctor. ‘Just shaken up and bruised a bit.’
“‘It was one of the most exciting games I ever played, even though I was asleep,’ Magee declared. ‘I was going after a high flyer. Why, even when I jumped from the bed, I thought I was simply jumping a fence that seemed, somehow, to have grown up near left field.
“‘I guess the grapes and ham sandwiches caused the trouble. They never did agree with me.’”
GREG HARRIS
Pitcher · Texas, AL · August 17, 1987
Texas Rangers right-hander Greg Harris was scratched from several starts after he was stricken by the most dreaded ailment known to pitchers—sunflower seed elbow.
Harris was sitting in the dugout during a game against the visiting Kansas City Royals. He began playfully flicking sunflower seeds at a friend who was sitting in a box seat nearby. “I held them in my left hand and flicked them with my middle finger on my right hand,” Harris recalled. “I was getting a few of them up past the first aisle.”
Soon afterward, Harris’s right elbow began to swell and hurt so badly that he couldn’t throw. He had no choice but to rest his arm through several scheduled starts over the next three weeks. “I know,” he said sheepishly. “It sounds ridiculous.”
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
BRUCE NASH, president of Nash Entertainment, is the creator and producer of more than 80 television series and specials, including Before They Were Stars, Magic’s Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed, Meet My Folks, and Who Wants to Be a Superhero? His Modern Marvels series is one of cable’s longest-running programs, with more than 500 one-hour episodes.
On the sports front, Nash created and produced the critically acclaimed series Amazing Sports Stories, which was nominated for four Sports Emmys.
His company is headquartered in Hollywood, California.
ALLAN ZULLO has written more than 100 nonfiction books on such subjects as sports, the supernatural, history, animals, war, survival, and heroism. His latest books are Heroes of 9/11 and Titanic: Young Survivors.
Among his many sports books are When Bad Things Happen to Good Golfers, Golf Is a Funny Game, and March to Madness. He writes two best-selling series for Scholastic, Haunted Kids and Ten True Tales, and produces boxed daily page calendars for Andrews McMeel, including the popular Butter My Butt and Call Me a Biscuit.
Zullo lives in Fairview, North Carolina.
