This is the second time I’ve written this post. The first time, as I was about to hit ’submit’, the entire post just vanished. It’s not as if I accidentally deleted everything or hit the wrong button, I was just reading it over to check for errors and (bink!) it was gone.

Weirdest GD thing I’ve ever seen since I started the blog, and it happened while I was writing about ghosts, no less.

So here’s what I was trying to write:

I was just over on Athletics Nation, and saw a link to a press release about a book called Haunted Baseball. It’s essentially a book about all the ghost stories to do with ballparks, players, etc etc. And it looks outstanding.

A sample:

Sox centerfielder Coco Crisp tells a story about a haunted elevator in
the Westin St Francis hotel in San Francisco, visiting team hotel of
the Oakland A’s. Crisp recounts an eerie ride up to his room that left
him sleepless that night. His teammate at the time with the Cleveland
Indians, C.C. Sabathia, thought a ghost entered the elevator while he
was on it and got off on the 17th floor. Veteran teammate and former
Sox outfielder, Ellis Burks, swears a ghostly woman walked by him.
Burks asked to change rooms.

Legendary Cubs manager Charlie Grimm is said to still call the bullpen
at Wrigley Field late at night. Merchandise workers at Dodger Stadium
claim to have seen a ghost meandering on the diamond after games. Petco
Park is rumored to have poltergeists that keep the overnight cleaning
crew on edge. There have also been Babe Ruth sightings on a storied
ballfield in St Pete. All-Star second baseman Michael Young describes a
haunted room in Shreveport. Johnny Damon shares a fun story about being
pinned down by a ghost.

Michael Young: "My roommate wakes me up in the middle of the night and
says he saw a ghost above him. He was freaking out. So I got a big glob
of toothpaste and put a big cross on the door and I told him, ‘Is this
good enough for you? ‘Cause I’m going back to sleep.’"

Hilarious. Although I do wonder if the ghost holding Johnny Damon down might have been waiting for another ghost to put the boot in, but I digress.

Now, all this talk of ghosts got me thinking about Nat Bailey Stadium’s own ghost stories – and there are plenty. From staff on their way out the door, thinking they’re the last ones left in the stadium at night, seeing people walking along the top row of the bleachers, to folks in the press box, when the stadium lights are all off and it’s late late at night, seeing players walking around in the outfield, anyone who has been at the stadium for a long time  (especially late at night) has had an encounter or two. 

There’s the media relations guy from several years ago who told me he once came face to face with a player under the stands, nearly walking right into him late at night, which elicited a polite ‘excuse me’ from the player in question.

As the two passed, the Media Guy thought to himself, "Hey, who was that? All the players went home hours ago…", and turned around to ask, only for there to be nobody there.
 

Then there’s the clubby from 2004, sleeping in the home locker room to save on rent and get an early start each day, who would hear cleats walking around outside in the dugout at 2AM, along with the tap-tap-tap of a bat being tested on the concrete. Upon investigation, he’d find nobody out there, but would hear more noises coming from the clubhouse he just walked out of.

There are a load more stories, of course, as there always will be when a place like The Nat stands for as long as it has. Hell, beerhawker Rob McGowan haunts Nat Bailey Stadium to this day, and he’s still alive!

Got your own Nat Bailey Stadium ghost story? Tell it in the comments below.