{"id":2716,"date":"2026-07-17T11:16:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:16:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2716"},"modified":"2026-07-17T11:16:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:16:49","slug":"a-young-phillies-supporter-led-to-fans-being-able-to-keep-foul-balls-on-this-week-in-philly-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2716","title":{"rendered":"A young Phillies supporter led to fans being able to keep foul balls on this week in Philly history"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div><audio><\/audio><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cToughie Reds\u201d wasn\u2019t going quietly. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>On July 18, 1923, this Phillies fan, real name Robert Cotter, caught a foul ball in the right-field bleachers during a day game against the Chicago Cubs at North Philly\u2019s National League Park.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2714\">Do data centers count as free speech? | Inquirer South Jersey<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>And the Phillies wanted the ball back.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The 11-year-old refused to cough it up to security guards, nicknamed \u201cred caps.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI started running up the steps to get out,\u201d Cotter later recalled. \u201cI looked up and saw a red cap [guard] coming toward me. I turned around to run the other way, and there was another one standing behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Tough kid<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>It may be important to note that \u201cToughie Reds\u201d did not pay for his ticket.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The kid and his brother, Raymond, ran out of their house on North 15th Street toward the ballpark, and climbed up a rain spout and into the ramshackle ballpark unofficially nicknamed (derisively by The Inquirer) \u201cBaker Bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>But not paying the price of admission seemed to pale in comparison to taking home the ball.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Baseball precedent<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Since Cotter would not relinquish his grip on the ball, ownership saw an opportunity. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>It was a chance to establish, once and for all, a legal precedent.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The Phillies\u2019 policy in the 1920s said fans who caught foul balls had to give them back. They were team property, and not souvenirs. Mostly because kids like Cotter would try and sell the balls outside the park after outrunning the red caps.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2712\">The Big Picture: Our favorite photos from All-Star Week in Philadelphia<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>On that July day in 1923, he couldn\u2019t outrun them. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>He was pulled into a nearby police station, where he was arrested for larceny, and spent the night in the House of Correction.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The next morning, Cotter and a Phillies rep went before a Municipal Court judge. The court sided with the kid, who was \u201cfollowing his natural instincts,\u201d the judge noted, before adding: \u201cIt\u2019s a thing I would do myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Cotter walked, and the Phillies instituted a new policy of allowing fans to keep balls hit into the stands. And, eventually, every team in the major leagues would follow suit.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>In 1998, to show there were no hard feelings, the team welcomed back Cotter and his family to Veterans Stadium, and he left with autographed baseballs from the team and Phillies Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2710\">Lettuce supplier identified as potential source of cyclosporiasis outbreak<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Free of charge.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Phillies\u2019 policy once said fans who caught foul balls had to give them back. But 11-year-old Robert Cotter&#8217;s catch on July 18, 1923, changed that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A young Phillies supporter led to fans being able to keep foul balls on this week in Philly history - Corporate Movers USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=2716\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A young Phillies supporter led to fans being able to keep foul balls on this week in Philly history - Corporate Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Phillies\u2019 policy once said fans who caught foul balls had to give them back. 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