The sun god bolted when he saw Burkett climbing the fence
The Republic, 1902. View the original
A heckler got insulting during the game, so Browns left fielder Jesse Burkett climbed the fence after him. The Republic gave the chase a full-length portrait and the heckler two immortal nicknames.
After the Browns game of August 4, 1902, a fan in the cheap seats got personal with left fielder Jesse Burkett one time too many. Burkett went over the fence after him, and The Republic’s caption records the result: “The sun god bolted when he saw Burkett climbing the fence, and did a hot-foot out of the Grand avenue gate.”
The paper could not decide on its favorite word for the heckler, so it used both. He is a “bleacherite” in the headline and a “sun god” in the caption, the second one earned by sitting in roofless seats all August. Elsewhere on the page the Republic headlined the same incident “Burkett Routed the Sun God.”
Burkett was one of the great hitters of his era and famously short-tempered, and this page is a whole museum of 1902 sportswriting. The clipping runs a full-length studio portrait of him calmly holding a bat, which is somehow funnier than an action shot.
| Team | St. Louis Browns |
|---|---|
| Place | St. Louis, Missouri |
| Year | 1902 |
| Newspaper | The Republic |
| Posted | |
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