The Kompromat Folder

Moments from Players' Careers That No PR Firm Could Expunge

The record can not be wiped clean. The court documents will never be sealed. The faux pas are part of the permanent record.

Today we bring you moments on and off the field that caused ballplayers to lose sleep and often ball games. And occasionally their reputations.

Errors of omission, errors of commission and errors of judgment are all in play. For these players, having the photographer get the shot of them in moments of compromise was like The Hollywood Reporter catching someone on a bad hair day. Annoying to the extreme, but ultimately harmless, as there was a game to undo the damage the next day — or a premier to go to that night with the coif guru raking in the overtime.

Sometimes the compromising photographs were of the tabloid variety, as with the unfortunately-named umpire Shag Crawford insinuating himself into the action with Fred Kendall.

Ted Williams played in just one World Series and the historical record of a .200 batting average with no extra-base hits and one RBI became more than just a line of type in his record when the AP writers were likely delighted to annoint him as one of the two flops of the year in 1946.

Willie Davis of the Dodgers had no place to hide in the sun-drenched centerfield of Dodger Stadium after being charged with three errors in an inning during Los Angeles’ dreadful performance in the 1966 World Series.

Willie Mays benched for poor play? Yep, it happened in 1955.

Preacher Roe makes amends with a youngster who was lucky to avoid the consequences of an on-the-field tirade. The Brooklyn pitcher became animated after a dispute and chucked his glove into the stands in protest. The boy’s dad refused to give it back. But ultimately Roe made caviar out of salmon eggs and parted with the glove for good.

After Lee May hit it where the sun doesn’t shine — namely the Astrodome — Cubs outfielder Jose Cardenal plays it as if on skates.

Joe Pepitone fails to come up with a throw from third baseman Clete Boyer in the final game of the 1963 World Series and is charged with a rare three-base error at first base. The Series-winning run follows with the next hitter producing a sac fly.

All it takes for the most graceful of us to feel maladroit is to be put in a new, unfamiliar position. In the case of Joe DiMaggio that was first base, where he played his first game in 1950 after 11 years patrolling center field as few others have.

The Cubs turn a double play against the Dodgers in 1950, where both outs were recorded in rapid succession at the plate. First Gil Hodges, then Jackie Robinson.

Eddie Murray interprets his assignment to hold Roy Smalley on at first a bit too literally.

Dick Green went out without his gloves on and his improvisation didn’t escape the camera’s eye.

And sometimes compromising is plain-old compromising