The baseball giveaway that ended in an MLB forfeit

The Dodgers gave fans souvenir baseballs. By the ninth inning, those same baseballs had ended the game.

On August 10, 1995, Los Angeles forfeited a home game to the St. Louis Cardinals after spectators repeatedly threw the giveaway balls onto the field. The Cardinals were awarded a 2–1 win, the first major-league forfeit in 16 years and, according to MLB's historical account, the last one in either league. 12

That is the clean trivia version. The messy version involves a pennant race, a rookie sensation, three ejections, a disputed strike zone, and an umpire deciding that a baseball promotion had become a safety hazard.

Dodger Stadium was packed with 53,361 people for “Ball Night.” The first 14,000 fans received souvenir baseballs, while the crowd also came to watch Hideo Nomo make his 19th start of a rookie season that would end with the National League Rookie of the Year award. The Dodgers were only a game behind the Colorado Rockies in the NL West, so a home loss to the last-place Cardinals would sting. 13

Nomo did his part. He allowed two runs in eight innings, but St. Louis still carried a 2–1 lead into the bottom of the eighth. With two outs and two runners on, Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros checked his swing at a 1–2 fastball from reliever T.J. Mathews. Home-plate umpire Jim Quick called it strike three. Karros argued and was ejected. 1

The crowd had already begun throwing souvenir balls during the seventh inning, causing a short delay. The strike-three call gave the objects a target and the evening a fuse.

The Dodgers came to bat in the ninth against Cardinals closer Tom Henke. Raúl Mondesí led off, worked the count to 3–0, and took a pitch he thought was ball four. Quick called it a strike. The next pitch was well outside, but it was called strike two. On the 3–2 pitch, Mondesí swung through another offering outside the zone and was called out. He argued, and he was ejected too. Manager Tommy Lasorda came out to argue and was ejected as well. 1

Then the souvenirs came down in earnest.

The players were taken off the field while the grounds crew collected the baseballs. MLB's account says the crew filled roughly 15 to 20 buckets. After the field was cleared, the Cardinals returned to finish the ninth with one out. Another ball came from the bleachers.

That was enough for Quick. Crew chief Bob Davidson waved his arms to end the game, awarding St. Louis the 2–1 victory by forfeit. The Dodgers did not lose because they failed to turn a double play or score against Henke. They lost because the crowd kept putting baseballs on the playing surface after the umpires judged the warning had been ignored. 1

The episode was historic without becoming a season-wrecker. It was the National League's first forfeit in 41 years and MLB's most recent one. The Cardinals loved the result: it was their only win on a nine-game road trip. Henke later remembered the oddest perk of his career: “I get a save and don't have to do anything!” 1

Los Angeles recovered. The Dodgers went on to win the NL West by one game, so the forfeit did not keep them out of October or change their seeding. They were swept by Cincinnati in the Division Series anyway. 1

The strange lesson is almost too literal: on Ball Night, the giveaway was not a souvenir of the game. It became the reason the game stopped.