Short Stuff: Morganna the Kissing Bandit
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Who is Morganna the Kissing Bandit?
Yeah, because if you grew up in the 70s and 80s, and you were a sports fan, in particular a baseball fan of Major League Baseball here in the United States, then no doubt at some point you either saw on the news or saw live during a game a woman wearing run out onto the baseball field and chatted up for a moment with a professional baseball player and then kiss them on the cheek and then run back to the stands waving at least for a while until she started getting arrested for doing this. And that was Morgana the Kissing Bandit.
What was Morganna's early life like?
Yeah, apparently she was born Nancy Lee Rose in Louisville, Kentucky. She started lying about her age at a very young age, as we'll see, because she had a very difficult, really rough adolescence. But she became so famous for this during the 70s and 80s. That at one point, Pete Rose said that he considered her bigger than any one baseball player in the whole game. Like she was really, really famous. She was on Letterman. She was on Carson. And she was an exotic dancer by trade, by profession. And I saw, Chuck, that her act, I saw it described as part nudity, part comedy. Right. Which is kind of tough to pull off, if you ask me. But one of the things, in addition to running onto baseball fields that she was known for, that was very attention-getting, was her bust. She was extraordinarily buxom. Apparently, she had a 60-inch bust that required an eye cup. And so that, combined with running onto the field at sporting events and kissing players, it really captured the attention of the American public.
Yeah. And, you know, that's not the kind of thing we usually highlight when we're talking about women on the show. But you can't ignore that with Morgana the Kissing Bandit. Right. Most notably because it comes up later in a potential defense in court, which if you're wondering how in the world is that does that work, then you'll find out in Act Two. And I think the fact that we mentioned it just goes to show how much you can't ignore it. I hope so. She was introduced to baseball by her grandfather who raised her. You said she had a rough childhood, which very sadly she did. She was a runaway at age 13. She was unhoused for a while. Eventually, she became an exotic dancer as a teenager.
What legal troubles did Morganna face?
And in 1969 at Crossley Field during a Cincinnati Reds game, when she was 17, she was with a couple of friends sitting, you know, near the field level. And, you know, the baseball players were checking these girls out because it was 1969. And that's what you did when you were a baseball player. You get a little bored in outfield and look to the stands at teenage girls, I guess.
Mm-hmm.
And everyone was sort of, you know, the players were sort of paying them some attention except for Pete Rose. And they were like, what gives with this guy? And her friend said, hey, I bet you I'll give you five bucks if you run out on the field and, you know, confront him, which she did. Pete Rose played outfield at the time before his move to the infield. She ran out there.
Yeah. I didn't know that. Which part? The outfield part.
Yeah, yeah. He was an outfielder at first, but he played everywhere but I think shortstop and catcher and pitcher. Yeah. Anyway, Pete Rose had a brief chat with her. He was endorsing Ballpark Frank's hot dogs at the time. And she said, hey, I buy those hot dogs. Gave him a kiss on the cheek. He said, you're nuts. You're going to get in trouble. But she didn't at the time.
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