Hilda Chester

Hilda Chester (September 1, 1897 – December 1, 1978), also known as Howlin' Hilda, was a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, and arguably the most famous fan in baseball history.

Chester was born on the East Side of Manhattan.

She began her long allegiance to the Brooklyn Dodgers as a teenager, when she stood outside the offices of the Brooklyn Chronicle every day to hear the scores of the Dodgers' games as soon as possible.

After a while, she was able to get passes to games from sportswriters.

At some time, she was hired as a peanut sacker by the Harry M. Stevens corporation, which ran the concession stands at Ebbets Field and most other Major League Baseball stadiums, breaking down 50-pound sacks of peanuts into retail bags for sale.

After she was done with her work, she was able to watch the games.

She also worked for the Stevens' concessions at Aqueduct and Belmont Racetracks.

Eventually, she "graduated" to selling hot dogs.

By the 1930s, she was attending Dodgers' games frequently, and in 1938, after Larry MacPhail, the Dodgers' executive vice president, instituted Ladies' Day at Ebbets Field with a ten-cent admission price, she became a regular.

Because of her extremely loud voice, thick Brooklynese accent, and allegiance to the Dodgers, Chester was well-known in Ebbets Field and beyond, throughout Brooklyn.

But she became famous after her first heart attack.

Instructed by her doctor not to yell anymore, she returned to Ebbets Field with a frying pan and iron ladle, and made so much noise that everybody quickly knew who she was.

The Dodgers' players soon replaced her noisemaking implements with a brass cowbell as a gift.

She received grandstand passes from the team, but preferred to sit in the bleachers, where she would hang a sign wherever she sat that said, "Hilda Is Here".

In 1941, she had a second heart attack, and by then was important enough to be visited in Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn by Dodgers' manager Leo Durocher and several players.

On one occasion, Chester influenced the events of a game, and almost its outcome.

With Dodgers' pitcher Whitlow Wyatt holding a big lead, Chester dropped a folded note onto the outfield grass and yelled to Pete Reiser, "Give that to Leo!"

Reiser picked up the paper, and at the end of the inning, ran in from the outfield, exchanging brief greetings with general manager Larry MacPhail, who was sitting next to the dugout.

Reiser then gave the note to Durocher.

It said that Wyatt was getting tired, and that Hugh Casey should start to warm up in the bullpen.

When Wyatt gave up a hit in the next half-inning, Durocher promptly replaced him with Casey, who was then hit very hard.

The Dodgers held on to win, but in the clubhouse afterward, Durocher was livid, yelling at Reiser, "Don't you ever give me another note from MacPhail as long as you play for me!"

Reiser answered that the note wasn't from MacPhail, it was from Hilda.

It was one of the few times Durocher was at a loss for words.

Chester occasionally accompanied the Dodgers on short road trips.

In Philadelphia, one of her counterparts for the Phillies started to yell at and berate Dixie Walker, calling him a has-been.

"You're all through!"

yelled the Phillies' fan.

Chester quieted him with one comment.

"Oh, yeah?"

she yelled back.

"Look where he is, and look where you are!"

Of all the Dodgers' players and managers, Chester was partial to Durocher because he had led the visit to the hospital when she had her heart attack in 1941.

In 1943, Chester was given a silver bracelet from the Dodgers, with her first name on the band, and a small dangling silver baseball.

On June 9, 1945, Durocher had enlisted Joseph Moore, a special policeman at the game, to get Christian from his seat, and the three met under the stands.

Christian wound up with a broken jaw, and Durocher was accused of using brass knuckles to beat him up.

Chester testified that Durocher had come to her aid and was defending her honor because Christian had been calling her names, including "cocksucker," and "usin' langwidge that shocked the ladies."

In 1946, Chester was called as a defense witness for Durocher, who was on trial for assault.

The previous year, a fan named John Christian had been heckling the Dodgers' players from the Ebbets Field grandstand many times over several weeks.

After two days of testimony from several witnesses, including Durocher, who testified in his own defense, the jury deliberated 38 minutes and both Durocher and Moore were acquitted on April 25, 1946.