Morganna

Morganna Roberts (born July 4, 1947 ) is an entertainer who became known as Morganna or Morganna, the Kissing Bandit in baseball and other sports from 1969 through 1999.

Her on-field career began in August, 1969 when, dared by a friend, she rushed onto Crosley Field in Cincinnati and kissed Reds player Pete Rose.

Rose reacted with vulgar language but the following night he tracked her down and apologized with an offering of flowers.

She obtained the nickname "the Kissing Bandit" from a Cincinnati sportswriter who announced her arrival with the headline: "Bandit steals kiss from Pete Rose."

Over the following years, Morganna became a familiar sight at baseball fields, basketball courts, and hockey rinks.

She was also billed as "Morganna the Wild One" when appearing as a dancer in the 1980s.

Morganna rushed the field on many occasions and kissed Major League Baseball players including Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, George Brett (twice), Steve Garvey, Len Barker and Cal Ripken Jr.. She has been described as "baseball's unofficial mascot" and "the grand dame of baseball".

She also crashed National Basketball Association games, where Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was one of her most notable victims.

Morganna Roberts was born in Louisville, Kentucky.

She was a baseball fan from a young age, as her grandfather took her to see the Louisville team.

She grew up in a poor family; her mother Jane disowned Morganna as a baby, which led to her grandmother Virginia's taking care of Morganna for six years.

Morganna was then sent to Mount Mercy Catholic Boarding School just outside Louisville.

She initially wanted to be a nun but ran away from the school at age 13, hitchhiking with a friend to Baltimore, where she begged shop owners for a job while living on the street and eating out of garbage cans.

She was unable to find work because she was too young to get a work permit.

After a month, Morganna came across an ad in the window of the Flamingo Club for a "Cigarette Girl or Camera Girl. Must be 18".

She told the owner she was 18, but he believed she would find greater success as an exotic dancer.

Morganna, unfamiliar with the term, thought "it had something to do with a camel and veils" and agreed.

Her first stage appearance went poorly; she encountered difficulty walking in high heels, and as she danced, the men in the audience kept shouting "Take it off".

She believed they were heckling to have her removed from the stage, burst into tears and had to be led off by the manager.

After watching the other performers, however, she learned quickly and became a popular and successful exotic dancer by the time she was 17.

Her act combined stripping with comedy, wearing two 10 gallon cowboy hats on her breasts and impersonating the film critic Gene Shalit.

She avoided singing, however, explaining "when I sing, people think the place is being raided."

She attracted particular attention for her mature figure, particularly her large breasts.

She gave her measurements as 60 - 23 -, which she referred to as her "baseball stats".

She frequently quipped that Dolly Parton was "flat-chested" compared to her.

According to Morganna, by the time she was 12 she could pass for 18.

She had to wear I cup bras, costing $50 each and custom-made by a firm in Columbus, Ohio: "People ask me where I get my bras and I always tell them the same people who make my bras made the domes for all the stadiums."

She also maintained her strength via aerobics classes to accommodate the weight of her breasts, which she called her "stage props."

Nonetheless, she insisted: "I'm not a sex symbol. I'm a comedienne. I make folks smile. I make them laugh – and that makes my day. What are we here for, if not that?"

By 1990, she had kissed 37 Major League Baseball players, 12 National Basketball Association players, and dozens of minor league baseball, basketball, and hockey players, plus various umpires, managers, and owners, and, on one occasion, The San Diego Chicken.

She confined herself to kissing them on the cheek, commenting: "It's more sanitary than the lips, and that way their wives don't get upset. Besides, who wants tobacco stains all over your teeth?"

On one occasion, three weeks after Morganna had kissed George Brett during a Baltimore Orioles game, Brett marched onto the stage during Morganna's performance and, to the cheers of the crowd, gave her a kiss.

Most players enjoyed the running joke; Kelly Tripucka of the Detroit Pistons commented, "It was like hugging a mattress. When I saw her coming at me, I thought it was like a Mack truck. I had two options – either get hit or get out of the way. I decided to get hit."

Her pastime was not without its hazards, however; she was beaten by security guards in Cincinnati, suffered various injuries jumping from stands onto playing fields, and was hit by a pitch in Milwaukee.

She was arrested and charged with trespassing nearly 20 times and was jailed briefly in Anaheim, California.

She also stood trial in Houston, Texas, where her lawyer used what he called the "gravity defense" to explain her unauthorized presence on the field, arguing: "This woman with a 112 lb body and 15 lb chest leaned over the rail to see a foul ball. Gravity took its toll, she fell out on the field, and the rest is history."

The judge laughed and dismissed the case.

Despite the arrests and fines, her fame earned Morganna millions of dollars.

Morganna's involvement with baseball extended to being the star of her own set of bubblegum cards and becoming the part-owner of a minor league club, the Utica Blue Sox.

On one occasion she gave them a pep talk when they were down 15–7 and in last place; they went on to win 40 of the next 54 games.