Morganna the Kissing Bandit

Between 1969 and 1999, a burlesque dancer named Morganna Roberts ran onto the field at major league baseball games and kissed players. She did it dozens of times. She kissed Pete Rose, George Brett, Cal Ripken Jr., Nolan Ryan, Steve Garvey, Johnny Bench, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (at a basketball game). She was arrested repeatedly and became one of the most recognizable figures in American sports for nearly three decades.

Morganna was 5-foot-9 with an extremely large bust, which she claimed was entirely natural. Her dimensions became central to her most famous legal defense. In 1985, after being arrested for running onto the field at the Houston Astrodome during an Astros game, she was charged with criminal trespass. Her attorney argued that Morganna had been sitting in a front-row seat, had leaned forward to get a better view of the action, and that the weight of her chest had caused her to topple over the railing and onto the field. Gravity, not intent, was the cause.

The district attorney dropped the charges before trial.

She was never employed or paid by any team. She bought her own tickets. She chose her targets carefully, preferring stars, and she always kissed them on the cheek, never the mouth. Players had mixed reactions. Some laughed. Some were embarrassed. George Brett, after being kissed, said he wished she'd done it sooner so he could have enjoyed the game more.

Morganna retired from her kissing career in the late 1990s. She lives in the Columbus, Ohio, suburbs and makes occasional appearances at card shows and nostalgia events. Her era of baseball, the era when a fan could run onto the field, kiss a player, and receive applause instead of a tasing, is gone and will not return.