Robert Szasz
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Robert Szasz, also known as The Happy Heckler, is a real estate developer and a well-known heckler at Tampa Bay Rays baseball games.
A native of Toronto, Ontario, Szasz relocated to Florida in 1984 and now resides in Clearwater, Florida. He holds season tickets for the Rays, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and sits in the club seats behind home plate at Tropicana Field during Rays games.[1] He picks one player from the opposing team to insult during a game or series. He waits until the player steps into the batter's box, and then he lets fly with a barrage of insults regarding the player's playing ability. His voice is so loud that it is often heard on television broadcasts of the game.
Szasz's heckling has visibly rattled players on multiple occasions. He once heckled the Mariners' Bret Boone so viciously that when Boone struck out, he threw down his batting helmet and started yelling back at Szasz. In another instance, outfielder Jose Guillen offered Szasz an autographed baseball bat if he would stop heckling him in a game. Szasz says he doesn't heckle with profanity, nor does he insult a player about a personal thing such as weight or height. He says he tries to only heckle a player on their baseball ability. Although extremely rare, Szasz has also heckled opposing pitchers.
Szasz has become a controversial figure. There are many fans and television viewers that complain about his loudness and abrasiveness, and there are others that enjoy his heckling. Still, he has become one of the more famous fans in baseball history, and is known throughout the American League. He has written a book entitled, The Happy Heckler (ISBN 1419610481).
Since January 2009, banks have filed five lawsuits saying he has stopped paying on more than $9 million in loans that he personally signed for. Wachovia Bank has served notice that it intends to foreclose on his 7,000-square-foot waterfront home on Snell Isle, which carries a $3.1 million mortgage.[2]
References
- ^ When shown occasionally on camera during games, he is located in Section 101, Row D, Seat 1. Example, Florida Marlins @ Tampa Bay Rays, Marlins broadcast on FSN Florida, 2008-06-13
- ^ Bank gives Tampa Bay Rays' high-profile heckler a Bronx cheer - St. Petersburg Times
See also
External links