History Main / TakeMeOutAtTheBallGame

* Tex Avery's "Batty Baseball" has a fan in the crowd yelling "Kill the umpire!" quite forcefully, and off-screen his request is granted. At the end of the cartoon, the catcher who keeps creeping up past the batter to catch a pitch as the batter swings and misses fatally suffers an off-screen fate as the camera zooms in on the batter, whose swing bashes the catcher in the head. (Catcher's sign as he floats to heaven: "Sad ending, isn't it?")

* ''VideoGame/CriminalCase'': The penultimate case of ''[[VideoGame/CriminalCaseWorldEdition World Edition]]'' involves investigating the assassination of [[spoiler:the Canadian Prime Minister]] during an exhibition hockey match between Canada and the UK in Montreal.

* One of the first chapters of ''Manga/CityHunter'' involves Ryo shooting a boxer during a match. Notable as it's one of the very rare cases where Ryo kills a target.
* Three episodes of ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' and one movie feature crimes that take place at sports events.

* In an episode of ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', while Al is in the the middle of a [[EscalatingWar prank war]] with his neighbor Jefferson, (who is frequently implied to be [[RetiredBadass a former CIA spy]]) a man comes up to Al and tries to convince him that Jefferson is dangerous and is actually spying on the United States. Furthermore, the man offers Al a large sum of money as a reward for any information on Jefferson. After Al spends most of the episode freaking out about this, Jefferson claims that the whole thing was [[ParanoiaGambit his latest prank on Al]], and the guy is an old friend of Jefferson's. Al is relieved and accepts this, but the episode ends with Jefferson watching a baseball game where the guy who offered Al the money suddenly dies under mysterious circumstances, and all the while Jefferson's expression might as well say [[Manga/DeathNote "Just as planned."]]

* In ''Literature/TriggerMortis'', James Bond is tasked with preventing the death of famed British racing driver Lancy Smith during a race at the Nürburgring. In the unpublished Creator/IanFleming manuscript on which the novel was partiallly based, the driver 007 was asked to protect was real life racing legend Stirling Moss.

* There are numerous sports-themed slasher films, such as ''Film/TheCatcher'', ''Film/{{Gutterballs}}'', ''Devon's Ghost: Legend of the Bloody Boy'', ''The Night of the Dribbler'' and ''The Greenskeeper''.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': In #2, the Earl of Greed attempts to kill Wonder Woman during a baseball game by having one of his agents pitch and an exploding ball at her.

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[folder:{{Film}}]]

* A variation comes at the end of ''Experiment in Terror'', where it's the bad guy who gets shot and killed by cops on a ballfield immediately after a game.

** A man dies after winning a million dollars via a basketball shot.
** Another is killed in the parking lot of a MLB game.
** Yet another victim dies during a roller derby match.
** And another while running the Big Apple Marathon.
** One more, a driver in a Formula One exhibition race.

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[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TheNakedGun https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tmoatbg.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[CreepyMonotone "I must kill the queen."]]]]

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%%Commented out examples are zero-context examples. Please do not re-add them without adding context.

* One of the first chapters of ''Manga/CityHunter'' involves Ryo shooting a boxer during a match. Notable as it's one of the very rare cases where Ryo kills a target.
* This is the entire plot of the second Izaya Orihara spin-off light novel of ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. As payment for a job, Izaya is given several baseball tickets and he decides to bring along Himari, Haruto, Sozoro and Nec. While the game is going, one of the guards is found murdered and everything is thrown into chaos as everyone gets involved. The entire book takes place in one night during the baseball game and involves assassins, kidnapping, hacking and attempted murder, which unsurprisingly makes Izaya a very happy man.

* In the ''[[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Paranoid]]'' comic Freddy kills a boy attending a pep rally by causing him to explode in a mess of blood when he nods off.
* The infamous ''[[Creator/ECComics Haunt of Fear]]'' story "Foul Play!" has a dirty baseball player kill a member of the opposing team by spiking him with poisoned shoe spikes. The victim's team takes a [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/foulplay5.jpg memorably gory revenge]]-- so much so that this was one of the stories specifically cited by [[MoralGuardians Fredric Wertham]] in his book ''Seduction of the Innocent'' (which would ultimately lead to Senate hearings and UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode).

* A one-shot ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' villain called the Sportsman was murdering famous athletes. One of them was an ice hockey player he murdered on the rink during a game by throwing him an exploding basketball.

* In ''Film/TheNakedGun'', the Queen is going to be assassinated at a Angels/Mariners game, but Drebin and company save her in time. Rather than dispatching an ordinary hit man that the Police Squad was already on the lookout for, the villain uses mind control to make Reggie Jackson commit the deed.
* ''Film/ShadowOfTheThinMan''. Although it's with a horse race. Nick and Nora Charles are looking forward to a relaxing day at a racetrack, but when a jockey accused of throwing a race is found shot to death, Police Lieutenant Abrams requests Nick's help.
* ''Film/ThePinkPanther2006'' has the owner of the titular gem being killed at a soccer game.
* In the film ''Film/{{Ronin}}'', [[spoiler:Gregor]], while doing a money-for-''MacGuffin''-type trade, tries to buy security against a double-cross by having an accomplice threaten the figure-skating girlfriend of the Russian mobster he is making the switch with. [[spoiler:The Russian lets her die anyway, kills Gregor, and keeps the case.]]

* ''Murder at the World Series'', a 1977 made-for-TV film.
* The movie ''Two Minute Warning'' involves a sniper at a Super Bowl-like football championship game.

* A boy is cut in half with a chainsaw just outside a baseball field in Film/TruthOrDareACriticalMadness.
* There are numerous sports-themed slasher films, such as ''The Catcher, Film/{{Gutterballs}}, Devon's Ghost: Legend of the Bloody Boy'', ''The Night of the Dribbler'' and ''The Greenskeeper''.
* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', when Bane takes over Gotham, he and his men announce their takeover by blowing up the bridges and the underground tunnels, trapping Gotham's police underground and cutting Gotham off from the outside world. He started his plan during a pro football game. Just after kickoff at the top of the first quarter, Bane and his men hit their detonators, causing not just the aforementioned explosions, but also causing the ''entire playing field'' to implode, swallowing all but one of the players (the exception being the kick returner, who manages to make it to the endzone intact). Bane and his men march onto the field, where Bane presents the nuclear reactor bomb, and "interviews" Dr. Pavel on live TV for the crowd of 60,000 to watch. After getting Dr. Pavel to admit that only he knows how to disarm the bomb, Bane snaps his neck.
* In ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'', the terrorists claim they want John [=McClane=] to go to Yankee Stadium to collect a clue to stop the bomb that will blow up a school. In truth, there is a sniper at the stadium who will shoot him if he shows up. (Zeus appears at the stadium, but given the orders were to kill both, he lives)
* In ''Film/IronMan2'', Whiplash makes his first appearance in Monaco, where he tries to kill Tony Stark in the midst of a Grand Prix race.

* Creator/TomClancy's ''Literature/TheSumOfAllFears'' has terrorists bringing a nuclear weapon to the Super Bowl. In [[Film/TheSumOfAllFears the movie adaptation]] the President of the United States is also at the game (which is never referred to by name as "the Super Bowl", due to [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope another trope]]). Part of Elizabeth Elliot's nervous breakdown was due to her thinking that the attack on the stadium was specifically targeting her and President Fowler, further escalating an already tense situation beyond the machinations of the antagonists.
* There was a series of crime novels that literally was based entirely on this trope, titles included ''Bleeding Dodger Blue'', ''Tigers Burning'', ''Fear in Fenway'' and ''Murder in Wrigley Field''.
* Dick Francis' novel ''Nerve'' begins with a jockey shooting himself in front of a big racing audience.

* The [[Literature/{{Spenser}} Robert B. Parker]] novel ''Double Play'' is a fictional account of a man hired to be a bodyguard to Jackie Robinson as he breaks major-league baseball's color barrier. The main concern is that Jackie will be attacked on the field by racists trying to send a message, and the bodyguard does end up killing a would-be assassin during a game in the middle of a packed stadium.

* In ''Series/{{Grimm}}'', someone gets murdered by a [[BeeBeeGun Mellifer]] in the middle of a flash mob.
* In the ''Series/BurkesLaw'' episode "Who Killed the Man on the White Horse?", a cowboy star falls off his horse at a rodeo, dead of a broken neck -- sustained ''before'' he went out into the arena.
* ''Series/{{Underbelly}}'' centering on the Melbourne gangland war does indeed center as one of the episodes the execution of Jason Moran. In a move that shocked Australia drug kingpin Carl Williams ordered he be murdered in front of his children at a Auskick (preteen football coaching and games) clinic.

* ''Series/{{Cannon}}'': In "Scream of Silence", a gang of kidnappers attempt to abduct a boy who has temporarily been struck mute at a ball game, so they can eliminate him before he regains his voice and can identify them.
* An episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' has homegrown terrorists setting off a bomb at a Little League game. Fortunately, Team Gibbs has already evacuated the area surrounding the bomb, so there are no casualties.

* In the ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' mission "The Finish Line", the two targets to be eliminated are a race car driver and her father during the former's big race.
* In the web game ''VideoGame/{{Blaseball}}'', players are sometimes incinerated by rogue umpires mid-game.

* [[WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill Cotton Hill]] attempted to assassinate Fidel Castro while he was visiting New York and decided to take in an American Baseball game, a ballgame Hank wound up being born during in the women's restroom.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' involves a conspiracy to eliminate the President of the United States and replace him with a robot duplicate. By ambushing him at the Little League World Series. By signing up a little league team comprised entirely of superhuman robots ([[IdiotPlot under the names of famous dead MLB players]]) and winning the whole season.

** Yet another dies during a roller derby match.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1940'': In #2, the Earl of Greed attempts to kill Wonder Woman during a baseball game by having one of his agents pitch and an exploding ball at her.

* One episode of ''Manga/{{Golgo 13}}'' has the title character killing a star football player in the middle of a game. It's implied (but never directly stated) that the hit was ordered by the guy behind him on the depth chart.

* In the web game ''VideoGame/Blaseball,'' players are sometimes incinerated by rogue umpires mid-game.

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': A man dies after winning a million dollars via a basketball shot.

* ''Series/CSINewYork'': A man dies after winning a million dollars via a basketball shot.

* This is the entire plot of the second Izaya Orihara spin-off light novel of''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. As payment for a job, Izaya is given several baseball tickets and he decides to bring along Himari, Haruto, Sozoro and Nec. While the game is going, one of the guards is found murdered and everything is thrown into chaos as everyone gets involved. The entire book takes place in one night during the baseball game and involves assassins, kidnapping, hacking and attempted murder, which unsurprisingly makes Izaya a very happy man.

* Max Zorin and his thugs try to off Film/JamesBond during a horse race in ''Film/AViewToAKill''.

%%Commented out examples are zero-context examples. Please do not re-add them without adding context.