This is damn interesting.

It all started with a hat, a straw boater, to be precise,

with a flat, round brim and brightly colored ribbon tied around the crown.

Originally popularized by gondoliers in Venice, this jaunty

accessory had reached the height of American couture by the turn of the 20th century. The boder

became not just a style, but a closet staple, worn by everyone from politicians to athletes,

at least between the months of May and September.

Fashion of the era adhered to strict seasonal rules,

and just as women could be shunned for wearing white after Labor Day,

any man seen wearing a boater passed some ill-defined moment in late September

was liable to suffer the disdain of his more fastidious friends.

So it made perfect sense when,

in September of 1905, George Rue Baudel set out to smash the straw hat of his friend Andy Coakley. At the time, both men were professional baseball players for the Philadelphia athletics, and they were

traveling home by train with the rest of the team after a disappointing loss to the Boston

Americans, who would eventually be known as the Red Sox. Waddell wasn't especially concerned

with hat etiquette. He was just an oafish, playful man who would take any excuse for a physical

prank.

Coakley, however, was understandably irritated by the assault, and he swung his heavy suitcase at Waddell in self-defense, striking him in the left shoulder.

Or perhaps, as some reporters heard it, Coakley closed the train door to keep Waddell out, and Waddell slammed

his shoulder against it repeatedly, trying to break through.

Possibly the blundering Rube simply slipped and fell all on his own.

Most agreed it had happened at the station in Providence, Rhode Island, but maybe it was

...