1939-10-08 The Diamond Murders (Murder in the Ball Park)

Broadcast October 8th 1939 on Mutual at 5:30 p.m. EST sponsored by D.L. & W. Coal Company "Blue Coal" and syndicated for the summer by Goodrich Tires

This episode is included in Radio Spirits CD Set The Shadow: Evil Lurks

Written by: Jerry Devine

Announcer: Ken Roberts

Cast: Bill Johnstone (Lamont Cranston/The Shadow) Marjorie Anderson (Margot Lane)

Music: Elsie Thompson

Synopsis:

Three pitchers have been murdered in the past two weeks and each of the crimes was committed when the lights went out in the middle of the ballgame. Lamont, Margot and Commissioner Weston quickly discover the deaths were electrocutions — because of a metal plate hidden on the pitcher’s mound that sent electricity through the steel spikes of the players’ shoes. The Shadow phones Commissioner Weston to arrange a re-enactment of the crimes. Bogo, the hunchbacked bat boy, wanted to be a great baseball player his entire life but couldn’t because of his handicap. Transferring his desire to kill, with Pixey Parker his next intended victim, Bogo committed the murders in the belief that any other pitcher might outdo his own fame. When the re-enactment exposes Bogo, he attempts to escape but Parker pitches a baseball that hits the killer in the head, knocking him out.

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Note:

The script for this episode was published in Sanctum Reprint #121 - Hidden Death & The Shadow Meets The Mask