# "They're not booing, they're saying 'Bruce'."
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [October 8, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132 "2012-10-08T21:01:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/21 "2012-10-09T03:33:40Z")
Obviously not the answer, but I’ve got to show some love for Atlanta Braves catcher [Bruce Benedict](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Benedict).
Atlanta fans always greeted him with a resounding _BRUUUUUUUUCE!_ when he came to the plate. He was a pretty good defensive catcher & a fan favorite in spite of his light hitting.
I was actually at the game when he hit a grand slam off Fernando Valenzuela. You would have thought we had won the World Series from the way the crowd reacted.
🙂
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### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/22 "2012-10-09T03:33:49Z")
Huh… I did a cursory google search and whaddya know was the second result? [A thread from this year, on this very board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651200).
(To be clear, I’m not disparaging you for not searching, just throwing it out there for more data points)
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### Author:  [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2012, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/23 "2012-10-09T11:41:17Z")
I’ve been looking at Game 7 of that '82 Series, and when Bruce Sutter got up to warm up in the 'pen, the Busch crowd would be saying “Bruce” or “Sut” or what have you, IIRC.
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/24 "2012-10-09T15:19:49Z")
1332 B.C. Tutankhaman
“Tooooooooooot!!”
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/25 "2012-10-09T15:25:45Z")
1754 B.C. Mesopotamia: “Enkidooooooooo!”
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### Author:  [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/26 "2012-10-09T16:28:15Z")
> [@Jragon](#):
>
> Huh… I did a cursory google search and whaddya know was the second result? [A thread from this year, on this very board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651200).
>
> (To be clear, I’m not disparaging you for not searching, just throwing it out there for more data points)
I was gonna say, when I started this exact same thread a little while ago, the best answer seeemed to be Bill “Moose” Skowron. His MLB career started in 1954 while Boog Powell’s started in 1961, so it’s reasonable to assume the “Moooose” chant may have been the first.
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### Author:  [@MentalGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MentalGuy)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/27 "2012-10-09T20:02:59Z")
On David Letterman’s NBC show, whenever a joke got booed (usually because the audience thought it was in bad taste), Dave would say “they’re not booing, they’re chanting ‘Dave.’”
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### Author:  [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/28 "2012-10-09T20:36:18Z")
Philadelphia Flyers, early seventies, Andre “Mooooooooooose” DuPont.
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### Author:  [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/29 "2012-10-09T20:43:25Z")
> [@astorian](#):
>
> Well, I know Yankee announcers Frank Messer and Bill White used that line about Lou Piniella all through the late Seventies. That predates Kell, but I’m sure other announcers were saying it before them.
My first recollection of the explanation dates to when Piniella was with the Royals, and Harry Jones said on a local Cleveland broadcast of an Indians’ game from Kansas City that "those are not boos, they’re saying “Looooooou!” A check of [this page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cleveland_Indians_broadcasters) and [Piniella’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Piniella) establishes the time frame as somewhere between 1969 and '73 – and I’d guess '70 or '71, as I’m pretty sure Dave Martin was Harry’s partner and that the game was thus at the old Municipal Stadium in KC.
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### Author:  [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/30 "2012-10-09T21:11:51Z")
4000 BC, Sumeria. “Brewwwwwwwwwww!!!”
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### Author:  [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/31 "2012-10-09T23:42:18Z")
One of my favorite baseball players: Steve Buechele.
Or should I say: “Now batting… Steve Booooooooooo Chellllle!”
Stupid Rangers, I hated when Beuchele left and they brought up Dean Palmer. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Sin\_Serially](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sin_Serially)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2012, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/32 "2012-10-10T06:18:09Z")
Deuce McAllister’s “Duuuueeece” sounds a lot like like a boo.
Just saying.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/33 "2012-10-10T07:00:16Z")
> [@Manduck](#):
>
> Philadelphia Flyers, early seventies, Andre “Mooooooooooose” DuPont.
Moooooooooose! Damn I loved those Bullies. Too bad the NHL was bought out by the Ice Capades a few years later.
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### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/34 "2012-10-10T17:25:10Z")
And then there’s [Johnnie LeMaster](http://22gigantes.com/2011/09/where-is-johnnie-lemaster.html), who really was being booed, and did something memorable about it.
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/35 "2012-10-10T18:17:17Z")
OP, you were just thinking about this because of Jay Bruce, weren’t you?
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### Author:  [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/36 "2012-10-10T18:52:23Z")
Steve Smith, every time he touched the puck in Calgary after the 1986 playoffs. [SHOOOOT!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DbP7wqCwq8)
Oddly enough even when he played for the Flames for a couple of seasons.
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### Author:  [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/37 "2012-10-11T03:01:43Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#):
>
> OP, you were just thinking about this because of Jay Bruce, weren’t you?
That’s who sparked the question, yes.
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### Author:  [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2012, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/38 "2012-10-11T07:48:04Z")
I wish I remembered the details of this story. Years ago I watched a ballgame on TV with one of those players with the “OO” sound in his name. Let’s call him Bruce. The guy made a bad play in the field, and the announcer said, “They’re not saying, ‘Bruce.’ They’re just booing. . . I’ve always wanted to say that.”
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/39 "2012-10-11T20:36:15Z")
Royals fans are now cheering “Moose” for Mike Moustakas.
Jeff Francoeur, though, they’re genuinely booing.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-booing-theyre-saying-bruce/637132/40 "2012-10-12T00:14:26Z")
I remember watching Goose Gossage stink up the joint when he was with the Cubs. Harry Caray tried to say that the crowd wasn’t booing, they were saying “Gooooooose!” Nice try, Harry.
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