Victim of 2007 Jose Offerman bat attack awarded $940,000

By Phil Watson | Aug 27, 2014

Jose Offerman, shown managing the Mexican League's Veracruz Aguila Reds during an exhibition game in Houston in March, was ordered to pay $940,000 to the former Atlantic League catcher he hit with a bat during a 2007 game. (Photo by Eric Enfermero/This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.) /

A federal jury in Bridgeport, Conn., awarded former Bridgeport Bluefish catcher John Nathans $940,000 in damages stemming from an attack in an Atlantic League game in August 2007 when he was attacked by Long Island Ducks player Jose Offerman with a bat.

Nathans had been seeking $4.8 million for the injuries he sustained when Offerman hit him in the back of the head with his bat, according to the Connecticut News.

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In a game on Aug. 14, 2007, Offerman—a long-time major leaguer—was hit by a pitch from Matt Beech and charged the mound. Nathans followed Offerman to the mound to try and protect his pitcher.

In the fight that followed, Beech sustained a broken finger on his right hand and Nathans claimed he was left permanently disabled with vertigo, headaches, nausea and other post-concussion syndrome symptoms.

The Ducks were not found to be culpable, according to the jury, which deliberated for approximately five hours before delivering the verdict.

Nathans, 35, played baseball at the University of Richmond before signing as an undrafted free agent with the Boston Red Sox in 2001. He spent four seasons in the Red Sox minor-league organization, never advancing above Double-A, and played three seasons in the Atlantic League with the Lancaster Barnstormers, Nashua Pride, Newark Bears and the Bluefish.

He never played after the attack by Offerman and is now an attorney with Norman, Hanson, DeTroy in Portland, Maine.

Offerman played 15 years in the majors with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kansas City Royals, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets from 1990-2005 and was a two-time All-Star.

He hit .273/.360/.373 in 1,651 career games and finished his career with 57 home runs, 537 RBI and 172 stolen bases. He led the American League in triples in 1998 with the Royals and 1999 with the Red Sox.

After his contract with the Mets expired after he played for their Triple-A Norfolk affiliate in 2007, Offerman signed with the Ducks. He played two more years in the Mexican League before retiring in 2009.

Offerman was involved in another on-field incident in the Dominican Republic Winter League in 2010, when he struck an umpire while managing the Licey Tigers.

He is now the manager for Veracruz Aguila Reds in the Mexican League.

Nathans initially filed suit against Offerman in February 2009.