Mathews Sues Cruise Line

Hall of Fame slugger Eddie Mathews is suing Carnival Cruise lines, saying he is permanently disabled from an accident 13 months ago while on a Caribbean trip.

Mathews’ lawsuit said he and his wife of 16 years, Judith, took a seven-day cruise in December 1996 to Grand Cayman.

On Dec. 5, 1996, with the ship anchored off Cayman, crews began to transport passengers to the island via a tender boat called the Carab Countess. The trouble occurred at dockside.

As Mathews, then 65, stepped from the tender to the pier, the boat lurched away, sending Mathews between the boat and the concrete pier.

“The pilot and his crew neglected to untie the rear of the tender boat, which caused the boat to head back toward Eddie Mathews and the pier, crushing him again and again between the concrete pier and the boat,” according to the suit.

Mathews, who played third base for the Braves as they moved from Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta, hit 512 homers, one of only a dozen big-leaguers to do so.