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KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL!!!!

I saw something tonight I have never seen in the hundreds of hours of BP I've seen over my life. I saw a fan, standing in the front row of the bleachers and paying absolutely no attention to what's going on on the field, get drilled right in the forehead by a homer. It was quite horrific to watch, but amazingly it not only didn't knock the guy out cold, but it barely even fazed him. He started looking around like "What in the heck just happened?" It wasn' tlong before a sizeable knot started forming above his left eye, and eventually it did start bleeding. The usher came down to escort him to first aid.....

You can't sit in the line of fire and not pay attention! I was hit in the stomach by a Jose Cruz, Sr. fungo before, but I'm watching the guys in the cage, not the stupid coaches who are supposed to be hitting balls to their own players. I can not believe stuff like that doesn't happen more often, though, because I see several close calls every game where balls are hit by people not paying the least bit of attention.....

lb13

I finally got to go to my first professional baseball game this past weekend. Angels vs. Rangers... Of course the Rangers kind of stunk, but it was cool watching the starting pitcher for the Angels. I used to teach with his mom at the middle school.

Anyway, one of the first things my students told me was to make sure not to get pinged by a ball.

My friend and I walk into the stadium to our seats. No sooner than we were about to sit down, a foul ball headed our way. The kid in front of me was... well no good term to put here... he tried to catch the ball bare-handed. Needless to say, after the shock wore off, he started crying. The guy who wound up with the ball gave it to the boy when he got back to his seat.

I thought that was cool.

I see several close calls every game where balls are hit by people not paying the least bit of attention.....

yup that sounds like cards players

littlebeast13 wrote:KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL!!!!

I saw something tonight I have never seen in the hundreds of hours of BP I've seen over my life. I saw a fan, standing in the front row of the bleachers and paying absolutely no attention to what's going on on the field, get drilled right in the forehead by a homer. It was quite horrific to watch, but amazingly it not only didn't knock the guy out cold, but it barely even fazed him. He started looking around like "What in the heck just happened?" It wasn' tlong before a sizeable knot started forming above his left eye, and eventually it did start bleeding. The usher came down to escort him to first aid.....

You can't sit in the line of fire and not pay attention! I was hit in the stomach by a Jose Cruz, Sr. fungo before, but I'm watching the guys in the cage, not the stupid coaches who are supposed to be hitting balls to their own players. I can not believe stuff like that doesn't happen more often, though, because I see several close calls every game where balls are hit by people not paying the least bit of attention.....

lb13

Did he get to keep the ball?

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:

littlebeast13 wrote:KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL!!!!

I saw something tonight I have never seen in the hundreds of hours of BP I've seen over my life. I saw a fan, standing in the front row of the bleachers and paying absolutely no attention to what's going on on the field, get drilled right in the forehead by a homer. It was quite horrific to watch, but amazingly it not only didn't knock the guy out cold, but it barely even fazed him. He started looking around like "What in the heck just happened?" It wasn' tlong before a sizeable knot started forming above his left eye, and eventually it did start bleeding. The usher came down to escort him to first aid.....

You can't sit in the line of fire and not pay attention! I was hit in the stomach by a Jose Cruz, Sr. fungo before, but I'm watching the guys in the cage, not the stupid coaches who are supposed to be hitting balls to their own players. I can not believe stuff like that doesn't happen more often, though, because I see several close calls every game where balls are hit by people not paying the least bit of attention.....

lb13

Did he get to keep the ball?

keep the ball he didnt even see the ball he got to keep the knot

ulysses5019 wrote:

I see several close calls every game where balls are hit by people not paying the least bit of attention.....

yup that sounds like cards players

They were playing the Memphis Redbirds lineup tonight..... and Arizona still couldn't beat them....

Nick Stavinoha makes Manny Ramirez look like a defensive wizard in left field.....

lb13

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:

littlebeast13 wrote:KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL!!!!

I saw something tonight I have never seen in the hundreds of hours of BP I've seen over my life. I saw a fan, standing in the front row of the bleachers and paying absolutely no attention to what's going on on the field, get drilled right in the forehead by a homer. It was quite horrific to watch, but amazingly it not only didn't knock the guy out cold, but it barely even fazed him. He started looking around like "What in the heck just happened?" It wasn' tlong before a sizeable knot started forming above his left eye, and eventually it did start bleeding. The usher came down to escort him to first aid.....

You can't sit in the line of fire and not pay attention! I was hit in the stomach by a Jose Cruz, Sr. fungo before, but I'm watching the guys in the cage, not the stupid coaches who are supposed to be hitting balls to their own players. I can not believe stuff like that doesn't happen more often, though, because I see several close calls every game where balls are hit by people not paying the least bit of attention.....

lb13

Did he get to keep the ball?

No, whoever got it after it bounced off his head kept it.....

Unless it bounced back on the field. I can't really remember where the ball ricocheted since I was so shocked at seeing a guy get whacked in the melon with a fly ball....

lb13

I went to a hocky game from my friend Cindy a few years ago. I told the contractor who was working on my house that I was going to a hockey game and he told me to be careful because people in the stands often get hit by errant pucks.

I thought he was kidding.

Sure enough, somebody in the audience got hit in the head by an errant puck and had to be taken to the hospital.

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:I went to a hocky game from my friend Cindy a few years ago. I told the contractor who was working on my house that I was going to a hockey game and he told me to be careful because people in the stands often get hit by errant pucks.

I thought he was kidding.

Sure enough, somebody in the audience got hit in the head by an errant puck and had to be taken to the hospital.

A little girl was killed by a errant puck about 6 years ago, in Carolina I think. The NHL put up nets in the area around the goals after that.....

I don't think anyone has ever been killed by a baseball at a game before.... well, other than poor Ray Chapman.....

lb13

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:I went to a hocky game from my friend Cindy a few years ago. I told the contractor who was working on my house that I was going to a hockey game and he told me to be careful because people in the stands often get hit by errant pucks.

I thought he was kidding.

Sure enough, somebody in the audience got hit in the head by an errant puck and had to be taken to the hospital.

channelling frogman they shoulda got the puck outta there

littlebeast13 wrote:

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:I went to a hocky game from my friend Cindy a few years ago. I told the contractor who was working on my house that I was going to a hockey game and he told me to be careful because people in the stands often get hit by errant pucks.

I thought he was kidding.

Sure enough, somebody in the audience got hit in the head by an errant puck and had to be taken to the hospital.

A little girl was killed by a errant puck about 6 years ago, in Carolina I think. The NHL put up nets in the area around the goals after that.....

I don't think anyone has ever been killed by a baseball at a game before.... well, other than poor Ray Chapman.....

lb13

and in case anyone asks he played for the cleveland indians

littlebeast13 wrote: A little girl was killed by a errant puck about 6 years ago, in Carolina I think.

In Columbus, actually.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittanie_Cecil

TheConfessor wrote:

littlebeast13 wrote: A little girl was killed by a errant puck about 6 years ago, in Carolina I think.

In Columbus, actually.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittanie_Cecil

I'd have sworn it was a Carolina player who hit the puck.

Shows how well I follow hockey. I just remember I wound up getting tickets from my aunt for 2 games in the 2002-03 season (2 of the 4 NHL games I've ever seen in my life), seeing those nets, and praying that the day would never come when MLB decided to do something like that......

lb13

former major leaguer Mike Coolbaugh was killed in 2006 after being hit by a baseball at the top of the back of the neck, while coaching first-base for the AAA level Tulsa Drillers. The vertebral artery, which runs upwards on both sides through bone to form the mid-line basilar artery along the brain stem, was immediately ruptured, and brain stem compression killed him.

Minor league coaches are now wearing helmets, but those helmets will not protect against this kind of injury, although they will protect against balls off the noggin.

The same mechanism killed the girl in Columbus, but it was a tear in the artery which progressed to rupture three days later.

The greatest danger to fans in stadiums is... the stadiums themselves. Plus or minus fan behaviour. It is even possible for an athletic young father to be tripped up and fall from an escalator at Shea, fatally; it happened just this year.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3349003

Can't believe I forgot about Coolbaugh.... though I was only thinking of Major League events. Given the number of minor league and amateur games that take place every year, it's even more amazing the lack of serious injuries and fatalities from flying baseballs....

lb13

We had front-row seats for a minor league game back in '96, and a foul ball was rolling on the ground and out of sight because of the wall, but then it hit the rolled-up tarp and whacked me in the thigh. Rain Man had been standing in front of me, and being only 16 months old at the time, his head was at the level of my thigh. If that ball had been 6 inches farther forward...I don't want to think about it. It came out of nowhere! I had this huge honking bruise that clotted and I had to use a heat pad to get it to break up. It lasted for more than a month.

The Carp wrote:We had front-row seats for a minor league game back in '96, and a foul ball was rolling on the ground and out of sight because of the wall, but then it hit the rolled-up tarp and whacked me in the thigh. Rain Man had been standing in front of me, and being only 16 months old at the time, his head was at the level of my thigh. If that ball had been 6 inches farther forward...I don't want to think about it. It came out of nowhere! I had this huge honking bruise that clotted and I had to use a heat pad to get it to break up. It lasted for more than a month.

I never ceased to be amazed at the parents who will intentionally put their little kids in the line of fire in an attempt to get them a souvenir. A 6 year old with a little T Ball glove dosn't stand a chance if a screaming liner comes right at them.....

That's where we professionals come in......

lb13

littlebeast13 wrote:KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL!!!!

I saw something tonight I have never seen in the hundreds of hours of BP I've seen over my life. I saw a fan, standing in the front row of the bleachers and paying absolutely no attention to what's going on on the field, get drilled right in the forehead by a homer...
lb13

LOL, this very nearly happened to me once!

I took my kids to the very first game played at Citizens Bank Park (an exhibition vs. Cleveland). Of course we arrived early to take in BP, and to become among the first handful of fans ever allowed in the building.

So we immediately make our way to the front row in right field, with the Phils already hitting. I turned my back to the field for at most three or four seconds to take off my backpack and put it down... and suddenly I hear the usher say "heads up!" I turn back towards the field -- and a ball thuds into the seat right NEXT to me, ending up at my feet.

I was a little bummed at not having the chance to actually catch the ball (not a single one came anywhere near me after that). But at least I still have it on display at home.

Back in the late eighties I saw Dan Pasqua line a ball line a ball off a woman's head in batting practice. She was located down the first base side just beyond the Yankee's dugout, she got hit square in the head, loads of blood! EMTs came and helped her out, her husband/boyfriend walked behind her holding the "errant" ball way above his head like it was a trophy.

I don't remember when they were erected, but there are now protective nets put up for batting practice.

I'm glad that my seats are up where few balls ever travel (only one ball in eleven years of sitting there), you don't have to always be paying attention. Who knows where they'll be sitting me next year.

traininvain wrote:I don't remember when they were erected, but there are now protective nets put up for batting practice.

Blocking off the stands down the lines?

That's downright unAmerican! And to think they were celebrating Yankee Stadium as one of the most venerable ballparks in baseball.....

lb13

littlebeast13 wrote:

traininvain wrote:I don't remember when they were erected, but there are now protective nets put up for batting practice.

Blocking off the stands down the lines?

That's downright unAmerican! And to think they were celebrating Yankee Stadium as one of the most venerable ballparks in baseball.....

lb13

In batting practice most fans hang out further down by the foul poles anyway.

Plus, I'm sure that it lowered their insurance payments.

traininvain wrote:

littlebeast13 wrote:

traininvain wrote:I don't remember when they were erected, but there are now protective nets put up for batting practice.

Blocking off the stands down the lines?

That's downright unAmerican! And to think they were celebrating Yankee Stadium as one of the most venerable ballparks in baseball.....

lb13

In batting practice most fans hang out further down by the foul poles anyway.

Plus, I'm sure that it lowered their insurance payments.

You mean the fair poles?

My mom's minister got hit in the cheek bone with a line drive at the Marlins about 5 years ago. One of the parishioners said it was God punishing him for being at a secular activity. Go figure. Like God doesn't have more important things to do.

He shattered the cheekbone but fortunately it didn't hurt his vision. (He got the ball)