Line Drive Cracks Girl's Skull At Dodger Stadium

cbs knx1070 ^ | Jun 8, 2010 12:03 pm US/Pacific

[BenLurkin]

A 3-year-old girl's skull was fractured after being hit by a line drive during batting practice at Dodger Stadium.

Dodgers catcher Russell Martin was practicing 90 minutes before Monday night's game when his hit hooked into the stands near third base.

The ball hit the child with a sound that Martin said "did not sound good," and she went down. The child was rushed, limp and unconscious, from the stadium immediately after the mishap. Martin was teary and "devastated" by the accident.

A man and woman sitting near the girl carried her to an exit, where stadium medics worked on her.

[Misterioso]

This might explain why Martin did not play in the game with the Cardinals last night.

[Carley]

Prayers for the little girl.

[camp_steveo]

Hollow plastic bats and balls

Mandatory helmets for fans

No one under 12 at games
_____________________

War on Baseball?

[Born Conservative]

Not life-threatening, yet she was limp and unconscious, and she’s having surgery?

[fidelis]

Crap. If you are anywhere near the field of play you MUST stay alert at all times. At anytime you could be hit by a foul ball or a bat— splintered and unsplintered. If that’s too hard, at least don’t seat small kids in that area because you’ll have to look out for them and yourself.

May the Lord heal and comfort this child and her family, and may he grant peace to Russell Martin. Amen.

[glorgau]

But it does demonstrate the importance of paying attention to the game/action when you are close enough to the field to become part of it.

I was doing that exactly that with a seven year old girl at a minor league baseball game. It was talk, talk, talk, here comes the pitch, now you can talk talk, talk, talk. Always have to watch where the ball goes - you might get a free one!

I think she was starting to get the rhythm of the game.

[poobear]

Well, may G-d Bless you.

My life is in no way reflective of my Faith, but G-d does hear our Prayers. Thank you for reminding me of my humble Christian beginnings.

We must continue to Bless Him in our Prayers any chance we can.

[rightly_dividing]

Prayers up for little girl and batter, and families.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Prayers for the little girl...

[La Enchiladita]

Oh man, my heart sank at this news. It’s a nightmare for all involved, the last thing Russell would ever want to do. God bless this child with a complete, miraculous recovery.

Martin also did not play on Sunday. I was at the game. He sat on the top dugout step throughout, until he was called to pinch hit in the 11th. He ended up scoring the winning run.

I was surprised he didn’t catch Ely on Sunday. The word was that he was feeling “beat up.” I’m not sure when or how the decision was made last night that he would sit again.

This is agonizing. Russell, by all accounts, is the sweetest guy and especially popular with kids. That’s probably why the family came early.

[Sopater]

The last line in the story is excerpted out.

A Dodgers spokesman says the injury is not life-threatening and the girl is scheduled to be operated on Tuesday morning at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

This part is good news.

[smaug6]

This may be the case. I hope so. However my daughter was hit in the head by a line drive softball at age 6 mos. She almost died. 8 days in PICU at Baptist, WS NC and 10% brain death. She adapted to have no problems because of her youth. (Thanks to Doctor Glazier and all their staff) Head injuries of this type can easily be fatal. I pray for this one to have an outcome like ours if the injury is serious blunt trauma.

[biff]

Yeah, I know. I have three boys I owned. Now that they range up to 6’4” and 220 lbs., they own me.