Posted on 07/07/2011 8:37:32 PM PDT by txroadkill
Edited on 07/07/2011 8:41:07 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - A fan attending the Texas Rangers game died after he fell out of the stands behind the left-field wall.
The man fell after reaching to get a ball that was tossed into the stands by Rangers left fielder Josh Hamilton.
(Excerpt) Read more at wfaa.com ...
Prayers for the immediate family. A nightmare for all involved.
” it says the guy was moved out of intensive care and is said to be stable.”
He is in Extremely Stable Condition..
The announcer laughed?? Oh goodness. It wasn’t Ralph Strangis was it??
Damned shame I feel for everyone involved.
Can’t get much more stable than dead. Not to be funny though.
This is very sad, especially for his family. That child will be traumatized for life.
Not sure who. The announcer did not know he fell until replay. Then one of the announcers laughed during slow motion of replay. Disgusting behavior in my opinion.
You are correct. That is sick.
I was watching the game as it was televised here in the Bay Area and I saw the guy fall. They did have a camera in the area where he fell and it looked like it was 20-25’ drop into an area that looked like a walkway of sorts.
Such a tragedy and all for a $7-8 baseball.
Prayers to his family and all involved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awgcLS6sFW0
We were in the same section Monday night (or maybe one section over) - 2nd row, but 1st row during BP. That gap did look pretty dangerous. Between 5 of us we got 3 baseballs, all without incident, but that gap really should have something over it.
Maybe the announcer was a big fan of “America’s Funniest Home Videos”. Nothing more hysterical than seeing people get injured. </sarc>
http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/news/story?id=6747510
Several fans, including Safawna Dunn, said paramedics quickly got to the fan and took him off in a stretcher.
“He was conscious,” Dunn said.
The visitor’s bullpen at the stadium is in left-center field. Athletics reliever Brad Ziegler was in tears after the game when he found out the man had died.
“They had him on a stretcher. He said, ‘Please check on my son. My son was up there by himself.’ The people who carried him out reassured him. ‘Sir, we’ll get your son, we’ll make sure he’s OK,’” Ziegler said. “He had his arms swinging. He talked and was conscious. We assumed he was OK. But when you find out he’s not, it’s just tough.”
That’s sad.
Imagine how horrifying it was for his poor boy.
They regularly air clips of fans and players falling and crashing during innings
You know what’s sick? I saw this story on AOL News, and they had Facebook comments below it. There were of course good people leaving their condolences, but then their was a nasty comment by a jerk who said this was Darwin at his finest. The sad thing is, there were several that agreed with him. I guess it would be a different, pun intended, ball game if it was him that fell over and died or one of his loved ones. Then there were comments such as, “Well, at least he caught the ball.” Not funny. The announcer also had a nice little chuckle out of it, but I’m going to assume he didn’t realize the gravity of the situation.
I didn’t see this man doing anything reckless. He leaned for the ball, but he didn’t climb the railing or appear to dive for it. The rail didn’t even come up to his waist. When he leaned to catch it, he lost his balance and fell over into a gap. I’m not much of a baseball fan. I don’t know how other parks are made (maybe they are all made that way), but imo, the railing should be higher and the gap should be covered. A similar accident happened last year at the same stadium, but the guy was fortunate enough to live.
My heart breaks for his family, especially his little boy who helplessly saw his father fall to his death in front of him. Prayers offered.
I know that there is a building code here that regulates the height of things such as porch railings for just this reason. I am surprised that a public venue had such a low rail. Possible a higher one would have obstructed the view.
Very sad.
>>...he didn’t realize the gravity of the situation<<
Gravity. It’ll do it every time.
Once the lawsuits get THAT practice banned, they can move on to banning home runs.
What a sad story to start the day.
Prayers for the family and the player.
RIP
It's very sad that this individual died, but he died due to his own act of stupidity.
Although Hamilton is not culpable in any way, shape or form he will be haunted by this.
Although Hamilton, the Rangers and the MLB are not culpable in any way, shape or form they will be sued for millions by the family of this individual.
And the likely outcome is that the MLB will wind up banning the tossing of foul balls into the stands, ruining an old tradition for everyone, because a single grown man made a very foolish decision.
I can’t believe a lawsuit would go anywhere. How is a ball thrown into the stands different from a hit ball going into the stands? Fans have fallen over railings reaching for foul balls. I’ve never heard of a ballclub or player being sued because of that.
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