Extreme Ugliness

[jkumpire]

Some of you might be aware of AAABA Baseball, an old League/National Tournament structure started By Glenn L. Martin after the end of WW II. He was, of course, the owner of the aircraft Company that designed and built lots of planes during the war, and is now part of the defense contractor Martin-Marietta. . 

It is a league/tournament designed for players under 21 (like 16-20) meaning it is filled with young college players. Their national tournament is in Johnstown PA, where they put over 10000 paying in the seats for the opener and they use wood bats and OBR. I was working the bases in a 2-man in regional game when the ugliest thing in baseball happened. F1 pumps a heater down the middle, 5 hole hits a rocket that drills F1 just above the eye, my plate man thinks. It was awful listening to F1 scream "I can't see" and cry as we killed the play when BR made 1B. the Eye closed immediately, we cleared players out of the way for coaches and 1st responders to work, and it was 10-15 minutes before a squad showed up. A couple guys thought he got a glove on it, I and my partner thought he just missed deflecting it with his glove. At least he was in a sound position after the follow-through, I wish more F1's were. 

The last report I heard was F1 never lost consciousness, has no signs/symptoms of a concussion, they got his eye to open up, and it looks like he only has cuts and fractures of some bones around the eye. I hope the guy can resume his college career when the injury heals, he's a nice kid with a solid D2/D3 arm, good stuff.

As an umpire the only thing we can do is kill the play ASAP. In HS or lower, kill it immediately and award bases as appropriate. Then you sort out players, keep them a distance from the hurt player as others work on them, and supervise both dugouts. When he leaves new F1 gets all the time he needs to warmup, and team in the field gets the same chance. My young partner was sort of upset, it's hard to be helpless at times, but you just stay out of the way. Both teams handled the situation well, and they come back tomorrow for a trip to the national tournament. Ought to be a great game, teams are pretty close in ability.

All of us as umpires are fortunate to work this game, and we are so very fortunate to have so many young men and kids play it. Every time I walk on a field I ask God to give us His grace and protect both sides. Prayers worked today. This is the third time in my career I have seen this happen, I hope you never have it happen in a game you do. 

 

Edited August 2, 2015 by jkumpire

[basejester]

Rough.  Thanks for posting. 

[JaxRolo]

yikes

[Richvee]

Scary thing. I've been fortunate enough to not have seen any serious comebackers in my short career. Unfortunately, sometimes I feel it's only a matter of time. If I had to guess, I'd say in 80-90% of the games I do 16 and over, there's at least one "close call" on a comebacker each game. 

[ElkOil]

Wow, what a story.  I was an EMT in my previous career and my instinct is to help, so I can relate to the helpless feeling you and your partner had.  I'm glad the injuries weren't worse, but time will tell how and if he resumes.  I remember the horrible similar injury to Bryce Florie and how it damaged his playing ability.  Prayers to the pitcher and hopes of a successful baseball career.

[umpstu]

I hate seeing anybody hurt on a field of play.  These kids have no idea how much we care about them and their safety.

[MidAmUmp]

And then there's this...

http://www.kansas.com/sports/other-sports/nbc-baseball/article29770564.html

Edited August 2, 2015 by MidAmUmp

[jkumpire]

Just to update: 

Those things stick with players. I was on the plate for the championship game with the same two teams. Hot shot up the middle and F1 looks like he is hurt as he falls down as the ball goes past. I go out to check on him as the manager does, also to see if this is a injury visit or not. F1 tells manager, "I had a flashback to yesterday when he hit the ball, so I dove out of the way." 

The last it happened before this was four years ago in a D3 game, F1 took a rope in the eye and he was out cold for at least five minutes. That was even uglier than this. He eventually sat up before the ambulance came but I am not sure he ever returned to the same area code he was playing that night. I was in B and the moment the ball left the bat I knew he was in trouble. When the ball hit him his head snapped back and he fell in a heap, blood all over the place. 

Game three was great, home team left tying and winning run on base in bottom of the last inning, after scoring two the pull within 8-7. Just feel awful for the F1 and the kid Mid Am Ump wrote about.

 

Elk, I was an athletic trainer in college and had a couple of emergency situations, including a life-threatening one I helped to handle. But just like during a game, you have to keep your cool and do your job. Our job is to umpire, and let coaches and medical people do theirs. My partner and I had a good talk about it today.

 

( Totally unrelated) To top it all off, my partner and I left the first game to go to another one about 3 hours later. Team A is down 5-1 at the time, and they pinch hit bonehead for a player. He swings at the first pitch, loses his bat behind him and it hits me in the mask and head. I didn't flinch, I tracked the ball until after it hit the bat. Jaw still hurts. Hitter apologized two or three times, and I finally said "if you have not met yet, let me introduce you to Mr. Pine Tar; he's a good man to get to know."  

"I hate that stuff, never use it" he replied. Jaw is still sore 4 hours later.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 3, 2015 by jkumpire

[kylehutson]

And then there's this...

http://www.kansas.com/sports/other-sports/nbc-baseball/article29770564.html

...and as a follow-on to this, it didn't end well. http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/9-year-old-Bat-boy-dies-after-being-hit-in-the-head-during-baseball-game-320464582.html

 

[scrounge]

...and as a follow-on to this, it didn't end well. http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/9-year-old-Bat-boy-dies-after-being-hit-in-the-head-during-baseball-game-320464582.html

 

dammit, dammit, dammit.....horrible.....it makes me sick just thinking about this tragedy

[umpstu]

That is another thing that terrifies me.  

[alan2703]

Hope never to see it as an umpire saw it as player, night game some of the lights out,metal bat pitcher took liner in the face we thought he was dead. Was fine after a few months never pitched again.

[MadMax]

Please, everyone, read this topic... and read these topics:
• On Deck Batter Watching New Pitcher
and
• Taking Swings Between Innings

... and read any other topics you may search or stumble across about this.

I'm not singling out @zoops nor @Nafxos nor anyone else, but this has nothing to do with Rule Citations. Rule Citations be damned! It's a matter of common, decent sense. If you get a queasy, anxious feeling in your root of your spine when you see six thirteen year olds outside the dugout, four without helmets, swinging away because "they just gotta get that new pitcher timed up", then you simply tell 'em – no yelling, no ballyhooing, no gettin' all demonstrative, no gettin' all confrontational, and certainly no fumbling out of rule citations – to have no more than two (fine! One!) out, and for damned certain have a helmet on your head.

Because even if it's "not your problem" and "not your liability", I sincerely wager that you will not be able to sleep well at night having been on the same field as what tragic accident occurred in Florida at the NBC World Series game.

Now, going further, I'm having serious consideration of not allowing "little sibling" bat boys/girls at youth games. Up to now, I would allow them, so long as they were helmeted, and only after I cautioned the coach(es) that the bat boy is only to come out and get the bat when the play is over. I was a bat boy myself, traveling with the high school baseball team when I was a 4th, 5th and 6th grader, so I can relate – you feel like an enthusiastic part of the team.

The simple response is that this could have been avoided by not allowing bat boys/girls at all (which is what the National Baseball Congress has now declared). Could this have happened to another teammate? Perhaps a shorter one, who was out watching the pitcher warm up while his teammate was in the On-Deck circle? Perhaps. Could this actual player have been going to fetch the bat as a batboy would/could? Surely. We (the baseball community) cannot wholly prevent accidents like this from happening. All we can do is reduce the opportunities for those accidents to happen.

[MObetterBlue]

As the parent of a pitcher and as an umpire concerned for the wellbeing of all players on the field, this is my worst nightmare.  I haven't seen one of these yet while officiating and I pray I don't. 

As for the batboy incident, it breaks my heart.  There was another incident like this earlier in the spring which caused the complex where I work most of my tournaments to prohibit ball boys.  It sucks because I always get a kick out of a little dude booking it out after a bat like they're chasing down a 20 dollar bill.

Prayers for the kid that swung the bat too.  That's a life altering event for him as well - and not in a good way. 

[RichMSN]

I have seen a lot of teams send 5-6 batters out of the dugout -- HS games, college games, youth games.

Same reaction from me -- 2 outside, everyone else in the dugout.  The speed at which they comply tells me they know that they don't belong there.