Fan dies after 20 foot fall from stands

[Gern Blansten]

Tragic story out of Texas at the Ballpark in Arlington. A young man falls 20 feet headfirst onto concrete behind the left field wall. He reached a bit too far to reach a ball tossed to him by Josh Hamilton and fell over the railing as his 4 year old son watched. That is about as sad a story as I have heard lately.
The video is surreal watching it knowing that the guy actually died from the fall.

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[Idiopathic]

josh hamilton has to be devastated

 

[Frank Rizzo]

josh hamilton has to be devastated

It is surreal. Just pulled the game up on mlb.tv... you here the crowd gasp, but the tv announcers don't really make any comments.

My thoughts are with the family, and with Hamilton... hopefully he doesn't relapse.

 

[Gern Blansten]

It is surreal. Just pulled the game up on mlb.tv... you here the crowd gasp, but the tv announcers don't really make any comments.

My thoughts are with the family, and with Hamilton... hopefully he doesn't relapse.

If you view the long version of the video, the announcers make some off handed remarks about the guy. Like I can't believe the things people will do for a baseball, or folks, it's just a baseball. In hindsight, the comments appear insensitive because no one really grasped the severity of the injury and, certainly, no one thought he would die.
Very sad for the family and for the Rangers. It would be very hard for Hamilton to not second guess if he would have thrown it a bit further. It is human nature to think those things.

 

[Idiopathic]

this is actually very hard for me to think about. i dont really have much emotion when it comes to things like this, i think because i see so much unreal human devastation on a daily basis, but this ****ing breaks my heart.

and i cant stop from thinking about what i assume was this guys torn aorta, and wondering about if they got him to the hospital as quickly as they could, given that he was probably pretty stable until he arrested. his kid was in the ambulance with him on the way, from what i understand, and so not only did he see his dad fall but he very likely witnessed his arrest/code.

you couldnt write a worse story

 

[fascinoma]

Rangers manager Ron Washington had offered to give Hamilton the day off Friday, but he wanted to play.
Then in the sixth inning, Hamilton fouled off a pitch that struck a male fan sitting about five rows behind the third-base dugout.
Stadium personnel immediately tended to the fan, who had blood on his face and required stitches. Rangers officials said the fan was treated at the stadium and was OK. They didn't identify him or provide additional details.
Hamilton said the fan had his head down and wasn't looking toward the field.
"I saw it happen. Again," Hamilton said.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/baseball/mlb/07/08/josh.hamilton.ap/index.html#ixzz1RfWXl0VH

 

[ozzi22]

i was at this game live. i didn't even notice to i saw the news on TV.😱 my heart goes out to the family 🙁