[quote]A 15-year-old baseball player died after being struck by a ball hit by a batter during a pickup game in Bemidji, Minn. on Sunday.
Police and fire crews responded to the Bemidji High School baseball field at 12:21 p.m. and administered aid to the 15-year-old, who was pitching at the time, after he was struck and collapsed. He was brought by ambulance to Sanford of Bemidji, Bemidji police said, but the Pioneer Press reported he died later on Sunday after being flown to a hospital in Fargo, N.D.[/quote]
[url=http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/29150967/bemidji-minn-baseball-player-dies-after-struck-by-incoming-ball]source[/url]
This was always a big fear of mine as a pitcher
This is why I refused to be pitcher when I played baseball
This happened to me when I was like 13. Luckily I got my glove up in my face before it hit me. The idea of this happening always terrified me
Why does the guy most likely to get fatally wounded by a rock-hard baseball not wear a helmet anyway? I don't see the pro's doing it either...
Presuming the batter didn't aim at him on purpose (personally, with the little bit of baseball I have played, I was always fucking glad for hitting the ball ANYHOW, imagining somebody might actually aim the shot at some particular spot is completely beyond my comprehension), I feel really bad for the batter. He accidentally killed another kid and watched him go down right in front of his eyes. That's pretty horrible.
i'm interested to know, what does the fire crew do?
[QUOTE=Number-41;47807582]Why does the guy most likely to get fatally wounded by a rock-hard baseball not wear a helmet anyway? I don't see the pro's doing it either...[/QUOTE]
This sort of thing is extremely rare, so it mostly comes down to this guy being unlucky, as unfortunate as it is. A helmet on a pitcher just seems like it'd be more of a hindrance than anything. There's a kind of [URL="http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/padres-reliever-alex-torres-first-pitcher-to-wear-protective-cap-in-mlb-game-071834986.html"]padded cap[/URL] that pitchers can wear as of recently, but nobody really wears it, plus it looks pretty ridiculous and not very practical (I mean, so much of your head is still exposed).
[editline]27th May 2015[/editline]
This reminds me of an unfortunate incident that happened at a local game in my old town. I was spectating a match for our senior team, and one of our guys hit a line shot down the third base line which hit the third baseman in the face. I didn't really see it up close, but my dad was umpiring that game and he immediately called an ambulance as soon as he saw the damage. The poor guy went blind from that, and the last I heard of him was some years ago when he ended up killing himself. Apparently he had a pretty bad life, with financial issues and whatnot (when my dad called the ambulance he tried to convince him not to, probably because he couldn't afford it), so becoming blind was adding insult to injury and basically ruined his life permanently.
These sort of injuries are terrible, but in the end they're really just unfortunate freak accidents that you can't really do much about. I can't imagine just sticking helmets and face masks on everyone since it'd essentially change how the game is played completely.
American baseball is weird.
In Finland we have what is called "pesäpallo". Its almost the same thing but the pitcher is next to the batter. There the pitcher throws the ball upwards and steps back so the batter can hit it without the pitcher getting in the way and possibly hurting him.
[QUOTE=Makzu;47807882]American baseball is weird.
In Finland we have what is called "pesäpallo". Its almost the same thing but the pitcher is next to the batter. There the pitcher throws the ball upwards and steps back so the batter can hit it without the pitcher getting in the way.[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Pesäpallo_field.svg/560px-Pesäpallo_field.svg.png[/IMG]
idk if american baseball is the weird one...
[QUOTE=NA_PREDATOR;47807629]i'm interested to know, what does the fire crew do?[/QUOTE]
Most American fire trucks carry medical supplies on them so multiple vehicles can respond to an incident without needing to dispatch several ambulances.
[QUOTE=Makzu;47807882]American baseball is weird.
In Finland we have what is called "pesäpallo". Its almost the same thing but the pitcher is next to the batter. There the pitcher throws the ball upwards and steps back so the batter can hit it without the pitcher getting in the way and possibly hurting him.[/QUOTE]
yeah
this is what we do for three year olds
Humans went from "toss some dudes in a ring and see who can fight off the lion longer" to "my country has a form of baseball where the person throwing the ball is at an angle so that the chance of him getting hit by the ball is less."
[QUOTE=Number-41;47807582]Why does the guy most likely to get fatally wounded by a rock-hard baseball not wear a helmet anyway? I don't see the pro's doing it either...[/QUOTE]
Wearing a helmet as a fielder is way too claustrophobic and heavy for someone who needs to make fast and snappy decisions based on their surroundings.
The average person has sharp enough reflexes to at least deflect the ball from hitting them so this really only happens in freak accidents.
[QUOTE=Matrix374;47808255]Wearing a helmet as a fielder is way too claustrophobic and heavy for someone who needs to make fast and snappy decisions based on their surroundings.
The average person has sharp enough reflexes to at least deflect the ball from hitting them so this really only happens in freak accidents.[/QUOTE]
A pitcher has about 100 ms to make a decision and move
[QUOTE=MisterMooth;47807662]There's a kind of [URL="http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/padres-reliever-alex-torres-first-pitcher-to-wear-protective-cap-in-mlb-game-071834986.html"]padded cap[/URL] that pitchers can wear as of recently, but nobody really wears it, plus it looks pretty ridiculous and not very practical (I mean, so much of your head is still exposed).[/QUOTE]
what are you talking about?
[t]http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/images/photos/002/947/087/816b69fa82ce3f385976d3e1969d5291_crop_exact.png?w=1500&h=1500&q=85[/t]
it looks amazing.
and why not go for maximum protection? have everyone play in umpire helmets and MJOLNIR armor
[QUOTE=Hidole555;47808638]what are you talking about?
[t]http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/images/photos/002/947/087/816b69fa82ce3f385976d3e1969d5291_crop_exact.png?w=1500&h=1500&q=85[/t]
it looks amazing.
and why not go for maximum protection? have everyone play in umpire helmets and MJOLNIR armor[/QUOTE]
It kinda has the look of mario's hat. I like it though
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;47807618]Presuming the batter didn't aim at him on purpose (personally, with the little bit of baseball I have played, I was always fucking glad for hitting the ball ANYHOW, imagining somebody might actually aim the shot at some particular spot is completely beyond my comprehension), I feel really bad for the batter. He accidentally killed another kid and watched him go down right in front of his eyes. That's pretty horrible.[/QUOTE]
If he aimed that ball on purpose then he is one of the best batters to have ever lived.
[QUOTE=NA_PREDATOR;47807629]i'm interested to know, what does the fire crew do?[/QUOTE]
For my volunteer department most EMS calls we get we dispatch a rescue engine and our ambulance. The rescue engine contains tools to assist the firefighter/emt's to get the victim quickly and safely out of the potentially dangerous location to the ambulance (not saying this a dangerous situation at all but you never know going into it). The ambulance contains, well, ambulance stuff. Every Firefighter is trained to be an EMT and a Firefighter.
I almost hit a friend of mine once with a comebacker. I hit it as hard as I could, and I could see the ball fly straight through the gap of air where my friend's head had been, just before he dodged. Fucking cat-like reflexes.
Since then I always wondered why this doesn't happen more often. Sad to see it can lead to fatal results. :(
I took a fast ball to the mouth once. My lip absorbed the hit. Mostly. One of my front teeth's root has a hairline crack all the way up it. Can't wait for the day that decides to give out
I was sitting behind homeplate one time at practice when I was around 11. Everybody shouted look out and I turned my head and got a fastball in the eye. Had the meanest black eye for what seemed like forever
I've always feared pitching. I once was batting and was super nervous, I just tried hitting the ball and accidentally slammed the ball directly back at the pitcher at full force right into the ballsack. He dropped and cried, I felt so damn horrible for the rest of the game because he ended up getting an ambulance and was obvious excruciating pain
When I was in grade school, we lost a student to the same sort of accident. Baseball hit him in the chest right in the middle of a heart beat, which killed him almost instantly. I only saw him a few times around school, but it was hard on everybody losing him.
Everytime I used to pitch in school I was always on edge because of this
I always felt the urge to drop to the floor and cover the top of my head with hands immediately after each pitch
they took him to a hospital but later had to fly him somewhere else in which he died at the new location.
[QUOTE=justin gurel;47816914]they took him to a hospital but later had to fly him somewhere else in which he died at the new location.[/QUOTE]
e was brought by ambulance to Sanford of Bemidji, Bemidji police said, but the Pioneer Press reported he died later on Sunday after being flown to a hospital in Fargo, N.D.
Baseball really seems more dangerous than I would have ever imagined. Explains why they wear all that gear though.
[QUOTE=Zambies!;47816949]e was brought by ambulance to Sanford of Bemidji, Bemidji police said, but the Pioneer Press reported he died later on Sunday after being flown to a hospital in Fargo, N.D.[/QUOTE]
so when did the incident take place on Saturday/Friday?
When my PE class would play baseball in high school I never knew how to aim my shots so I accidentally hit the pitcher by mistake. She was a pitcher on the softball team but luckily she wasn't injured although everyone started screaming at me because of it.
[editline]27th May 2015[/editline]
Also my brother always said to never be afraid of the ball when playing catch. Dude that shit is like a fucking rock I'm going to be terrified of that thing flying at me.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.