Shit. My stomach just sunk. I watched the TV report noting the death of the guy that fell from the left-field seats at the Ballpark in Arlington going for a baseball tonight.
It was the second inning. The Oakland Athletics' Conor Jackson hits a foul ball down the left-field line and it winds up close to Josh Hamilton, who tosses the ball to the front row of the stands. The mans just leans too far over and falls awkwardly. You can tell that he landed on his head.
His kid was right there next to him.
Several things:
1. The Rangers will need to address the foul ball thing. Handing the ball to fan is one thing. Tossing it -- something that's relatively common -- seems real uncomfortable. What if the fan misses and it bonks them on the nose? Clearly, death is something they never think about.
2. This is two straight years of some guy falling over the partition. Expect those to go higher.
3. Can the fan's family sue? If the fan buys a ticket, do they accept all responsibility for their actions and any accident? Is there a difference between a foul ball conking you on the head and a player being a part of the accident?
4. Not to bring it back to the sports page, but this is some fucking bad mojo. Needless to say, the Rangers would never want someone dying in their ballpark. However, this has got the stench of bad vibes all around it for the remainder of the season. Not unlike the brawl with Frank Francisco in Oakland in 2004. That incident killed the Rangers' momentum that year.
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