Line Drive Kills Minor League Coach

SmootSmack

Supposedly this is only the second time

Today's THV - KTHV Little Rock News Article

Though this might just be pro baseball they're talking about

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Monkeydad

It has to be more than 2. Are they just talking about that league?

Definitely it's not as many as it could be, especially for pitchers. It's like being in front of a cannon on any line drive back up the middle.

Monkeydad

My nephew knocked a kid out with a pitch to the helmet once. He was a great pitcher, struck almost every batter out, but one pitch slipped out of his hand and the kid went down. They were only like 9 and 10 years old, but he threw hard enough to bring a kid down. He was OK luckily because of the batting helmet but a pitcher is pretty vulnerable on line drives.

Don't worry too much, it really is a fluke when it happens (someone gets hit by a line drive). The kids will most likely be fine, so don't hold them back from playing out of fear. I played and was hit by a lot of wild pitches and I survived.

Deaths are really rare, mainly out of luck I'd guess though.

SmootSmack

I hit a batter once in the head while pitching and it knocked him out. By a fluke, I got him right under the bill of his helmet and square on the forehead as he turned to swing. He was out cold for a bit.

It freaked the hell out of me, I thought I had just killed him. My next several pitches were away (way away). Think I had like 3 wild pitches in a row. I was just so afraid to go back inside. I had to be pulled from the game to get my composure together for the next game.

But like Buster says, it really is a fluke

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Monkeydad

HA...he swung at a pitch coming between his eyes? He deserved to get hit... :cheeky-sm

Yeah, my nephew lost his control for the rest of that game too. I can't blame him, he was only a kid. I had to pull him for a reliever. (I was his coach) I didn't want him to hit another kid because he was the hardest -throwing pitcher in the league.

Monkeydad

Here Hessy... YouTube - Randy Johnson hits bird with 95MPH fastball

Just showing you how a baseball accident is completely by chance and an accident is by total chance and isn't likely to be repeated in the same way twice.

I don't want to take away from the seriousness of the thread. It really is horrible that a family lost a father and husband.

Monkeydad

Yeah, he's fine.

SmootSmack

Wow!

(I edited your post to put in a better link that goes directly to the story)

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BDBohnzie

what a freak coincidence...quite tragic.

I read about a lacrosse player that got hit in a simliar fashion (ball to chest) where it stops their heart beat and they never recover. Crazy stuff.

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ArtMonkDrillz

This one really freaks me out. I help my dad coach my little sister's softball team (6th & 7th graders) and we're always nervous that someone is going to get hurt because they aren't paying attention or the ball takes a weird bounce or whatever.
My other sister once broke a teammate's jaw at practice with a line drive, so these can happen. It's freaky but I don't think you can just give up altogether and go live in a bubble or something.

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Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

ArtMonkDrillz

Yeah, that guy was from Cornell.

I had a teammate on my wrestling team in HS who broke his own strenum during a match once. He was pinning his oppenent but all of a sudden he just stopped, stood up, and then fell to his back and started yelling for help. I still don't really know what happened, something just snapped. Luckily he was okay in the long run, but it was sort of creepy at first.

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Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

70Chip

Thanks man.

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Monkeydad

It would be REALLY distracting or the fielders. If this was a more common occurrence, we might see it, but it would be tough to adjust to. Batting helmets cut down on your peripheral vision and could cause more injuries.

There was a player I remember who wore a batting helmet without earflaps in the field. John Olerud.

Still, it's really not necessary. You can't prevent freak injuries. You could be hit in the throat or the kidney by a ball and die too. You just can't cover up every part of your body for a once in a million injury.