Major League Baseball warns its fans in writing and over the loudspeakers at ballgames over and over: foul balls and errant bats can hit you at almost any time and they are dangerous. But it is impossible to be aware of the threat at all times, and it is impossible still to to react in such a profoundly little amount of time.
MLB is addressing the issue this year, but it would not have done any good for one young fan if not for the reaction of the guy sitting next to him. Saturday, at the Pittsburgh Pirates' spring training game against the Atlanta Braves, one fan stuck his arm in front of young boy's face to block a bat from hitting him.
@BiertempfelTrib The two frames showing just how close the bat was to the boy's head. pic.twitter.com/7VwnfWp8L1
— Christopher Horner (@Hornerfoto1) March 6, 2016
Almost as impressive was the reporter who captured just how close it was. As the first photo shows, the thick part of the bat appeared to be on track to strike the young fan directly on the nose after he looked up from what appears to be a cell phone.
Danny Ortiz, the Pirates outfielder who let go of the bat, said he had no idea what happened until he got home.
"I saw the picture. It was crazy," Ortiz said. "That guy took [a blow] for the kid. The father, or whoever he was, he protected that kid."
The relation of the adult fan to the young boy is not known, nor can it be determined how badly the injury would have been. Fortunately, the worst that will come out of it is a forearm bruise. The Pirates are all too familiar with the alternative outcome of this kind of situation.
At PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pa., last April, a fan sitting behind home plate got up and turned her back to the field when a batter sent a foul a ball directly toward her head. The netting in front of the seating area caught the ball, but its momentum carried it far enough to strike her in the back of the head. She fell unconscious, but ultimately recovered.
Just a week later at Wrigley Field, with the Pirates visiting the Chicago Cubs, a fan had to be taken from the stadium in a stretcher after being hit with a bat.
MLB issued recommendations in December for teams to take in order to enhance fans' safety at games, mainly extending netting down the first and third base sides of the field. Various organizations have already adopted the changes in time for this season
