At last night’s Rangers-Indians’ game at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, a man trying to catch a foul ball tumbled from the second deck and plummeted onto the lower level, falling about 30 feet. He lost his balance while trying to catch a foul ball. The game was stopped for a little over 16 minutes, as the horrified crowd and players allowed emergency service people to treat the man, who was rushed to the JPS emergency room. According to team officials, he was able to move all of his extremities and was answering questions.
The incident happened after Nelson Cruz hit a ball into the stands on the first base-side. Television cameras didn’t catch the actual fall, but, based on the reaction of the crowd and players, it must of been horrifying to watch. Indian’s outfielder Trevor Crowe was laying on the field prostrate, and many other players simply buried their heads in their hands and took a knee.
Here’s a link to the various broadcasters reacting to the incident.
The falling man landed on a few people, who were all treated for minor injuries.
Team President Nolan Ryan had this to say:
“You are concerned for the individual this happened to, and the people that may have been hurt in the fall, and so I was very proud of the job our emergency people did, and they got right on it and stabilized him, took him to the emergency room. And the people that were below him, one little boy had a contusion to his face. A couple that he landed on, I went up and saw them and they were fine. And so I think we were very fortunate that it wasn’t worse than it is.”
The Rangers won the game 12-1
it’s a metaphor for the second half of the rangers’ season.