Fan Dies After 20-Foot Fall at Rangers Game

During the 2nd inning of the Oakland Athletics vs. Texas Rangers game tonight Conor Jackson hit a foul ball down the left field line. Josh Hamilton retrieved the ball and a fan asked him to toss it to him. Hamilton did and when the man reached to catch the ball he fell over the railing and later died. Witnesses said the man was conscious and talking after being placed on a stretcher.

ARLINGTON, Texas - A male fan has died after falling over the outfield railing and landing on the concrete behind the out-of-town scoreboard at the Rangers Ballpark during the second inning of Thursday's game between the Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics.

"We are deeply saddened to learn that the man who fell has passed away as a result of this tragic accident," Rangers president/CEO Nolan Ryan said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."

The fan, wearing a blue Rangers cap and white Rangers shirt, was seated in the front row with his young son. According to others seated near him, the man was yelling at Rangers left fielder Josh Hamilton for a foul ball that was hit by Conor Jackson and ricocheted into left field in the second inning. Hamilton flipped the ball toward the fan and the fan leaned over, caught it and toppled over in the gap between the railing and the back of the scoreboard on the left-field fence.

A fellow fan said he was chatting with the man earlier in the game and that he was a firefighter from Brownwood, but didn't know his name.

"I tried to grab him, but I couldn't," said Hargis, a 50-year-old from Hawley, Texas, who was sitting beside the falling fan. "I tried to slow him down a little bit. He went straight down."

Several fans, including Safawna Dunn, said paramedics quickly got to the fan and took him off in a stretcher.

"He was conscious," Dunn said.

"They had him on a stretcher. He said, 'Please check on my son. My son was up there by himself.' The people who carried him out reassured him. 'Sir, we'll get your son, we'll make sure he's OK,'" Ziegler said. "He had his arms swinging. He talked and was conscious. We assumed he was OK. But when you find out he's not, it's just tough."

I like how they can show this on TV but they absolutely cannot show someone running on the field. And don't even give me that "they turn the cameras away from the field to prevent the people from running on the field" bullshit. Yeah, I get it, people run on the field for attention. But 1) The people who run on the field care about the attention that the people in the park give them and 2) The video is going to end up on YouTube anyways. At this point people know that the ballpark camera won't be on them but they continue to do it anyways.

Who feels worse right now - the announcers that were laughing at the situation or Josh Hamilton? It's a lock Hamilton went home and hit the bottle hard after the game. This incident comes one year and a day after a fan fell 30-feet at a Texas Rangers game but survived. That man also happened to be a firefighter.

This post brings up the question of "can you hit the 'like' button on this type of post?". You're thinking "I want to hit it for his great writing, factual reporting and ability to blend humor and tragedy while remaining serious and respectful...but on the other hand I'm 'liking' a post about a dude falling 20 feet to his death". Your decision doesn't leave me with Sheenis envy.