Baseball Tragedy.....?

Question

A Tulsa Drillers coach was struck in the head by a foul ball Sunday and pronounced dead on arrival to the hospital.

Is anyone aware of other accidents of this magnitude that has occurred before?

Wanted to say I was also a season ticket holder for the team before moving to Florida. They've always been rated as one of the the best Minor League organizations in the country and this a tragic blow to the families, friends and the Tulsa community. He is survived by his wife , 2 small children and another due in October.

Answer 1

This is off the top of my head, but in the 1930s there was a player who got hit in the head with a pitch and died a few days later. Ray Chapman was the name I think.

Answer 2

I know theres been some close calls in baseball. A girl was killed at a Columbus Blue Jackets hockey game a few years ago by an errant puck- unfortunately it does happen.
Mike Coolbaugh, 35, was the coach killed by the line drive as he stood in the first base coaches box. The Tulsa Drillers are the Rockies double-A affiliate.
My heart goes out to the team and Mike's family. What a tragedy.
Each year, amateur participants in sporting events die from heart failure and lightning strikes. In little league and high school football, just here in Texas alone, you hear several stories each year of kids getting paralyzed from hits- so it can/does happen.

Answer 3

It is so sad. :(

I don't know of anything in recent times, but I was doing genealogical research at my local library when I came across a newsclipping from the 1920s. It seems a group of local kids were playing baseball in a field. Two brothers were on opposite teams. The kids were all preteens I think. One brother hit the ball and it struck the other (younger) brother in the chest. The younger brother died. The older brother was inconsolable. That story has haunted me ever since I read it. I am sure that the player who hit the ball that killed the coach is in terrible pain. My heart goes out to the coach's family, team and to the hitter and everyone affected by this. :(

Answer 4

Back in the 90's there were a few Little League catchers killed when foul tips hit them in the heart.

But what happened yesterday was truly sad, and I feel for the batter who was doing the same thing he has done everyday thousands of times.

Answer 5

Such things have happened before, but are very rare. Sometime in the 1920's, a Cleveland Indians player named Chapman was killed after being hit in the head with a pitched ball. They did not have batting helmets then.

This was such a sad and unfortunate incident. My prayers are with his wife and young children.

Answer 6

Way back in the day players didn't wear the type of protective gear they wear today so I think that it's less likely for something like this to happen in baseball.
This man was a coach so I'm thinking the only protection he had on his head was a cloth baseball cap.

Answer 7

A forget exactly where it happend, but a 3 year old girl got killed in the stands in a major leauge game a few years back.

Answer 8

I read that article on Yahoo Sports, and that's extremely unfortunate. I don't remember anything like that happening in my memory. I hope it hasn't happen and won't happen again, it's an unfortunate tragedy, and Mike Coolbaugh happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Answer 9

Mike Coolbaugh.

$#!+. He dies from a stupid accident, he was young (35), he died because of a baseball game, and he leaves a wife, two young children, and one due in October, none of whom will ever really know their daddy.

I'm a daddy, and I hate when the universe behaves this stupidly at people.

Answer 10

that was really sad... but i cant think of ne thing off the top of my head that has happend like that