04/16/24
June 06, 2015
Fan at Fenway Struck by Broken Bat, Fighting for Life: A female spectator was taken away on a stretcher after she was struck by a broken bat during Friday night's game between the Oakland A's and Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The fan was admitted to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, according to Boston police. The incident occurred when Oakland third baseman Brett Lawrie shattered his bat and part flew into the third-base side box seats. Alex Merlis, a fan sitting a row behind the woman, told ESPN the bat hit her forehead and the top of her head. He said, "It was violent. She bled a lot. A lot. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that."
The woman, Tonya Carpenter, has been upgraded to serious but stable condition and is expected to survive.
posted by rcade at 03:26 PM on June 06, 2015
The Boston Globe covers the safety issue. The section Carpenter was in was added 13 years ago, putting fans even closer to home.
Fenway has more unprotected seats within 90 feet of home plate than any of a dozen parks surveyed by the newspaper for an earlier story in 2003.
posted by rcade at 10:04 PM on June 06, 2015
I hope the woman fully recovers. She has reportedly undergone surgery.
There's more on Deadspin, which has video of her being stretchered past fans and broadcast video of the aftermath, which avoids showing her. (Content advisory: They're disturbing.)
There's a macabre moment around two minutes into the second Deadspin video. You can hear the woman screaming in pain over the crowd murmurs several times. The announcer then says, "Well, we can tell you she is conscious."
The ESPN link reveals something I didn't know: A 14-year-old fan was killed by a foul in 1970 hit by Manny Mota at Dodger Stadium.
Fans up close have no time to react to some projectiles. The belief you can avoid something like this by paying attention is a persistent myth.