Spectator at Phillies-Red Sox game ‘falls into Boston’s BULLPEN shortly after first pitch’
Spectator at Phillies-Red Sox game falls into Boston’s BULLPEN shortly after the first pitch, leading to a 10-minute delay as he is carried off the field…but the fan remains conscious as he is rushed to a hospital in Philadelphia is being brought
- A man at Friday’s Red Sox-Phillies game was treated by medics in Boston’s pen
- The spectator appears to have fallen into the bullpen, but remained conscious
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Friday’s Phillies game against the visiting Red Sox got off to a terrifying start in Philadelphia as first responders and paramedics were called to the Boston bullpen when a fan fell from the center field stand.
According to a team statement to DailyMail.com, a ball was thrown from the visitor’s bullpen to a fan but landed in a flower bed adjacent to the fence separating spectators from the relief pitchers below.
When the fan reached out to retrieve the ball, he fell on the bullpen and suffered unspecified injuries, according to the team. Fortunately, the man remained conscious when he was rushed to a hospital in the Philadelphia area.
Video from NBC Sports Philadelphia showed a man being taken out of the bullpen on a stretcher. He appeared to be awake while being treated.
Later, a Phillies employee was seen wiping blood from the concrete area where the man landed.
Video from NBC Sports Philadelphia showed a man being pulled from the bullpen by medics
The man appeared conscious when he was removed from the visiting bullpen in Philadelphia
The match resumed after a 10-minute delay.
Further details about the incident remain unclear and it is not yet known who threw the ball that ended up in the flowerbed.
But according to one fan account, simply falling over the fence into centerfield is no easy task.
“Anyone who’s been up there in Ashburn Alley above the bullpens knows it won’t be easy to fall into the visiting pen,” read a tweet from the Phillies Bell fan account. “You should almost deliberately jump.”
It’s not the first time a fan has been injured by a fall during a Major League Baseball game.
In 2011, a firefighter named Shannon Stone fell from a considerable height while trying to reel in a home run hit by Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton. Stone would eventually die as a result of the injuries he sustained.
Four years later, Gregory Murrey, an Atlanta Braves fan, died after falling from the top deck of Turner Field, the club’s former stadium.
Fans remained on the railing at Ashburn Alley later in the game, named for Hall of Famer and former Phillies outfielder Richie Ashburn, which has been a popular gathering spot since the ballpark opened in 2004. In addition to the railing above the bullpen, which includes a ledge for food and drink, fans can also watch relievers up close from a seating area that also has a ledge.
Some fans wondered Friday night if they would be banned from watching the game from that area after the fan’s fall.
In the original plan for the ballpark, the Phillies’ relievers sat on the top portion of the bullpen, closest to the fans. But the visiting bullpen was switched to the top level and the home bullpen was moved down.