# Fans Falling in Baseball Stadiums **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 9, 2011, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-falling-in-baseball-stadiums/588404 "2011-07-09T11:55:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-falling-in-baseball-stadiums/588404/1 "2011-07-09T11:55:24Z")
After hearing of the fan who fell to his accidental death chasing a foul ball, I wonder…has this happened before in MBL history? Seems to me it has, but obviously not too often! Any SDoper baseball fans who’d know such odd facts? ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-falling-in-baseball-stadiums/588404/2 "2011-07-09T12:47:46Z")
I haven’t heard of any news blurbs mentioning previous baseball spectator fatalities, but we all remember the famous story of the kid who interfered with the World Series game by snatching the ball while still technically in play. Its pretty clear that the space between chalk foul line and first seats is a kinda nebulous area in stadium design, and I’m wishing designers would put more care into that spot. Before more injuries and random bullshit like I cited above keeps happening. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-falling-in-baseball-stadiums/588404/3 "2011-07-09T12:54:52Z")
According to news stories this is the fourth fall just in the history of that park (though I think this is the first fatal one). This book probably lists all the other times. [Death at the Ballpark: A Comprehensive Study of Game-Related Fatalities of Players, Other Personnel and Spectators in Amateur and Professional Baseball, 1862-2007](http://www.amazon.com/Death-Ballpark-Comprehensive-Game-Related-Professional/dp/078643435X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1310215993&sr=8-1) ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-falling-in-baseball-stadiums/588404/4 "2011-07-09T13:09:38Z")
Not baseball, but at a stadium in Winnipeg, a drunk fan stumbled and fell through the guardrails at Canad Inns Stadium during a CFL football game back in 2006. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-falling-in-baseball-stadiums/588404/5 "2011-07-09T14:17:57Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > After hearing of the fan who fell to his accidental death chasing a foul ball, I wonder…has this happened before in MBL history? Seems to me it has, but obviously not too often! Any SDoper baseball fans who’d know such odd facts? [The Houston Chronicle includes this tidbit:](http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/7645654.html) > [@](#): > > About 20 people over the years have died in falls at ballparks. I was a baseball writer for a long time, and I would guess that across MLB, people fell from the stands a couple of times a year, although I can’t recall a specific instance where someone died. I do remember seeing at least two such incidents myself in Cincinnati, and being in the ballpark for another (perhaps in St Louis). Just for the record, the fan who died wasn’t chasing a foul ball. A player was tossing a ball to him, he leaned too far forward to catch it and he fell about 20 feet onto his head. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-falling-in-baseball-stadiums/588404/6 "2011-07-09T20:09:11Z")
**Baseball fan dies after falling from staircase while sliding down rail during game** By Daily Mail Reporter 27th May 2011 A man has died after falling 20 feet while attempting to slide down the rail of a stadium staircase during a baseball game, according to witness reports. Robert Seamans, 27, smashed his head on the concrete below after he apparently lost his balance.He was later declared dead in hospital.The incident occurred during Tuesday’s game between the Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. Read more: [Baseball fan dies after falling from staircase while sliding down rail during game | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1391491/Baseball-fan-dies-falling-staircase-sliding-rail-game.html#ixzz1RdmaFxsE) Read more: [Baseball fan dies after falling from staircase while sliding down rail during game | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1391491/Baseball-fan-dies-falling-staircase-sliding-rail-game.html#ixzz1RdmDEpl0) > **[Baseball fan dies after falling from staircase while sliding down rail during...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1391491/Baseball-fan-dies-falling-staircase-sliding-rail-game.html)** > > Robert Seamans, 27, smashed his head on concrete after he apparently lost his balance. The incident occurred during a game at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-falling-in-baseball-stadiums/588404/7 "2011-07-09T20:35:19Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > Just for the record, the fan who died wasn’t chasing a foul ball. A player was tossing a ball to him, he leaned too far forward to catch it and he fell about 20 feet onto his head. Error charged to Hamilton on the toss, a fatal error, BTW. It’s no laughing matter, but it was a bad toss. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were sued because the bad toss was a causative factor in the fall, litigious as we have become. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-falling-in-baseball-stadiums/588404/8 "2011-07-09T23:26:27Z")
Someone wrote a book on 800+ fatalities in baseball. Slate, I think yesterday, had a review.