Player hits his own mother with a foul ball

The Game Room
1

I remembering hearing that Bob Gibson was so tough, he’d brush back his own mother if she was batting against him. But this here is a whole different beast.

Denard Span of the Twins had his mother and 20 other family members in the stands, and just as they got settled down to watch him bat:

***…Span hit a hard foul ball that struck his mom in the upper chest…

“As the ball was in the air, I realized that it was going after my mom,” Span said after arriving back at Twins’ headquarters in Fort Myers. “When I saw her go down, I just couldn’t do nothing but go after her.”***

Freak story, and fortunately, she was OK, but what are the odds? I can’t imagine trying to stay in the game after that. You’d have to be superhuman to regain your composure after taking down your own mom, wouldn’t you?.

2

That’s crazy. Is there a video of it?

3

Here is one. No footage of the hit though. Not sure how hard it hit her. Probably didn’t tickle!

Reminds me of the time I lined one right past dads head when he was pitching for me and my friends at a pickup game. :slight_smile:

4

It could be worse. See the amazing story of Richie Ashburn and Alice Roth:

Yes, he hit her not once, but twice, and in the same at-bat to boot. Sucked to be her that day, I’d imagine.

5

Mrs. Gibson, if your son takes up skeet shooting, stay home.

6

Keith Olbermann mentioned on his program another incident in which a player’s errant ball hit his own mother. (And of course Olbermann’s mother was also hit by a foul ball a few years ago.)

7

“It hit her in the meat."

I love baseball folk.

8

The “he’s so tough, he’d knock his own mom down” story was also told about Sal Maglie, a New York Giants pitcher of the 40s-50s.

His response, “Damn right I would. Mother was a hell of a hitter.”

9

In the baseball comedy Major League, Indians announcer Harry Doyle says of a hard-nosed player on the other team, “This guy threw at his own son in a father-son game!”