# Player hits his own mother with a foul ball **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 1, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-hits-his-own-mother-with-a-foul-ball/534518 "2010-04-01T01:28:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-hits-his-own-mother-with-a-foul-ball/534518/1 "2010-04-01T01:28:25Z")
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](http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=ArdJ3Eig3TZOqfdoZ.gmJoipu7YF?slug=ap-twins-spansfoulball-mom), 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?. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-hits-his-own-mother-with-a-foul-ball/534518/2 "2010-04-01T02:18:50Z")
That’s crazy. Is there a video of it? ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-hits-his-own-mother-with-a-foul-ball/534518/3 "2010-04-01T02:58:59Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > That’s crazy. Is there a video of it? [Here is one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK9r_PwdVHU). 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. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-hits-his-own-mother-with-a-foul-ball/534518/4 "2010-04-01T03:17:04Z")
It could be worse. See the amazing story of [Richie Ashburn and Alice Roth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richie_Ashburn): > [@](#): > > During an August 17, 1957 game, Ashburn hit a foul ball into the stands that struck spectator Alice Roth, wife of Philadelphia Bulletin sports editor Earl Roth, breaking her nose. When play resumed, Ashburn fouled off another ball that struck Roth while she was being carried off in a stretcher. Ashburn and Roth would maintain a friendship for many years and her son later served as a Phillies batboy. 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. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-hits-his-own-mother-with-a-foul-ball/534518/5 "2010-04-01T23:11:38Z")
Mrs. Gibson, if your son takes up skeet shooting, stay home. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-hits-his-own-mother-with-a-foul-ball/534518/6 "2010-04-01T23:26:37Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-hits-his-own-mother-with-a-foul-ball/534518/7 "2010-04-01T23:42:57Z")
“It hit her in the meat." I love baseball folk. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-hits-his-own-mother-with-a-foul-ball/534518/8 "2010-04-01T23:55:21Z")
The “he’s so tough, he’d knock his own mom down” story was also told about [Sal Maglie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sal_Maglie), a New York Giants pitcher of the 40s-50s. His response, “Damn right I would. Mother was a hell of a hitter.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-hits-his-own-mother-with-a-foul-ball/534518/9 "2010-04-02T01:25:18Z")
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!”