Dangerous Game

Baseball is a game that is played and enjoyed by many people. Unfortunately, it can also be a very dangerous game. Yesterday during a spring training game between the Braves and Cardinals, Brian McCann lined a foul ball into the Braves dugout, and it struck one of the Braves coaches, Luis Salazar, near the left eye. After he has hit in the face by the ball, Salazar fell and hit his head on the ground. Salazar was unresponsive and unconscious for several minutes, and was airlifted to a local hospital. The good news is he is alive. The bad news is he suffered several facial fractures that required multiple surgeries today, more surgery in the future, and it is still unknown if he will regain vision in his left eye. This was an unfortunate accident that likely could not have been prevented. However, most college, minor, and major league dugouts do not have netting/fencing to protect the players and coaches in the dugout. If a ball is lined into the dugout, the people in the dugout literally have a few milliseconds to react. Fortunately, this type of situation does not happen often in baseball, but when it does, the results are scary. In 2007, Juan Encarnacion was struck by a foul ball in his face while in the on deck circle, lost vision in one eye, and never played another baseball game. Hopefully Salazar will make a full recovery, and baseball will take steps to increase the safety of players, coaches, and fans.