Man dies after fall from outfield seats in Texas

A year and a day after a fan fell from the second deck at Rangers Ballpark and was severely injured, a man sitting in the front row of the left-field seats plunged 20 feet from his seat to the field level behind a scoreboard on the left-field wall and later died from his injuries.
The fan, identified by Texas newspapers as firefighter Shannon Stone, had attended Thursday night’s game between the A’s and Rangers with his young son. In the second inning, after a foul ball by Oakland’s Conor Jackson bounced into left field, Texas outfielder Josh Hamilton attempted to throw the ball toward Stone. He leaned over and caught it before falling over the rail onto the concrete behind the out-of-town scoreboard.

Several of the A’s relievers were waiting to get through the tunnel to the bullpen, and they were stopped there while Stone was wheeled through.

“They had him on a stretcher, and they were carrying him out, and he was saying stuff,” said A’s reliever Brad Ziegler, who was in tears after the team was informed of the man’s death. “He was saying, ‘Please check on my son. I was here with my son,’ and people were saying, ‘We’ll check on your son. We’ll make sure he’s OK.’

“He had his arms splinted, and he was talking, conscious. To come inside and find out something like this – it’s just tough.”

The A’s clubhouse was silent, and the Rangers did not open their clubhouse after beating Oakland 6-0.

“The game and everything doesn’t matter,” Oakland starter Rich Harden said. “What happened – it’s terrible.”

Harden, who allowed five runs in five innings, said, “It’s difficult. You’ve got to try to refocus. You’ve got a job to do, but it’s hard just to ignore that.”

Harden was with Texas last year when a fan, Tyler Morris, fell 30 feet and landed on the people below him. Morris, also a firefighter, was hospitalized with a fractured skull and broken ankle. Harden called that incident “awful.”

More than 90 minutes after Thursday’s game, there were officials in the left-field corner looking closely at the area.

“We are deeply saddened to learn that the man who fell has passed away as a result of this tragic accident,” Rangers President Nolan Ryan said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”