We recently talked about how dangerous things are for pitchers – both from comebackers and from their own catchers – but they’re not the only guys on the field who are potentially imperiled by rocket shots off the bats of the game’s sluggers.
Consider this Nationals-Mets game, featuring hard-throwing righty Noah Syndergaard facing hard-hitting lefty Bryce Harper. When a Syndergaard pitch meets a Harper bat, the ball freaking jumps.
And first base umpire Ed Hickox had to do some jumping of his own to narrowly miss getting absolutely wrecked:
You can read Hickox’s lips after collecting himself: “Wow.”
Wow, indeed. Had Hickox reacted even a fraction of a second more slowly, or not been able to Matrix his body in the direction he did, he was going to get blasted. I don’t even want to think about what may have happened if that ball had made impact. Keep in mind: hitters wearing helmets are frequently concussed from pitches of, say, 90mph. A batted ball from Harper like that was probably coming in at 100mph or more, and Hickox is not wearing a helmet.
Scary stuff, but all’s well that ends well. Stay alert and stay in shape, umpires.