A fan attending a Toronto Blue Jays game Monday suffered only soreness in his shoulder after being hit by a letter "B" dislodged from the Rogers Centre Ring of Honor by a foul ball. The two-foot-tall white letter fell 30 feet from Jackie Robinson's name affixed to the stadium's third deck, hit the fan and tumbled down the seating aisle, where it was retrieved by another fan and then stadium security.
Batted bats entering seating areas in MLB parks is something fans have come to expect. In fact, the same night at Chase Field in Phoenix, a two-year-old girl attending an Arizona Diamondbacks game was hit in the head by a foul ball and a 13-year-old boy was hit in the head by a bat. The incidents happened within 10 minutes of each other.
But rare is the occasion that fans must dodge parts of a ballpark. AB's e-mail inquiry into how lettering is affixed to the Rogers Center facade or whether the letter in question was somehow defective was not immediately answered by the Blue Jays. "I was very surprised," said the injured fan, a middle-aged Jays season-ticket holder who was at the game with his son. "I didn't expect a 'B' to fall on me."
Bruno DeRose, the front-row fan who held the letter aloft momentarily before surrendering the most unique souvenir imaginable to security, added, "They should have at least given me a couple of tickets or a ball."
