A baseball fan is in critical condition after falling 6.4 metres from the Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park during Wednesday night’s game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs.
Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning, putting the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man who had fallen onto the warning track.
Another fan had jumped from a lower section of the outfield wall to help the person who fell. It was not immediately clear if the person knew the man who fell or if they were a bystander.
The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of the Pirates and Cubs training staffs, as well as PNC personnel, before being placed on a stretcher and removed from the field on a cart.
Pittsburgh Public Safety said the man was taken to the hospital in critical condition and that police were investigating.
The game was delayed for about 10 minutes before resuming in the bottom of the seventh inning. Many players were seen taking a knee.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton and Cubs manager Craig Counsell both alerted the umpire crew of the situation immediately after the play.
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“Even though it’s 350 feet away or whatever it is, I mean, the fact of how it went down and then laying motionless while the play is going on, I mean, Craig saw it, I saw it. We both got out there,” Shelton told reporters after the game. “I think the umpires saw it because of the way it kicked. It’s extremely unfortunate. That’s an understatement.”
“I didn’t see anything happen, but I saw (Counsell’s) face when he came out on the field, and I could tell that it was a very scary moment,” Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “All we could do was just pray for a good, strong recovery for him and his family. I have never been part of something like that before and I hope I am never part of something like that again.”
Swanson added that the moment was a “humble reminder of the gratitude we should all have to play this game.”
“Folks obviously come out to support us, and they are a big reason why we are able to do what we do. It’s obviously tough. At a time like that you want (the fans) to know you love them,” he added.
McCutchen was seen holding a cross that hung from his neck while the fan was taken off the field.
“Truly hate what happened tonight,” McCutchen posted on X late Wednesday night. “Cant help but think about that guy, his family and friends. I pray tonight for him. Let us think about his loved ones and hug our families a little tighter tonight. I hope he pulls thru. May God Bless you all. Good night.”
In a statement, the Pirates said their “thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.”
This isn’t the first time a fan has been injured after taking a steep fall at a baseball stadium.
In 2015, Atlanta Braves season ticket holder Gregory K. Murrey flipped over guardrails from the upper deck at Turner Field and plunged to his death. He was pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital shortly after being removed from the field on a backboard.
That was four years after Shannon Stone, a firefighter attending a game with his six-year-old son, fell about 6.1 metres after reaching out for a foul ball tossed into the stands at the Texas Rangers’ former stadium in 2011. He was conscious following the fall but was bleeding from his head and his arms appeared to be broken. He died after being taken to the hospital.
Both incidents prompted scrutiny over the height of guardrails at stadiums. The Rangers raised theirs, while the Braves settled a lawsuit with Murrey’s family.
— With files from The Associated Press
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