There was a frightening moment at Yankee Stadium Wednesday when a young fan was hit by a foul ball. It marked the latest in a string of incidents of fan injuries. Anna Werner, CBS Evening News reports.
A young girl sitting in the lower-level seats off the left infield near third base at Yankee Stadium was hit by a 105 mph line drive. The baseball struck her in the face during Wednesday afternoon’s Minnesota Twins-New York Yankees game.
The line drive foul ball off of Yankee’s right-handed batter Todd Frazier’s bat was hooked to the left.
The girl was bleeding, and fans and her parents nearby her seat immediately waved for help from stadium officials. She was transported to nearby New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center.
I don’t care about the damn … the view of a fan or what. It’s all about safety. I still have a knot in my stomach. I don’t know if you guys saw it. We need nets, or don’t put kids down there.
— Brian Dozier, 2B Minnesota Twins
The maximum exit velocity off Todd Frazier’s bat this season is recorded at 93.3 MPH. The little girl was seated about 149 feet from the right-handed batter’s position. But media has reported the specific line drive was moving at 105 MPH.
A 93 MPH line drive moves about 136 feet per second.
105 MPH line drive moves about 154 feet per second — amounting to about 0.96 second to react. In other words, it took about 0.96 second for the ball to travel from the bat at home plate to the box seats where the girl was hit.
This allows the girl or guardians nearby about one second or less to react
The speed of sound is 1125.33 feet per second. If none of the nearby fans are watching the batter, the sound of the crack of the bat hitting the ball takes about .13 second to reach the ears of fans near the seat. Now there is about 0.83 second to react.
Now there is also reaction time — understanding that the ball is heading toward the fans and realizing protective action is needed. That duration of reaction time is estimated to take at least 0.3 second. That leaves only about 0.53 second to react to effect protective cover to prevent being hit in the face or head.
A line drive to the chest can cause cardiac arrest. A line drive to the head can cause a fatal head injury or a severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) with severe disability.
See also …
Sports Science of Baby and Dad at Wrigley, Batted Ball Exit Velocity, and What it Means for Infants
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