KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A bat slipped out of a batter’s hands and hit a Seneca, Kan., man in the stands at Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday night after it went right through a safety net.
Eric Bergman left the Royals game with a bruise and big bump on his shoulder, and unexpected souvenirs he got after being hit by that bat which slipped out of the hands of San Francisco Giants’ star Buster Posey.
Bergman was sitting in the front row of the Crown Club. As he leaned over to talk to his friend, something caught his attention.
“I could feel it come past me and slam me in the shoulder,” he described.
“I was like, what the heck was that? And the lady about three or four seats down from us handed us a baseball bat and said it went through the net, I had no idea. I didn’t even see it happening or nothing.”
The magic bat somehow worked its way through the nylon netting, designed to protect fans from rogue bats and balls. Bergman guesses it must have been a one-in-a-million shot.
Toby Cook with the Royals did a little math about how many batters have come up since the Crown Club was installed in 1999.
“And I came up with 111,000, and I have no idea whether that is correct or not, but nobody around here remembers a bat making its way through this one-and-a-half-inch by one-and-a-half-inch hole,” Cook said.
“It has to hit perfectly and I think it came through with this end first and that is the only thing that makes any sense to me. Posey is definitely no wimp,” Bergman said with a laugh.
The bat that hit Bergamn is apparently Posey’s favorite — so the All-Star catcher took it back, but replaced it with another game-used bat which he signed.
“You know I am not a Giants fan but it would be a whole lot cooler if it was signed by all the Royals,” he said. “As we were walking out of the stadium last night there was cars pulling up offering us 1,000 cash for the bat, a bunch of different offers on the bat and I was like no.”
To Bergman, the experience is priceless.
“Oh I think it is a neat story, I mean it is definitely a good memory for me,” he affirmed.
Bergman says his only regret is that he really didn’t get to see the last three innings because of the attention from the medical staff, and his kids calling, crying because they saw their dad get hurt on TV.
He says he would appreciate two more tickets from the Royals so he can watch a complete game, we’ll see what happens.
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