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Fan nearly falls at HR Derby

JDubs

By JDubs
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JDubs All-Star

JDubs

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LINK (with pic)

PHOENIX -- Keith Carmickle and his friends had already caught three balls during Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby Monday night and wanted more.He nearly got a lot more: a headfirst fall to a pool deck about 20 feet below.

Chasing a home run hit by Milwaukee's Prince Fielder, Carmickle was saved from a long fall when his brother and a friend grabbed him around the legs and arms, then pulled him back as he dangled above the deck area behind the pool in right field at Chase Field.

His near miss came the same day as the memorial service for Shannon Stone, a 39-year-old fan who died last Thursday while trying to catch a ball thrown into the stands at a Texas Rangers home game.

"I thought: I've lived a good life," Carmickle said about dangling.

Seated in a small section of seats above the right-field fence, Carmickle, of Kingman, and his group had already grabbed home-run balls by Robinson Cano and Adrian Gonzalez and were looking to add another to their collection when Fielder came up in the second round of the derby.

Trying to snare a towering shot by Fielder, Carmickle stepped up onto a metal table about 18 inches wide and reached down to catch the ball. It hit a wall several feet below Carmickle. His momentum carried him forward, headfirst over a short railing at the back of the table.

Carmickle was headed for a hard landing when his friend, Aaron Nelson, grabbed his legs and his brother, Kraig, grabbed him around the arms. Carmickle dangled briefly over a deck where a couple of cameras were positioned behind Chase Field's pool before being pulled back up to his seat as the crowd above and below gasped.

"He tried to catch it, I grabbed his legs and his brother grabbed his arms," said Nelson, who, along with Kraig Carmickle, is from Chandler. "So when he went over the ledge, we pulled him back. He wasn't going down, I was holding on."

Unbelievable. Good job by his fellow fans. I'm not sure anything can or should be done about this, but some fans need to understand that it just is not worth it.<cite>

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Dipper9 Hangout Grand Counsel

Dipper9

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OSHA dictates that railing in a place of work be 42 inches tall and able to support 200 pounds of pressure. While not a place of work, these railings at these ballparks are much lower than 42 inches. One of the changes made at Orioles Park this past winter was lowering the railings. Perhaps they should worry more about fan safety and less about that annoying railing in the line of sight of the fans in a few rows of seats???

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Austin Veteran All-Star

Austin

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That's dumb... there is no baseball worth my life. I'm not sure why these fans keep pushing it.

That said, and maybe this is the wrong thread for it, but did anyone see that guy make the leaping catch and dive into the pool last night? One of the coolest things I've ever seen a fan do, despite how dangerous it might have been.

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Austin Veteran All-Star

Austin

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There's a difference between what happened to Mr.Stone and this guy. Mr. Stone was a tragic accident,this guy is just STUPID.

I mean, all due respect, but Mr. Stone's tragic accident was only tragic because he leaned over too far for a ball. It was his fault.

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