Fan dies from fall at Rangers game (Warning: Video link)

I know Turner Field has the same double-wall setup:



But it's only that high all the way around the field. And single walls can be just as bad:

 

The open area used to be where the manual out-of-town scoreboard workers operated. Now it's electronic again (LED lights mounted on a webbing that gives when leftfielders sprint into it).

My guess is the club didn't want to alter the dimensions of the park in the leftfield power alley, so they left the space open.

 

Yeah, a second look at that Star-Telegram story link had the link to this, plus its own copy of the fall. Why the hell put his facebook page up there?

Oh and that space? How about a metal grill across it?

 

Hamilton blamed the third-base coach.

 

SOME FURTHER INFO/CLARIFICATIONS -

Yes, as Football_Bat said earlier, that particular architectural setup was built into the stadium originally (opened in 1994). Until the 2010 season, the wall in left field was home to a Fenway Park-style manually operated scoreboard. The large gap is because there were workers back there every game, operating that scoreboard. [See image below]

A few other things - Rangers Ballpark in Arlington's medical staff and ambulance, if I remember right, are actually located about 50 feet from where this guy fell, through a gate just bellow the left field foul pole. Again, see image bellow, you can see the open gate. He was awake, responding, and should have been alright after the fall itself. As referenced earlier in this thread, the fall alone probably led to the fatal cardiac arrest, but did not directly cause the fatality. If a man gets in a car accident, is going to survive it, but then has a hear attack afterwards due to the shock/stress... did the accident cause the death? I really don't know the answer to that... just throwing out an analogy.

Image - http://tinyurl.com/4y8p3dr

Ballpark deaths - Someone asked earlier about other death's at this ballpark. This is the first death involving a fan falling at this ballpark. A fan fell at the very first game ever played at this park back in 1994, and suffered major injuries including cracked vertebrae, but survived. The Rangers added additional railing and warning signs after that incident. Last summer - in fact TODAY last year, 364 days before last night's incident - a fan fell during a Rangers vs. Indians game. That was a longer fall, but the man suffered a fractured skull and sprained ankle. He survived. What probably saved that mans life was the fact that he landed on other people in the lower deck.

No word yet on action points from MLB or Rangers Ballpark. Ban on throwing balls in the stands? Probably not necessary. Higher railings at this particular ballpark? Maybe that is necessary. We'll see.

From Dallas,

17

 

ass

 

But I'm guessing that when workers were there with a manual scoreboard, they didn't enter the area from above. So I'm not getting why a metal or otherwise somewhat rigid grille wasn't thought of; attach it to a hinge if access is needed.

 

HUH? Link please.

 

My God, really?

 

I haven't seen anything Hamilton said about the third place coach. What the hell?

Well shit, I'd forgot about April.

Sorry but hell, we're talking about a death of a man here. Kinda zoned into that.

 

I would be a extremely wild coincidence if the heart attack were not related to the fall. I'm sure it's one the Texas Rangers and/or their insurance company will bank on, though.

A lawyer could make a pretty good case case when a Rangers employee flips a ball to a fan causing him to fall into a pit that looks like it's designed to dispose of people.

 

Great piece by Passan.

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-passan_texas_hamilton_tragedy_fan_death_070811