Is this heaven? No, it's the visitors dugout. Photo credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
As vigilant as security is nowadays in ballparks there are still some things they can't quite protect against. Namely, absurd fans who think that jumping out onto the field is somehow a worthwhile decision. Well, the Yankees got a scare Wednesday that was more than just your run of the mill streaker. A fan at Safeco Field in Seattle climbed atop their dugout and then jumped in. It put the whole team on notice.Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that it "kind of freaked me out." Austin Romine, a backup catcher, mentioned the obvious: "We're not ready for that."The fan got into the dugout in the middle of the eighth inning, catching everyone by surprise. Brian McCann said he heard a "loud thud" and saw the fan on the ground and out of it.It seems, by all the descriptions given, that something was amiss with the fan. He jumped from atop the dugout and fell on the steps on his side. Then he hit the back of his head when he tried to get up and fell again."Let's just say he shouldn't have been doing anything," Girardi said.Said McCann: "He hit his head on the ground; it looked like he was out of it. He basically knocked himself out. It was a loud thud, I turned around and he was out of it."The fan was escorted away by security and it turned out to be a non-issue. But you can understand why the Yankees were rattled. While most fans-on-the-field occurrences are innocuous, there have been legitimate issues and threats in the past. A 2002 incident where two White Sox fans, a father and a son, beat up the Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa after running onto the field is the most prominent.This guy, luckily, seemed to be too impaired to do anything.[NY Post]
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