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| Keith Carmickle/Courtesy: Michael Chow/Arizona Republic |
Keith Carmickle is a lucky man. He was at Monday nights Home Run Derby and nearly ended up stealing the headlines from this years winner Robinson Cano.
Carmickle was stationed in Right Field, near where many of the nights home runs were hit. He'd already got three balls when Prince Fielder hit a shot right at him. He went for number four.
According to the Arizona Republic, Carmickle stepped onto a table and reached down for the ball. His momentum caused him to tumble headfirst over a railing in front of the table when his friend and his brother, standing next to him and grabbed his legs. Had they not, the next stop was the pool, some 20 feet below at Chase Field.
Read more from azcentral.com RIGHT HERE
To say that Carmickle was stupid, would be an insult to stupid people. He didn't think about what he was doing, he wanted the ball. We kind of get that.
But after what happened this weekend in Texas, it may very well be time for stadiums to take a look at their policies in regards to railings.
There probably shouldn't have been any kind of table or prop near the railing, particularly at the Home Run Derby. Period.
Fans are going to do stupid things like reaching over railings for a baseball, they just are. Wishing, hoping and posting a sign at the entrance to the stands isn't going to stop them from doing it. Ushers, maybe.
Here's our solution. How about a second railing, further away from a ledge? That way there's a second hurdle to overcome before the risk of falling over the ledge. It's not an expensive thing to do and it would increase fan safety. While you want to think they won't do anything stupid like reach over a rail like Mr. Carmickle did, you can't assume that. An extra railing a foot or two away would prevent them from hurting themselves. Just our two cents worth, maybe someone will read this and pass it on.
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