This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
It has not been a very good week for Dodgers when it comes to hitting fans in the face with their balls.
On Monday, Yasiel Puig tossed a ball to a fan in the stands at Yankee Stadium, a typical, friendly gesture often transacted between player and fan, only to nail her in the face, knocking her tooth out. Puig met with the fan for Wednesday's game, where he offered her a non-threatening souvenir as a peace offering of sorts, and of course hashtagged it.
Saturday night's game in Arizona however was much more sinister. Joc Pederson hit a 463-foot bomb to deep center field—the longest Dodger home run of the season. And apparently it, uh, hit a woman who was sitting back there in a wheelchair, according to Derek Montilla, an Arizona sports podcast host and commentator:
The Joc Pederson home run hit a woman in a wheelchair in the face. She was just taken out by paramedics. #Dodgers #Dbacks
— Derek Montilla (@Cap_Kaveman) September 18, 2016
He also tweeted that, "There was a lot of blood."
According to the MLB Statcast, the ball was traveling 109.9 MPH as it exited contact with the bat which sounds very fast!
The Arizona Diamondbacks could not be reached for comment to confirm what happened, but if you pause the video at the moment of alleged impact, it does in fact look like someone in a seated position gets hit in the face, as we can see from the reaching of the hands to the unprotected face:
The irony is that, in the game previous Pederson sported a helmet featuring a faceguard, not because he feared facial injury but "because it looked cool."
Joc Pederson is latest MLBer to wear faceguard, despite not having suffered a facial injury. pic.twitter.com/eTTaFeSP0z
— Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 16, 2016
