Duck For Cover

Baltimore Orioles v New York Yankees, September 7, 1997

Yankee Stadium, Sec 20 476D

Prior to the game, we were standing near the field past the 3rd base dugout. As I marveled at the facade and greatness that was the old Yankee Stadium the entire section dove for cover. Except me. Because I was not paying attention.
I got drilled in the right wrist with a screamer of a foul ball. Luckily my beer was in the left hand and the ball dropped at my feet for me to pick up.
I asked on of the guys with me why he did not warn me. He stated the reaction was to duck for cover. I asked him how hard the ball was hit. He replied; "If it have hit you in the head you would be dead". I tend to beleive him as my wrist blew up to the size of my bicep. I had to evenually go for ice at the First Aid station. A week later I broke down and went for x-rays.

A Cal Ripken Jr home run in the top of the first off his old teammate, Mike Mussina, kicked off the afternoon. Our seats were looking up at the left field foul pole, 2nd row. I had the aisle seat. The pole was much thicker and solid then you would expect. There had to be 50 coats of paint on it. This pole would come into play in the bottom of the 3rd. With Wade Boggs on 2nd after a double, Paul O'Neil was at the plate with a 3-1 count. We watched O'Neil tag a shot off Mussina to what looked like would be over the left field fence. The ball actually curved so much, but we could not see it. The crowd went nuts. We were all standing and high fiving. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a ball laying on the ground infront of the guy across the aisle from me. He was seated just in fair territory next to the pole.
The ball wrapped around the pole and no one seemed to have seen where it landed. As I reacted to lunge for it, he looked down and picked the ball up.

It was bizarre. A home run was hit in a Major League game and no one seemed to be aware of where the ball landed.

With Derek Jeter on first, Jorge Posada hit a 2 run homer in the 4th. That was followed by a Tim Raines shot over the fence to deep right. Also in the game Bernie Williams hit one out in the 6th with 2 men on.

This was a typical Yankees game for the time. It took over 3 hours to complete. 47,945 were on hand for the contest in the Bronx this sunny afternoon. I walked off with a foul ball and a bill from an ER visit. Also, a photo of me up against the foul pole posing with the Paul O'Neil home run ball.