Minor League Fan Gets Eye Crushed, Blinded by Foul Ball

"It could have been me." No, seriously. It could have. I have season tickets for the Single-A Greensboro Grasshoppers minor league baseball team. And it was at a Hoppers game where Carroll Master, a 50 year old minor league baseball fan, got clocked in the face with a foul ball.

The result was partial blindness and a non-existent left eye, crushed by the impact of the baseball.

Master visited the concession stand first and was stepping over his seat from the row behind, handing out sodas and french fries, when the ball hit him.

He doesn't remember how he got out of the stands for paramedics to reach him. He does remember being sure his eye was completely gone and being astounded to hear the game continuing.

I literally cringe every time I read that description. And yet, the Hoppers don't seem all that sympathetic, particularly Donald Moore, the team president (who may be revoking my season tickets right about ... now).

The Grasshoppers' president and general manager, Donald Moore, said the team regrets Master's injury.

"One of the many risks a spectator assumes while attending a baseball game is possible injury from foul balls," Moore wrote in an e-mail to the News & Record. The stadium posts warnings on signs and on everyone's ticket and makes safety announcements through the public address system.

"We wish this gentleman a speedy recovery," Moore wrote.

How about a free baseball bat? Or perhaps a season's worth of free tickets? Is that too much to ask? I don't think so, particularly when the back of the tickets is a veritable minefield of liability waivers, alerting the ticket holder that he or she "voluntarily assumes all risks and dangers incidental to the event for which the ticket is issued."

Sure he might be able to get a lawyer to take his case, but I don't think it would make it past a quick Motion for Summary Judgment here in Guilford County. And while I certainly sympathize with Master, there are always a ridiculous amount of people waltzing around minor league games not even paying attention, despite the even greater number of loose foul balls getting cranked around the ball park.

So in that sense, the waivers on the back of the ticket seem reasonable, it also seems reasonable to make sure a fan is compensated for the loss of his eyeball.