As the New York Yankees headed out onto the field for the bottom of the eighth inning of Wednesday’s game in Seattle against the Mariners, those left in the dugout found themselves with a surprise visitor.
According to Yankees catcher Brian McCann, the team heard a loud thud. That was followed by a fan landing in the dugout. After sustaining the fall, the fan got up looking confused.
“He hit his head on the ground; it looked like he was out of it,” McCann said. “He basically knocked himself out. It was a loud thud, I turned around and he was out of it.”
Those in the dugout were definitely frightened by the unwanted guest.
“It kind of freaked me out, actually,” (New York manager Joe) Girardi said. “I think he tried to jump in, but he was probably not in a state to be walking.”
Girardi said the fan landed on the steps, hitting his side after falling from the top of the dugout. He tried to get up and fell again, this time hitting the back of his head. Stadium security moved quickly to apprehend the fan and escorted him out of the dugout and off the field.
“You don’t know his intentions,” McCann said. “It looked like he was trying to run on the field, but he didn’t make it there. It could have been worse.”
Based on reports from the Yankees and the picture of the man being escorted out, it’s safe to speculate that this fan might have had one too many.
So a fan fell into the @Yankees' dugout today https://t.co/7aFU7ihWbD pic.twitter.com/bpsMglxnFI
— NY Daily News Sports (@NYDNSports) August 25, 2016
The incident didn’t seem to faze the Yankees much, however. New York defeated Seattle 5-0. However, this was definitely a scary event. There’s the possibility of serious injury to the fan, and beyond that as Girardi said, you don’t know the fan’s intention. Who knows? Maybe Major League Baseball needs to consider a net above the dugout so drunk fans don’t fall in the dugout.
