Rockies Reporter Kelsey Wingert On The Upswing After Taking 95mph Line Drive To The Face
It was a scary scene on Monday night after a foul line drive whipped into the Rockies' dugout at 95mph. Not going to show it, but in this video you can hear that right away everyone knew something was wrong... Always a gut wrenching feeling.
One of the announcers asks, "Kelsey, you ok?," referring to Rockies' reporter Kelsey Wingert. She was, in fact, very much not ok.
Thankfully as of yesterday there was good news:
What a relief that once the pain of the injury is finally gone, the worst thing she'll have to deal with is endless Harry Potter references. (I, myself, had to hold back from putting The Girl Who Lived! in the headline. Too soon & very glad it wasn't worse.)
Worth noting, this is actually the second time she's been injured by a foul ball:
On March 30, 2018 while working for Fox Sports South, Wingert suffered a fractured right eye socket when struck by a foul ball during a game between the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies.
Wingert, then covering the Braves, was briefly hospitalized after being hit by the foul ball off the bat of Odubel Herrera of the Phillies in the seventh inning. She was standing in the camera well on the first-base side at Atlanta’s SunTrust Park when Herrera’s sharp bouncing grounder hit her in the face.
The Braves added additional netting after that incident.
In either instance no one could blame anyone for falling to the ground & crying in pain, as I'd imagine pretty much anything hitting you at 95mph does not feel great, but both times she remained calm. Tough as Hell. And she's not alone, just head to Google and lookup "sideline reporter + injuries" and you'll get hundreds of results. It's a risky gig in pretty much any sport. (No shit, Kate.)
It can be dangerous for the fans, too. Others in the comments on her recent post began sharing their own sidelines injuries and whew…
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SHAME ON YOU, SALT LAKE BEES, SHAAAAME. (But for real, wtf?!)
In closing, Buzzkill Kate here with some sobering info. An NBC News investigation has some crazy stats about fan injuries at games, and Sports Illustrated did a fascinating article about the Baseball Rule, which many say is way outdated now. For over a century that rule has given MLB team owners immunity 'from lawsuits filed against them for foul-ball injuries'. It's left a lot of fans (and/or their families) in the lurch with huge hospital bills while they learn to cope with permanent injuries or worse. Not great.
I think it's easy to say, "Ugh, whatever, people know the risks when they go to a game." But I bet anyone who says that would feel very differently if they had a loved one in that situation. And I feel like the folks over at Big Netting could hone their netting technology until it's basically invisible if the MLB gave 'em a little funding to do as such. (MLB is worth an estimated $2.07B altogether, so I believe it's a fixable issue.) As for reporters, I feel like there's not much they can do. Joel Embiid masks for everyone? Lil' helmets?? Whatever the case there's no doubt we'll be seeing Wingert back out there soon.