Can You Hear Me Now?

[Wolf Hopper]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2003/0419/1541458.html

Texas right fielder Carl Everett was hit in the back of the head with a cell phone thrown by a fan in the Rangers' 12-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics on Saturday.

The male fan was arrested, according to A's spokesman Jim Young, and Everett said he planned to press charges. Everett was discussing it with an Oakland police officer after the game in the clubhouse.

"Luckily I was wearing a hat,'' Everett said. "If it wasn't for the hat, I'd be cut back there. That fan should be ashamed of himself.''

Everett was hit four days after umpire Laz Diaz was attacked by a fan at U.S. Cellular field in Chicago during a White Sox-Royals game.

"This is always happening in major league baseball and maybe now they'll do something about it,'' Everett said. "I'm going to be pressing charges. Fans pointed him out and they arrested him. It's just ignorance and alcohol and probably too much of both. That's what causes this.''

An officer answering at the Oakland Police Department patrol desk said he had no information on the arrest.

Everett complained to umpires before the start of the sixth inning that he had been hit.

"I tossed it over the fence,'' Everett said of the phone. "We are all going to be heckled in this game. That's part of it. But it's wrong to throw stuff.''

A cell phone? Sounds strange - - but, I remember reading a story about a fan (in Yankee Stadium?) that threw a text pager at an ump, and later in the game, paged the ump with a "You suck!" text message............think I read that in the Durwood Merrill book?

Back to this - - - did anyone actually see an video or something on this? How bad was it?

[hmrsf]

No one deserves this.......I mean NO ONE!

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Remember the Bronx Zoo? Pint whiskey bottles were being thrown, as I recall, in the early '70s.

At least one early FA had change thrown at him when fans learned he was planning to leave town.

It's always been wrong, but it's nothing new -- Cobb used to tell horror stories about some fans a hundred years ago; I'm sure some of the fans could tell horror stories about Cobb too.

[satchel]

I was watching the game - Everett went ballistic, in classic Everett style, but this time I think he was quite justified. There's no call for throwing things at players, be it bottles, 50-cent hotdogs, or otherwise. What sucks is that a few extremely poorly behaved fans are going to whip up such a security frenzy as to make going to the ballpark less fun for the rest of us.

[sweaver]

MLB has tightened security before, with no major discernible effects other than a decrease of boorish behavior. It is time to do so again.

[Wolf Hopper]

Originally posted by satchel
I was watching the game

He said - - -
"Luckily I was wearing a hat,'' Everett said. "If it wasn't for the hat, I'd be cut back there. That fan should be ashamed of himself.''

How did the hat help? Last time I checked, a wool cap is not exactly very protective?

[satchel]

About the hat - I don't know exactly what he means, but I can see how the hat could have dulled the blow a little. If it had been a knife I suppose it would have penetrated the hat, but not the blunt edge of cell phone. Would he have been cut by it without the hat - I have no idea.

It was Carl Everett for crying out loud. Does anything he says ever make sense? And he was upset. I wouldn't read too much into the comment. If someone hits you on the head with a cell phone, it hurts.

[Wolf Hopper]

Could turn out to be one of those commericals - - - -

....what they were saying was "Can you leave there or what?"

but, I thought I heard "Can you heave this at the nut?"

[RedSeat]

Anyone else see the fan with the cut on his forehead from Everett's return throw? They showed it on BBTN a few times, but I haven't seen it today nor is it mentioned in print (that I've found).

There's no excuse for the fan- check that- ticketholder who threw it first, but If Everett presses charges as he says he will, wouldn't fan #2 have a case as well?

[Wolf Hopper]

If this is true, what happens to Carl?

[JamesI]

Originally posted by RedSeat
Anyone else see the fan with the cut on his forehead from Everett's return throw? They showed it on BBTN a few times, but I haven't seen it today nor is it mentioned in print (that I've found).

There's no excuse for the fan- check that- ticketholder who threw it first, but If Everett presses charges as he says he will, wouldn't fan #2 have a case as well?

I would think so. Of course Everett has a pretty good insanity defense.

[RedSeat]

Apparently it was an A's employee who was hit by Everett.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...0/SP252945.DTL

This is the only mention I've found of it. No intent to harm on Everett's part, but irresponsible nonetheless.

Interesting that this isn't being mentioned anywhere. I saw the clip last night, but did not see it on subsequent reports.

[gyb13]

Everett picked up the phone and tried to throw it onto the wide concrete staircase to the left of the foul pole, but he drilled an A's employee on the forehead. The employee, who had been moving equipment, began to bleed and was bandaged but didn't require stitches and returned to work.

[OaktownTribeFan]

Apparently a lot of fans are calling for a ban, at least in the Oakland area:

http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Storie...earch=fil ter

IMO it will never happen, and it's only a partial solution anyway. Also it's very difficult to enforce. There are easy ways to get around the pat-down search and metal detectors. What do you think?

[Skip]

Originally posted by OaktownTribeFan
What do you think?

Can't and shouldn't happen. Don't punish the responsible mega-majority for the actions of the stupid minority, especially when the ban would be effectively unenforceable for that same, small minority.

As an example, bringing liquor, beer, and lots of other things has not been allowed at the KY Derby infield for decades, but every year we watch the news stories of cops standing in front of dumpsters full of confiscated stuff and saying they figure they got only 1/10 of the total, and that a lot of what they got was from presumably responsible people bringing in a single six-pack or somesuch.