366 days after Rangers fan Tyler Morris fell at the Ballpark in Arlington going for a foul ball, another fan did the same thing. The difference is when Shannon Stone lost his balance and fell over the railing, it cost him his life. Here is the tragic video:
The man who died is Shannon Stone (pictured below), who has been a firefighter for nearly 18 years in Brownsville, Texas. As if the story isn’t tragic enough, this detail will truly make your heart break.
“They had him on a stretcher, and they were carrying him out, and he was saying stuff,” said A’s reliever Brad Ziegler, who was in tears after being informed of the man’s death. “He was saying, ‘Please check on my son. I was here with my son,’ and people were saying, ‘We’ll check on your son. We’ll make sure he’s OK.’
It’s hard to believe that he was conscious, asking about his son, and then ended up dying. Going to a game and catching a foul ball is part of what makes being a fan fun. Nobody is supposed to die during an exciting moment like that.
We’ll pass along the same advice we gave last year after a similar incident. Stadiums need to have higher railings to ensure this sort of thing does not happen.
We send our best wishes to Stone’s family and hope they will be able to overcome the tragedy.
