Evergreen has sad connection to history of baseball injuries

Ottis Johnson

Many activities, including sports, are potentially dangerous, and baseball fans were reminded of this Tuesday of last week when Toronto Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ was struck in the head by a smoking line drive during a game against the Rays at Tropicana Field.

The incident occurred in the bottom of the second when Happ, a 30-year-old lefty, delivered to pitch to Desmond Jennings, who turned on the pitch and sent it rocketing back up the middle to the pitcher’s mound. Happ didn’t have time to react to the batted ball, and it hit him in the side of the head. The ball hit him with such force that it was widely reported that the “sickening sound” of the impact could be heard throughout the stadium.

Happ crumpled to the ground, holding the side of his head, as the ball ricocheted up the right field line. Two runs scored and Jennings made it all the way to third before play was halted and medical personnel rushed the field. Happ was taken off the field on a stretcher and was transported to Bay Front Medical Center, where he was treated for a head contusion and a laceration to his left ear.

Those of you who saw video footage of this incident know that it’s hard to watch, and know that Happ was lucky to get off with relatively minor injuries. It could have been a lot worse.

Oddly, Happ’s injury occurred 56 years to the day from when Cleveland Indians pitcher Herb Score was hit in the face by a line drive that came off the bat of New York Yankees shortstop Gil McDougald. That incident occurred during the first inning of a game on May 7, 1957 at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, and Score suffered broken facial bones and injuries to an eye. In this case, McDougald ran to the pitcher’s mound instead of first base to help Score, who missed the rest of the season but returned to the pitcher’s mound the following year.

Local sports fans will know and remember that Evergreen has a sad connection to incidents of this type.

According to researchers at Sports Illustrated and “Death at the Ballpark” by Bob Gorman and David Weeks, Conecuh County native Ottis Johnson was the last pro player to die after getting hit in the head by a pitch. Johnson, who played two seasons of minor league professional baseball for the Dothan Browns, died in June 1951 after getting hit in the temple by a pitch delivered by Headland Dixie Runners pitcher Jack Clifton. Johnson, age 25, died eight days later from the resulting skull fracture. He ended his career with a .336 lifetime batting average and with 17 career home runs.

Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is the only major league player in history to be killed by beaning, and that incident occurred in 1920. Nine minor league batters, including Johnson, have been killed in similar incidents, going all the way back to 1906.