Sports

Freak Accident: Teen Catcher Dies After Baseball Hits Him in the Chest

From ABC 7 in New York:

Family members say a 16-year-old northern New Jersey boy died after being struck in the chest by a baseball during a club team practice.

Thomas Adams, a catcher, was practicing with a pitcher when the accident occurred around 7 p.m. Friday. The Garfield teen went into cardiac arrest and was taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, where died about an hour later.

Family members told The Record of Woodland Park that the Garfield High School sophomore was wearing all his catching gear at the time including a chest protector.

Comments (39)

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  • Red Neckerson
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 11:41pm

    Praying for his family, my son plays catcher he has played the position for 5 years now. I cannot imagine what those parents are going through right now. There is no need for further regulation of youth baseball. You cannot protect your kids from every conceivable bad thing that could happen. Like someone else posted you cannot wrap them in bubblewrap and hover over them 24/7.

    As for further regulation it is not needed, they already make chest protectors that can be worn next to the body. They can be worn under the catchers normal chest protector. My son chooses not to wear them here because of the heat. We have played in numerous tournaments where the field temperatures have reached well above 100 deg F. My son has played catcher in some tournaments for as many as 36 innings in one day. I would be much more concerned here with heatstroke than the chance of his heart stopping from being hit by a pitch.

    My son also plays football and I am much more concerned about injuries there than I am with baseball.

    Report Post »  
  • dontbotherme
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 9:05pm

    My heart breaks for the family. God Bless them.

    Report Post »  
  • Tony Nagy
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 8:56pm

    I lift up the Family, and ask for comfort and healing in their time of grief. > Lord hear our prayers.

    Report Post » Col. HawK  
  • clinker
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 7:31pm

    How does one say ‘Jackass’ in German?

    clinker  
    • clinker
      Posted on December 6, 2010 at 7:32pm

      Wrong story – was meant for the car jumper…………

      Report Post » clinker  
  • kentuckylady
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 6:54pm

    I feel very sorry for the family. I cant even imagine the pain they must feel. Its I guess just a freak accident. I will pray for the family. I wish it is something I could say or do.

    Report Post »  
  • Jim Hubbard
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 6:40pm

    Please keep in mind the reason there SEEMS to be more of this type of thing happening. There are more and more people playing the same games that fewer people used to play. Reporting news (especially bad news) is as easy as pecking out a tweet on your cellphone. Everybody is a reporter now.

    With the increased population and ease with which news spreads today, there only SEEMS to be an increase in the number of these cases. In all probability the same tragic accidents have been happening in the same percentages for years. There was just fewer people (thus fewer accidents) and we were a lot less connected than we are now (so people in say Georgia neverused to hear about a child’s death in New Jersey).

    This doesn’t make this event any less tragic for the teen, his family or friends – and I don’t mean to downplay the significance of his death. It’s a horrible tragedy whenever any young life is cut short by something that seems so random.

    But, we need to keep in mind the reality of playing sports. For millions and millions of kids, sports is a life affirming, health promoting, social skill building exercise that should be encouraged.

    Don’t burden our children with fear of sudden death from a baseball hit. If you’re gonna do that, may as well scare the hell out of them about lightning and the possibility of getting hit in the head by a meteor wheneve they go outside (or inside…those things can go through a roof ya know…).

    Report Post » Jim Hubbard  
  • Lt_Taz
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 4:40pm

    To his family and friends, please accept my deepest sympathies, my prayers are with you.

    Report Post »  
  • SilentReader
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 4:23pm

    My condolences go to his family and friends. What a tragedy!

    Report Post » SilentReader  
  • bill fowler
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 3:50pm

    water cooler pundit,
    Where to start? I have never or at least can’t remember seeing anything so destructful to childhood and growing up normally. If the numbers you produce are even close to factual then I find it impossible to believe anything at all is necessary to stop the terible carnage you claim is destroying the children of this country. The numbers show me that there is very little or no reason to stop the kids from learning to play the game the way it was ment to be played. We must stop trying to protect our children from every danger in life as if we could anyway.

    Report Post »  
  • bigdaddybernie
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 3:37pm

    My brother-in-law is a sheriff and he wears a ceramic convex disc over his chest protector (kevlar) which shatters on impact to absorb the hit and to spread out the impact around the heart.

    Report Post »  
  • charliego
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 3:05pm

    GOD, hold this family close to your heart. How very sad.

    Report Post » charliego  
  • joseph Fawcett
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 2:42pm

    Very Sad, indeed, my prayers to his family, friends, and teammates.

    http://www.josephfawcettart.com western artist

    Report Post » joseph Fawcett  
  • UPSETVET
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 2:14pm

    This story is proof of how fragil human life really is and how often it comes when least expected. My heart goes out to the boys family. What could have been done to prevent this accidental death ?Not anything other than having paramedics standing by at each practice and game, which of course isn’t going to happen.

    Report Post »  
  • sissykatz
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 1:43pm

    Lord please be with this grieving family, and help them deall with the tragidy, make their sorrows be short and the good memories be long.

    Report Post »  
  • Water Cooler Pundit
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 12:38pm

    My condolences to the family; I can’t even imagine the pain.

    Unfortunately, this is not rare. This happens to 5-8 kids a year. (~1 per 1mm players, per year) If the ball happens to hit you hard in the chest in-between heartbeats you go in to fibrillation (cardiac arrest). If there is no defibrillator on hand you die.
    This may be hard for Americans to hear but Baseball is by-far, the most dangerous youth sport our kids can participate in.
    5-8 kids a year die by being with ball (mostly) or bat (less frequently), 200000+ kids a year sustain eye, face and teeth injuries including 40000 (+/-) that require hospitalization for eye injuries alone. A bunch of kids break legs and ankles from improper sliding (I don’t have accurate #s).
    Parents and game officials are being delinquent when it comes to baseball safety. Tradition, not up-to-date science, dictates baseball equipment. We are reluctant to change because it is our pastime and we are nostalgic about how we played when we were kids.
    We should immediately: #1.Eliminate the “on-deck-circle”. Kids swinging aluminum bats around other kids while the grown-ups watch the game…not too smart and kills 3-5 kids a decade. 2. Throw out all helmets older than the kids wearing them…ill fitting, hand-me-down, helmets should only be seen in Norman Rockwell prints. We should use only modern, well fit, helmets with cages and chin straps. 3. Require mouth guards. 4 Require eye protection. 5.Require break away bases…ton’s of kids snap their ankles and ruin their growth plates because they slide into a base that’s spiked into the ground. 6. Use only NOCASE approved baseballs. (For example Reduced Injury Factor Balls by Worth) 7. Outlaw head-first slides. 8. Require modern, up-to-date chest and neck protectors for catcher and umps. 9. Require base coaches to wear helmets.
    Baseball should not be the untouchable sport. The image of baseball being a “safe” sport is untrue! Parents and organizations need to start putting kids ahead of tradition. Other sports keep up with safety innovations why is your kid wearing the same stuff you wore when you played 20+ years ago?

    Report Post »  
    • kwillcox
      Posted on December 6, 2010 at 10:21pm

      In our town, most sports like hs baseball have a trained person with a defibrillator at the ready. Lacrosse and Baseball can have heart problems from hard impacts and with a defib nearby, you can bring them back. Waiting for the ambulance is too long.

      Report Post »  
    • apollo18
      Posted on December 7, 2010 at 1:23am

      This phenomena has a name, “commodio cordis”. It occurs when the heart takes a strong impact at a specific time during the heartbeat. It does respond to AED’s, CPR and post arrest hypothermia research includes it in the indicated criteria. So they are working on it. I believe anybody unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the right time, is vulnerable. As far as preventing all risk, Do you really want to prevent all risk? Like ban all cars? Government control all our lives? Ill take the risk, thanks.

      Report Post »  
    • USAPLISKENXI
      Posted on December 8, 2010 at 10:12am

      Well said

      Report Post » USAPLISKENXI  
  • LibertarianLady
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 12:03pm

    What a terrible accident. Our hearts and prayers go out to the family. God Bless them.

    Report Post »  
  • wampanoag
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 11:56am

    This happens a few times a year and, predictably is usually followed by a lawsuit against aluminum bats manufacturers.

    Report Post »  
  • bookofwisdom
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 11:44am

    How Horrible. May God keep the family in the palm of His mighty hand during their time of grief. It is always sad to loose someone so young and this time of year will never be the same for the family. May God Bless.

    Report Post » bookofwisdom  
  • Cabo King
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 11:32am

    rest in peace tommy!!!!! maybe Congress can hold some meeting about this, make baseballs softer, yeah thats it!!!

    Report Post » Cabo King  
    • heavyduty
      Posted on December 6, 2010 at 11:43am

      It’s called softball. But when you are hit in the chest by an object then there is a risk of stopping the heart. They also use this technique to start the heart. Just wondering!!!! My prayers are with the family. There is no good time for this to happen, but right now at Christmas time will be especially hard.

      Report Post »  
  • neversaynever
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 11:30am

    This is very rare, but it has happened in football a few times. It takes that freak timing to be hit at the exact right time to make your heart go whacko. Its sad, but its part of the risks you take on when playing a sport.

    Report Post »  
  • avgconservative
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 11:24am

    WE MUST BAN BASEBALL… Look how destructive it is! – Nancy Pelosi (D) CA

    Report Post » avgconservative  
    • apollo18
      Posted on December 7, 2010 at 1:12am

      George Bush owned a baseball team…It’s all his fault!

      Report Post »  
  • cessna152
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 11:16am

    I played catcher for 13 years and never heard of such a thing… this is very sad indeed. They are in our prayers….

    Report Post » cessna152  
    • john seven eighteen
      Posted on December 6, 2010 at 11:23am

      I was a catcher for many years and I had a team mate swing his bat right into my gut as I passed by him. It was an accident but I was very fortunate it hit me in the gut and not the chest. Not that it helped me breathe any easier.

      God be with this young man and his family.

      Report Post » john seven eighteen  
    • republitarian
      Posted on December 6, 2010 at 11:33am

      Sometimes a blow to the chest stops the heart. It is not known why and that makes this a freak accident. I’m so sorry for the family.

      Report Post » republitarian  
    • grandmaof5
      Posted on December 6, 2010 at 9:43pm

      My son caught in his Little League days and a young man about the same age (a pitcher I think) was hit with a line drive and his heart stopped. It was reported back then (15yrs or so) but not much is said until it happens again. Very sad. Our prayers go out to his family.

      Report Post »  
  • FED-UP-AND-READY-TO-TAKE-ACTION
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 10:58am

    So sad. May the Lord be with his family during their time of sorrow. Please keep them in your prayers.

    Report Post » FED-UP-AND-READY-TO-TAKE-ACTION  
  • Cherished Emblems
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 10:52am

    So very sad. My prayers are with his family.

    Report Post » Cherished Emblems  
  • snowleopard3200 {mix art}
    Posted on December 6, 2010 at 10:47am

    Peace be with the family in this hour of need, and may his memory continue on in the lives he touched.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
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