Foul Ball Research Articles

Foul Ball Rates and Injuries at Major League Baseball Games: A Retrospective Analysis of Data from Three Stadiums.

This paper provides a large-scale, per Major League Baseball (MLB) game analysis of foul ball (FB) injury data and provides estimates of injury frequency and severity. This study's goal was to quantify and describe the rate and type of FB injuries at MLB games. This was a retrospective review of medical care reports for patients evaluated by on-site health care providers (HCPs) over a non-contiguous 11-year period (2005-2016). Data were obtained using Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Data were received from three US-based MLB stadiums. The review reported 0.42-0.55 FB injuries per game that were serious enough to warrant presentation at a first aid center. This translated to a patients per 10,000 fans rate (PPTT) of 0.13-0.23. The transport to hospital rate (TTHR) was 0.02-0.39. Frequently, FB injuries required analgesics but were overwhelmingly minor and occurred less often than non-FB traumatic injuries (5.2% versus 42%-49%). However, FB injured fans were more likely to need higher levels of care and transport to hospital (TH) as compared to people suffering other traumatic injuries at the ballpark. Contusions or head injuries were common. Finally, FB injured fans were often hit in the abdomen, upper extremity, face, or head. It was found that FB injuries appeared to increase with time, and this increase in injuries aligns with the sudden increase in popularity of smartphones in the United States. These data suggest that in roughly every two or three MLB games, a foul ball causes a serious enough injury that a fan seeks medical attention. This rate is high enough to warrant attention, but is comparable in frequency to other diagnostic categories. Assessing the risk to fans from FBs remains difficult, but with access to uniform data, researchers could answer persistent questions that would lead to actionable changes and help guide public policy towards safer stadiums.

Risk Management during Sport Activities: Analysis of the Recent Legal Case in Japan Regarding Foul Ball Damages on a Spectator in a Ballpark

Risk Management during Sport Activities: Analysis of the Recent Legal Case in Japan Regarding Foul Ball Damages on a Spectator in a Ballpark

Acute Testicular Fracture in a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Baseball Catcher: A Case Study

A 21-year-old male baseball catcher sustained an injury to the right testicle from a foul ball that ricocheted from the ground to his groin. The athlete was removed from competition when testicular pain began to increase. Ice was applied to the affected area and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were utilized through the evening. Further diagnosis and treatment were warranted the following morning. Diagnostic ultrasound revealed a fracture to the right testicle, necessitating surgical repair. The athlete followed a return-to-play progression and returned to play 20 days postinjury. This case describes evaluation and treatment of a rare acute condition and the need for early recognition and diagnosis.

My Baseball Family

My Baseball Family Katherine Murray (bio) Three months before she would have turned one hundred, we buried my great-grandma. We'd buried my great-grandpa twenty years prior, but his tombstone still looked new, brightened by the flowers my grandma brought him every few weeks. The baseballs carved into the stone were still white. The pastor looked askance at the nontraditional tombstone next to the plot he presided over but pushed on. My great-grandma's forty-odd descendants stifled a collective grin. "Hazel was a devoted member of our congregation. She attended every Sunday for decades. Her … faithful husband always dropped her off." He glanced at the tombstone again. "But he never stayed, because he was always on his way to the ball field." The descendants broke into laughter while the churchgoing non-relatives looked on disapprovingly. The great-grandchildren who were old enough to remember Larry Yocky's 1997 funeral grinned at each other, wondering how the pastor would react when we told him our great-grandpa had left instructions that we sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" as he was lowered into the earth. Like many baseball families, mine prides itself on its many generations of ballplayers (the boys play baseball, the girls play softball). Mine especially prides itself on my great-grandpa's legacy; not only was he a great player but he also coached Pony League in Long Beach for over thirty years, including two World Series championships that led to a field being named after him. A few of his players made it to the big leagues, including Bobby Grich, and it's still weirdly gratifying to hear another SoCal native delightedly recall watching Larry Yocky coach. Like most kids with the pressure of a legacy, my cousins and I pushed ourselves to be the most worthy of it. We all started T-ball at age four, and every holiday included Wiffle ball in our grandparents' backyard. We spent our summers chasing Grandpa's pop-ups until we all collapsed in a sweaty, sunburned, laughing pile and Grandma brought us popsicles. We watched the Cal State Long Beach Dirtbags from our grandparents' seats just behind home plate, charting the progress of future major leaguers like Troy Tulowitzki, Evan Longoria, and Jered Weaver. During every game, we cousins found our own [End Page 70] ways to compete: who could pursue the most foul balls (if you brought it to the concessions stand you got a free Coke!), who could eat the most jalapeños, who could get a player to wave back to them, who could run the bases the fastest on glorious Sunday afternoons when kids could take the field after the game. As we ran the bases on a college field, we all imagined it was our turn at the Big Show. Like most baseball kids who grow up in southern California, Vin Scully narrated our dreams. My sister and I spent as much time as possible at our grandparents' house, lost in the sweet idyll of childhood: bare feet on the lawn, well-worn gloves at the ready, ponytails jutting out of our Angels caps as we chased after whatever balls Grandpa hit for us. When we needed more room, we walked to the field named after Great-Grandpa, and Grandpa hit dozens of buckets of balls until it got dark. I learned second base like a language and loved it like a friend, more comfortable there than I was anywhere. With my sister at shortstop, we were unstoppable. We watched A League of their Own at least once a week and wore both skirts and eye black. Ever-diligent tomboys, we recorded Angels games so that we could pause and rewind our favorite plays. We rewatched Adam Kennedy and David Eckstein turn double plays thousands of times, mimicking their actions and practicing our flips until we could both throw and catch a regular or backhanded flip with our eyes closed. (A few facial injuries may have occurred in the perfecting of these flips). In our rec league games, we turned double plays achievable only with the smooth magic of sibling telepathy and hours of backyard instruction under Grandpa's...

Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Please

Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Please Chris Arvidson (bio) I was born and raised in the Detroit area. I went to college in Michigan. I am a serious lifelong Detroit Tigers fan. They are forever my #1 team. I was at the last three games of the 1984 World Series. I live, all year long, in Tiger gear. I belong to the Mayo Smith Society. But, I haven’t always lived in Michigan, so sacrifices have had to be made. When you love baseball, you make do. You find your people. You expand your interest to other teams based on your geography. You get in the car and drive. And, back in the days before MLB TV and cable television sports stations, you even tried tuning in to late night broadcasts on AM stations, hoping to pick up your team’s games. I lived in Washington, DC, when there was no baseball in the nation’s capital. But, it’s only an hour to Baltimore’s old Memorial Stadium, so I became an Orioles fan. And just over the bridge into Virginia, I could catch the Alexandria Dukes, a single-A Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate that played in a ratty field next to an elementary school, whose proximity meant no beer at the ballpark. (In steamy ninety-plus degree heat—with no beer—you know you’re sitting with hardcore baseball fans.) When I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, in the mid-80s, I had the Class A Charlotte Orioles to enjoy. They played in an old wooden ballpark in the Dilworth neighborhood, where the sound of a car windshield getting pasted by a foul ball was a real thing, not a sound effect. We moved to Pittsburgh in the late ’90s when my husband went to work for a bank there. The recruiting had been conducted very seriously. His future colleagues learned I was a big baseball fan and waved primo Pirates tickets around as inducement. The seats were on the field, just a couple rows up from the front. I could hear everything catcher Jason Kendall said to the batters and umpires. And, I met a great baseball buddy in Pittsburgh, too. Diana was writing sports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and I sent her a fan letter about a baseball column she’d written. We ended up fast friends and hung out at many a Pirates game at Three Rivers Stadium. Years later we edited a book together: The Love of Baseball: Essays by Lifelong Fans. [End Page 200] In the last couple of decades, I’ve followed a minor league team in the Frontier League in Traverse City, Michigan, and made a point to visit friends in Washington, DC, to catch the Nationals, now that baseball is back in that town. In April of 2019, I moved back to Charlotte, North Carolina, after more than twenty years of gallivanting around the country. I’d honed my skills as a long-distance Tiger fan, of course subscribing to MLB TV, where you can get every game you ever wanted with a few clicks of a trackpad. Just as exciting to me is the access to all the radio broadcasts. Putting a baseball game on your cell phone is surprisingly reminiscent of the old days, when baseball fans like me would tune into the game on our little transistor radios. Before my boxes were unpacked last April, I had the internet up-and-running getting ready for Opening Day. What’s more, and not by accident, I had moved into a building mere blocks from the Chicago White Sox AAA Charlotte Knights ballpark. Minor league baseball had certainly come a long way from the old single-A Charlotte O’s days. We’d driven from our home in the mountains of North Carolina the last few years to get a baseball “fix” at the new park, and it is a beauty. I can remember sitting in the stands there thinking “if only I could come here all the time I would come here all the time.” I even recall looking up at some of the apartment buildings that have a view into the diamond and checking out the...

Concussion rates and effects on player performance in Major League Baseball players.

BackgroundMajor League Baseball (MLB) players are throwing the ball faster and hitting harder than ever before. Although some safety measures have been implemented, by decreasing the 15 days on the disabled list (DL) to the 7 days on the DL, concussion rates remain high across positions and may impact player performance. Our hypothesis was, there would be an increase in concussion incidence following implementation of the 7 day DL, but this would not have a negative impact on player’s postconcussion performance.Study designThis is a descriptive epidemiology study.MethodsThe concussed players from 2005 to 2016 were identified from the MLB DL and verified using established new sources. Position-specific performance metrics from before and after injuries were gathered and compared to assess effects of the injury. Postconcussion performance metrics were compared before and after the 7-day DL rule implementation.ResultsA total of 112 concussed players were placed on the DL. For all position players, the batting average (BA) and on-base percentage (OBP) showed a nonsignificant decline after injury (P=0.756). Although performance statistics for pitchers declined on average, the trend was not statistically significant. Postinjury BA and OBP did not significantly change before (0.355) and after (0.313) the 7-day DL rule change in 2011 (P=0.162).ConclusionThe incidence of reported concussion has increased with the 7-day DL rule change. Concussion incidence was highest in catchers and pitchers compared with all other players. The most common causes identified as being hit by pitch or struck by a foul ball or foul tip. While new league rules prevent collisions with catchers at home plate, injury by a foul tip was the most common cause for concussion. The shortened time spent on the DL did not negatively impact player’s performance. Further research on protective helmets for catchers may reduce concussion incidence.

Foul tip impact attenuation of baseball catcher masks using head impact metrics.

Currently, no scientific consensus exists on the relative safety of catcher mask styles and materials. Due to differences in mass and material properties, the style and material of a catcher mask influences the impact metrics observed during simulated foul ball impacts. The catcher surrogate was a Hybrid III head and neck equipped with a six degree of freedom sensor package to obtain linear accelerations and angular rates. Four mask styles were impacted using an air cannon for six 30 m/s and six 35 m/s impacts to the nasion. To quantify impact severity, the metrics peak linear acceleration, peak angular acceleration, Head Injury Criterion, Head Impact Power, and Gadd Severity Index were used. An Analysis of Covariance and a Tukey’s HSD Test were conducted to compare the least squares mean between masks for each head injury metric. For each injury metric a P-Value less than 0.05 was found indicating a significant difference in mask performance. Tukey’s HSD test found for each metric, the traditional style titanium mask fell in the lowest performance category while the hockey style mask was in the highest performance category. Limitations of this study prevented a direct correlation from mask testing performance to mild traumatic brain injury.

Going, Going ... Gone! Exploring the Shift Toward Increasing Spectator Protection at Major League Baseball Games

Fan injuries at Major League Baseball games have been an issue for more than a century. Courts have heavily relied on stare decisis in deciding cases involving fans injured by foul balls, but have largely ignored the ever changing realities of the game. Players are bigger, faster, stronger, and bats shatter with an increasing risk of harm. Through the prevalence of cell phone use — and stadiums maximizing the technological and theatrical aspects of attending a baseball game — fans are routinely and deliberately distracted during play. Despite this, fans that are injured have little to no recourse through the judicial system because of the assumption of the risk doctrine and the accompanying “baseball rule.” Some states have enacted legislation giving even greater protection to stadium operators. Historically, Major League Baseball has been reluctant to alter its approach on fan protection as the game is rooted in a tradition that is difficult to change. However, with a new commissioner and several high profile incidents in the most recent season, Major League Baseball has revised its stance and the commissioner introduced increased netting protection recommendations. Although the policy was not a league-wide mandate, the introduced guidelines have been instituted by the owners. However, this has not sufficiently stopped injuries from occurring. Consequently, alternative remedies — such as further expansion of the netting, reworking the legal standard for recourse, or a baseball arbitration system for fans — are necessary to lessen or eradicate the impact of the archaic baseball rule that governs fan injury litigation today.

Coffee and the Lottery

Related sequences represent the number of rewards earned in a promotion. Probability is investigated when a fan catches four foul ball in a game.

A Tale of Two Umpires: Or, Restoring the Legacy of Dummy Hoy

A Tale of Two UmpiresOr, Restoring the Legacy of Dummy Hoy R. A. R. Edwards (bio) In April 1951, National League umpire Bill Klem sat down for a series of interviews with William Slocum of Collier’s magazine. Klem served as an umpire in the National League from 1905 to 1941 and umpired in a record eighteen World Series. By sitting down with Slocum, Klem was burnishing his record for Cooperstown. He would, in fact, be voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as an umpire in 1953; this was a break-through moment for the Hall, as Klem and his American League counterpart Tom Connolly became the first umpires ever inducted to the Hall. Klem’s brass plaque reads, in part, “Known as ‘The Old Arbitrator.’ Umpired in 18 World Series. Credited with introducing arm signals indicating strikes and fair or foul balls.” Klem was not shy in taking credit for transforming baseball in the early twentieth century. “When next you go out to the ballpark, you will see many things that are commonplace today, but which came about only after 20 year feuds or—at least—bitter arguments among reasonable men,” he told Slocum. “Many of these innovations are mine. And all of them helped baseball to grow from a country fair attraction to the great, beloved spectacle it is today.”1 One of the innovations Klem directly took credit for was inventing the umpire’s gestures behind home plate. As he put it, “Today, when an umpire calls a strike, his right hand shoots above his head so that everybody in the ball park knows it. If his hand remains at his side, it is a ball. I originated that system in 1906, when my voice went bad and I could no longer follow the custom of bellowing each decision.”2 There are only two problems with this story. One, it is not clear that it is true. And two, it is not clear that it is Bill Klem’s story to tell. Today, when we go to a baseball game, we expect to see umpires call a game. Fans know what these gestures mean. We hold our breath, waiting for the call on a close play at second base. Was the runner safe? We see the sign—yes, stolen base! The sign language of baseball makes the game understandable [End Page 1] to fans in the stands. We also expect to see the umpire gesture behind home plate. We delight in seeing a more vigorous call, with extra English on it, on a called third strike. The story of how umpires started to gesture in the first place is one largely shrouded in myth and mystery. The safe and out signals are especially murky. One thing is clear—they definitely predate the signs for balls and strikes. Baseball researcher Peter Morris concludes in his comprehensive study, A Game of Inches: The Story behind the Innovations that Shaped Baseball, that “somewhat surprisingly, umpires appear to have been signaling out and safe before it became customary to have signs for balls and strikes.”3 Indeed, the Chicago Tribune noted in 1907, “There is no rule compelling an umpire to motion ‘safe’ or ‘out’ on the bases, but nearly all of them do by force of habit on plays which are not close.”4 There are reports of isolated instances of experimentation with gestures at various points in major-league baseball in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Baseball researchers have pointed to a handful of stories that detailed such novelties appearing in the 1880s.5 There were increasing calls for gestures from fans around this same time. As baseball increased in popularity and ballparks got louder, fans complained of not being able to follow the game, since they could not hear the umpire’s calls. In 1889, baseball cranks in New York wrote to the New York Sun, debating various solutions to the problem, offering ideas both aural, using bells or gongs, and visual, using hand gestures, to signal the calls.6 There is no indication that any of these proposals were put into action by umpires at that time. Umpires have typically been given...

C-23 Clinical Case Slide – Football

HISTORY: A 27 year old female, an athletic trainer for a Division I softball team, was in the dugout during practice when she was struck in the face with a line drive foul ball that caused a laceration to her upper lip and a loose tooth. There was no loss of consciousness. An initial headache resolved after 30 minutes. There was no dizziness, nausea, vomiting, or any changes in vision. She was seen in the university emergency department a maxillofacial CT scan showed no evidence of an orbital floor or maxillary fracture. An ENT surgeon closed the facial laceration to the right upper lip. The patient complained of the loose tooth, but the surgeon said it could be due to the swelling from the trauma and to just observe it. He expected it would firm up in several days. The next morning, while preparing for a road trip, part of her tooth fell off. This became a management issue to determine whether she needed emergent dental management or could travel with the team. PHYSICAL EXAMINATION: Initial exam in the ED revealed a 2.5 cm obliquely oriented laceration to the right upper lip (almost to the oral mucosa) with a loose right maxillary incisor (tooth #7). The laceration did not cross the vermillion border. Laceration was repaired using a two layer closure with a running locked stitch (5-0 prolene) externally. Tooth #7 was slightly loose on palpation but appeared intact in the socket. The next day the facial suture appears clean, dry, and intact. Rather than tooth #7 being loose in the socket, it had an oblique fracture involving the majority of the crown. The root and pulp remained intact. DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS: Le Fort Fracture, Orbital Fracture, Luxation of the tooth, Avulsion of the tooth, Crown fracture, Root fracture, Facial laceration TEST AND RESULTS: Maxillofacial CT scan without contrast - Mild to moderate sinus disease - Negative for acute bony abnormality - Minimal soft tissue air seen in the upper lip FINAL WORKING DIAGNOSIS: Oblique crown fracture of tooth number 7 TREATMENT AND OUTCOMES: 1. Since the root was intact, it was not an emergency and saw the dentist two days later. Exam then revealed root and pulp were intact. 2. Root canal was done. Plan for follow up in 3 weeks to allow resolution of swelling. 3. Sutures from facial laceration removed after 1 week with good approximation. 4. Crown placed over oblique dental fracture of tooth at follow up visit.

119 野球のバッティングにおける左右への打ち分けを可能にするバット角度(打撃動作分析)

In baseball batting, the horizontal direction to which the batted ball will project is influenced by two factors; (a) the direction to which the impacting surface of the bat is facing at ball impact and (b) the interaction of the inclination angle of the bat in the vertical direction and the position of the ball impact along the short axis of the bat. The purpose of this study was to describe the three-dimensional orientation of baseball bat at ball impact for each direction (same, center, and opposite field) of batted ball. Forty-seven elite baseball players performed 7-36 trials of free-batting. Behavior of the ball impact was recorded with two high-speed cameras (2500 fps). All trials in which the bat collided with the ball, including the foul balls, were used for the analysis. The orientation of bat at ball impact was described as the azimuth angle and the depression angle of the bat's long-axis. Frequency distribution maps were constructed to display the probability of hitting the ball toward the same, center and opposite fields for each combination of azimuth and depression angles of the bat at ball impact. The frequency distribution maps illustrate that a unique zone exists for each direction of the batted ball and that the zones overlap substantially. These results suggest that batters can hit the ball toward the three directions even if the orientation of bat at ball impact was same.

Concussions Experienced by Major League Baseball Catchers and Umpires: Field Data and Experimental Baseball Impacts

Some reports have shown that head injuries in baseball may comprise up to 18.5% of all competitive sports-related head injuries. The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of catcher and umpire masks to impacts at these different regions to discover the impact conditions that represent the greatest risk of injury. A series of 10 events in which a catcher or umpire in Major League Baseball, who experienced a foul ball to the mask that resulted in a concussion, were analyzed through video and data on pitch characteristics. It was found that the impacts were distributed across the face, and the median plate speed was approximately 38 m/s (84 mph). To determine the relative severity of each identified impact location, an instrumented Hybrid III head outfitted with a catcher or umpire mask was impacted with baseballs. Testing at 27 and 38 m/s (60 and 84 mph) suggested that impacts to the center-eyebrow and chin locations were the most severe. Peak linear and rotational accelerations were found to be lower than the suggested injury thresholds. While impacts to a mask result in head accelerations which are near or below levels commonly associated with the lower limits for head injury, the exact injury mechanism is unclear, as concussions are still experienced by the mask wearers.

No Duty Owed by Club in Foul Ball Promotion

No Duty Owed by Club in Foul Ball Promotion

Babe Ruth and Interventional Radiology

Babe Ruth and Interventional Radiology

"The Undesirable Position": <i>Umpiring in the American Association 1882-1891</i>

From earliest years of baseball there is documentation that players and fans have never given much credit to those who assume what one rural newspaper once described as the undesirable position. By 1870s it was a high compliment to simply be considered an impartial umpire. This was due to fact that role of an umpire as an independent entity within game of baseball was yet evolving. Many were not far removed from playing field, knew those who did play, and were still seeking employment as players or managers. At same time there were others who saw themselves as advocates of fair play, and were innovative in developing conception of umpire's role and methods. Two Baltimore newspapers provide a glimpse of what it was like to umpire in major leagues in 1880s.In 1882 American Association was a fledgling major league, but its approach to offciating seemed somewhat informal. In April, umpire Thomas Carey made his debut and received a severe blow to throat from a foul ball while offciating a game in Baltimore. A month later, he was complimented for his complete impartiality, something that seemed exceptional to reporter. Within two weeks it was announced that Carey would manage Baltimore on its coming road trip, perhaps as a reward for his impartiality. By July it was reported that Association would select three first class umpires to be paid a good salary to offciate what they termed their championship games. Thomas Carey was one of them. Crossing line between arbiter and player was common in era.1The Association took a step to formalize situation in 1883. Ben Sommers, Charles Daniels, John Kelly, and J. Bucannon were named as umpires for season. They were to be paid $140 a month and their assistant $10 a game. There was no mention as to who assistants were, where they came from, what their roles were, or how often they actually worked. They are never mentioned in a game account and evidence suggests that until late in Association's existence, only one offcial worked a game. The umpires also had to pay for their offcial uniforms of blue-flannel, double-breasted jacket with a military cap trimmed with gold and buttons. Uniforms would be provided for assistants. It was also announced that any umpire could be expelled at request of two clubs. But any attempt to distance umpires from players and management was not immediately pursued.2Ormand Butler was appointed umpire in Association during 1883 season, but was soon hired to take place of manager Al Pratt of Pittsburgh Alleghenies. When John Magner resigned as an umpire a week later, it was Al Pratt who replaced him. In 1884 John Valentine had to temporarily relinquish his umpiring duties when he injured his leg practicing with Baltimore pitcher Bob Emslie. A year later, still an umpire, ex-pitcher Valentine announced his arm had recovered and he hoped to return to pitcher's box. When Orioles pitcher Bob Emslie's arm gave out next year, he gravitated to umpiring as well. Much maligned for his initial efforts, he went on to an extended career as a respected umpire in both American Association and National League. In 1886 manager John Gaffney of Washington Club announced he would step down from his position to umpire if they would raise their salaries from $1,000 to $2,000 a season. Gaffney would become one of he most sought-after and innovative arbiters in business. One-time Baltimore Orioles Tom York and Big Jim Davis would also surface as other former players umpiring in Association.3But former players lobbying to find jobs with major league clubs wasn't only factor that brought impartiality of umpires into question. In 1885 it was pointed out that rule that prevented umpires from borrowing money from Association clubs should be more strictly enforced.4It was rare for fans, clubs, or newspapers to perceive umpires in a flattering light. …

Carotid artery pseudoaneurysm resulting from an injury to the neck by a fouled baseball

Objective Blunt carotid artery injury resulting in either dissection or pseudoaneurysm is a rare entity that can result in significant morbidity and mortality if undiagnosed. Although unavoidable in certain traumatic situations such as motor vehicle collisions, direct neck trauma in sports may be preventable with the use of proper protective equipment. Clinical presentation The following report documents a case of extracranial carotid artery dissection resulting from a foul ball striking the upper, lateral neck of an umpire. The patient had transient right upper extremity monoparesis. He later presented with right hemiparesis and aphasia that resolved over several hours. Imaging studies demonstrated a left carotid pseudoaneurysm with evidence of left hemispheric embolic infarcts. Intervention Systemic intravenous anticoagulation with heparin followed by oral anticoagulation with warfarin for 6 months, subsequently followed by aspirin monotherapy. Conclusion The use of standard protective equipment did not adequately cover the patient's neck in the region of the cervical carotid artery. This case illustrates that modification in current catcher and umpire equipment could potentially avoid this rare but significant vascular injury.

Ready for a challenge

Ready for the challenge Holthus doesn't duck. He didn't duck when a line-drive foul ball was hit hard right at him in the left-field stands in Kansas City's Royals Stadium. While everyone around him hit the deck, Holthus stood up, kept his eye on the ball, and caught it bare-handed against the side of his face. Nor did Holthus duck when he was summoned last year to a hastily called White House meeting about the thrift crisis. Holthus represented ABA because the association's president, Thomas Rideout, was at a meeting in Europe at the time. In typical fashion, Holthus arrived early and figured out where the President would likely sit. Then he planted himself opposite that spot so he could look directly at Mr. Bush when it came time for him to speak. That says something about the kind of man who will be representing bankers during the next 12 months. He's savvy and he's not fazed by tough issues. same can be said of Holthus as a bank president. Under his direction, First National Bank of York, Neb., has consistently been one of the most profitable and innovative banks in the state. Its return on assets in '88 was 1.20%; return on equity, 15%. Even during the ag crists of the early to mid '80s, the bank remained profitable and never had to foreclose on a farm. Diversity of size. C. G. Kelly Holthus's rise to the ABA presidency (to be confirmed this month at the association's Annual Convention) demonstrates the diversity of the American Bankers Association. First National of York has $135 million in assets, 75 employees, and five branches. is a wholly owned subsidiary of First York Ban Corp, which also owns First Trust Company of York, a state-chartered trust company. Thomas Rideout, outgoing ABA president, comes from First Union Corp., Charlotte, N.C., which has $30 billion in assets and operates 677 banking offices in five states. Some say the size disparity in its membership hurts Holthus disagrees. The value of ABA to its diverse audience will continue to grow, because all banks need a central association--a body that represents all of us, he explains. Furthermore, Holthus believes there is much in common between large banks and small--and not just in the obvious ways of acquiring deposits and making loans. You don't have to be a big city bank to be looking for new sources of income, he observes. want you, for ABA. Being from Nebraska (he's the second ABA president from the state; Walter Head, from Omaha National Bank, was first in 1923), Holthus is well aware that a number of small, independent midwestern banks are not ABA members. As an independent community banker and former president of the Nebraska Bankers Association, Holthus understands why some bankers decline ABA membership. But he isn't too sympathetic. know times have been tough and I know banks have cut back expenses, but I really believe that for the small cost of ABA membership, that's not the place to cut back, he says. I'm very disappointed that some people would not be a member of a trade association when that association can do so much for them in helping their bottom line. Holthus realizes that these banks get most of the benefits of ABA membership--legislative representation, regulatory changes, reduced postal rates, etc.--without paying any dues. But he doesn't think that's helping the industry. It give ABA a lot more clout when it can say it represents 95% of all the banks in the country, he says. Truly grass roots. What makes Holthus believable is that his convictions come from his own experience. For 35 years, banking has been his profession. Born in Bertrand, Neb., in 1933, Holthus grew up on a family farm in south-central Nebraska. Bertrand, population 600, isn't usually accorded the distinction of being the exact geographic center of the century, but at the time Holthus was growing up, it had an institution known as the 1733 dance hall. …

Divine Wrath: The Goat and the Bambino

In Greek mythology the god Pan was a half goat---half god creature noted for his simplicity and love of riot. One can only wonder if some descendant of Pan, a half goat--half man wearing a Cubs cap and earphones to cover those ears, was in the stands at Wrigley Field along the left-field line late in game 6 of the NLCS. The goat and the Greek connections to the events at Wrigley Field are certainly suggestive, and the riot of runs that followed the simple act of trying to catch a foul ball fits Pan's modus operandi. But then curses are not real, and Baker doesn't believe in the relevance of history. Oh yeah! As Mike Wilbon of the Washington Post screamed from my radio the following morning, Dusty just doesn't get it! Baker didn't know it, but he was about to be launched on his way up the learning curve. Some collapses come quickly; some are prolonged. Any Cub fan having experienced the post--black cat weeks of 1969 can attest to that. In game 6 of the NLCS at Wrigley Field the collapse came about as fast as one can come, at least within the scope of a baseball game or the limits of the time-space continuum. When the foul ball failed to reach the glove of Moises Alou and Steve Bartman achieved eternal infamy matching or exceeding Leon Durham, I knew the Cubs were cooked. The sight of Alou banging his glove in frustration and Mark Prior standing on the mound screaming told me more than I wanted to know. What followed now seems inevitable. I have watched several replays of those moments and still find the lightning quickness of this collapse nearly incomprehensible. I know I experienced something close to vertigo at that moment. I am also sure I saw some sign of a goat down that left-field line. Laughing! As a veteran of Cub pratfalls why would I have let this season sucker me into the notion that Baker, Wood, Prior, and Sosa would end the long century of Cub futility? As someone who can still hear Leo Durocher say confidently, is not an eighth-place ball club, only to see those Cubs finish tenth in the expanded National League, why would I think this is the year? Did I not watch those National League playoffs of 1984, when Rick Sutcliffe played the role filled by Mark Prior this year? Didn't I remember 1989? None of this stopped me, although all of it was always there in the back of my consciousness waiting to rush forward upon the first signs of Cub reality. When the Cubs went up 3 games to 1 and were on the verge of clinching the first trip to the World Series since 1945, I began to believe. When references of events were being made to 1945 and even 1908, I was enticed by fantasy. When I read stories about Cub fans who hoped that the NLCS would return to Wrigley so the Cubs could win it there, I was amused. When Josh Beckett pitched his masterpiece in game 5, I wasn't fazed in the least. And even after the events of game 6, when Kerry Wood hit the home run to tie up game 7, and then Alou put the Cubs ahead with a home run to make it 5-3, I inexplicably allowed a glimmer of hope to creep back in, even though I knew better. Why? Why? Why? Because I am a Cub fan. Because I am still a believer in the face of reality. Because, despite all my cynicism, I continue to hope. Because I continue to hope when there is no hope. Because the Cubs are loveable losers and I cannot resist them. Because Wrigley Field is the womb of baseball. So few Americans know how to savor losing. This American nation of winners needs more Cub fans. Winning Isn't the Only Thing; Losing Is. Lombardi had it backward. The end of life isn't a ticker-tape parade; it is death. As I watched the final moments of the telecast in which FOX focused on Cub fans, I was struck, as I always am, by the people at Wrigley Field. The old, the young, the middle-aged. Cub fans all. As I looked at the young Cub fans caught in their first episode of disappointment, I could only think how lucky they are to have been there. …

Computed Tomographic Screening for Lung Cancer: Home Run or Foul Ball?

Computed Tomographic Screening for Lung Cancer: Home Run or Foul Ball?