THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Umpire Kerwin Danley suffered from a “powerful headache” but was apparently otherwise fine Wednesday after getting hit by the barrel of a broken bat a night earlier.
Danley was taken to hospital after Tuesday’s frightening incident in the Texas Rangers’ 5-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, and sent back to his hotel room 20 minutes later when tests revealed no serious neurological damage, according to crew chief Dana DeMuth.
That’s where Danley spent the day — receiving periodic texts and phone calls from his crewmates “just to make sure he was talking back to us,” said DeMuth — and he won’t be able to leave Toronto until after his headache subsides.
Once that clears, he’ll fly to Arizona and be re-examined at Major League Baseball’s main medical centre.
“(Wednesday) it was still hurting him pretty good,” said DeMuth. “He’ll stick around today and we’ll find out day by day.”
Danley, 47, has had head injuries in the past.
Last April 26, he was briefly knocked unconscious when a Brad Penny fastball hit him right in the face mask. Todd Tichenor, a Pacific Coast League umpire, joined the crew in his place Wednesday and worked third base.
Danley started behind the plate Tuesday, when a cutter from Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay sawed off the bat of Rangers DH Hank Blalock in the sixth inning and led to the frightening incident.
As Blalock followed through on his swing, the barrel separated from the handle and flew full speed into Danley’s helmet.
Replays appeared to show that the barrel struck the right side of Danley’s hockey-style facemask, but DeMuth said his colleague “felt a whack which was (right between his eyes) and the next thing he knew he was on the ground. But he didn’t feel he lost consciousness. It was just boom, boom.”
Danley was taken off the field on a stretcher and right to hospital for an examination. He was able to speak after the incident and had feeling in all his extremities.
Blalock, who felt terrible Tuesday, said he tried unsuccessfully to contact Danley Wednesday.
The helmet Danley was wearing is similar to the one hockey goalies use and may have prevented a more serious injury. The more transitional facemask many umpires and catchers use offers less protection to the sides and back of the head and is easier to knock off.
The heavier helmet’s drawback is its weight and how it contains heat in hot weather, and the Danley incident won’t prompt DeMuth to wear one.
“I tried the mask out in spring training and it just doesn’t make me feel right,” he said. “It’s something for everybody to think about, but I’ve been in the major leagues for over 26 years and I’ve taken a lot of shots.”
