What a grim but intriguing subject – people who have died playing or watching baseball. Death At The Ballpark: A Comprehensive Study of Game-Related Fatalities of Players, Other Personnel And Spectators in Amateur and Professional Baseball, 1862-2007 doesn’t really have a catchy title but it is packed with tragic tales. Slate reports.
Lightning is another improbably frequent killer (though perhaps it’s less improbable when you consider that baseball is played in summer, typically on flat fields surrounded by metal bleachers and fences). During a 1949 amateur game in Florida, the third baseman, shortstop, and second baseman were all killed by a single lightning bolt, which struck the backstop, then shot around the infield as though completing a double play.