PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man who fell from the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park during Wednesday night’s game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs remained in critical condition on Thursday morning.
Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track.
The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart.
The team issued a statement shortly after the game ended saying the man was transported to the trauma center at Allegheny General Hospital.
Pittsburgh Public Safety, which includes Pittsburgh Police and EMS, posted on X Thursday that the “incident is being treated as accidental in nature.”
Pirates manager Derek Shelton and Cubs manager Craig Counsell both alerted the umpire crew of the situation immediately after the play.
“Even though it’s 350 feet away or whatever it is, I mean the fact of how it went down and then laying motionless while the play is going on, I mean Craig saw it, I saw it. We both got out there," Shelton said. "I think the umpires saw it because of the way it kicked. It’s extremely unfortunate. That’s an understatement.”
Players from both teams could be seen praying and McCutchen held a cross that hung from his neck while the fan was taken off the field.
The five-time All-Star said Thursday that the team was “devastated" and that they prayed together after the game. Asked to describe his viewpoint of the sequence, McCutchen declined, saying that he is trying not to think about it and is more focused on the man's health.
“We’re just hoping for the best for him,” he said. “I hope he pulls through because he’s the reason why we are here. He’s the reason why we play the game. People that show their support so we can do something we love, partly because of him and because of fans. So, I just pray that he’s alright.”
The game was paused for several minutes while the man was tended to but there was no official stoppage in play.
“I didn’t see anything happen, but I saw (Counsell’s) face when he came out on the field, and I could tell that it was a very scary moment,” Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “All we could do was just pray for a good, strong recovery for him and his family. I have never been part of something like that before and I hope I am never part of something like that again.
“It’s a humble reminder of the gratitude we should all have to play this game. Folks obviously come out to support us, and they are a big reason why we are able to do what we do. It’s obviously tough. At a time like that, you want (the fans) to know you love them.”
Fans have died from steep falls at baseball stadiums in the past.
In 2015, Atlanta Braves season ticket holder Gregory K. Murrey flipped over guard rails from the upper deck at Turner Field. That was four years after Shannon Stone, a firefighter attending a game with his 6-year-old son, fell about 20 feet after reaching out for a foul ball tossed into the stands at the Texas Rangers’ former stadium.
Both incidents prompted scrutiny over the height of guard rails at stadiums. The Rangers raised theirs, while the Braves settled a lawsuit with Murrey’s family.
A spectator at a 2022 NFL game at Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium died following a fall on an escalator.
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