Fan sues Royals

[tucker rocky]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Baseball fans who sit six rows behind the third-base dugout at the Kansas City Royals (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/teams/royals)' stadium know they might have to duck a few foul balls.
But a Kansas man says it was a flying hot dog, not a baseball, that almost put his eye out last year.
John Coomer has filed a lawsuit against the Royals seeking more than $25,000 for injuries he sustained Sept. 8 when he was smacked in the eye with a hot dog chucked by the team's mascot, Sluggerrr.
Coomer said the wayward wiener caused a detached retina and the development of cataracts in his left eye.
Royals spokesman David Holtzman declined to comment Tuesday. He also would not say whether the lawsuit is the reason the team is looking for a replacement for its large lion mascot.

Wayward wiener?

How big was this wiener Sluggerr threw?

Royals are currently are looking for a new mascot to throw smaller weiners around.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

If this causes the stoppage of free tube meat tossing at games, I'm gonna be pissed!

[judicial clerk]

Its been a long time since I was proud to be a Royals fan.

[sterlingice]

Learn to catch, jackass.

And I'm with MBBF, if this stops the hot dog toss, I'd be pissed. Maybe he should have been paying attention rather than talking on his cell phone or whatever he was doing. It's a damn hot dog not a batted ball- you shouldn't have any problem reacting to it.

I think if he wins the lawsuit, he should get no cash but $10,000 in stadium hot dogs and $15,000 in credit towards Sluggerrr rentals: "Yes, it's me John again. I'd like to rent Sluggerrr for my office party. And then again for the weekend. And for my son's first communion next week. And my daughter's wedding next month."

SI

[stevew]

you guys realize that this isn't a whole lot of money that the guy is asking for. A stray weiner in the eye could easily cause 25k in damages/medical bills.

[Passacaglia]

Maybe he should have been paying attention rather than talking on his cell phone or whatever he was doing. It's a damn hot dog not a batted ball- you shouldn't have any problem reacting to it.



So are we just going to ignore the idea that he could have been watching the game? :cool:

[duckman]

People actually watch baseball?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

So are we just going to ignore the idea that he could have been watching the game? :cool:

Considering they only toss them into the crowd in between innings, I think it's safe to ignore that idea.

[sterlingice]

Or that it's the Royals? ;)

Ok, I'm going to go in a corner and weep a little now :(

SI

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Or that it's the Royals? ;)

Ok, I'm going to go in a corner and weep a little now :(

SI

We're playing .500 ball right now. I'm optimistic.

[Lathum]

Aren't they usually wrapped in some kind of foil, if that's the case I can see it causing damage.

[Sun Tzu]

If he wins I doubt the Royals will continue the tube meat toss. I also doubt however that the rest of the teams in the league will stop because some yuk-yuk doesn't know how to catch.

[Mustang]

I'm not sure why some guy is a yuk-yuk because he doesn't know how to catch. I don't know the full details of the story, but I don't think $25K is beyond reason for a detached retina and cataracts, not like he is asking for $25M

[Sun Tzu]

Alright now I don't know the entire story, like if the Royals declined to pay for med bills or anything like that. I can't imagine the team would say no to at least covering his medical expenses. This strikes me much more as someone who is looking for damages on top of medical expenses.

Additionally, how long have teams been slinging dogs at fans? Sure I guess it could happen to anybody, but I can't imagine sitting in my seat at a game, and not knowing that the mascot right in front of me is firing pork products at me.

[Kodos]

Honestly, $25,000 seems pretty small if he has permanent eye damage.

[Mustang]

I can't imagine the team would say no to at least covering his medical expenses. This strikes me much more as someone who is looking for damages on top of medical expenses.

Additionally, how long have teams been slinging dogs at fans? Sure I guess it could happen to anybody, but I can't imagine sitting in my seat at a game, and not knowing that the mascot right in front of me is firing pork products at me.

I wouldn't expect them to cover the damages at all for pretty much the reason that everyone is goes with and that is that once you enter a ballpark, anything can happen to you. Which I agree with to a point, but I don't believe it should be a 100% slam dunk answer to everything. From what I've heard the mascot was using the gun, but then went to the dugout and starting throwing them directly and tried one behind the back that got away from him. High arcing dogs vs a more flat trajectory and you weren't expecting it. eh... I won't completely villify the plaintiff in this case.

[Sun Tzu]

Honestly, $25,000 seems pretty small if he has permanent eye damage.

The damage is permanent? I'm pretty ignorant on what means what when it comes to eyes. I just figured he had surgery, got all patched up, and was on his merry way. If his eyesight has been affected permanently (by multiple docs, just just the one the lawyer uses), then I'll agree than $25K is pretty modest. I'd ask for a whole hell of a lot more than that actually.

Still...if a mascot right in front of me is slinging hot tasty dogs, I'm paying attention.

My last $0.02 on the matter are...

Kansas City has a professional Baseball team? :eek:

[RendeR]

Umm, no, the team is completely liable for their mascot slinging a hotdog and hitting a patron in the eye. The hot dog tosses aren't supposed to be fastballs, but lobbed up in the air for people to catch easily.

if in fact he got his hard enough to detach the retina in his eye the team is liable for a LOT more than just the medical bills.

Stupid fucking mascot for trying to spice it up instead of just tossing the dogs gently.

This would appear pretty obvious to me, but apparently I'm in the minority.

[sterlingice]

(Man, we get the legal system we deserve in this country... and everyone just wants it to be a damn lottery)


It's a mascot with giant foam hands chucking a hot dog at a baseball game in between innings.



I'm not sure how much more clearly I can put it. Unless he pointed at the guy and made a slashing gesture to his throat or loaded up a bag of rocks with the hot dog in the cannon before firing it at the guy, how is this the baseball team's fault?

Where is the negligence? I mean, really, we're saying stuff like "well, if the trajectory was not as high" or "man, there might be some pointy foil on it". It's a *hot dog* at a baseball game going at a low speed! What is low speed? The speed at which a mascot can throw a hot dog no matter the trajectory because it's still a mascot throwing a hot dog out of his giant foam hands! It's going to be slow.

You're making me, me- one of the most anti-corporate people on this board defend a corporation against the little guy. And I would be saying this if it were the Yankees, the Royals, or the Richmond Flying Squirrels.

And because it's a bigger company who has money, we'll hold them to a different standard than if it was at, say, at a cousin's house when we're goofing around, and was tossed me a hot dog that had just made on the grill. The only reason this is even happening is because this was at a MLB game where there are deep pockets to plunder (Royals jokes aside). Accidents *do* happen and if there is no intention and no negligence, then there's no way the team should be liable.
(God knows those words will be taken out of context in a later date so whoever likes to argue with me in other threads, might as well bookmark this one. "But you're just arguing against Exxon because they're a big company" "No, I'm arguing against them pouring toxic waste into that schoolyard, just like I would want my cousin locked up in jail for doing that")

You know what the result of this is going to be? There's no more hot dog launch and there might even be an additional warning on the back of your ticket. So, yeah, everyone else gets screwed out of a fun little game because some dude was probably not paying attention to what he should have been paying attention to. The lawyers will get paid and he'll get some settlement because it will be cheaper to do that than to go to court. And legally, there might even be some precedent about why the team is X% liable for the situation, even tho it's basically that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time or right place at the right time, depending on how you look at it.

It still doesn't make it morally right.

(And I wonder how many of the people who think this guy should get cent one from the baseball team are the ones who talk about political correctness gone wild or people with a sense of entitlement. Can the first thing we talk about in any situation not be about how we can screw someone out of something for our own personal gain?)

SI