Bat Boy Accident Provides Perspective In Sports, Life
Posted
Mark Howe-mhowe@timesuniononline.com
As many of you already know, Kansas and baseball are two things near and dear to my heart. They’re down the list quite a way from my family, but both are on there. So when I saw the headline “Kansas bat boy dies after getting hit in game,” my heart sank. The Liberal Bee Jays are a college summer league team playing in the Jayhawk Conference, a league comprised mostly of Kansas-based teams. As a kid, I followed all the league’s teams in the newspaper, and as a young adult I went to the National Baseball Conference World Series in Wichita a couple of times. For a baseball junkie, it’s a haven where one can see as many as 10 games in a single day, beginning at 9 a.m. and lasting until well after midnight. The Bee Jays had their 9-year-old batboy, Kaiser Carlisle, with them for the trip to the Series, and by all accounts he was loved by players, fans and coaches alike. In what was likely a momentary lapse in judgement that kids are known for, Kaiser ran behind an on-deck hitter where he shouldn’t have been. The hitter (who has not yet been identified in the media, and I don’t think it’s necessary to do so) hit the batboy on the head while taking warmup swings. Even though Kaiser was wearing a helmet, the home plate umpire happens to be an EMT, and emergency medical personnel were already on site for another call, the damage was too great and the boy passed away. Yeah, I hugged my wife and kids a little longer last night, and probably will a little too long tonight. This type of tragedy hits most people hard, and it’s hit our community or neighbors hard all too often right here. I’ll not recap those things here; it serves no real purpose, and can only re-open wounds unnecessarily. As my esteemed colleague Jerad Shaw pointed out in his column yesterday, the Special Olympics represent some of the most inspiring stories sport has to offer. The sadness of the story from Wichita represents another type of coming together. Both serve to provide perspective in the sports world. If you’re so inclined, say a prayer for Kaiser’s parents and family, and remember his teammates, too; especially the young man with the bat in his hands. Accidents can be hard to live with, even if you’re doing something you’ve done countless times before. It could have happened to anybody on any team. As I watch my sons play various games with the neighborhood boys (there’s a bunch of them in our subdivision) it’s hard not to think about the memories they’ll have of this experience. I’m sure the intent was to give Kaiser some very special, lifetime memories. Do you remember the 2002 Major League Baseball World Series between San Francisco and the Anaheim Angels? Giants first baseman J.T. Snow swooped up Dusty Baker’s 3-year-old son Darren as Snow scored a run in the fifth game. Darren was serving as a bat boy that night, and it could’ve turned out tragically, or poorly from a strategic point of view for one team or the other had there been a play at the plate. I’m not going to suggest the National Baseball Congress make new rules regarding bat boys, safety equipment or anything else. They’re on top of it. Monday night the governing body chose to suspend, for the time being, the use of bat boys, NBC general manager Kevin Jenks told the Wichita Eagle they took the action in part for the benefit of the Bee Jays, who don’t need to see the other team’s batboy out there. Jenks also said the organization will take some time to weigh whether they will allow bat boys in the future. In the next couple of days, the 2015 NBC champion will be crowned, and in Kaiser’s honor the Bee Jays have chosen to continue playing and have reached the winner’s bracket semifinal. I’ll be pulling a little harder for Liberal in the next few days. My memory of Kaiser may fade a little bit over time, but he’ll be remembered in a southwestern Kansas town for years to come.
