It was a flying frankfurter and not a foul ball that left a baseball fan with a black eye in Philadelphia.
Kathy McVay said she was at Monday night's Phillies game when the team's mascot, the Phillie Phanatic, rolled out his hot dog launcher. McVay was sitting near home plate and, she says, all of a sudden a hot dog wrapped in duct tape struck her in the face. The hot dog was wrapped in duct tape so it wouldn't disintegrate upon launch.
McVay said she is suffering from a shoulder injury, so she was unable to swat the hot dog away.
She left the game to get checked out and was diagnosed with a small hematoma.
She told WPVI-TV that she doesn't plan legal action.
The Phillies apologized to McVay on Tuesday and the team has offered her tickets to a future game.
Roll out
Forget the toss. Ball boys and girls will roll balls on the court at the U.S. Open, opting for the technique used at the other three Grand Slam events.
The U.S. Tennis Association announced Thursday it will drop the throw to broaden the pool of applicants for tryouts, which begin Tuesday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Tina Taps, director of U.S. Open ball boys and girls, said the change will put more focus on speed and agility as "important attributes for a ballperson, along with overall court awareness."
More than 100 positions for ball boys and girls will be up for grabs. Those 14 and older are eligible to try out.
The U.S. Open will feature a new 14,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium with a retractable roof. The two-week event begins Aug. 27.
Safety first
A father who pulled his son out of a burning race car faces some minimal discipline for going on to a racetrack during an event.
South Boston (Va.) Speedway put Dean Jones on probation for the rest of the year for violating track policy. Jones, who serves as crew chief for his son Mike, ran to Mike's aid Saturday after a crash in a NASCAR-sanctioned late-model race where the front of the car caught fire and came to rest near the inside wall in Turn 1.
Jones, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, helped his son get out of the car safely. He then reached into the car to pull the trigger to activate the in-car fire suppressant system before safety crews, who had arrived on the scene about seven seconds after the father took control.
The video of the rescue has gone viral and attracted national attention, but Jones had violated track rules -- most tracks have policies against anyone being on the racing surface during an event.
NASCAR admonished several NASCAR Cup Series crew members in 2015 when they rushed across pit road to help turn over the mangled car of Austin Dillon after a crash at Daytona. The sanctioning body wants to make sure there is a clear path for emergency vehicles to reach the scene and is concerned about danger from cars still circling the track.
"Mr. Jones will not be fined nor suspended," South Boston Speedway said in a statement. "He has been placed on probation through the end of the year."
Sports on 06/22/2018