A fan at a New York Mets baseball game fell from the stands and onto the outfield track on Sunday night, but the bizarre accident went unnoticed by Alex Rodriguez and his fellow commentators on ESPN2’s alternate broadcast of “Sunday Night Baseball.”
During the fifth inning of the Mets’ game against the San Francisco Giants, the game was paused after a man was spotted walking along the warning track of the outfield. On ESPN‘s main “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcast, he was shown holding a bloody napkin over his nose and holding his hand up to signal to the approaching security guards that his presence on the field wasn’t intentional.
“That’s no joke there,” ESPN baseball commentator David Cone said on the broadcast. “I hope he’s OK.”
While Cone and his broadcast partners Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez were wondering what could have happened in the booth at Citi Field, the incident went completely unnoticed over on ESPN2’s alternate “KayCast,” hosted by Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez. Similar to Peyton and Eli Manning’s “ManningCast” alternative to “Monday Night Football,” the “KayCast” is broadcast from Kay and Rodriguez’s homes as they talk with special guests.
While security guards helped the fan off the field, Kay and Rodriguez were in the middle of a spirited discussion with New York radio host Chris “Mad Dog” Russo over MLB ratings and the future of the sport.
“On the national level, baseball sometimes has trouble being part of the national conversation,” Russo said. “People are into the NBA free agency. They’re into the NFL 24/7, 12 months a year. Draft, the schedule … And I think baseball sometimes … the younger audience is not into it like we were when we were kids, when we were so into it (with) box scores and newspapers.”
Whether Rodriguez and Russo even noticed what was happening is unclear, but the fan was later seen back in his seat talking with others about what happened. The fan presumably stuck around to watch the Mets beat the Giants 8-4.
