And now for the scary part from last night's Home Run Derby. After catching three balls above the right-field fence at Chase Field, Keith Carmickle went for the fourth. That's when he went over a railing and almost took a certainly-fateful headfirst fall onto a pool deck 20 feet below. Fortunately, some buddies hung on to Carmickle for dear life, grabbing him, preventing him from falling and possibly even saving his life.
Via the AP:
His near miss came the same day as the memorial service for Shannon Stone, a 39-year-old fan who died last Thursday while trying to catch a ball thrown into the stands at a Texas Rangers home game. ''I thought: I've lived a good life,'' Carmickle said about dangling.
Seated in a small section of seats above the right-field fence, Carmickle, of Kingman, and his group had already grabbed home-run balls by Robinson Cano and Adrian Gonzalez and were looking to add another to their collection when Fielder came up in the second round of the derby. Trying to snare a towering shot by Fielder, Carmickle stepped up onto a metal table about 18 inches wide and reached down to catch the ball. It hit a wall several feet below Carmickle. His momentum carried him forward, headfirst over a short railing at the back of the table.
Carmickle was headed for a hard landing when his friend, Aaron Nelson, grabbed his legs and his brother, Kraig, grabbed him around the arms. Carmickle dangled briefly over a deck were a couple of cameras were positioned behind Chase Field's pool before being pulled back up to his seat as the crowd above and below gasped.
''He tried to catch it, I grabbed his legs and his brother grabbed his arms,'' said Nelson, who, along with Kraig Carmickle, is from Chandler. ''So when he went over the ledge, we pulled him back. He wasn't going down, I was holding on.''
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