It didn’t feature the same kind of explosion that we saw when Randy Johnson pulverized a bird in 2001, but the result was pretty much the same thing.
And that doesn’t bode well for the bird.
According to USA Today, Sunday afternoon’s matchup of the Tigers and Padres Class-A affiliates was for the most part a real snoozer. But with the score tied at zero in the bottom of the third inning, that changed when Jon Maciel, a pitcher for the West Michigan Whitecaps (Tigers affiliate) threw a pitch to shortstop Josh VanMeter of the Fort Wayne TinCaps (Padres affiliate).
“I think that’s a bird, and I hope it’s OK.”
Yeah, the fact that the groundskeeper was able to run out and pick it up with one hand without the bird putting up any kind of a fight, much less making any kind of a movement to show that it still had a pulse, probably means it’s not OK.
I mean, at the very least, you’d think the bird would have given us a “wing up” while the crowd cheered as it was being taken off the diamond to let us know it was fine, and that didn’t happen.
Apparently, it sometimes gets even more bizarre than a bird being hit by a pitch: The Most Bizarre Baseball Plays Ever
