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| Friday, June 2 | |||||
| Mateo foul ball does serious damage | |||||
| DETROIT -- A 9-year-old boy was recovering at home Friday after
a foul ball fractured his skull at Comerica Park.
Joey Siket, a third-grader from Warren, Mich., was attending his
first major-league game Monday when the Texas Rangers visited the Detroit
Tigers.
In the fourth inning, the Rangers' Ruben Mateo cracked a
line-drive foul ball straight at Joey from 100-120 feet away.
Joey said the ball simply came at him too fast.
"If I just could have ducked, I would have been fine. But then
the person sitting behind me would have gotten hit, I guess," he
told The Detroit News.
Joey was released from Henry Ford Hospital on Thursday, a
spokesman said Friday.
"I want to send all my prayers to Joey for a speedy recovery,
and extend my apologies to his family," Mateo said through a club
representative. "I was just trying to play the game and get a hit.
It's a very unfortunate accident."
Tigers outfielder Juan Gonzalez tried to visit Joey the morning
after his injury, but doctors kept him away. Tigers president John
McHale said the team is concerned about the boy's condition.
Tigers officials have had no contact with the Sikets other than
a message left on their home answering machine Tuesday.
"Obviously we regret the incident and hope for a full
recovery," McHale said. "I'll take steps as soon as I can to see
that the family hears that from us."
Henry Ford doctors told the parents that Joey sustained a severe
closed-head injury. They said his skull was fractured and a
life-threatening blood clot had formed beneath it.
The blood clot was drained in a 4½-hour operation Tuesday.
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