Danger Zone

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 | Feedback | Print Entry

I read the news of Matt Clement's frightening moment before I saw it, and the first thing that came to mind: How far did the ball go, and where did it go? That can give you a good idea of whether the pitcher got hit bluntly.

If the ball caroms far away, usually that means it's a glancing blow, and perhaps a serious injury is avoided. If it bounces to the side, maybe the contact is more indirect.

I was in Fenway Park the night Bryce Florie was hit in the face by a line drive, and if I remember correctly, the ball fell right near him; that's when you knew he had absorbed the full impact of the blow. It was the same type of thing when Mike Piazza was hit in the head by Roger Clemens in 2000; the ball just sort of dropped in the vicinity, after nailing him in the temple at 92 mph. That's when you really get scared for these guys.  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

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