During the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader with the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles reporter Melanie Newman was involved in a scary situation when she was hit in the head by a foul ball off the bat of Red Sox right fielder Rob Refsnyder. But fortunately, Newman was back on the field in good spirits for the series finale on Sunday.
We received a positive update on the scary situation on Sunday when a replay of the incident was shown on the broadcast, clearly showing that Newman caught the full brunt of the foul ball while sitting in the camera well next to the Orioles’ dugout.
Speaking with MASN’s Ben Wagner and Ben McDonald during Sunday’s game, Newman gave her account of the situation, explaining that while she still has some “tenderness” from where the ball hit her, she is ultimately in good shape, all things considered.
“When we say go down on the field, we don’t mean actually go down,” joked Ben Wagner. “But our own Melanie Newman took the brunt of this job, a foul ball got quickly into the camera well. We have good news to report. Even after the tumble off the chair, there she is, all smiles.”
“Down goes Frazier,” added Ben McDonald.
“Melanie, it’s great to see you back and great to see you smiling back at the game,” added Wagner.
“Yeah guys, I’m really grateful,” said Newman. “And again, thank you for checking. It’s been kind of crazy. You know, I have deflected them before off of places that you don’t really think about twice. Definitely making sure I have got the headset away from that area today because she’s a little tender. But look, this is why we have netting for fans. There is not a lot of area for me to move down here. I saw it coming, I was paying attention, I could show you the path of the ground ball.
“It made me feel good, the doctors watched it back several times and they said, ‘You took the route that we would have preferred you to take to avoid maximum damage.’ So I feel a little more competent. Yeah, even when you are paying attention, they come up on you really quick. I’ve had so many reach out and also tell me, who have done this for years, that they have been hit in the head.”
In a post on social media, Newman offered some more insight into what happened after being hit by the foul ball, thanking both the Orioles and Red Sox paramedic staff for quickly assisting her out of Fenway Park and getting her to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
“So grateful to O’s staff, Sox paramedics & BIDMC ER staff for getting me back up,” wrote Newman on X. “And my husband who ends up in an ambulance even on a day off. And I got a little ‘gamer’ credit from the team.”
Newman even ended up getting a generous gift from Refsnyder for her troubles, which she shared publicly on social media after Sunday’s game.
“As for Refsnyder, he’s been a class act since day one and stays that way,” wrote Newman, holding a bottle of wine gifted by Refsnyder with a hand-written message on it. Red Sox have a great one.”