We’ve seen quite a few cameras destroyed by foul balls during MLB games over the last few years, and the latest came in the St. Louis Cardinals-Miami Marlins game Tuesday night. In the second inning, Cardinals’ outfielder Tyler O’Neill (playing left field in this one) fouled off a pitch from Sandy Alcántara, and he caught the behind-home-plate camera from Bally Sports Sun right on its lens:
That produced quite the damage, as this one screengrab form the broadcast shows:
And as that clip from the Marlins shows, this led to a bit of a delay while the team found someone with the appropriate level of on-field credentials (tougher in a COVID-19 era) who could sweep up the glass.
In some ways, though, this was a better moment for O’Neill than what he did in the first inning. There, he committed a fielding error that allowed two runs to score. At least the camera destruction didn’t hurt his team in the box score (although his subsequent strikeout did).
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About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.