Alomar-Hirschbeck
 

At about the same time as Roberto Alomar was being inducted into the HOF, John Hirschbeck caught a foul ball in the groin. The game had to be delayed 5 minutes before Hirschbeck was revived and continued the game. What a coincidence.

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates - Recap - July 24, 2011 - ESPN

He got hit there a week or so ago, too. Bad season, I guess.

He got hit there July 13. There's also a video uploaded in April that shows the same thing. On top of that, he also had testicular cancer and missed much of 2009. So he got hit in the ball, I guess.

Really bad luck.

I completely miss a point to this post. Had someone spit on Hirshbeck at the same time as HOF induction I might see a point.

The only interesting part for me was the fact he's been hit in the nuts three times in 2 seasons. Makes me wonder if he's just unlucky or setting up in a way that makes him more vulnerable.

The Alomar/Hirschbeck story was over a LONG time ago. The two are close friends now. Everyone should move on.

I hope to find a way to doiwnload that for my umpiring classes next year. A lot of people take it for granted they can just stand behind the plate, and they need to see that even great meachaincs can't protect you from everything.

Last night in a D1 summer wood bat league my partner took a brutal shot under the throat protector. Foul ball went straight down and straight up. Pretty painful but he kept at it.

By now most of us are pretty brusied and beat up if we do a lot of games. A vid like this ought to make feel good about our situation, even if we are black and blue all over.

Because of the spitting incident, I find Alomar's HoF election and as insult to Hirschbeck. Alomar will always be a bum (and I am being generous here) because of the spitting incident.

MTD, Sr.

I heard an interview on ESPN radio with Alomar over the weekend. He said Hirschbeck was one of the first people to call and congratulate him on his HOF election. From Alomar's comments, it was obvious the two had made amends and moved on from the incident. Why shouldn't we do the same?

Because Mark's a curmudgeon.

Let's not forget John's tough personal road. He is from my area (now in OH) and I know his brother Mark very well.

He has lost one son to ALD, and another has the disease. The odds against this are staggering. Yes, Almoar made a six-figure donation to ALD-related charity.

I imagine Hirschbeck would disagree with you. You can make up for being a temporary bum, and Alomar has done that. He's still a RAT though, albeit a RAT who hit 300+ lifetime and won 10 or more gold gloves. Only Mays and Clemente have done that. (Pudge would be there too had he retired after the 2008 season.)

To bring up this incident is to act just like so many players and managers are acting today in MLB to umpires. Every time something they don't agree with happens it's a mini version of WW2 all over again, and then people on ESPN decry the 'attitude' umpires have and how it is bad for the game. And it is brought up all the time.

Once in a while people need to 'turn the page', and Hirshbeck did exactly that. And if you remember there were an awful lot of people at the time of the spitting incident who said very nasty things about John; Even going so far as to blame him and his attitude for him being spat on in the first place. John acted like the class individual he always is (at least form my experience when he was the classroom instructor at Harry's when I went there), and Alomar did too. In spite of his stupid mistake, he was a great player and great person by many accounts, and his speech showed it yesterday.

MLB is serious business, but if they could have a huge reunion of Confederate and Union soldiers who fought each other at Gettysburg 40 or 50 years later, maybe, just maybe two people can forgive and forget about an ugly incident almost 20 years ago on a dang baseball field. And maybe, just maybe other people could too.

whistleone and jkumpire, well said, both of you.

I've been one of those who held Alomar in contempt for that one incident, until I read what followed. I've certainly done some asinine and downright inexcusable things in my time; I'm glad that for the most part, folks can find it in their hearts to forgive.

John Hirschbeck was living in Poland, Ohio, a suburb of Youngstown, Ohio (my home town) when the spitting incident happened.

The fact that John came to terms with Alomar is fine with me. That said, I would not be able to come to terms with such a scum bag. I would just move on with my life and forget him. He would not be worth my time and effort. I guess it is the old Mafia Code of: "Don't get even, get revenge." :D

I have said all that I am going to say on this matter. I am glad that John was able to move on.

MTD, Sr.