Man, last week was a tough week to be a bird flying around sporting events. First, a seagull flying over a cricket match in England was taken out mid-flight by a hard-struck ball. Although stunned for a moment, the gull appeared to be okay and managed to fly away to tell the tale.
However, one poor birdie at a minor league baseball game over the weekend wasn’t so fortunate. The bird flew straight into the path of a third inning pitch from West Michigan Whitecaps starter Jon Maciel and immediately crashed to the ground after being struck by the ball.
Without an explosion of feathers it wasn’t nearly as dramatic or disturbing as the murder scene caused by flamethrower Randy Johnson 13 years ago, but the end result appeared to be just as unfortunate. After a few moments of confusion, a groundskeeper came out and retrieved the motionless bird lying on the infield grass just in front of home plate and brought it to its final resting place, which was probably in a clubhouse trash bin or something.
At least Maciel took the time to pay his respects on Twitter after the game.
@John_G_Nolan @VanMeter15 @TinCaps R.I.P.
— Jonathan Maciel (@J_maciel00) July 6, 2014
[Deadspin]
