You hear stories every year about people being hit in the head with a foul ball, but you never thinks it's that big of a deal until it happens to you—or your teddy bear.
But the latter is precisely the situation that unfolded in Oakland, California this week when it teddy bear at an Oakland A's game got clocked right in its furry head by a wayward baseball.
Since there are no spectators at this year's Major League Baseball games due to the pandemic, many teams, the Oakland A's included, have taken to filling their stadium stands with giant teddy bears, along with cardboard cutouts of spectators and players.
It's a cute way to make the stadiums feel not quite so empty and give the fans at home a bit of whimsy in the midst of pestilence. A great idea until the inevitable happens and we're all forced to watch our favorite teddy get his lights knocked out. Oh the humanity!
Or... bear-osity? You get the picture.
In any case, the mishap that befell the poor bear at Oakland's RingCentral Coliseum happened Thursday evening during a game between the Oakland A's and the Arizona Diamondbacks, when Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte hit a line-drive foul ball right into the poor teddy's noggin during the eighth inning. Just one inning shy of making it out unscathed!
Thankfully, the teddy seemed to take it all in stride. He didn't even stir in his seat.
A real trooper!
And, as Oakland A's president Dave Kaval confirmed on Twitter, the teddy got to keep the foul ball as a souvenir, just like a regular human would.
Elsewhere on Twitter, people of course had a great time with this moment of levity.
And, of course, there were tons of puns.
In the end, the A's won the game 5-1, so at least the furry guy got to see his home team win.
@lpeterp/Bluesky
@FPWellman/X
@bobsbeatgmail.com5/Threads