67-Year-Old MLB Umpire Hospitalized After Being Hit in the Head by Relay Throw

By Brian Jones

An MLB umpire was sent to the hospital on Wednesday after he was hit in the head by a baseball during a game between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians, according to the Associated Press. 67-year-old Larry Vanover was evaluated for a concussion and other injuries at the Cleveland Clinic after being hit in the head by a relay throw from Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez who was throwing the ball to home plate. Giménez accidentally hit Vanover who was positioned between second base and the mound. 

Vanover stayed in the hospital overnight and was evaluated for a head injury "and other potential medical issues. The timeline on his return is to be determined," MLB said. Vanover was scheduled to work on Cincinnati on Thursday but will have to pass any concussion protocols before returning. 

Chris Guccione, the plate umpire working the game, told a pool reporter that Vanover had "a pretty good-sized knot" on his head. "They're going to do a concussion test and it sounded like he was coherent and that he knew kind of what was going on," Guccione said. "But he did have that glazed look on him. He's going to be at the hospital for the rest of the night maybe.

"That was scary. Very hard to focus after that after you see a colleague get hit. But they gave me updates, and I was like, 'All right. He's good. He's in safe hands.' So, we moved on." Fans who attended the game at Progressive Field gasped when Vanover was hit, and Giménez was visibly upset. Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who was thrown out of the game by Vanover earlier in the first inning, shared his thoughts on the incident. 

"Larry threw me out, and by the way, I hope he's doing well," Boone said. "That looked pretty scary. He got smoked pretty well. I was obviously pretty animated and pretty emotional and I thought he did an outstanding job of not meeting my anger and kind of understanding and being real under control and certainly respectful and I appreciate that and I hope he's well." The Yankees won the game 4-3 and improved their record to 8-4. The Guardians fall to 7-6 on the year. 

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