NEW YORK — Home-plate umpire Nick Mahrley was hit in the head with New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton’s splintered bat and carted off the field in the fifth inning of Sunday’s game against the Colorado Rockies at Yankee Stadium.
Stanton’s bat snapped at the handle and struck Mahrley in the left side of the head and neck. Several trainers and emergency personnel tended to Mahrley, a 41-year-old Illinois native in his second year as a full-time MLB umpire.
After getting hit, Mahrley was on one knee for several minutes before being strapped to a gurney and loaded into the cart, which was driven around the warning track and out the center field exit. He left to cheers from the crowd, and crew chief Marvin Hudson took over for him.
Stanton’s swing, which registered at 85.1 mph, resulted in a single and he watched from first base as Mahrley received help. Stanton later walked toward Mahrley and the group and watched as the umpire was taken away.
“That was bad. (I) just saw it by the replay,” Stanton said. “(He) took it like a champ, though. When I was in the box, I didn’t hear anything, a groan or anything. Took it like a champ.”
During the seventh inning, the Yankees announced in the press box Mahrley was being evaluated by the team’s medical staff and “going through a full battery of tests.”
“That was a tough one, man. Anytime you see an umpire or any player go down with some sort of head injury, it really straightens you up. It really does,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “When you see a neck brace, you see a stretcher — those are not all good things. Hopefully Nick will be OK. I haven’t heard anything postgame. But those umpires, they’re good guys. They’re a big part of our game and they’re exposed every night behind the plate just like a catcher.”
Also during the game, Yankees star Aaron Judge hit his 50th and 51st home runs of the season, the most in the majors.
(Photo of umpire Nick Mahrley: Ron Chenoy / USA Today)