Wow.
Blue Jays rookie pitcher Yariel Rodríguez threw a first-inning 95 mph fastball that hit Baltimore Orioles back-up catcher James McCann directly in the face. Blood gushed from his nose and mouth, and he immediately dropped to the ground. Team trainer Brian Ebel began providing treatment at the plate, but McCann got to his feet, still bleeding, and went to first base. O’s manager Brandon Hyde summoned him to the dugout while the Jays were replacing their wild pitcher, but McCann was adamant that he could continue. It was the first game of a doubleheader, and McCann didn’t want the O’s young star catcher, Adley Rutschman, to have to catch both games, an invitation to injury.
“I felt like if I could get the blood to stop flowing then I could stay in the game, and that was what I was able to do,” McCann said. When play resumed, McCann went back to first, wearing a fresh, unbloodied jersey.
Orioles pitcher Tyler Wells wrote in a social media post,”That’s the toughest SOB I’ve ever met.” Orioles pitcher Zach Eflin, the starter in the game, saluted his catcher for staying in the game. “What a leader James McCann is,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that on a baseball field. I just became his No. 1 fan. To be able to go through that and stay in the game, show the grit and determination he has, it’s inspiring.”
McCann received a standing ovation from Baltimore fans when he came up to bat again with a cotton plug in each nostril. The left side of his face continued to swell up as the game went on. “We’re suspecting he has a broken nose,” his manager said, adding that there was no evidence of a concussion.
As regular readers here know, I am an lifetime advocate of “the show must go on” as an ethical principle; indeed some in the theater world and in other spheres in which I have been active believe that my commitment to that philosophy borders on fanatical. I strongly disagree. (As regular readers here know, I fulfilled an obligation to teach a Zoom ethics seminar on professionalism 90 minutes after find in my wife of 43 years, the love of my life, dead on our sofa.) Persevering in a goal, mission or task despite illness, pain or other impediments is the essence of professionalism as long as the individual can objectively conclude that he or she is still best suited to accomplish what needs to be done.
In an era when weenie-ism is the rule rather than the exception in our society, the example set by James McCann is not only welcome but crucial. Parents should show that video to their kids and explain the values it represents.
I suppose it would have been a bit too much if McCann had jumped to his feat, thrust his fist in the air and shouted to his team, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
Yeah, probably…
[WordPress tells me that this post should be tagged “boxing.”]
Ethics Alarms 
respectfully, while I can respect the sentiment behind the show must go on, it cannot be an absolute. It must be viewed in context of his being able to continue (ie he passed concussion protocols and they were able to stop the bleeding). In other words, when the show can safely continue, the show must go on.
I agree. He could have been in so much pain he could have missed a pitch or a foul tip and gotten the ball straight into his mask and compounded the fracture.
You mean, say, like Teddy giving his speech after he was shot? Or Orioles outfield Brady Anderson refusing to stop playing even though he had appendicitis because it is a crucial part of the season, and the pilots in tean flights were told to have an emergency plan for landing in case Brady’s appendix ruptured mid-flight?
Yeah, those were nuts…
We need to make sure kids learn the right lesson which includes safety instead of being taught to always continue no exceptions!
Well, I agree but the lessons should include safety, not safety as the be all and end all.
The Secret Service apparently wanted to take Trump off on a stretcher after he was shot. While safe, that certainly wouldn’t have had the same effect as him standing and shaking his fist at the world. Not the smartest thing in the world to do, but very human.
Pointless bravado and common sense are always in tension.
A college friend who’s a hilarious public speaker, writer and private equity guy opened his remarks at a retirement party for our favorite professor by telling of how he was speaking to a business group despite being weakened from a bad case of the flu. He passed out and collapsed behind the podium. Coming to still holding the microphone in his hand while remaining prostrate, he intoned, “And now, I’ll take any questions from the floor.”
Yariel Rodriguez was subsequently recalled, since apparently the rest of his performance in the game was not very good. He best stay there, if he gets back to the majors the Orioles may be looking for a pound of flesh. Even if it wasn’t intentional, that kind of wild pitch is unacceptable. A 90-mph fastball to the wrong place on the body could be fatal or a career ender.
I would question the opinion of the trainer who did not suspect a concussion after he was hit directly in the face by a 95 mph ball. That diagnosis should have been presumptive. While I appalud his bravado, it was not wise to continue to play.
Yes, but such acts define a culture. A deputy sheriff in town was responding to a call of a wanted man with a rifle. The man had warrants, was previously stopped by police, shot the officer, and was trying to get into a house with several small children present. The deputy took fire, but continued to return fire on the man, refusing to take better cover, fearful that the children would be hurt if the guy got into the house. The deputy suffered 7 gunshot wounds from an AK-47, but didn’t stop until his assailant was dead. Now, when he took the first shot or two, he should have taken better cover and waited for backup. He didn’t, he decided to put his life on the line for others as he was shot again and again and again and again and again. This is what heroes do. How can we know how to act like heroes if no one is willing to act like a hero? Now, he did recover. He should be made police chief of Uvalde, Texas.
I saw some fear from the mainstream media when the crowd at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania didn’t run. When the crowd saw what Trump did, they cheered, chanted, and made defiant gestures to the media. That is what bravery by leaders can do. That is why they are called leaders.