Crazy Hotdog Vender Beware!

Being reported in St. Louis by STLToday.com, the Kansas City Royals mascot Sluggerrrr is being sued for throwing a hot dog that injured a man.

The report goes on to say that Sluggerrr jumped atop the 3rd base dugout and was firing hot dogs from an air cannon and then switched to simply throwing the dogs into the stands. Unfortunately for one fan, he was hit in the eye with a good bit of injury.

I’m going through my thought process on this….

1. A big mascot standing in front of you throwing hotdogs, at you.
2. People yelling, cheering, waving for said macot to throw a hot dog at them.
3. Seeing a hot dog coming right at you and not only don’t you catch it, but it slips through your fingers and pokes you in the eye.
4. You forgot to blink.

Middle school principals around the nation have been vindicated.

Now the man is suing saying the mascot has not been properly trained to throw a hot dog professionally. Personally, I missed this event in the Olympics but there are a lot of weird sports I haven’t heard of. Sound to me like another, “I spilled coffee on myself and didn’t know it was hot” lawsuit. Everyone looking for an easy buck.

Fortunately for Major League Baseball, the Kansas City Royals and poor ole Sluggerrr each and every ticket to a professional baseball game includes this disclaimer:

“The ticket holder assumes all risk and danger incidental to the game of Baseball, including specifically (but not exclusively) the danger of being injured by thrown bats and thrown or batted balls, and agrees that the Commissioner, the Participating Clubs, their Agents and Players are not liable for injuries resulting from such causes.”

Now you can say this was not incidental, but the MLB policy on fan injuries has been rock solid since time began. Even a woman slammed by a broken bat in Pittsburgh resulting in a multitude of life altering injuries has been denied compensation from the courts.

I say this as a die hard fan. I agree some casual game attenders might get bored or distracted and miss some of the game or look away at an inopportune time. It happens.

My advice to those people is learn how to keep score. Score cards are in every Ironpig program (free) and bigger/better scorecards can be obtained from the Fan Services booth at no cost. It helps you to pay attention, follow the game and more throughly enjoy the game.

That’s all I have to say about that.