Just Uncovered: Fan Killed by Accident at Dodgers Game, Team Kept It Quiet
A woman who was struck in the head by a foul ball at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 25 died as a result of the injury, ESPN reported Tuesday.
“The coroner’s report states the cause as ‘acute intracranial hemorrhage due to history of blunt force trauma’ and states that the injury occurred when she was struck in the head with a baseball during the Aug. 25 game at Dodger Stadium,” ESPN reported, citing the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Report.
The woman, Linda Goldbloom, attended the Los Angeles Dodgers-San Diego Padres game to celebrate her 79th birthday and 59th wedding anniversary with her husband, Erwin, brother-in-law Michael and sister-in-law Eve, ESPN reported.
In the top of the ninth inning, a Padres batter hit a foul ball a “little to the first-base side of home plate,” the report said.
The ball sailed over the area protected by netting and hit Goldbloom in Section 106, Row C, Seat 5, ESPN reported.
A California woman died in August as a result of being hit in the head by a batted ball at Dodger Stadium.
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“Ushers came down and asked if she was all right, and she said no, then EMT came and rushed her to the hospital — she threw up in the ambulance,” Goldbloom’s daughter, Jana Brody, told ESPN.
Goldbloom had emergency brain surgery after midnight at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
ESPN reported that she “was unresponsive, Brody said, except when a nurse saw her move one finger one time upon being asked whether her name was Linda. Her eyes never opened at the hospital, and a ventilator kept her breathing.”
She died the morning of Aug. 29.
ESPN reported that the TV coverage did not follow the flight of the ball or where it ended up, and no media outlet reported what happened.
However, Goldbloom’s family said what happened in an email sent out on the day she died.
“While the end came suddenly by a foul ball at Dodgers Stadium, she had a long beautiful and blessed life,” the email said, according to ESPN.
The Dodgers made no public comments about her death at the time. However, ESPN contacted the team Monday for a statement and got this response:
“Mr. and Mrs. Goldbloom were great Dodgers fans who regularly attended games. We were deeply saddened by this tragic accident and the passing of Mrs. Goldbloom. The matter has been resolved between the Dodgers and the Goldbloom family. We cannot comment further on this matter.”
Brody would not comment on any agreement with the Dodgers, according to ESPN, but she said she wants to establish a fund in her mother’s memory to assist victims of such accidents and their families.
Only two other people have died after being hit by a ball at an MLB game, according to ESPN.
Clarence Stagemyer, 32, died one day after he was hit in the head by an overthrown ball to first base on Sept. 29, 1943, at Griffith Stadium in Washington.
Alan Fish, 14, died four days after he was hit in the head by a foul ball on May 16, 1970, at Dodger Stadium.
In 2018, MLB recommended that all teams put up protective netting extending from behind home plate to at least the ends of both dugouts.
Brody told ESPN that she hopes her mother’s death will lead MLB to consider more extensive netting to protect fans.
“I’d love to see the netting extended vertically, and we know it doesn’t block the view,” she said. “Raise it a little higher — what’s the hurt in that?”
“My mom went to the game and never came home,” Brody told ESPN. “People need to be aware, and we’d really like them to be protected in the future.”
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