General

Nats Owner Mark Lerner Bloodied After Being Hit In Face Shagging Fly Balls

May 21, 2010, 2:40 PM UTC

â†µThere’s an old saying by agent Arn Telem that I had up on my wall for years: “It was not until my Bar Mitzvah that I realized I had a better chance of owning a professional sports team than of playing for one.”â†µ

â†µâ†µProfessional sports is littered with owners who played the games as youngsters – or in the case of someone like Jerry Jones, at a very high level – before making enough scratch in other walks of life they can afford to own their own professional team. For the athletically challenged, there is nothing more enticing than owning your own franchise. You know why? Because if you own the team, no matter how bad you are, they don’t kick you off the field. â†µ

â†µâ†µAnd if you own the team and your name is Mark Lerner, nobody is going tell you that you can’t stand in the outfield during batting practice – in full uniform, no less – and shag fly balls. If you go to Nationals games early enough, you can sometimes see Lerner chatting up the outfielders and enjoying a day at the park. This uneventful video from 2009 shows Lerner doing his best Nyjer Morgan impersonation: â†µ

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â†µâ†µAfter yesterday’s game, Lerner might want to think about taking the day games off, especially if there’s a high sun. Per the Washington Post:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner received stitches this evening after an unfortunate moment during today’s batting practice.â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥Lerner, as he occasionally does, was shagging fly balls in full Nationals uniform alongside his team. Standing in right field, where the sun made it difficult to see, Lerner settled under a fly ball. The ball barely glanced off his glove and drilled Lerner, 56, on the bridge of his nose, right between the eyes.â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥“I’ve never seen blood gush that fast out of someone,” said one Nationals player.â†µâ‡¥

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Can owners go on the DL? Seriously, this could have happened to anyone, which is probably why most owners stay in the luxury boxes and not down on the field before a game. Internet sleuthing has yet to turn up video of this specific incident, but if you pair the above video with this below, you probably have a good idea of what happened to Lerner.
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â†µâ†µI’d assume the dad running to call 911 would be played by Jim Riggleman. The girl who swings and misses yet miraculously still manages to hit a long fly ball? Well that’s obviously Adam Dunn.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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