Umpire Nick Mahrley Exits Game After Getting Struck In Neck With A Broken Bat: VIDEO

So often, we forget that baseball can be dangerous.

Just the simple interaction of pitching and hitting has the potential to go horribly wrong. Sure, it’s fun seeing guys throw a baseball at 100 mph and seeing some incredibly strong men who can hit it 450+ feet. But what if that ball gets pulled down the line and hits a fan in the head? What if the catcher misreads it, and it hits him in the face? Of course, he will have protection, but that’s going to hurt regardless.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 25:  Giancarlo Stanton #27 and Jazz Chisholm Jr. #13 of the New York Yankees looks on as home plate umpire Nick Mahrley is tended too after he was hit by Stanton's broken bat during the fifth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Yankee Stadium on August 25, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

One of the worst ways that you can get inadvertently hurt in this foundational element of the game is when a bat breaks after hitting the ball, and then the pieces fly and hit someone. Unfortunately, home plate umpire Nick Mahrley learned that the hard way Sunday afternoon.

During the New York Yankees game against the Colorado Rockies, Giancarlo Staton got jammed on a pitch that blooped into shallow left field. However, the bat he used shattered, but not until late in the swing. As a result, the barrel of the bat swung around and hit Mahrley in the side of the neck, where he didn’t have any protective gear.

Fortunately, the injury wasn’t super serious, but he still needed to be carted off the field. He underwent a full assessment by the Yankees medical staff.

This just goes to show how, in the blink of an eye, baseball can turn into something fun and enjoyable to something risky and dangerous.

The Yankees would end up destroying the visitors by a score of 10-3.