A fan fell more than ten feet into the visiting team’s bullpen at the Chicago White Sox game on Wednesday, sending him to the hospital.
According to a report shared from Rate Field in Chicago by ABC 7 News on Wednesday night, stadium personnel appeared to carry the fan out of the bullpen area behind the right field wall on a stretcher.
“A rather scary incident happened where, apparently, a fan fell from the stands right into the Kansas City bullpen,” ABC 7 News reporter Ravi Baichwal said in a video from the stadium. “This, during the fourth inning, and Kansas City All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt was at the plate at the time. That game had to be delayed for some time while this incident was attended to. This person perhaps has sustained some sort of an injury because the fall was, we understand, some 10 to 12 feet. So that’s quite substantial.”
Reporters asked Kansas City Royals players about the incident
“From what I’ve heard, the fan was kind of standing up on the edge of the bullpen and kind of just went over. And then (we) saw him lying there,” Royals reliever Nick Mears told the Kansas City Star.
“I came up here (to the locker room) for a second and a paramedic was trying to get down,” Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said. “They had heard it was happening in the dugout, like there was a miscommunication of something happening in the dugout.”
Thursday morning, ABC 7 News filed another report on the incident with a fan falling into the Royals’ bullpen during Wednesday night’s White Sox game.
“The game was briefly paused as the medical team tended to that fan. Now, this all unfolded during the bottom of the third inning,” according to reporter Lissette Nunez. “The White Sox were at home playing against the Kansas City Royals when a fan fell into the visitors bullpen in Rate Field last night. The game was paused during the top of the fourth inning. Medics were called to the visitors bullpen to provide treatment while White Sox officials were briefed on the medical emergency. A fan who was at the game described the moment this all unfolded.”
Fans and players at the game shared what they witnessed
“We were behind the plate, so it was kind of difficult to see,” a fan who was at the game told Nunez. “You didn’t see any medical staff or anyone rush out, so it didn’t look like a major event, and they got it under control pretty quickly.
“I’m sure the people that were close and saw it were pretty frightened. That’s probably like a 12-13 foot drop, so, but from our perspective, it was a mystery.”
According to reports, the fan fell while applauding a White Sox run that Chase Meidroth had driven in on a sacrifice fly.
“He jumped up to celebrate and fell over,” White Sox fan Zach Kreigler told the Kansas City Star. “He just got excited and flipped over. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. I just hope he’s okay.”
So far, there has been no report on the fan’s medical condition. Nick Mears did say after the game that the security guard down in the bullpen told the players that by the time the fan got to the hospital, “he was in much better condition.”
“His buddy tried to grab (him) when he fell,” said another White Sox fan, Emily Dvorak. “He tried to grab his legs when they were up in the air.”
“Yesterday’s game was delayed in the fourth inning to allow White Sox personnel to treat a fan who had fallen into the visiting team’s bullpen. The fan was transported to a local hospital for additional treatment,” the White Sox said in a statement.
Similar recent incidents involving fans at baseball park
Last year, a Pittsburgh Pirates fan named Kavan Markwood fell more than 21 feet over the Robert Clemente right field wall onto the field on April 30th of last year. Markwood lay there motionless while medical personnel scrambled to treat him, then took him off the field on a cart. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition, but has since been making a recovery.
Earlier this month, a fan sitting on the upper deck’s ledge at Busch Stadium in St. Louis battled other fans who tried to keep him safe. The fan was captured on video dangling one leg over the ledge in the upper deck, bringing back memories of Markwood’s fall in 2025.