I came across these three articles as a result of a baseball Facebook discussion of my book A Pitch For Justice amzn.to/My3Q0f
A highly touted Wichita State pitcher allegedly threw a 92 MPH fastball at an opposing player who was apparently trying to "time" the pitcher. Anthony Molina was 24 feet from home plate as Ben Christensen was warming up on the mound.
Molina's dream of playing baseball came to a crushing halt. He suffered debilitating injuries to his face and was blinded in one eye. He has had multiple operations for over 10 years.
http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/coll...
A Kansas District attorney somehow declined to prosecute criminally. This is what the D.A's report stated "even as distasteful and unsportsmanlike as it may seem, Christensen believed as he had been coached, that it was acceptable, justifiable and appropriate to respond to Molina's perceived rules violation and encroachment by throwing a brush-back." The report added that information gathered on Christensen indicated "he is not the type of person who would try to harm another.
I don't know what you think but I think that is a total disregard of the law. Imagine allowing a custom of baseball to be accepted as a total defense for an aggravated assault. I can't.
A civil suit was filed and in 2002 a significant monetary settlement was made for the "custom". Christensen signed with the Cubs for a 1 million dollar bonus. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/base...
Christensen was released in 2004 from the minor league roster.
If this concept interests you, please read my novel which imagines a fatal bean ball in the context of a retaliatory pitch which leads to a prosecution for murder
