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Luis Salazar

Edgy DC Mar 16 2011 09:12 PM

We didn't cover this when it happened, but last week Luis Salazar, longtime National League thirdbaseman/outfielder and current Braves minor league manager, was hit in the face by a Brian McCann batted ball during a game. He was a bloody mess and had to be airlifted out. Turns out they couldn't save his left eye.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Mar 16 2011 09:22 PM Re: Luis Salazar

Read where McCann is a wreck now emotionally, as I suppose anyone would be.

themetfairy Mar 16 2011 09:28 PM Re: Luis Salazar

Here's the story.

metirish Mar 16 2011 09:29 PM Re: Luis Salazar

Horrible , Klapisch nearly lost his a few year back IIRC for taking a ball to the eye to. I can't imagine at Salazar's age that adjusting to only having one eye will be anything but difficult.

themetfairy Mar 16 2011 09:49 PM Re: Luis Salazar

The loss of depth perception is going to be a difficult adjustment for him.

A Boy Named Seo Mar 16 2011 11:40 PM Re: Luis Salazar

Maybe he can land a gig coaching for the Pirates. #too_soon?

John Cougar Lunchbucket Mar 17 2011 05:19 AM Re: Luis Salazar

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Maybe he can land a gig coaching for the Pirates. #too_soon? You've been fired by Aflac.

Benjamin Grimm Mar 17 2011 07:17 AM Re: Luis Salazar

I've been thinking this morning about depth perception. I remember I knew a girl in high school who told me that she was blind in one eye, and without depth perception she couldn't get a drivers license. (Is that true? I didn't question it then, but I was but a callow youth.) I did some experimenting. Where I'm sitting, there's a half wall ahead of me, with a plant sitting on that wall. A ways behind that is a fireplace. If I look at the plant with both eyes open, I can tell that the fireplace is well behind it. But when I close one eye, I lose all sense of the distance between the fireplace and the plant. But I can simulate depth perception by moving my head from side to side. I can see that perceived movement of the plant in the foreground is greater than that of the fireplace behind it. If there were several more objects between the plant and the fireplace, I could distinguish the relative distances by comparing the rate of perceived movement. Long story short, I think I see how people who lose an eye, or the use of an eye, can learn to compensate. I feel bad for Salazar. I hope he makes the necessary adjust as quickly as possible.

TransMonk Mar 17 2011 07:20 AM Re: Luis Salazar

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Long story short, I think I see how people who lose an eye, or the use of an eye, can learn to compensate. I've got two eyes (one, two), but I have heard that this is true.

Edgy DC Mar 17 2011 07:36 AM Re: Luis Salazar

The Braves say they intend to return him to work in six weeks. I think if he's going to manage, he should perhaps work in the short-season leagues and take the first half of the season to get the lay of the land.

seawolf17 Mar 17 2011 08:06 AM Re: Luis Salazar

Terrifying. I wish him all the best. Accidents like this are going to happen with balls traveling as quickly as they do. I bet fan injuries, especially in the lower decks, happen a lot more than we hear about too.

Frayed Knot Mar 17 2011 08:21 AM Re: Luis Salazar

At some point - especially in this twittering/texting/jumbovision-watching/cell-phoning distracted fan era - baseball is going to go to increased netting at stadiums, not only draping behind the home plate area but extending it around at least to the beginnings of the dugouts and you hope it's not going to take the death of a patron like it did to move the NHL to extend their nets behind the goal lines. There's absolutely no decreased visibility for hockey fans behind that netting and once it was up it seemed so stupid that it wasn't always.

Edgy DC Mar 17 2011 08:26 AM Re: Luis Salazar

The thing is, folks will whine about the decreased intimacy when the nets go up, and within a year, they'll forget they ever weren't there.