Violence in Baseball
Baseball is not known for being a contact sport, but situations do arise from time to time. These contact occurrences can be blamed on one’s competitiveness or anger management, but gaining control of the issue can help maintain the players’ safety and health. For instance, Cole Hamels, former pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, admitted to throwing at a hitter on purpose, stating: “I was trying to hit him. I’m not going to deny it. It was just a ‘welcome to the big leagues” (“Cole Hamels Admits Aiming for Rookie”, 2012). Intending to harm a player instead of just playing the game changes the game of baseball. Attempting to inflict actual pain on an opponent was never an intention when baseball was created.
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These damages are known as compensatory damages, whereas punitive damages are meant to punish the wrongdoer and deter others from similar actions (Clarkson, Miller, and Cross, 2015). Doody understood that the act committed by Evans was not intentional. However, Evans did break the rules of the league of not attempting to avoid contact with the catcher, so Doody felt that he deserved some sort of compensation. The court felt otherwise, stating that a base runner/catcher collision is a foreseeable action in the game of baseball and softball. From the evidence that was given to the court, nothing showed that the collision was out of the ordinary or had any direct purpose to cause any injuries. For this reason, this case fell under the recreational and sports exception dealing with assumption of risk. This ruling states that, “Individuals who engage in sports or recreational activities assume the ordinary risks of the activity and cannot recover for any injury unless it can be shown that the other participant’s actions were either reckless or intentional.” With that being said, no money was awarded to Doody for his injuries, and the only punishment that Evans faced was getting kicked out of the game (“Doody v. Evans,”