Baltimore Orioles reporter Melanie Newman offered an update on her condition after being hit square in the face by a foul ball.
Newman, who covers the Orioles for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, took a bouncing ground ball to the noggin while sitting on the third base line of the team’s game at Boston’s Fenway Park against the Red Sox on Saturday, May 24.
The reporter tumbled off her chair and missed the rest of the game — but returned to work for the series finale on Sunday, May 25.
“I’m really grateful and thank you for checking,” Newman told announcers Ben Wagner and Ben McDonald during Sunday’s broadcast. “It’s been kind of crazy. I’ve deflected [foul balls] off of places you don’t really think about twice. Definitely making sure I have got the headset away from that area today because she’s a little tender.”
Newman used the scary incident to remind viewers at home that “this is why we have netting for fans.”
“There is not a lot of area for me to move down here,” she explained. “I saw it coming, I was paying attention, I could show you the path of the ground ball.”
Newman said she watched footage of the accident with doctors who told her, “You took the route that we would have preferred you to take to avoid maximum damage.”
“So I feel a little more competent with that,” she joked. “I’m grateful our photographer behind me, she kind of had an assist with a one-arm catch on the back end. Even when you’re paying attention, they come up on you really quick.”
In a social media post after Sunday’s game, Newman gave some more insight into what happened in the immediate aftermath of her getting hit by the foul ball.
“So grateful to O’s staff, Sox paramedics & BIDMC ER staff for getting me back up,” she shared via X. “And my husband who ends up in an ambulance even on a day off. And I got a little ‘gamer’ credit from the team ????????♀️.”
Newman even got a gift from Red Sox outfielder Rob Refsnyder, who hit the foul ball that collided with her head.
On Sunday, the reporter showed off a bottle of wine Refsnyder gave to her with a handwritten note reading, “I was aiming for you but I can’t believe I actually hit you! I’m so sorry. Hope this helps your head feel better.”
