Yesterday was the memorial service for Shannon Stone, a Texas father who died last week after falling from the stands at a Texas Rangers game while trying to catch a ball thrown into the crowd.
Yesterday was also the Home-Run Derby portion of Major League Baseball's All-Star Game, and a Kingman man apparently didn't learn the tragic lesson all fans should have learned after watching Stone tumble off the bleachers.
Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder hit a towering shot into the right-field bleachers -- where Keith Carmickle was sitting with some friends.
The group reportedly had already caught several balls during the Derby, but Carmickle apparently wanted one more -- the Fielder jack that was out of reach.
Standing on a metal table, Carmickle tried to catch Fielder's home run, which didn't quite make it over the railing 20 feet above the pool deck in Chase Field's right field bleachers. Trying to catch the ball, his momentum carried him over the railing where he would have tumbled 20 feet to what arguably would have been a face full of concrete and his possible death.
All for a freakin' baseball.
Luckily, Carmickle's friends managed to grab him by the legs and pull him to safety.
See photos taken by Arizona Republic photog Michael Chow below.
Again, all for a freakin' baseball.