Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 18, 1992 TAG: 9203180214
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. LENGTH: Medium
"He turned it up so he could watch it," Keough's wife, Jeana, said. "It didn't show the ball hitting him because they were focused on the batter. But then it showed Matt lying on the ground."
Keough, a 36-year-old pitcher trying to return to the major leagues with the California Angels, was sitting in the visitors' dugout at the new Scottsdale Stadium on Monday afternoon when John Patterson, the San Francisco Giants' first batter in the first inning, ripped a foul ball directly at him.
"It sounded like it hit the cement wall," John Wathan, an Angels coach, said.
Angels manager Buck Rodgers said the sound was like a bat hitting a watermelon. "It went `squash,' " he said.
The ball struck Keough on the right side of his head, and he was rushed directly across Civic Center Boulevard to Scottsdale Memorial Hospital. A CAT scan revealed a blood clot, and Dr. Gordon Deen, a neurosurgeon, operated. Surgery was necessary because blood collected beneath the skull and exerted pressure on the brain.
Keough remained in the intensive care unit Tuesday, but his condition was upgraded from critical to serious.
In an interview in the hospital lobby, Jeana Keough and Matt's parents said a third scan would be done today.
"They're watching for swelling and infection," said Jeana, who is seven months pregnant with their third child.
His mother said, "He's still not out of danger."
Keough was to remain in intensive care for three or four days.
"He's eating food, liquid stuff," Jeana said. "He's reading the sports pages and watching TV. Every scout, every coach and every trainer he's ever known has called. The commissioner called twice."
Marty Keough, a former major-league outfielder, was at the game, in which his son was supposed to be the Angels' second pitcher. The father was there because he scouts for the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Angels are under his responsibility.
"He was throwing very well, much better than last year before he got hurt," the elder Keough said.
Last year, Matt's attempt to return to the major leagues after four years of pitching in Japan was aborted by a shoulder ailment.
Keough's latest injury painfully pointed out a problem in the layout of the new stadium: the dugouts and the stands, are unusually close to home plate. Rodgers said they are too close. Wathan said they are "about as close as I've ever seen."
Stadium officials talked about placing screens in front of the dugouts.
They also discussed the possibility of extending the height of the screen in front of the stands behind home plate. Fans in the higher rows of the one-tiered stadium have been peppered with foul balls.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB