Legal News

The Royals? Mascot + One Allegedly Bad Toss = One Weird Lawsuit

By Ashby Jones

Pity the Kansas City Royals. Since the late 1980s, the team has been mostly downright awful, boasting only one winning season since 1994. Ask a casual baseball fan to name one Royal, and the answer is likely to be either “Zack Greinke,” the team’s lone legitimate star, or “Is George Brett still on the team?,” referring to the Hall of Fame third baseman who retired in 1993.

To this sad legacy, we add this, well, sad little story.

A Kansas man sued the team this month, alleging that a hot dog thrown by the team’s mascot, Sluggerrr (that’s right — two g’s and three r’s) at a game last September struck the man and detached his retina. Really. This could only happen to the Royals. Or maybe the Cubs. Click here for the story, from the Kansas City Star.

The Kansas City Star describes the alleged incident like this:

According to the lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, John Coomer was attending a night game Sept. 8 at Kauffman Stadium and was sitting about six rows up from the third-base dugout.

During a break in the action, Sluggerrr mounted the dugout and began blasting 'dogs into the stands with that awesome air gun.

He finished with the air gun and then began throwing food into the stands with his paws.

"While doing so, (Sluggerrr) attempted to throw a hotdog into the stands with a throw behind his back," the lawsuit alleged. "Instead of throwing the hotdog at an arch high into the stands, (Sluggerrr) lost control of his throw, or was reckless with his throw, and threw the hotdog directly into plaintiff, who was sitting a few feet away."

According to the story, court records said Coomer has since undergone two surgeries and has suffered permanent vision impairment in his left eye.

A spokesman for the Royals declined to comment to the Star. The Royals have not formally responded to the lawsuit.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Conman 33

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 24, 2010 (boomark / email).