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San Francisco Giants Players Describe 'Dangerous' Baseball Thrown at Home Plate

Originally posted on San Francisco Giants on SI
By Maddy Hudak | Last updated Jun 8, 2025 2:00 PM ET

Fans are crucial for every MLB team they're invested in and fill the ballpark for.

That's all great until their actions pose a danger to the players on the field, as was the case in the San Francisco Giants' 5-4 win over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.

The wild fan incident, practically unprecedented in baseball, made it difficult to enjoy the recent spark on offense that brought a third consecutive victory.

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How Baseball's Strangest Incident Happened

It occurred in the top of the fourth inning when Braves catcher Sean Murphy hit a sacrifice fly into right field.

As Giants right fielder Mike Yastrzemski threw the ball home, another ball unexpectedly appeared in the same vicinity.

It was tossed from the stands over the protective netting and landed on the field, causing utter confusion.

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Ultimately, umpires convened, and play resumed as normal, but the actions left a sour taste in the mouths of San Francisco's players, who were lucky to be unscathed.

San Francisco Giants Players Denounce Fan Actions That Threaten Safety

Although the stray ball thankfully did not injure anyone, the outcome could have been quite different.

It nearly hit the umpire, who wasn't wearing a helmet.

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On the Giants broadcast, Mike Krukow called the unidentified offender a "clown" as the chaos transpired on the field while players tried to figure out what just happened.

Now that the initial bewilderment has subsided, Michael Wagaman of NBC Sports Bay Area surveyed the players who had never experienced anything like that before.

Starting pitcher Hayden Birdsong was in the immediate vicinity.

“Honestly, I didn’t see it initially,” Birdsong said. “I thought it was the ball that was thrown home, and I was like, ‘Why is the ball way out here?’ Then I realized [catcher Patrick Bailey] had the other one.”

Infielder Tyler Fitzgerald called it "dangerous" and noted it could have hit a teammate.

“Then I would have been [angry],” Fitzgerald said.

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The fan might not have meant to cause harm. However, it is still not considered an insignificant event even though it did not hit anyone on the field.

Injuries aside, the perplexity it caused could have affected the game. And it's not clear what the umpires could have done should the second ball have interfered with play.

As of Saturday afternoon, NBC Sports Bay Area reports that the unknown fan has not been caught, and it's not clear what repercussions they'll face.

If they manage to hide their identity, they may have evaded a permanent ban from Oracle Park.

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This article first appeared on San Francisco Giants on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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