Dodger Stadium wall claims another victim

Tuesday August 15, 2023

On June 3, the outfield wall of Dodger Stadium claimed its most famous victim, AL MVP Aaron Judge while he was making a fantastic catch. Two months later, it claimed another player as its victim, who is once a potential trade target for the Yankees.

During Sunday’s game, Jurickson Profar, the in-form outfielder of the Colorado Rockies, had to leave during the second inning. He hurt his knee when he ran into the wall on the left side of Dodger Stadium. The Rockies lost the game 8-3 to the Dodgers as a result.

The Yankees’ outfielder and the current MVP of the American League, Aaron Judge, didn’t play for about two months because he tore a ligament in his toe after being collided with Dodger Stadium. This happened when he crashed into a wall in the right field in June.

Yankees captain Aaron Judge busted the bullpen door at Dodger Stadium while making a spectacular catch on June 3, 2023. — Twitter

Even though Judge’s injury happened because he hit his toe against the concrete at the bottom of the wall, Profar’s knee got twisted in a different way at Dodger Stadium. This was because of the strange padding arrangement in the left field.

Profar jumped to catch the ball just before the wall of Dodger Stadium, and as he moved forward, his knee bumped into some padding that sticks out from the wall. This padding is a bit odd because it’s not flat against the wall. There’s a chance his knee also hit the fence behind the padding.

On that part of Dodger Stadium’s wall, there’s a scoreboard that shows scores from other games. This makes the padding setup look strange, and there seems to be a mesh or chain-link fence there as well. After the collision, Profar limped on his right leg for a short moment and then fell to the ground. He got assistance from two trainers, and they helped him off the field.

By making that jumping catch, they prevented at least one, maybe even two, runs from being scored. They also stopped Mookie Betts from getting an extra-base hit. However, even with this effort, the Rockies were unable to avoid losing all four games.

The news from the Associated Press mentioned that Profar was going to have a checkup on Sunday evening. If Profar has to take a break from playing, it wouldn’t heavily impact the Rockies, who are currently not doing very well in the National League (NL). However, this situation once again draws attention to Dodger Stadium.

The injury Aaron Judge got on June 3rd might have significantly affected how the Yankees’ season turned out. Since then, things have gone downhill, and now they find themselves in the last position in the AL East with a record of 60-58.

The President and CEO of the Dodgers, Stan Kasten, mentioned that the team had a plan. They want to make the padding on the Dodger Stadium wall where Judge crashed even stronger, and they’re also going to put an extra layer of padding in front of the concrete that Judge hit with his toe.

Dodger Stadium was built in 1962 and is the third-oldest stadium in Major League Baseball. The two older stadiums are Fenway Park (built in 1912) and Wrigley Field (built in 1914). However, Dodger Stadium isn’t as up-to-date as many of the newer stadiums.

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