Players reflect after fan's death

Fans still dangled over front-row railings at Yankee Stadium Saturday in hopes of catching souvenir baseballs and players still considered tossing balls to spectators to be a benign public relations act.

Though stunned by the news that a Texas Rangers fan died of cardiac arrest after falling 20 feet from the stands in Arlington, Texas, while he attempted to catch a ball flipped toward him by outfielder Josh Hamilton on Thursday, there was no expectation that the custom would be discontinued.

"Never in a million years did it ever cross my mind that when I grab a ball and flip it in the stands that something like that would happen," Yankee outfielder Nick Swisher said. "I am a guy who, every time I get a ball, I hand it out. I think it's a cool souvenir for the fans to take home.

"Now, maybe I need to walk it over to someone, hand it to them. It would make it a little more personal. I don't know."

Said Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran: "We do it because, you know how big it is for fans to get a ball? Sometimes there's people that come for years and years to the ballpark and never get the chance to get a souvenir, so it's an exciting thing for them."

Major League Baseball addresses matters of fan safety during every spring training, Mets manager Terry Collins said, emphasizing that the sport's officials "are all for tossing balls into the stands, but toss them. Don't turn and heave them into the stands. If someone's not watching, that's when injuries are caused."

The Texas accident, said Yankees third-base coach Rob Thomson, who regularly flips balls into the field-level seats, "makes you stop and think. But I just be careful who I'm throwing it to. If there's a kid, I make sure there's an adult nearby to catch it and hand it to the kid, because anything can happen."

Almost as frightening as Thursday's fatal accident, some players said, are the regular close calls, when fans scuffle for foul balls and home runs or lean dangerously out of upper decks.

Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said he has seen fans topple out of the stands in the past. "I see them reaching over for foul balls and just pray that doesn't happen," he said. "I saw one very recently, and it was too close. Too close" to the fan falling.

"It's amazing," Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson said, "what people will do for a $5 baseball. It's amazing to watch people fight, spill beer on each other, get angry with each other, over a $5 baseball. I've seen people fall out of seats. I've seen grownups take a ball away from a kid and then high-five their buddy, when the ball should've been for the kid."

In a statement, Major League Baseball addressed Thursday's situation by saying that "players are encouraged to be fan-friendly and we will carefully review this incident with our clubs to continue to ensure a safe environment for our fans."

Collins said he would not address the matter with his players, realizing there is "that fine line again between trying to keep the fans into the game, keep them excited, get them a souvenir baseball, which is a huge deal, and then causing an injury by throwing, an unintentional injury for sure. I don't think our guys need to be addressed by that. They've all been watching TV. They're all in as much shock as the Texas Rangers or the A's are. I'm not going to get into that."

In Arlington, Hamilton said he is haunted by what happened.

"It's just hard for me, hearing that little boy screaming for his daddy. . . That's one of the main things I remember," Hamilton said. "It's definitely on my mind and in my heart. I can't stop from praying enough for them."

With David Lennon

in San Francisco

and AP in Arlington, Texas.