SADNESS IN THE BASEBALL WORLD

I just wanted to share a devastating story about a father, husband, a Little League coach and a volunteer.  His name is Richard Becher and he was helping getting his team ready for a tournament in Long Island this past weekend.  The Tournament was Baseball Heaven.  It's a pretty unique tournament and many of the teams around the Tri-State area go there to compete. My son's team as been there as well, and was this past weekend.

(In Photo: Richard Becher)
During practice, Becher was throwing batting practice to his kids, a 12 U team, when he took a liner to the temple and collapsed on the diamond.  Mr. Becher died. It's being reported in several places. We'll go with New York Post on this one:

"Becher’s brother-in-law said the devoted baseball dad — whose son played on the team he coached — was struck hard by a line drive.

'He threw a pitch, the ball got hit. It was a line drive,' John Bree, 51, told Newsday. 'He was hit in the head. He dropped to the ground.'

Several bystanders attempted to revive the unconscious Becher with CPR while waiting for police and EMS to arrive."

Becher friends and family are of course devastated as well as the Baseball Heaven community this past weekend.  There have been reports that Becher was throwing BP behind and L-Screen. That's the screen  that pitchers use when they are throwing BP.  Basically, it protects the pitcher.

There have also unconfirmed eyewitness reports on the ground at Baseball Heaven that suggest Mr. Becher may not have been behind the screen.  I'm here to suggest those reports are probably incorrect. From what I can see about Becher, it would make sense that he was exercising safe measures and was using one.  He was passionate about the baseball youth program and wasn't careless.  In fact, the New York Post also printed this:

"Michael Rubenstein, the president of Sachem Little League, said it was a freak accident.
'It’s pretty rare [to get hit] if you’re behind the screen, but you can stick your head out for a second' and expose yourself, Rubenstein told Newsday."

(In Photo: Richard Becher)
I just wanted to post this story out there just to remind you youth coaches, and we are all one or have been one at one point in our lives.  Safety first! Not only for the kids, but for the coaches as well.  This is a terrible accident and my heart goes out to the Becher family.  From everything I've read, he appears to be a truly great guy with an enormous passion for helping the kids in youth baseball. I applaud his work.

Prayers go the the Becher family. Prayers also go to the batter who hit the ball that struck Mr. Becher. It was a terrible accident and that poor kid and his family must be devastated as well.  I feel for you all.

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