Orioles announcer Ben McDonald was hospitalized after falling 25 feet from a deer stand Thursday morning, he revealed in an X post.
McDonald, who experienced a “severe concussion” along with two fractured vertebrae, has no recollection of the frightening event. He shared a video from his hospital bed, where he inquires about the incident.
He is told that the chain or the strap broke from someone else in the room.
“I’m okay and grateful to everyone for reaching out,” McDonald, 57, partially wrote in his update. “Extremely fortunate… I’ll return to #Birdland soon to call @Orioles games! Thanks for your thoughts… and gratitude to the doctors! See you all soon!”
McDonald, the former No. 1 overall pick in the 1989 MLB Draft and ex-Baltimore pitcher now working as an analyst for the team’s MASN broadcasts, didn’t specify when he planned to return to the broadcast booth.
But during Baltimore’s game against the Rays on Friday, as the season resumed following the All-Star break, the Orioles broadcasters said they were “thinking of you” and hoping McDonald can “get back to the ballpark as soon as you can.”
“I talked to him today, and he goes, ‘Well I don’t remember the fall,’” one broadcaster said during the segment, according to Awful Announcing. “He said, ‘I’ve been doing this for 35 years and I never fell.’ He said a lot of the people that he was with … don’t like to go up 25 feet. So I think Ben’s gonna join them now. I said, ‘Isn’t there a parachute or something that can, you know, [help] for 25-feet falls?’”
McDonald pitched in the majors from 1989-97, collecting a 3.91 career ERA across 211 appearances — including 198 starts — with the Orioles and Brewers, and he was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008 for his years at LSU.
He also works as a college baseball announcer for ESPN and joined the Orioles’ broadcasts in 2016, according to his ESPN bio page.
The Orioles, who won eight of their final 13 games entering the break, lost, 11-1, on Friday and will continue their series in Tampa on Saturday.
