Hamlin's collapse brings back memory of death on the diamond in Cincinnati

The on-the-field collapse of Damar Hamlin in Cincinnati dredged up harrowing flashbacks of the Detroit Lions' Chuck Hughes' lifeless body on the ground in a 1971 game against the Bears.

Fortunately, Hamlin appears headed for a full recovery. But at the time, it revived the images of Chicago Bears linebacker looking down on the fallen Lions wide receiver.

I was a student at Jamieson Elementary School in Chicago when I watched the Hughes game and was stunned, just as everyone else was, at seeing a man lose his life on live TV.

Of course, you saw death on television all the time, on detective shows and westerns. It was also on the news constantly, especially during those Vietnam years. But because this was sports, which I watched incessantly in those days, this was different. Death was the last thing you expected to encounter during a game.

The next day, my classmates and I talked about Hughes public fatal heart attack. I remember one classmate saying erroneously, "Butkus hit him."

It would not be the last sports-related death I would see on television - there would be the 1972 death of Friday Hassler in a 13-car pileup during a qualifying race for the Daytona 500 and the 1973 crash that killed Swede Savage in the Indianapolis 500.

These jarring intrusions of death into the realm of spectator sports left their impressions on my developing brain. They even influenced my viewing choices - to this day I don't watch auto racing.

Death on the baseball diamond has provided fodder for movies - there was even a 1930s film called "Death on the Diamond." But death has stepped onto a major-league baseball field only rarely, most notably on Aug. 16, 1920, when Cleveland's Ray Chapman was felled by a pitched ball out of the hand of the Yankees' Carl Mays.

It is amazing that it has been so rare, considering that players for decades had nothing except a cap to protect their heads from injury.

Not that there haven't been plenty of close calls.

In fact, just months before Chapman lost his life, a pitch from Brooklyn pitcher Jeff Pfeffer struck the Yankees' Chick Fewster on the head behind his ear during a spring training game in Jacksonville, Florida - the sound of the impact was compared to a coconut shell cracking by a writer from the New York Times.

Fewster, who suffered a concussion, a skull fracture and a blood clot on his brain, was saved by an operation in which doctors removed a piece of his skull and inserted a silver plate in his head.

Fewster would not only play again, he would eventually be involved in a legendary baseball blooper in which he and two other Brooklyn teammates wound up on third base after a hit by Babe Herman.

Ironically, Mays was the opposing pitcher in Fewster's nearly fatal spring training game.

There were similar scares in the minor leagues, including one notable one involving future Cubs manager Don Zimmer. In 1953, Zimmer, playing for the St. Paul Saints, was hit on the left temple by pitcher Jim Kirk of the Columbus Red Birds in a game in Columbus, Ohio. For nearly two weeks, he was semicomatose, eventually recovering after doctors drilled holes in the side of his head and filled them with metal buttons.

Cincinnati, the site of Hamlin's collapse, would be where fans would witness the death of umpire John McSherry.

Unlike Chapman's passing, McSherry's death did not happen as a result of any action on the field.

It was April 1, 1996, opening day at Riverfront Stadium

Only seven pitches into the game, Montreal's Rondell White was at the plate, when McSherry, the home-plate umpire, walked away from the plate motioned to the other umpires. He then collapsed on the warning track in front of a tunnel near the backstop.

Efforts to revive McSherry, including administering oxygen and CPR and shock therapy and intravenous treatment on the field, were in vain.

One hour after his collapse, McSherry was pronounced dead from a massive heart attack at 51.

As with the Bengals-Bills game, the Reds-Expos game was halted.

Expos catcher Darrin Fletcher said, "How can you carry on with the emotion you're supposed to have during Opening Day when this happens? This is a time to pray for him, to reflect on what happened."

Fletcher's manager, Felipe Alou, summed it up, saying, "The game itself was not going to be anything. And even though we're playing tomorrow, it's not going to be the same."