


Larry Vanover, the Major League Baseball umpire who was hit in the head by a relay throw during the Yankees’ game against the Guardians earlier this week, was released from the hospital on Friday, two days after the scary incident, according to the Associated Press.
In the fifth inning Wednesday, Cleveland second baseman Andres Gimenez turned and threw toward home plate, except Vanover — stationed between second base and the mound — was within the ball’s path.
The ball hit Vanover in the head, knocking his hat and glasses off, and two runs scored on the sequence that originally started with Kyle Higashioka sending a ball into center field.
Advertisement
Gimenez’s throw was heading toward the plate at 89 mph, the AP reported.
The 67-year-old Vanover was sent to the Cleveland Clinic for a concussion evaluation, and he had a “pretty good-sized knot” on the left side of his head above the ear, umpire Chris Guccione told a pool reporter Wednesday.
“They’re going to do a concussion test and it sounded like he was coherent and that he knew kind of what was going on,” Guccione said Wednesday. “But he did have that glazed look on him. He’s going to be at the hospital for the rest of the night maybe.
Advertisement
But Vanover, the crew chief who ejected Yankees manager Aaron Boone earlier in the game, remained in the hospital Thursday.
Vanover, who was scheduled to work a game Thursday in Cincinnati, can’t return as an umpire until cleared by league medical personnel, according to the AP.
Jeremy Riggs filled in for Vanover’s spot when the Reds hosted the Phillies, according to CNN.
Advertisement
“That was scary,” Guccione told the pool reporter Wednesday. “Very hard to focus after that, after you see a colleague get hit.”
Vanover joined the MLB umpire staff in 1993 and has 29 years of service time.