Cubs fan hit by debris: ‘It could’ve been fatal’
The bucket-wearing fan injured by falling debris from the Wrigley Field center field scoreboard last week said he’s fortunate the Cubs were losing at the time.
Had he not been wearing the plastic bucket on his head as a Cubs “rally cap,” Kyle McAleer believes he might have been killed.
“Absolutely,” he said. “It’s purely speculation, but the way it hit me . ... If the Cubs weren’t losing I would not have been wearing that bucket. It might’ve fractured my skull. It definitely could’ve been fatal. I am extremely lucky.”
McAleer was sitting with family and friends under the old center field scoreboard during a Cubs-Diamondbacks game on July 24, the day before his 20th birthday. When Kyle Hendricks gave up three runs in the top of the fifth inning, McAleer said it was time for him and his dad and friend to put on the “rally” buckets, which actually were empty bubble gum containers purchased a few years earlier from a Sam’s Club.
After the bottom of the fifth, a loose, 6- to 8-inch metal “pin” that holds the score tiles in place fell down from the scoreboard and struck McAleer in the head.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if all the people in the bleacher heard that loud thud,” he said.
McAleer said there was “considerable pain, but (it was) more shocking than anything else” because his ears were ringing.
The impact forced the bucket downward and knocked his glasses off. He first thought someone had thrown a bottle at him, before he saw blood rushing down from a laceration right above his hairline.
The Cubs’ medical team responded quickly, and McAleer was sent to Illinois Masonic Hospital for treatment. He said he was conscious all along and documented the incident on his Snapchat account.
The Cubs confiscated the pin, which he estimated weighed about 3 to 4 pounds.
McAleer was released around 11:30 p.m. and went back to his hometown of Scranton, Iowa, the next day. The cracked bucket that may have saved his life still has blood on it and is sitting on a shelf in his house.