Father of batboy who died: 'He cared about everyone'

Erik Brady and Joe Lemire | USA TODAY Sports

The father of Kaiser Carlile, the 9-year-old batboy who died after being struck in the head by an errant swing, spoke publicly for the first time Monday as the National Baseball Congress suspended use of batboys and batgirls for the remainder of its World Series in Wichita.

"He was competitive, but in the same breath, he cared about everyone," Chad Carlile said at a news conference. "That's what it is, it's the love that he had for the game."

Kaiser died Sunday, a day after he was struck by the follow-through swing of a Liberal (Kan.) Bee Jays player warming up near the on-deck circle during a game. The death of a batboy touched a national nerve and Monday there was mourning in bandbox ballparks in Kansas and in major league ballparks across the country.

"It's a terrible tragedy," Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt told USA TODAY Sports. "I feel so terrible for the teams involved, the family, the little boy, anyone involved."

There's a sense much of America feels involved. Norman Rockwell included a batboy on his 1948 Saturday Evening Post cover called "The Dugout." That makes batboys and batgirls, dressed in uniforms and batting helmets to match their teams, part of Americana — and of the American family. Just ask Goldschmidt, who says his two little brothers were batboys at times for teams he played for.

Kaiser Carlile was wearing a helmet when he was struck by an unnamed player in the second inning Saturday and was immediately treated by home plate umpire Mark Goldfeder, a firefighter-paramedic with Tarpon Springs Fire Rescue near Tampa.

"I didn't see the actual incident happen," Goldfeder told USA TODAY Sports. "What I did hear was the contact of the hit and then I heard him hit the ground. I turned around, saw him on the ground. He got up and was holding his shoulder, took a few steps and then collapsed. Obviously at that point I recognized there was a more serious problem than just being hit potentially in the shoulder."

Goldfeder said he asked later if anyone knew if Kaiser had been struck in the helmet or in an unprotected part of his head. Goldfeder said witnesses could not tell him the answer but he suspects the boy was hit where he was not protected.

One of the players picked the boy up, but he was limp.

"When I got to the player that had picked him up, I saw that he was unresponsive and told him to put him on the ground," Goldfeder said, "and I started assessing him and quickly realized it was a critical situation."

Goldfeder noted that as a paramedic he's covered under Good Samaritan laws and so was free to do whatever he could to try to help. His initial assessment: critical condition.

"He was unconscious but breathing," Goldfeder said. "When I got to him, I conducted my assessment and I knew right away that his injuries were critical and potentially life-threatening."

Goldfeder said paramedics showed up within minutes. "I would have to give credit to them," he said, "because it was a very quick response by any standard."

Kaiser was taken by ambulance to the intensive care unit of a local hospital. The Bee Jays met in left field to determine if they could go on. Goldfeder said the opposing team, umpires and tournament officials were prepared to support the Bee Jays in whatever they decided.

"We gave them the time that they needed to gather their thoughts," said National Baseball Congress general manager Kevin Jenks, who said there was no consideration given to canceling the tournament.

Goldfeder said he learned that their manager was ready to cancel the game but the players spoke up and said they wanted to finish it. The Bee Jays "really played their hearts out with a purpose," Goldfeder said, "and won a tough-fought victory in 13 innings."

The team returned Sunday and won again. The Bee Jays huddled near the batting cages afterward and learned that their "little spark plug," as the team called him on its web page, had died.

VIDEO: Batboy's death highlights dangers for baseball's bystanders

'FREAK, FLUKE ACCIDENT'

The batboy has an honored place in baseball history, dating to the 1880s, and in popular culture. At a pivotal moment in the movie version of The Natural, chubby batboy Bobby Savoy provides the bat with which Roy Hobbs hits a lights-out home run.

"It's just way too easy to happen when a guy's just completely focused on going up to hit," Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale said. "You just have to be so careful. … It's just sad. It's just one of those awful things you hear about."

Major League Baseball sets 14 as a minimum age for its batboys, a rule that came after the 3½-year-old son of a manager found himself in a perilous position during a 2002 World Series game.

Darren Baker, son of then-San Francisco Giants manager Dusty Baker, ran out to retrieve a bat when Kenny Lofton hit a triple to right center field with J.T. Snow and David Bell on base in the seventh inning. As Snow approached home plate, he scooped up Darren by his oversized black Giants jacket, scoring a run while simultaneously taking the boy out of danger even as Bell barreled toward home.

"I grabbed him by the neck of his jacket and carried him away," Snow said at the time. "His eyes were huge. I don't think he knew what was going on."

Hale worries about the safety even of older batboys. "You get at this level, with bat boys being basically college kids," he said, "I panic all the time that someone's going to get hit with a backswing."

The NBC said it will not use batboys or batgirls for the remainder of its World Series games in Wichita. Goldfeder, who is in his 15th year umpiring at the NBC, said he credits the organization because it has safety measures in place under which every batboy and batgirl wears a helmet.

"I've thought back about this situation (with regard to) my experiences and the things that I have seen," he said, "and it's my heartfelt belief that this was a tragic, freak, fluke accident."

The National Baseball Congress, founded in 1934, is an organization of 15 amateur and semipro leagues around the USA and Canada. The first NBC World Series was in 1935. Jenks said he was not sure if the NBC would use batboys and batgirls in next year's World Series.

"When the World Series is over with this year, we will sit down with our representatives and discuss how we'd like to move forward," he said. "The No. 1 thing is that our thoughts and prayers go out to the Carlile family and the Bee Jays organization."

FORMER BATBOY'S PERSPECTIVE

Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was a 15-year-old batboy on the 1980 Phillies team that won the World Series — and it changed his life.

"Those memories and those experiences were invaluable to me," he said. "I started to really enjoy and understand the game a lot better, just being there, listening and watching players like Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Bob Boone and Steve Carlton."

He was a batboy for three years, until he left for Stanford, and the experience "was the driving force" in his quest to make the major leagues, which he did from 1991 to 1998. He got the gig as batboy because his father, a former player, was then a Phillies coach.

"I was hyper aware" of safety, he says. "Back then, we actually knelt right next to the batting circle, so I would have to make sure that I knelt far enough away from the on-deck circle to make sure that I would stay away from any swings from any of the players."

He said he thinks leagues should consider instituting age limitations for batboys and batgirls, as MLB did.

"Sadly," he said, "accidents can happen anywhere at any time. … My heart reaches out to the family and the players involved" including the player who swung the bat. "That must be an awful, awful feeling that he must be going through right now. I pray for that person as well."

THE 'LITTLE BROTHER'

Some of the Bee Jays players spoke of their "little brother" at a news conference Monday, some of them weeping while remembering the bespectacled boy with the big heart.

"When we showed up every day at the park," manager Adam Anderson said, "the smile on his face turned a smile on everyone's face."

Team spokesman Roy Allen told reporters that Kaiser wore a Bee Jays uniform to every game and "did a great job from day one." He liked to shag fly balls and be with the team he felt so much a part of.

"You were, and always will be, a Bee Jay," Kadon Simmons wrote on Instagram. "No person or team could ask for a better bat boy. … You are now in God's hands, and being the batboy for the angels up above."

The Bee Jays' next game is Tuesday. If they keep winning, they can make Saturday's championship game. Anderson was asked at Monday's news conference what it would mean to his team to win the World Series.

"I couldn't put it into words," he said.

Contributing: Jacob Lourim in Washington, D.C.