By the top of the third inning, the rain was coming down hard again. As he stepped into the batter’s box, Hideki Matsui, then playing for the A’s, wiped the bill of his batting helmet with his sleeve to remove the accumulated water. Zlotnick, surrounded by open umbrellas, couldn’t see Matsui or Phil Hughes, the Yankees’ pitcher. Thus when Matsui pulled a scorching foul ball down the first-base side, Zlotnick never had a chance. A second — literally — after he heard the crack of the bat, he was on the ground, howling in agony, blood streaming from his eye and the left side of his face.

Matsui’s line drive foul completely destroyed the bones around Zlotnick’s left eye socket, fractured his sinus and upper jaw, and did extensive damage to the left side of his face. Zlotnick now believes that his titanium glasses, which crumpled but didn’t break, may have saved his life. His plastic surgeon, Henry Spinelli, who operated on him six days later, told me that his injuries were akin to someone being punched in the eye with brass knuckles. After Matsui hit the ball, one of the announcers, noticing a leopard-print umbrella down the first-base line, said, “I think that leopard one has an extra big spot on it.”

Image Zlotnick took a selfie while waiting to see a doctor at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx.

Zlotnick is a thoughtful, methodical — and very persistent — man. During his slow recovery, he began to research the umbrella policies for the 30 major league teams. He discovered that while eight teams forbade the use of umbrellas except during rain delays — two didn’t even allow them in the ballpark — many other teams had policies like the Yankees’, which simply said that umbrellas were permitted, “so long as they do not interfere with other Guests’ enjoyment of the game or event.” No mention of safety, you’ll notice. More broadly, Zlotnick began investigating the numerous — and they are indeed numerous — injuries sustained by fans at major league ballparks because of hard-hit foul balls or broken bats.

He also reached out to Randy Levine, the Yankees’ president. They met in November 2011. Zlotnick showed him pictures of his injury, including a gruesome selfie he took in the emergency room. He explained to Levine that some teams didn’t allow open umbrellas during play because of the danger they posed. “I said, ‘I would like the Yankees to do the right thing,’ ” Zlotnick recalled. “Please ask your owners to prohibit umbrellas so no one will suffer the way I have.”