Two months ago no one was sure what would become of Marin Catholic High School pitcher, Gunnar Sandberg. When last we reported on him, Gunnar was in a medically induced coma after being hit in the head by a 130 MPH line drive during a scrimmage on March 11th, 2010. These days, he’s back on his feet.
The sever injury launched a whole new debate over the safety of aluminum bats, which are still used in kids games even though they’re banned in the pros. Gunnar is lucky, there have been several cases of children being permanently injured and or dying from incidents involving the lightweight bats which allow hitters to propel balls at dangerously high speeds.
The Oakland A’s and their cross bay rivals, the San Francisco Giants, came together to host the teen to the final game of the Bay Bridge Series. Gunnar was joined by his father, his team mates and coach and the De La Salle boy who hit the ball that landed him in a coma.
Gunnar wore an A’s jersey, with a Giant’s tee-shirt underneath. He got to meet the teams, visit both club houses and have the A’s players sign his jersey.
As he summed it up, “It was cool.”
Gunnar is still wearing a helmet to protect his head because he’s missing a flap of bone that was removed to keep his swelling brain from being injured. He’ll go in for surgery on Tuesday to replace the flap – hopefully, after that surgery, he’ll be able to go without the helmet.
He will be wearing the helmet on the baseball field, however, which he plans to return to next season. The Marin County Athletic League has banned metal bats. The new wooden bats the 10 teams in the league are now using were partially donated by the A’s and Louisville Slugger. The California legislative committee is advancing a bill that will place a two year state wide ban on the bats, much like those already in place in New York and North Dakota.
