Heavy Wind Nearly Propels Grounds Crew Worker Into Orbit

Keep your eye on back row of grounds crew workers in the video above, specifically the fourth person from the left. Even if you can't find him right away, you certainly will by the six-second mark, when the wind launches him several feet off the ground. That's Kyle Smith, the general manager of the Brevard County (Fla.) Manatees, the Milwaukee Brewers' advanced Class A affiliate of the Florida State League.

This being the low minors, Smith's duties as GM include any number of less-than-glamorous tasks, and having to roll out the tarps once the rain hits happens to be one of them. In an email, Smith says he's been with the Manatees for six years—five as GM—but he had never seen winds like the ones that swept through Space Coast Stadium on Wednesday night, when the Manatees were playing host to the Daytona Cubs. The game eventually had to be postponed before being finished in Daytona last night as part of a doubleheader.

"No one got hurt," Smith says. "That jackass getting thrown was me. I couldn't get my hand out of the loop in time. It took us about 15 minutes and 30 attempts to get [the tarp] on the infield, but eventually we did. Needless to say, the staff walked into the stadium [yesterday] a little more beat up than the average Thursday."