Two years ago, John Nathans wound up on the wrong end of Jose Offerman's bat. And now? The Boston Globe finds him, oh this is sad, getting rubber balls bounced off his face.
Nathans, a former catcher in the independent Atlantic League, was struck in the head trying to stop a bat-wielding Offerman as he charged the mound. He recently filed a $4.8 million lawsuit against Offerman and the Long Island Ducks, alleging that the attack ended his career and left him with a range of injuries — concussion, inner-ear problems, vomiting, headaches, vertigo, post-concussion syndrome — from which he's still rehabbing.
This apparently entails, in part, having a large red rubber ball lobbed at his face, which he only occasionally catches.
Other times it bounces off his face and he has to stop because he's dizzy or nauseated. Or worse, he has to go home, pull the covers over his head to shut out the world, and try again tomorrow. He can't tolerate much outside stimuli.
Offerman got two years probation and some anger management treatment. He didn't talk to the Globe, but his attorney did. "Jose may have made a poor decision on that day," says Offerman's attorney, Frank Riccio II, "but the question now is, did he make a poor decision to the tune of $4.8 million?"
The guy was a professional catcher, and now he can't catch large rubber balls lobbed at his face? Yeah, $4.8 million seems about right.
A dizzying turn [Boston Globe]