Arizona Little Leaguer Killed When Pitch Hits Chest

Amanda Lee Myers, Associated Press

PHOENIX -- A 13-year-old Arizona boy was killed in a freak accident after a baseball hit him over the heart as he tried to bunt, officials in his Little League said Friday.

Hayden Walton went for the bunt during a game Tuesday night in the close-knit northern Arizona city of Winslow, said Jamey Jones, a Winslow Little League official.

"He took an inside pitch right in the chest," Jones said. "After that he took two steps to first base and collapsed."

He died the next morning at a local hospital.

The boy's parents, who were at the game, are heartbroken, shocked and unable to speak to members of the media, league president and family spokesman Dale Thomas said.

"It's a hard thing to handle for everyone," Thomas said. "When you're touched by something of this magnitude, it sends shock waves throughout the community."

Thomas said he grew up around the boy's family and described Hayden as "the epitome of what every little boy ought to be." Besides participating in Little League, Hayden was a Boy Scout, loved to work on cars and helped neighborhood widows by mowing their lawns and doing odd jobs for them, Thomas said.

He said Hayden had a younger sister.

The league suspended games until Friday and has counselors available for players or parents who need them.

Stephen Keener, president and CEO of Little League Baseball and Softball, said in a statement that "the loss of a child is incomprehensible."

"Words cannot adequately express our sorrow on the passing of Hayden," he said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to Hayden's family, all the players and volunteers of the Winslow Little League, his classmates, and his friends, at this difficult time."

Comments

[waterskipro]

10:29 AM on 06/08/2011

In the wake of the national media coverage usually accorded incidences of commotio cordis in youth baseball, probably due in large part to the free publicity the Heart-Gard has received in the coverage, hundreds of thousands of parents have purchased one hoping to protect their child from commotio cordis and the serious, life-threatening injuries that can occur given blunt force impacts to the chest, yet no one has questioned its effectiveness on the public stage. The question begs why the medical community does not inform the public regarding the effective and ineffective products on the market and/or issue general guidelines to help consumers select an effective chest protector.

That untested/ineffective chest protectors may, in fact, only reduce the impact force of a 60+ MPH pitch into the 40-50 MPH range is what is directly stated or inferred in the following quotes from articles written in the wake of a the another recent incidence of commotio cordis:

“Oliver said research conducted by NOCSAE in the past six to seven years indicates that commotio cordis occurs with an impact to the heart equivalent to a 40-mph fastball. That research also indicates some lacrosse chest protectors may slow faster pitches down into that lethal range.”

“In some instances, chest protectors could even put young catchers in greater danger, according to Mike Oliver, executive director of the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment.”

[waterskipro]

10:25 AM on 06/08/2011

A recent article in the national press titled "Chest Blows Fatal for Young Athletes" written by Jim Axelrod of CBS News was written in the wake of the recent death of a sixteen-year-old New Jersey boy who died after being hit in the chest with a baseball while wearing a catcher’s vest. The sub-title of the article read, in part, "Doctors Want to Prevent Deaths Like Tommy Adams, Who Died of Commotio Cordis". Given that sub-title, I find it bewildering that the company that markets the Heart-Gard, the number-one-selling youth baseball chest protector (designed to be worn both while batting and in the field), doesn’t provide the consumer with any impact testing data regarding its effectiveness. As such, a parent who purchases the product for their child or a league that requires its use by its players has absolutely no idea how effective the product actually is at doing what it purports to do - protect their child/player from commotio cordis and the serious, life-threatening injuries that can occur given blunt force impacts to the chest.

The obvious danger of an untested chest protector is that it may, in fact, only reduce the impact force of a 60+ MPH pitch into the 40-50 MPH range in which, according to a major research study of commotio cordis, ventricular fibrillation is more likely to be induced.

[waterskipro]

10:20 AM on 06/08/2011

Commotio Cordis occurs very rarely in youth baseball. As such, although even one death is heartbreaking and may be considered too many by some people, youth baseball apparently doesn't feel the need to require or recommend protective gear - and many parents obviously feel the same way.

While I don't have an issue with youth baseball leagues not requiring or recommending protective gear - or the parents who don't require their son/daughter to wear protective gear - what I do have an issue with is the complete lack any guidance available for those parents who do want to purchase effective protective gear for their child.

Given the reality that some parents opt to purchase chest protectors or batting vests for their children - and some leagues even require their use – one would hope that the medical/youth baseball communities would acknowledge the need to provide some basic product guidelines for consumers, if not identify the effective chest protectors on the market.

[waterskipro]

10:12 AM on 06/08/2011

My heart goes out to the parents of the 13-year-old AZ boy who died recently after being hit in the chest with the baseball while batting. A lot of comments have addressed the speed of the pitch that resulted in his tragic death. According to a research study titled "Upper and Lower Limits of Vulnerability to Sudden Arrhythmic Death with Chest-Wall Impact (Commotio Cordis)" that appeared in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the threshold velocity to cause Ventricular Fibrillation in the experimental model used in the research study (i.e. the lower limit of vulnerability to Commotio Cordis) via a baseball impact was 25 to 30 mph, and that baseball impacts at 20 MPH did not induce Ventricular Fibrillation. In addition, the incidence of Ventricular Fibrillation increased incrementally from 7% for 25 MPH baseball impacts to 27% for 30 MPH impacts and 68% for 40 MPH impacts, and then diminished incrementally to 53% for 50 MPH impacts and 37% for 60 MPH impacts (before increasing slightly to 38% for 70 MPH impacts).

[waterskipro]

10:10 AM on 06/08/2011

While the availability of an AED is obviously very important, I do not believe that AED's are the sole answer - and I would guess that many of the parents who opt to purchase protective gear for their kids probably don't think so either. Even if the odds are that an AED will prevent commotio cordis (if retrieved quickly enough from the shed behind the field and correctly applied by an assistant coach), the reality is that many parents who want to improve their child’s odds of avoiding commotio cordis opt to purchase chest protectors for their children.

To put it in stark terms, a lot of parents opt to take a pro-active approach rather than rely on a safety plan that starts out with their child lying on the ground in the throes of ventricular fibrillation. This is understandable if the information in the following quote from an article written in the wake of the recent death of a sixteen-year-old New Jersey high school catcher who was hit in the chest by a baseball is correct: “Once commotio cordis occurs, the only treatment is the use of a defibrillator, which normally shocks the heart into resuming its normal rhythm. But defibrillators work in fewer than 20 percent of these cases, said Dr. David Landers, chairman of the heart and vascular hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center.”

[astarbound]

11:26 PM on 06/06/2011

Our Hearts are Broken to here of such a travisty, You see My child has played softball for 4 years, and this was His first year Playing hardball. He worked very, very hard being a good player, He has good sportsmanship and Love for the game. We found out about Hayden's Death the same time We were finding out that our 8 yr. old Had made the Allstar team, We meaning My Husband and Myself, and Very close Friends of our's Whose 8yr. old Son Has traveled down the same road as our Son. They have done it together and has played on the same team except for this year, they played on two Dixie Hardball teams, but we were Blessed that there start of Hopefully a very young start of a Career, But we will not go back out on the field without of some type of Chest Protection and in Hayden's Memory they will play and win for Him, and let not His Memory be forgotten. With our Deepest Sympathy to Haydens Family! Sad in Louisiana

[Kate McC]

11:59 PM on 06/06/2011

Sad in LA, I understand your thinking about the chest protection. These sort of tragedies often cause people to start demanding that kind of protective gear. However, a study published last year found that chest protectors currently used in baseball and lacrosse do not lessen the risk of these types of events. Money would be better spent on an automatic defibrillator as quickly shocking the victim of an event like this is their best hope for survival, and the chest protectors have not been found to be helpful in preventing the events.

[goodtomeetyou]

09:45 PM on 06/06/2011

I feel terrible for the parents and the pitcher. Rest in peace little one.

[rockworld967]

08:38 AM on 06/07/2011

yeah it hard on the parents and the picher

[icstars]

08:36 PM on 06/06/2011

What a tragedy for absolutely everyone involved and all of Hayden's family and friends. My heart aches thinking about their grief.

[Shaun Dawson]

08:22 PM on 06/06/2011

This is a really sad story. Condolences to the family.

[Jabandit]

07:58 PM on 06/06/2011

RIP little man

[Brianna Leigh]

07:30 PM on 06/06/2011

That's it,, I've just decided that my future children will be enveloped in bubble wrap!

[Michael Allen Powers]

07:24 PM on 06/06/2011

Definitely not fair. Proof that there is no karma - nothing to set things right at the end of the day.

[Danilo-11]

06:38 PM on 06/06/2011

That's why more and more americans are putting the kids in soccer teams, which is a lot safer than other sports.

[DWacker]

11:33 PM on 06/06/2011

Silly comment. Where I live pop warner, little league, club\travel baseball, and lacrosse are huge, and soccer is a after thought for everyone. I'm a huge soccer fan, went to SA to the world cup last year, but that's not translating in youth participation.

[Spiggy]

06:31 PM on 06/06/2011

Two Words....Portable defibrillators ...there is absolutely no reason not to have one of those readily available at any sporting even with someone CPR qualified to use it.

Yeah it is hindsight, but come on, 1200-2500 is the best money ever spent if you need to use it.

[icstars]

08:14 PM on 06/06/2011

Did his heart go into a-fib or stop?. A defibrillator won't shock a heart that has stopped.

But you are right--these should be in more public places because they can save lives.

[CprimaRN]

11:29 PM on 06/06/2011

His heart probably went into V-FIB ( ventricualr fibrillation) or asystole. I've never seen a patient drop dead from A-fib. CPR in conjunction with an AED( or a thump on the chest) may have saved this child's life. All coaches and leagues should be taught the basics and given the tools just in case.

[icstars]

08:32 PM on 06/06/2011

Amazingly, I just read that these devices still can only work about 35% of the time.

But you are right--these should be in more public places because they can save lives.

[googooplex8]

06:16 PM on 06/06/2011

What a terrible thing to happen in a case where normally a child should be having fun doing a sport they enjoy. My heart goes out to the family, just a sad tragedy.