A 16-year-old high school baseball player from Garfield, New Jersey, died after being struck in the chest by a baseball during a team practice.
Thomas Adams, the catcher, was taking practice pitches from a teammate at an indoor practice on Friday night, preparing for a tournament in Florida later this month. Even though he was wearing all his protective gear, after being struck, he went into cardiac arrest and was taken to St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center. He died about an hour later.
Doctors say that the death was a freak accident, and that even though Adams was wearing a chest protector, it made no difference.
"You have to wonder was there something at the school that could have save him. Was everything up to snuff," asked the teen's grief-stricken father, Tom Adams.
"How could something like this really happen? You drop him off at school and he's healthy and then the next thing you know it's like sorry. You can't fathom it," said Adams.
An autopsy will determine the exact cause of death. Adams’ teammates will show up at his funeral on Monday in uniform to show their support.
"He had a dry sense of humor,very quiet other than that, a good student," said Michael McGinley, principal of Garfield High School where Adams was a sophomore.
