It was bound to happen sooner or later, and it did in the bottom of the ninth inning of Saturday afternoon’s game between the Dodgers and Giants at a fan-less Dodger Stadium.

…almost fan-less.

As most Dodger fans or anyone else who has watched any of the (thus far) three games at MLB’s third-oldest ballpark on television know, several areas of the stadium have cardboard cutouts of actual Dodger fans who purchased likenesses of themselves (for charity) to be placed in their respective season seats, including the new Home Runs Seats out in the Pavilions.

With the Dodgers trailing 5-3 heading into the final frame, Dodgers catcher Will Smith led off the inning with a solo home run that just cleared the wall in left/center field … right into the aforementioned Home Run Seats. The ball hit one of the cardboard cutouts directly in the head, causing it to fold over before springing back into place, apparently no worse for wear.

Shortly after the game ended (with the Dodgers scoring no additional runs for the 5-4 loss), the Dodger fan owner of that cutout, Austin Donley, who had obviously seen what had happened to his cardboard cutout during the Fox television broadcast, posted this on Twitter:

Lo and behold, a short while later, the Fresh Prince himself replied to Donley’s tweet, which had already received thousands of views. Smith offered to make good on Donley’s request if he sent him a direct message (DM) with his contact information:

Anyone who still thinks that baseball isn’t the greatest game in the world just plain doesn’t get it.

…decapitations notwithstanding.

Play Ball!

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