Jays fan hit by foul ball at 110 mph offered tickets and signed baseball by team

The Toronto Blue Jays have offered tickets and a signed baseball to a fan who says she was hit in the face by a foul ball thrown at 110 mph (177 km/h) during Friday’s game.

On Sunday, Liz McGuire posted a photo of herself with a huge welt on her forehead and a black eye and tagged the Blue Jays after the incident in a now-viral tweet.

“Hey @BlueJays I got my face crushed by a 110 mph Bo Bichette foul,” she wrote in a message on X.

“I didn’t even get the ball. I even stayed until the end of the game. Do you have a way to pick up a girl?”

The post has been viewed more than 13 million times and even caught the attention of trading card company Topps, which announced it had created a card immortalizing McGuire’s experience.

“We’ve created a custom Topps Now trading card of Liz McGuire: the fan who took a 110 MPH foul ball from Bo Bichette to the head and STAYED IN THE GAME,” the company wrote in a post on X, adding that all 110 copies of the card would be gifted to McGuire.

In a statement to CTV News Toronto, the Jays said doctors evaluated McGuire immediately after the incident.

“The Blue Jays followed up with the fan and invited her to be our guest at an upcoming game and presented her with a signed Bo Bichette ball,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.

In response to her X-rated post, McGuire said she went to St. Michael’s Hospital after the 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays to get checked out. Fortunately, she said, she did not have a concussion or broken bones.

As for the speed at which the ball was coming at her, McGuire said: “I don’t think I could have stopped it even if I tried.”

CTV News Toronto reached out to McGuire for comment but did not receive a response.

The Rogers Centre’s protective netting, which is meant to prevent incidents like Friday’s, stretches from first to third base on the 100th level. McGuire said she was sitting in section 137.

According to the team’s ticket terms and conditions, a general assumption of risk clause states: “The (ticket) holder acknowledges that his/her presence… at the stadium for the match is voluntary and may result in bodily injury (including death), illness and/or property damage.”

In 2019, the Jays announced they would join a number of other teams and expand protective netting at Rogers Centre following several foul ball injuries to fans across the league in previous years.

“Fan safety is a priority and the Blue Jays have implemented numerous precautions to ensure a safe environment for all fans at the stadium,” a spokesperson said, adding that emergency medical services, doctors and nurses are present at every game and staff members regularly check on fans when objects enter the stands.