Man who filmed fan's fall at Cubs-Pirates game in Pittsburgh recounts harrowing sight

A man who filmed a fan's frightening 21-foot fall at PNC Park during Wednesday night's Cubs-Pirates game told NBC News he initially didn't know what he had filmed as fans were cheering a go-ahead RBI double.

The fall occurred during the bottom of the seventh inning moments after former National League MVP Andrew McCutchen slugged a double to give the Pirates the lead for good.

While McCutchen was rounding first base, video captured by fan Bobby Ketter shows a fan in right field fall 21 feet from the first row of the bleachers to the field.

Ketter told NBC News he was at the game with his father celebrating his dad's recovery from a stroke, and Ketter had captured the immediate aftermath of McCutchen's hit.

The shocking fall led to the game being briefly delayed, and the fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs, as well as PNC personnel, before being removed from the field on a cart.

"It was a couple minutes before I really realized that I had the video," he told NBC News on Thursday. "Then next thing, you know, people are pounding, piling around me and watching it over my shoulder. And that’s when we all realized what happened."

Shortly after the game ended, the Pirates issued a statement saying the man was transported to a nearby hospital.

In message posted to X late Wednesday night, Pittsburgh Public Safety, which includes Pittsburgh Police and EMS, said that the man was in critical condition and that police were investigating.

In an updated post Thursday morning, Pittsburgh Public Safety said the incident was being treated as "accidental in nature," and they did not anticipate providing further updates to the public.

"It was eerie silence," Ketter said. "You saw the players taking a knee. You could see the gentleman on the warning track and he has shut off, and everyone’s very confused."

Pirates manager Derek Shelton and Cubs manager Craig Counsell both alerted the umpire crew of the situation immediately after the play. Teammates from both sides could be seen taking a knee after the incident.

“Even though it’s 350 feet away or whatever it is, I mean the fact of how it went down and then laying motionless while the play is going on, I mean, Craig saw it, I saw it. We both got out there,” Shelton said. “I think the umpires saw it because of the way it kicked. It’s extremely unfortunate. That’s an understatement.”

Counsell said he and the team are thinking about the man's family, calling the incident "obviously scary." He was seen on the broadcast pointing out the man to umpires, who immediately halted the game, but Counsell told media he did not see the fan fall.

"We didn't know what we saw," he said after the game. "All we saw was somebody laying on the warning track, and you know that's not good. I hope the gentleman's OK. Thinking about his family and him right now."

Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson reacted to the incident after the game.

“I didn’t see anything happen, but I saw (Counsell’s) face when he came out on the field, and I could tell that it was a very scary moment,” Swanson said. “All we could do was just pray for a good, strong recovery for him and his family. I have never been part of something like that before and I hope I am never part of something like that again.

Fans have died from steep falls at baseball stadiums in the past.

In 2015, Atlanta Braves season ticket holder Gregory K. Murrey flipped over guard rails from the upper deck at Turner Field. That was four years after Shannon Stone, a firefighter attending a game with his 6-year-old son, fell about 20 feet after reaching out for a foul ball tossed into the stands at the Texas Rangers’ former stadium.

Both incidents prompted scrutiny over the height of guard rails at stadiums. The Rangers raised theirs, while the Braves settled a lawsuit with Murrey’s family.

A spectator at a 2022 NFL game at Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium died following a fall on an escalator.