James McCann Took A 95 MPH Fastball To The Face, Caught A Full 9 Innings And Showed Why Baseball Players Are The Toughest Athletes Out There
I know Carl wrote about it earlier but I have to get my 2 cents in about this. James McCann took a 95 MPH fastball directly to the nose and laid on the ground in a puddle of his own blood, it was an awfully scary scene. He lifted his head up and all you saw was a white towel that was stained dark red. I mean this towel was a brand new color. Blood all over the uniform, gushing out of his nose, and he even opened his mouth and had blood pour out of there. Everyone saw him dripping and you knew he was done for the day. 95 to your nose? No shot you're playing in the game, oh and by the way it was bottom 1 in Game 1 of a doubleheader. So you lose your catcher in the bottom of the 1st and then only have 17 more innings to go, YIKES. Adley went into the day knowing he'd sit 1 game, now he basically has to play 2 complete games....or so we thought. We simply forgot James McCann is built different. I hate to say it, but he actually has that dog in him.
LOOK AT THAT NOSE! Look at that jersey! That nose is moving in so many different directions, it makes no sense that he was able to stay in at catcher and finish the game. No doubt that this is the bravest and ballsiest performance we've seen on a baseball field this year. I've never seen a guy get hit, spin around like that, be leaking blood for a good 5-10 minutes and stay in the game. And it's not like he's playing in right field and can hide from contact, he's catching with a mask pushing down on his face. God forbid he takes a foul ball directly back into his grill. I couldn't imagine how much pain he was in once the adrenaline wore off and the swelling started. Literally a heroic effort today by him. All he does is get up, walk to first base with cotton stuffed up his nose and his eye swelling shut. That is what legends are made of. I know it hurt him a ton but man he got some sick pictures out of these.
The funniest part was they made him change his jersey before he went to first base. The guy was dripping blood for 15 minutes, let the solider wear his armor to battle! Show them what a man's jersey looks like. In all seriousness the Orioles should put this up for auction with charity or they should just give it to him so he can hang it up in his house. Not many times can you say you got hit in the face with 95, you drove in a run and finish the game. No way anyone can say McCann isn't a veteran leader after this. This is how you fire a team up, a struggling team that has been slumping bad. This is how you wake up the young guys. No shock that they went out to win this game and score 11 runs, how do you not play your ass off for a guy like that?
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Just listen to McCann give his post game presser. It sounds painful to talk, to breathe, I can't even imagine what it probably feels like to sneeze. He didn't have to do media in-between doubleheader games, cotton shoved up into his brain, blood dripping from his nose mid-interview. Hockey players would never even think about coming back to a game, McCann didn't even miss an out. How can you not love that quote too, said he prides himself on toughness. It was funny when Brandon Hyde came out after the game and said "we think he has a broken nose"….UHHH ya think? Thing looked like an "L", it's broken. Just can't believe he stayed in that game to catch. Nothing but respect for that guy.
This is what a leader looks like, hopefully this kickstarts the team a little bit. But this really was such a badass thing to witness. I thought he was dead at first, all he does is stay in the game, get another hit, and finish the game. What a beast. A true warrior display put on by McCann. Think this performance really just proves that baseball players are the best athletes out there. No one else goes through stuff like this, baseball comes out on top again.