MILWAUKEE -- Flying around a baseball stadium can be dangerous for a bird. A seagull was killed by a ball in Toronto last year and a nighthawk perished in a routine play in County Stadium.
In the fifth inning of the second game in Friday's doubleheader, Oakland left fielder Rickey Henderson hit a routine fly ball to Milwaukee's Rick Manning in center field. But the ball and a nighthawk collided.
'It's the strangest thing I've ever seen,' Manning said after the game, won by the A's 11-0. 'You can play baseball in a bird cage and never hit the bird.'
'I was running down to first when I looked up,' Henderson. 'I saw Manning coming in for the ball and the bird was falling behind him. It was really wierd. I doubt that will ever happen again.'
Manning blamed the bird.
'It was a dumb bird. He flew into the ball as it was coming down,' Manning said. 'I was camped under the ball and when the bird hit it I had to change direction. The bird looked to be okay, but then it took a nosedive. I should have let the ball go and caught the bird.'
Last year in Toronto, Dave Winfield of the New York Yankees threw a ball at a seagull and killed it.
