Cardinals reporter helps save life in Cubs dugout

Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Derrick Goold, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball reporter, helped save a man's life in a stadium dugout before the St. Louis Cardinals played the Chicago Cubs in their season finale in St. Louis.

Goold was in the Cubs dugout before the Cardinals' 9-0 win Sunday at Busch Stadium after videographer Mike Flanary collapsed, according to the Post-Dispatch and NBC Sports Chicago. Flanary was briefly without a pulse before Goold -- a longtime lifeguard and former Eagle Scout -- performed CPR.

The Cubs' training staff and emergency personnel also tended to Goold before he was transported to Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Medical officials said Flanary was in "critical but stable" condition after having a heart attack and a stroke.

"So many people are afraid of doing CPR. But, because of [Goold's] actions, he was the first link in that chain of survival," Busch Stadium doctor David Tan told the Post-Dispatch.

"It's fabulous. It was the early CPR by Derrick Goold that probably saved his life. Derrick wasn't afraid. He didn't hesitate. And he did it. In the medical field, when you save somebody like this, they call it a clinical save. This is a clinical save that was started by Derrick Goold. Period."

The incident occurred just before Cubs president Theo Epstein and manager Joe Maddon announced Maddon would not be returning for the 2020 season. The Cardinals clinched the National League Central division with Sunday's win. St. Louis faces the Atlanta Braves in a National League divisional playoff series starting Thursday at SunTrust Park in Atlanta.