COLLEGE Baseball Hall of Famer Ben McDonald suffered two cracked vertebrae after a horrifying 25-foot drop from a deer stand.
McDonald, 57, who also endured a severe concussion, was quickly rushed to the hospital and does not remember anything from the scary accident.
Ben McDonald was selected first overall in the 1989 MLB draft[/caption]
McDonald, who was selected first overall in the 1989 MLB draft, updated fans from his hospital bed on Friday.
He worryingly began asking his friends and family around him ‘why he was there’ and ‘who had he been with’.
The former Baltimore Orioles and Milwaukee Brewers pitcher said: “I must have a concussion. I can’t remember a whole lot.
“So what happened?”
After being told that he fell, McDonald responds: “I don’t fall out of tree stands. Did it break?’”
McDonald is then informed that the chain or the strap broke, with someone even reassuring him that “he didn’t jump”.
After coming round hours later, the baseball icon posted the video on X with the caption: “This is what a severe concussion looks like and sounds like! (I still don’t remember anything)’
“Apparently I fell out of a deer stand 25 feet up yesterday morning….I’m fine and appreciate everyone checking on me.
This is what a severe concussion looks like and sounds like!
(I still don’t remember anything) Apparently I fell out of a deer stand 25 feet up yesterday morning….I’m fine and appreciate everyone checking on me. Very lucky….concussion and 2 cracked vertebra’s….I’ll be back… pic.twitter.com/uvczgV1uOq
— Ben McDonald (@realbenmcdonald) July 19, 2025
“Very lucky….concussion and two cracked vertebraes….I’ll be back in #Birdland soon calling @Orioles games!
“Thank you for all your thoughts and thank you to the doctors! See y’all soon!
Baltimore Orioles television announcer McDonald[/caption]
McDonald is now working as an analyst for the team’s MASN broadcasts and appears on ESPN.
The former ex-Baltimore star didn’t specify when he planned to return to the announcing booth.
Orioles broadcasters said “they were thinking of him” on Friday during the side’s game one 11-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.
During the segment host Jim Palmer said: “I talked to him today, and he goes, ‘Well I don’t remember the fall’.”
“He said, ‘I’ve been doing this for 35 years and I never fell’.”
McDonald played in Major League Baseball between 1989 and 1997 after leaving LSU.
He collected a 3.91 career ERA across 211 appearances – including an incredible 198 starts – with the Orioles and Brewers.
He helped the USA win Olympic gold at the 1988 Games in Seoul and was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.
He helped the USA win Olympic gold at the 1988 Games in SeouL[/caption]
