There have been quite a few instances over the years of cameras being destroyed by errant balls or players in sports events. The latest case is particularly spectacular, and it comes from an ABC broadcast of the Little League World Series International Championship game between the Chinese Taipei and Curaçao teams Saturday. There, a Curaçao batter fouled off a fastball back into the lens of a camera in a position behind home plate:
ESPN's backstop camera shattered by a foul ball at the LLWS. ⚾️📺📹🎯 https://t.co/ytkdcIVdyW
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 26, 2023
As noted above, there have been plenty of hits for cameras (and camera operators) over the years, sometimes even on studio shows. And there have been some to cameras behind home plate. But this one stands out for how dead on it hit that lens and how spectacularly that lens shattered.
Teams from Curaçao have found a lot of success at the Little League World Series over the years, winning 15 of the 22 Caribbean championships to date and winning the entire event in 2004. And this team (Pabao Little League, from Willemstad, Curaçao) went on to win this international final 2-0 over Chinese Taipei, impressive considering both the dominance of that team in this tournament and the historical success of Chinese Taipei teams (17 titles in 31 appearances, counting this year). They’ll now face the winner of Saturday afternoon’s Needville (Southwest)-El Segundo (West) U.S. final in the championship game Sunday afternoon on ABC at 3 p.m. ET.
[Awful Announcing on Twitter]
