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Cody Fuller knew something was seriously wrong the moment Mike Coolbaugh collapsed.

A line drive had hit Coolbaugh, a San Antonio resident working as first-base coach for the Texas League's Tulsa Drillers, in the head during the team's game against the Arkansas Travelers on July 22.

Fuller, the Travelers' right fielder, said his heart started to race.

“And then my immediate response was to kneel and start praying, to ask for God's hand upon him,” said Fuller, a third-year pro who graduated from Smithson Valley High School.

An hour later, Coolbaugh was declared dead at a North Little Rock, Ark., hospital.

Less than a month into his first coaching job, the 35-year-old graduate of Roosevelt High School was the victim of what baseball experts say is one of the rarest occurrences in the game: a player or coach dying from an on-field accident. Just one major-league player, the Cleveland Indians' Ray Chapman, has been killed since 1900; he was hit in the head by a pitch in 1920.

 “It's just devastating,” said Astros coach Sean Berry, who coached Coolbaugh in the minors. “He has two kids and one on the way. It's a sad day in baseball.”

Coolbaugh joined the Drillers, the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, on July 3 while the team was in San Antonio. He was the interim hitting coach.

He had come home this spring after going through training camp with the Olmecas de Tabasco of the Mexican League.

“We were going to be done with it, but his kids wanted to see him” on the field, his wife, Amanda, told the Associated Press.

 Coolbaugh's death was the talk of clubhouses, and some players suggested moving the coaching boxes back.

 “All you can do is be alert. It is scary,” said Colorado Rockies first base coach Glenallen Hill. “Helmets, ankle bands can help. But there is so much to protect. I put on a shin guard or an elbow guard if a player hands me one after reaching base.”

 And the concern was not just for players and coaches.

 “To me, the danger is mostly to the fans, people not paying attention and a foul ball comes screaming down the line, the way they build stadiums nowadays with the seats so close to the field,” Astros infielder Mike Lamb said.

 Dodgers manager Grady Little concurred: “It's a shame what happened. But you know it can happen when you've got a baseball flying around like that. You always realize the danger. You never overlook that and you always respect it. I have a great fear of these bats flying around. They split apart and fly around, and that's what scares me.”

David King | 210SA Contributor