Foul balls and broken bones

Richie Ashburn, as he tends to do throughout his career, fouls off a lot of pitches in the same at-bat 66 years ago today during the Phillies’ 3-1 victory over the New York Giants at Philadelphia’s Connie Mack Stadium.

One of those foul balls breaks the nose of a woman named Alice Roth, who is watching the game along the third-base line with her two grandsons, Preston and Tom.

While Mrs. Roth is being carried out of the stands, she is hit with another of Ashburn’s foul balls, this one fracturing a bone in her knee.

Before she can get hit a third time, Mrs. Roth is whisked away to nearby Temple University Hospital.

Turns out the lady is the wife of Earl Roth, then the sports editor of the late, great Philadelphia Bulletin.

Ashburn later brings flowers to Mrs. Roth while she recovers in the hospital.

In the meantime, the Roth grandsons are treated by the Phillies to free tickets and autographs, reportedly prompting one of them to ask, “Grandma, do you think you could go to an Eagles game and get hit in the face with a football?”