Toronto Blue Jays superfan looks on the bright side after getting hit in the face by Bo Bichette's 110 mph foul ball
Liz McGuire's photos of her injury have gone viral. She likely has a concussion, and a company made her a custom baseball card
A Blue Jays superfan who went viral after getting knocked in the face by a foul ball says she’s still in a lot of pain, but she is thrilled by how things have turned around after her misfortune.
Liz McGuire of Toronto has been flooded with concern and support by both strangers, Blue Jays representatives and companies looking to turn a sore situation into some good publicity.
It all comes after McGuire’s forehead took the brunt of a Bo Bichette foul ball in the eighth inning of Friday’s Blue Jays home game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Jays fanatic, who’s been to 20 games so far this season, was having a great time, despite the team losing. She remembers turning to one of her friends to “chirp” about the possibility of having robot umpires in the future, when suddenly she was interrupted.
“I hear someone scream far away and I get rocked,” she tells Yahoo Canada. “Everything goes black. I know exactly what was happening — I got hit direct off the bat.”
Blue Jays fan hit in face by Bo Bichette foul ball: 'Kids were looking back at me in horror'
McGuire remembers everyone around her freaking out, while she tried to downplay how nasty her injury was.
“Kids were looking back at me in horror, it was a bad scene,” she says. “Then the Jays medical staff came and iced me up.”
A statcast of the ball’s speed was clocked at 110 miles per hour.
After getting medical attention, McGuire committed to staying for two more pitches before heading to the hospital. As she was gathering herself to leave, McGuire’s friends found the person who caught the foul ball and asked if they could pay to have it. The person refused, despite the crowd chanting "give her the ball!"
McGuire's recently returned to the hospital once more since her head still hurts. She's in the clear for brain bleeding but likely has a concussion.
“I got whacked by a demon and it was just a bad time,” she says. “So I reached out to the Jays to see if we can turn things around.”
McGuire took to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, to share a photo of the injury, tagging the team in an effort to get their attention.
Hey @BlueJays I got my face mashed in by a 110mph foul off Bo Bichette's bat. I didn't even get the ball. I even stayed till the end of the game. Any way you can hook a girl up? #tothecore #bluejays pic.twitter.com/uXJqXenVLm
— Liz McGuire (@lizzzzzzzzzzy) May 19, 2024
“Hey @BlueJays I got my face mashed in by a 110 mph foul off Bo Bichette's bat. I didn't even get the ball. I even stayed till the end of the game. Any way you can hook a girl up,” she wrote.
Going viral: 13.7 million views and counting
When she checked her account an hour later, the post had four million views, with most of the comments being positive.
“People were reaching out to me who’d been hit by balls, telling me which symptoms to look out for,” she says. “It became a little support group, the 'Foul Balls in the Face' club.”
A representative with the Jays reached out to offer McGuire a new baseball that’s been signed by Bichette and there are talks of her visiting a batting practice.
Topps, a company that produces sports playing cards, also reached out to see if she'd be open to having the photo she shared of her injury on a custom card. They’ll be producing 110 of those, to represent the speed at which the ball was travelling.
𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡: We made a custom Topps Now trading card of Liz McGuire: the fan who took a 110MPH Bo Bichette foul ball to the head and STAYED AT THE GAME.
We produced exactly 110 copies, and we’re gifting them all to @lizzzzzzzzzzy.
Liz, you’re a champ! 👑❤️ pic.twitter.com/7B9eKyharg— Topps (@Topps) May 20, 2024
McGuire says she plans to share those cards with her friends who were there to “witness that horror show” and her nieces and nephews, who were upset that she got hit in the face.
“It’s been such a ride of people reaching out and supporting and wanting to see right being done,” she says. “It’s pain, it's adrenaline, it’s hope and joy."
People were reaching out to me who’d been hit by balls, telling me which symptoms to look out for.