Former Giants outfielder Mac Williamson is suing the team over a 2018 incident that saw Williamson suffer an on-field concussion. The lingering effects of that concussion “ended my career,” Williamson said, implying that he is done with the sport after eight professional seasons.
On April 24, 2018, Williamson was playing left field at Oracle Park (then known as AT&T Park) in a game between the Giants and Nationals. While in pursuit of a Bryce Harper fly ball into foul territory in the fifth inning, Williamson tripped over the bullpen mounds set up in foul ground and fell into the wall. He remained in the game until the ninth but didn’t appear in another game until May 25 after a stint on the concussion-related injured list.
In a Zoom news conference with Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle and other reporters today, Williamson gave a statement saying that the concussion “left me with lifelong injuries that have also taken a significant toll on my personal life. I suffer nausea, trouble sleeping, mood swings, and other issues. I wake up every day hoping that today is a better day and that I will get closer to how I felt before the injury.”
The on-field bullpen mounds were a part of Oracle Park since the stadium opened in 2000, but were moved off the field of play and behind the center field fence as part of renovations that took place prior to the 2020 season.
“Everybody’s career ends at some point. But to have it taken from me because the bullpen mounds were unnecessarily placed on the field is very hard to cope with,” Williamson said. “Although I will never be made whole, my intent on filing the lawsuit is holding park owners accountable for not only taking away my career, but carelessly risking every other great player’s careers by needlessly placing the bullpen mounds on the field.”
A third-round pick for the Giants in the 2012 draft, Williamson was a well-regarded prospect on his way up the minor league ladder before making his MLB debut in 2015. He hit only .228/.305/.406 in 200 plate appearances in 2016-17, though regular playing time was hard to find, and Williamson was frequently shuttled back and forth between the Giants’ roster and their Triple-A affiliate. As Schulman noted, Williamson revamped his swing in the 2017-18 offseason and was enjoying a hot start in 2018 before the concussion.
Post-injury, Williamson played in only 23 more games that season for the Giants and then 36 more games at Triple-A before his year was cut short by injury in mid-August. In 2019, Williamson appeared in 40 MLB games for the Giants and Mariners before heading to South Korea to play 40 games with the KBO League’s Samsung Lions. He inked a minor league deal with the Nationals during the offseason but was released in May.
The Giants released a statement addressing the lawsuit, saying “MLB and its clubs have a longstanding practice of addressing claims arising from player injuries through the collectively-bargained grievance procedure and the worker’s compensation system. Williamson’s claims are properly resolved through these processes, not through the courts.”
i cant believe any team, Majors or otherwise, has a BP that isnt inclosed. just seems so primitive. maybe its just my bias as someone who grew up with a stadium having one.
Did Mike Bolsinger ever sue the Astros? I remember his name coming up when all the cheating stuff came about, though I don’t remember if he actually sued. Both of these cases are interesting in their own right. This seems like the baseball equivalent of NFL players suing for concussion protocol.
i think he did. probably just a drawn out process further extended by the pandemic.
I think Dustin Fowler sued the White Sox over the electrical box he bummed up his knee on.
To think what may have been….. Mickey Mantle with no knee injury due to field regulations? Wow, maybe the #2 all time.
@Joe
He did, the case is still pending I believe. Although the theory in that case (hidden hazard) wouldn’t apply here, where the BP mounds are about as open and notorious as it gets.
Didnt Napoli’s career end due to blowing out his knee on a bullpen mound in the minors? Granted he had a foot out the door by then anyway but they really can be a hazard.
The Oakland A’s still have theirs but it is out of the way enough fielders have to go a looooong way to run into them.
That sucks for Mac but, isn’t this what they sign up for? You don’t see everyone else suing a team for an injury. Maybe Ruben Tejada should sue chase utley
I can’t speak at all to whether Williamson’s suit is viable, but I think you’re comparing apples and oranges there.
Yeah probably. Haha My point was when they sign their contracts you’d figure the player is aware of the risks of the game and the team can’t be sued for what happens in the game.
Although that was also my first reaction, similar to former NFL players suing the league for their CTE post-playing career, its a different story if the team/league knowingly withheld information or refused to correct the problem, IMO. If you watch the video of that play you can see that the the edge of the bullpen is maybe two inches from the foul line. Chances are the GIants knew or should have known that it would be a problem.
Of course they were aware, but so were the players that practiced there on a daily basis (like Mac)
It’s tough to navigate, but after 20 years he’s the first guy to hurt himself there…
I just, I mean, you could trip on the street or slip in your kitchen too, right? So your city planner or architect are at fault for your accident? Naw…not how it works
Plus if he’d been a halfway decent player he might have a better case for THAT being the reason for his career ending and not he fact that he wasn’t an MLB level player to begin with
Gotta say I’m disappointed he feels the need to blame the Giants for what was a freak accident, seeing as this is the first case of this type after 20 years
Actually if someone suffers an injury due to something causing them to trip and fall on a sidewalk or on a floor, etc., it is not uncommon for a law suit against a business or even a residence to follow. I am not saying it is right or wrong, just pointing out that it happens. Regardless, I don’t think that is quite the same thing as what happened here. That said, I don’t have much of an opinion about this particular case, it just surprises me that stupid designs for ballparks are accepted so often.
Cmon. He’s far from the first guy to get hurt there. He may be the first one that it ended his career, but I can think of countless dodgers who have twisted ankles and knees on the mounds
There’s a reason only 2 parks have exposed bullpens and both are within 20 miles of each other. It WAS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY
Which means they put their players at a higher risk than the normal mlb team. So.. maybe he has an angle to this. There’s no reason to think having 2 mounds and 2 potential slick plates in the middle of foul ground is “normal”
Ya know, a very long time ago when I played, we were encouraged to walk the field before playing on it.
Gives you an idea about each parks idiosyncrasies. It was known at that time as “preparation”.
That’s all I have to say.
Also, it was his home ballpark and he had already played there a couple of years.
Oh, yeah.
I sorta blew that one lol.
But.
That actually makes it substantially worse.
That’s the argument the Giants will 100% make.
Williamson knew these hazards, being that this was where he played and practiced. They’ll also argue that no one else has been severely injured by these, because they were aware of their location.
I’d be floored if there’s even a judge that willingly hears this case. It seems very frivolous from Williamson.
He may have had a case if there was a record of a complaint he made regarding field conditions before the incident, but I’m not aware of any such documents
Having the bullpen in play makes as much sense as it did to have the upright on the goal line in football.
Or he wasn’t good and lasted longer than he should have ?
Bc he sure played in Korea in 2019
He’s going have to prove that the Bullpens “needlessly” were placed on the playing field. Not easy. That, and the fact that players have a vehicle to deal with these problems, a vehicle that’s been pretty much been upheld in the courts, across all types of industries.
But ya, it’s a dumb idea to have exposed bullpens like that. It would be cool if the MLBPA concentrated on that stuff instead of how many sheets they’re entitled to on their beds.
Also the catchers have their backs to the field of play. No thanks!
They actually were needlessly placed next to the field of play. The Giants have since moved them to a safe place.
There’s only 1 thing the mlbpa cares about. Money. Ask Arod how much they cared about him when his anonymous test came out.
Well for one, SF was one of two parks that had it that way and they’ve already changed it
They’ve kinda admitted some degree of fault by doing so… they acknowledged it was an obstruction that should be moved
Moving the bullpens isn’t an admission of fault. It’s the Giants recognizing the dangers of them being located where they were, but that doesn’t mean they are at fault.
It’s no different than a coffee shop adding sleeves after someone burns themselves. They may not be responsible for that direct act, but offering a sleeve helps prevent future incidents.
Williamson wasn’t unfamiliar with AT&T (now Oracle) Park, or at least he shouldn’t have been. The bullpen mounds existed for every game and practice he attended there. And there were no structural changes to them.
As I said above, I can’t envision a judge taking this case. It’s frivolous in nature.
I think you’re little vague on how liability works. If an employee is injured on the job, the employer would be liable for damages, whether or not the employee was aware of the job hazards. If the employer failed to take due care to prevent the injury, they could also be found to be negligent. Also, judges don’t get to decide whether or not they take cases. Every person has access to the courts. Finally, because Williamson was an employee of the Giants at the time of his injury, and it occurred on their premises, the lawsuit by definition is not frivolous. The vast majority of these types of lawsuits are settled out of court, and this one probably will be too.
Sounds like something a horrible player would do to try and make money since he never could playing the game
sounds like something someone would say if they were a poor judge of character
Perhaps, but he’s not far off from the truth…so…
Or you and him are in the same boat about judging character… so….
Really?
No, you are!
Hahaha, feel better kiddo?
Whether Williamson has a case or not it sure seems the Giants have all but admitted that the on-field bullpens were a bad idea, and having done that, their position is that much harder to defend in a lawsuit.
I think he’s just bitter he’s a bust. If he was so upset why wouldn’t he sue earlier l?
He wasn’t a great player. His abilities is what ended his career
Correct. The guy couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat before OR after the concussion.
Before that concussion Williamson was going off. I think that concussion really messed him up.
While it might be archaic and shortsighted to have the bullpen mounds in the playing field, he’s going to have a tough time proving his case. There really isn’t any way to prove that the injury caused the end of his career, or that the bullpens’ placement was reckless.
I find the lawsuit laughable. While SF initially intended to construct the bullpens behind the fences and out of play before forgetting to add them, there is no rule saying the bullpens can’t be in the field of play.
As a fielder, it is your job to avoid injury on the bullpen mounds, just like you’d try to avoid injury running into the rolled up tarp or another player and getting injured that way.
If you look at his crash into the padded pony wall near third base (I’m sure it’s on YouTube) one can see how nasty his spill actually was. And, it really was unfortunate as he was finally playing well and looked to be a more consistent presence in LF when it happened. That said, I think all Giants fans, myself included, were happy to have the pens moved behind the CF wall this year. The mounds in the field of play were unnecessarily dangerous. Lawsuit worthy….unlikely. Hope the kid gets his life back tho. It is a bummer that he has had such severe complications. Get well MAC!!
Absolute farce of a lawsuit
Feel bad for the guy, but don’t think he has much of a case. I would imagine out of the goodness of their hearts the Giants will settle, but I can’t see this going anywhere.
I’m not saying he isn’t still experiencing symptoms and what not, but waking up every day and hoping he feels better might also be difficult since he doesn’t have a big league gig anymore, could be physical/mental/emotional combo. Hope it works out.
His concussion does not cause mood swings. He has mood swings because he is still extremely salty about his career being taken away for a stupid reason. I would be just as mad but I would not blame my anger on a concussion. …. change my mind
Proof?
The bullpens have been that way at Oracle park since it open in 2000. Williamson made his debut in 2015, he got hurt in 2018. He knew the bullpen mounds were there in every game he played in in that ballpark over the prior 3+ seasons before the injury, nothing changed in the ball park. He faild to mind his surroundings and got hurt it happens all the time. Suing the Giants sounds more like a last ditch money grab by a AAAA player who doesn’t want to toil in the minors anymore but was never good enough (no matter how bad the Giants Outfielders were) to stick in the Major Leagues
I’m a Plaintiff’s lawyer and I think this is a garbage lawsuit. Not only is it open and obvious, he will have a hard time proving damages, as he was just barely on rosters – no guarantee he would even be on the big league club to start a new season. If you’re not on the 26 man to start the year you don’t necessarily make a ton (although admittedly I don’t know his contract terms and situation). In short, I think this suit is poor form and will not be successful.
I’m a defense lawyer and I think that, unless California law is different from most other jurisdictions, this case, as described, is a workers compensation claim and cannot be brought in court. We shall see…
I’m not a lawyer and I don’t play one on the internet but I suspect the case will be based on a claim of negligence.
@pappy above…
You state “I’m a Plaintiff’s lawyer and I think this is a garbage lawsuit. Not only is it open and obvious, he will have a hard time proving damages, as he was just barely on rosters – no guarantee he would even be on the big league club to start a new season.”
OK – so if someone is a part timer (in any calling or profession) the employer has a reduced duty of care? I’m sorry Pappy if you’re a lawyer I’m Pope Gregory IXth and I have four penises. Your esteemed legal argument would be he’s AAAA so who gives a monkeys?
You must have potential clients beating the door down….
No, that completely misses Poppy’s point. He did not remotely hint at a reduced duty of care, rather a difficulty proving breach and/or damages – wholly separate prima facie elements of a negligence claim. You can debate other ways to prove those elements, but Poppy did not suggest the case would fail based on a reduced duty of care.
Thank you, Just a Thought. Why all of the anger A’s fan? Ok – you know I’m not a lawyer. Sure thing. What powers you have. You would be wrong about all elements of your angry comments. I’m done.
Most A’s fans seem to have a totally unfounded seething hatred for the Giants that makes normally decent people act completely out of character towards Giants fans (who usually also support the A’s).
They blame everyone else for their lack of championships instead of their terrible, “Major League” the movie, level evil owners…it’s crazy!
It’s a legitimate mental condition in the Bay
Ok. I said I’m done, but I’m not. As fan – it’s an element of damages called the permanent impairment of the power to earn income (at least in my state). That’s one of the few objective, as opposed to subjective damages (eg, pain and suffering, loss of consortium, etc), that many suits have. I was pointing out the lack of certainty as to what exactly he could “blackboard”, so to speak, as objective permanent impairment damages, given that he is a fringe. Ok. Now I’m done.
Watching the bullpen use to give the fans an inkling of what moves the manager was planning. Since the era of the universal DH is upon us, it isn’t as needed. Move them all off the field, for the players safety.
I feel he might’ve had a case if AT&T was not his home ball field at the time of injury. I remember playing OF in high school, I remembered where every mole tunnel and every uneven patch of grass was on my home field, and tried used this information to my advantage per my coach. Would’ve thought “avoiding the bullpen mound” would be part of the training for Giant’s outfielders
Sucks that his career is over but this is ridiculous. He knew they were there, period, end of story.
He can’t win. If he wins in court, it will set a precedent that MLB can’t allow. Next guy runs into the wall and gets hurt, can sue and win? Not likely.
Yeah because no park except SF has walls. Totally the same
Are you dense? The point is SF had an unnecessary risk there with the bullpens. THEY’VE ADMITTED THIS by moving them in the renovation. Hard for them to say that’s not a risk!
Then why’d they change it, after he got hurt?
@Laughingatyou
No, moving the bullpens doesn’t acknowledge fault. It shows they recognized the hazard. That the hazard existed doesn’t mean they are liable for Williamson’s injury.
It’s not like the Giants were concealing the bullpen mounds. They’d been there for years, and Williamson was (or at least should have been) aware of them.
The Giants moved the bullpens because they knew it created a dangerous situation, and to prevent further injuries, they moved them. That doesn’t prove fault.
Dustin Fowler opened that door before Mac Williamson did. (For what it’s worth, does anyone have an update on that case that isn’t from Sheryl Ring at Fangraphs?)
And Fowler DID run into the wall and get hurt.
I think there are situations in which teams/ballparks can be considered negligent, and injuries that arise from them. Running into an unpadded, concealed electrical box is probably an issue of negligence.
I don’t know if Fowler will win his case, or again, what the status is with that case, but I do know that he’s set more of precedent than Williamson. Williamson’s comes across as very frivolous.
“but carelessly risking every other great player’s careers by needlessly placing the bullpen mounds on the field”
Did Mac Williamson really suggest that he was a great player? Apparently this must be a different guy than the one I remember….or the one listed in BaseballReference.com. Either that or his bar for “great” is waaaaaaaaay lower than mine lol
The math is quite simple: How many players are there? How many of them become MLB players? It is obviously completely irrelevant whether he considers himself a “great player”, but with a minimal amount of thinking your posting could have been duly avoided.
Gruß,
BSHH
How many people in the US are good enough to play any degree of Major League Baseball?
They’re what, top 1% of people playing the game? Top 0.001%? How elite do you have to be to be “great”?
There are a lot of people on this planet. Who do you think procreates the most. Smart folks or not-so-smart folks?
Next will be the brick wall at Wrigley Field.
I played a few seasons in the minors as a catcher. I never suffered a concussion catching, but when I had to fill in at LF after a brawl because of ejections, I tripped over a mound and hit my head on a bench. Concussed. Terrible in my book, nostalgic or not…get rid of them.
Brutal
In other news, disco is suing the 80’s for its death. If you are too stupid to know there is a bullpen along the left field foul line in your home ballpark then you don’t deserve to have a career. Mac must be really hard up to pull this garbage probably lost his job stocking shelves at the mini mart.
Knowing where it was what was he supposed to do? Stop dead in his tracks? If you’re watching the ball while trying to get there to catch it, you are going to be imperiled.
As a player you are signing a figurative waiver to play in these ballparks. He knew about the bullpen mounds like every player. Not sure I agree with there being a lawsuit case against the team.
Haha a “figurative waiver.” That’s a solid legal defense. It was implied, judge! At least that’s how I saw it! I’m not defending either side here, but the notion of a “figurative waiver” in court gave me a good chuckle.
Implied consent in sports is a real thing. Usually it’s a defense for what is otherwise a battery.
That’s a completely different situation. Nevertheless, I am just amused by the term “figurative waiver.” The physical contact between players would constitute battery on the street, so to speak, but that doesn’t apply here. I assume that is what you are referring to when bringing up “implied consent” and “battery.” Faulty design isn’t the same as implied consent with regards to the physical man on man nature of a sport. Again, I don’t have much of an opinion about this case, but some of the arguments are going a bit off base here.
I mean, it’s a bunch of lay people chiming in their 2 cents worth of how they think the law works. It’s funny to read how far off most takes are.
Claims his career was taken from him but this man literally couldn’t even hit his own weight. Hmm.
If you read the article, you should know he is referring to much more than his MLB career. True or not, his claims refer to his quality of life. I’m not an expert on the effects of concussions, but apparently they can be very severe. Junior Seau committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest with a shotgun, and the given belief is that it was entirely due to long-term effects from concussions. Just food for thought…
Many minor league parks don’t have bullpens and it wasn’t unusual to see the same in older major league parks. The bulppens in Fenway Park weren’t built until 1940; before that.they were, believe it or not, in foul territory.
The center field flag pole at Fenway wasn’t moved off the field until 1970.
The idea that the team is liable for negligently placing baseball-related features on the baseball playing surface of their baseball stadium is pretty dumb. Having bullpen mounds in foul territory was once commonplace, and that changed mostly because teams like having cool stuff in the bullpen instead of just a metal bench and a phone. Next someone will sue the ball girl for not moving her folding chair fast enough. My guess is some ambulance chasing 1-800 lawyer hotline told him he could probably get a settlement. The Giants have money and California is weird. Who knows.
let them just play in a pillow lined ballpark
Remember Michael Bourn taking a spill one time that resulted in a DL stint.
Unfortunate, for sure, but his career ended because he wasn’t all that great. As for the bullpens mounds, when that stadium was built a lot of ballparks had them. Players assume that risk, sucks, but something you have to deal with now. People are to sue happy.
Are even half of the commenters reading the other prior comments or the articles or videos?
It’s as if some snap judgment is made on the veracity of lawsuits, the value of the player in question, slippery slope proponents.
An opinion already formed with little analysis whatsoever, but yet it must be spoken.
Here’s a video of such play:
baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=60b7e8…
also, he couldn’t hit, which might have ended his career, too