Veteran umpire Brian O’Nora said Sunday he will be out indefinitely after a Jarred Kelenic foul ball struck him in the left side of the jaw during Saturday night’s Cubs-White Sox game at Rate Field. The force of the shot dropped O’Nora to a knee in the fourth inning of the Sox’ 8-3 victory.
After being checked by Sox trainers, O’Nora was taken out of the game and Erich Bacchus moved behind the plate. The umpires finished with a three-man crew, and Triple-A umpire John Bacon, a designated call-up umpire, joined them for Sunday’s game. O’Nora said the blow was the hardest he has taken in his 34 years in major league umpiring.
“I’ve been doing this for 34 years, and that’s the best shot I’ve taken in the face,” O’Nora said Sunday morning. He said he does not remember anything until getting up, and added that he had bad headaches and the left side of his jaw was very sore.
The injury came in a game that already carried the usual City Series edge, but the aftermath turned into a reminder of how quickly a routine foul ball can change the work of the men behind the plate. O’Nora has umpired in the major leagues since 1992, and his sudden exit left the rest of the crew to finish the game short-handed.
O’Nora said he planned to go home later Sunday before flying to Arizona for treatment at the Sports Concussion Center at Banner-University Phoenix. He said he will not return to the field until he is cleared, and that there will be testing before anyone gives him the green light.
For now, the Cubs Sox matchup will be remembered less for the Sox’s 8-3 win than for the sight of one of baseball’s longest-serving umpires trying to shake off a concussion after a foul ball found him in the face. The next step is medical clearance, not the next assignment.
