PITTSBURGH — A man who fell from the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park during Wednesday night’s game between the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates remained in critical condition Thursday.
Pittsburgh Public Safety, which includes Pittsburgh Police and EMS, posted on X on Thursday that the “incident is being treated as accidental in nature.”
The man who fell was identified Thursday as Kavan Markwood, according to information supplied by the Southern Alleghany School District. District Workforce Development Coordinator Laura Thomson said in a statement that the district is keeping the “former student and standout athlete” in its thoughts and prayers. She identified Markwood was a 2022 graduate who “made a lasting impact” on the district community as an athlete and a “man of character,” and said he was MVP of the football team during his senior year.
Markwood fell onto the warning track in right field just as Pirates star Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put his team ahead 4-3. Players began waving frantically for medical personnel.
Markwood was attended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Cubs and Pirates training staffs as well as PNC personnel before exiting the field on a cart. He was taken to the trauma center at Allegheny General Hospital, where he remained Thursday.
Pirates owner Bob Nutting said the club was “deeply saddened” and “truly heartbroken” over what he called a “terrible accident.”
“In times like these, we must come together, support one another, and keep him and his loved ones in our prayers,” Nutting said in a statement. “We also want to thank and appreciate the efforts of the first responders who rushed to his attention and provided him with compassionate care.”
The railing that runs along the Clemente Wall in right field is three feet (36 inches) in height, which exceeds the building code requirements of 26 inches, according to Pirates vice president of communications Brian Warecki.
Fans were sitting in the front row above the Clemente Wall on Thursday ahead of the series finale between the teams.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell and Pirates manager Derek Shelton alerted the umpire crew of the situation immediately after the play.
“Even though it’s 350 feet away or whatever it is, I mean the fact of how it went down and then laying motionless while the play is going on, I mean Craig saw it, I saw it. We both got out there,” Shelton said. “I think the umpires saw it because of the way it kicked. It’s extremely unfortunate. That’s an understatement.”
Players from both teams could be seen praying, and McCutchen held a cross that hung from his neck while the fan was taken off the field.
The five-time All-Star said Thursday that the team was “devastated” and that they prayed together after the game. Asked to describe his viewpoint of the sequence, McCutchen declined, saying that he is trying not to think about it and is more focused on Markwood’s health.
“We’re just hoping for the best for him,” he said. “I hope he pulls through because he’s the reason why we are here. He’s the reason why we play the game. People that show their support so we can do something we love, partly because of him and because of fans. So, I just pray that he’s alright.”
The game was paused for several minutes but there was no official stoppage in play. Police said any medical update on Markwood will be provided by medical personnel in conjunction with his family.
Shortstop Dansby Swanson had been involved in the play during the incident, attempting to make a diving stop up the middle and incidentally knocking the ball into shallow right field, resulting in McCutchen’s double. That sequence prevented him from seeing what happened with the fall, but Swanson quickly understood the severity of the situation when he saw the urgency from the teams’ training staffs and the look on Counsell’s face when he came out of the dugout.
“A very scary moment,” Swanson said. “You see everybody’s taking a knee and just praying and hoping everything’s OK. Obviously, we’re just praying for a good, strong recovery, just to be with him and his family. Never been a part of something like that, and obviously hope to never be a part of something like that again.
“It’s definitely kind of a humble reminder, just the gratitude that we get to be able to play this game and there’s so many folks out there that obviously support us and come to games and are a big reason why we are able to do what we do. It’s obviously tough and just puts things in perspective and makes you want to tell everybody you love them and never taking that for granted.”
Counsell also only saw the aftermath of the fall and echoed Swanson’s hopes that Markwood is OK.
“I’m thinking about his family and him right now — obviously scary,” Counsell said. “I don’t think we know what we saw, what we saw is somebody laying on the warning track. So you know that’s not good.”
Fans have previously died from steep falls at baseball stadiums.
In 2015, Atlanta Braves season ticket holder Gregory K. Murrey flipped over guard rails from the upper deck at Turner Field. That was four years after Shannon Stone, a firefighter attending a game with his 6-year-old son, fell about 20 feet after reaching out for a foul ball tossed into the stands at the Texas Rangers’ former stadium.
Both incidents prompted scrutiny over the height of guardrails at stadiums. The Rangers raised theirs, while the Braves settled a lawsuit with Murrey’s family.
A spectator at a 2022 NFL game at Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium died following a fall on an escalator.
