Baseball Player Dies in Collision

B O S T O N, June 28, 2001 -- An 18-year-old player for a suburban Babe RuthLeague baseball team died in a freak accident Wednesday night when he collided with a teammate while chasing a fly ball.

Brendan Grant, who had just finished his freshman year atAmerican International College in Springfield, was playing leftfield when he ran into the center-fielder during a game in theBoston suburb of Belmont and was struck in the neck andchest.

"They collided, and having seen a number of these and havingbeen involved with baseball, nobody, and I mean nobody, thought itwas anything but a collision," said Dan Kelleher, who coached theteam in the Middlesex Senior Babe Ruth League.

"Then one of the boys said, 'Mr. Kelleher, Brendan's having adifficult time breathing.' We all dropped everything.'"

Paramedics restored Grant's vital signs, but he died later atMount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge.

Teammates in Shock

Grant died of a fracture to the larynx and cricoid, thecartilage around the larynx, according to the state medicalexaminer's office, which performed an autopsy today. He alsoexperienced secondary blunt trauma to the neck.

"We all felt comfortable," Kelleher said. "They had collided,[but] Brendan had vital signs. I said to myself, maybe he's got abusted rib or something in the collision."

In 2000, Grant captained the baseball team at Belmont HighSchool, which most of the players on the team still attend. He alsowrestled at American International. Kelleher said he was a certainrepeat pick as a league All-Star this year.

He batted .295 in 39 games for American International lastseason.

"Brendan was a great kid and a great player who loved the gameof baseball," the team's coach, Chuck Lelas, said in a statement."He was a hard worker and a great person who will be deeplymissed."

The remainder of the team's season is on hold, Kelleher said,but he said they will play again.

"They need to get back on the field, and I think we will in duecourse," he said.

Remembered as a Quiet Leader

The other player involved in the collision was not injured, butwas emotionally shaken, Kelleher said.

"Nobody could know what his parents are going through, who areterrific people, and the other kid involved," Kelleher said.

Kelleher said Grant was a quiet leader on a team of youngerplayers.

"A terrific kid with a terrific family," he said. "The typeof kid for me to coach to [make] me return to the field."