I saw it last night on Baseball Tonight on ESPN, and it was tough to
watch, even for someone who's fairly jaded about such things. The
bird came in fast from the right (the first time they showed it I
didn't even see it), and there was no chance to ID it definitively
without a *lot* of experience with southwestern doves (I have none).
It was light-colored and small; too small for either a mourning or
white-winged dove. I believe it was either an Inca dove or a common
ground dove; I'd need another replay or two to focus on tail length.

At impact feathers flew in every direction, and that "poof" you
mentioned was a reasonable characterization -- think of the effect of a
cherry bomb inserted into a mounted specimen, and you'll have a pretty
good idea of the visual spectacle.

Don't be too hard on Randy; there's no way he could have seen it
coming, and he did seem a little upset by the whole thing. As I wrote
above, tough to watch...

Jim McCoy
jfmccoy at earthlink.net
Redmond, WA



-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Willison [mailto:sendtomichael at hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2001 2:57 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Fastballs and Doves


Tweeters,

I just heard on the radio that former Mariner, Randy Johnson, while pitching
in pre-season game yesterday, threw a pitch that collided with a dove that
flew through the projectory of the pitch. This instantly killed the dove,
sending up a poof of feathers and inhibiting the pitch from even reaching
home plate. Did anyone per chance catch this on the television? It must
have been some sight. The odds of this even occuring are staggering. I was
curious if anyone saw/heard what kind of dove this was.

Michael Willison
Auburn Wa
sendtomichael at hotmail.com
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