By John Rittenhouse
Luverne’s Grace Miller may be bruised, but she remains unbowed.
Never mind the fact that a foul ball hit the 81-year-old Miller in the face at a Minnesota Twins-Toronto Blue Jays' baseball game in Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis Sunday.
In the mind of Miller, it was a freak accident that just happened. And she insists the incident didn’t taint the memorable time she had taking in her first Twins game at the Metrodome.
"It was very exciting for me," Miller said. "I'm a really big sports fan. I've been a Twins' fan for a long time, and I enjoy watching the Vikings, too. My son (Terry Severson, of Rochester) was bringing me to my first Twins game in the Metrodome Sunday, and I was very excited."
Miller and her son were two of 30,554 fans to entered the Dome on Sunday to see if the Twins could sweep a three-game series with the Blue Jays.
They took their seats, four rows behind the home team's dugout located on the third-base line of the field. They were treated early to a 1-0 Twins’ lead when Corey Koskie delivered an RBI double in the home half of the first inning.
The Twins were batting in the bottom of the fourth when fate pulled an ugly trick on Miller.
With Minnesota's All-Star catcher at the plate, left-handed hitting A.J. Pierzynski lined a foul ball that caught Miller flush on her left cheek.
"Pierzynski hit a foul ball, and it happened to come our way. Neither I or my son saw the ball coming, and it glanced into my left cheek," Miller recalled.
Metrodome medical personnel quickly reached the scene, and they carried Miller by stretcher to an emergency area in the Dome's concourse.
"They put an ice pack and a bandage on my face. They wanted me to go to an area hospital for x-rays, but I didn’t see the need. I could tell there were no broken bones, and I told them I wanted to go back down and watch the game. I only missed one inning," she said.
Miller ended up being showered with gifts and applause when she bravely returned to her seat.
The security escort who walked with Miller down the steps to her seat stopped a vendor and told him to give Miller a Twins’ visor. The vendor did.
As she worked her way down the steps toward her seat, she received a standing ovation offered by a large number of fans who recognized her return to the area.
Since she was unable to recover the ball that struck her on the cheek, Miller was given a ball autographed by Twins' designated hitter David Ortiz, and another one from a little girl in Miller's seating area who thought she deserved it.
Miller was touched by the gifts she received, and was tickled by the fact that the Twins went on to win the game by a 4-0 margin.
"I was very lucky and thankful things turned out the way they did," she said. "The ball could have hit me on the temple, or it could have broken my glasses and shattered into my eye. I was very fortunate, and they treated me very well.
"I won't let this incident stop me from going back to another game in the Dome. I really would like to go up there and see the Vikings, too."