MLB says Trevor Bauer can’t fly drone at spring training
Cleveland Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer arrived at spring training with a couple goals in mind this year. First and most obvious, he’s looking to prepare for a new season, which the Indians hope will include a run to the postseason. Aside from that though, it’s apparent that Bauer was hoping to provide fans with a unique perspective of spring training by flying a drone he personally built around the facility and snapping pictures.
Take a look.
We’re all about sweet shots of spring training — check out our tumblr page dedicated to them — but not surprisingly MLB has already stepped in and asked Bauer to cease flying his drone at spring training for safety and security reasons.
Well, it was fun while it lasted.
As we learned a few weeks ago though, MLB has grown concerned about the possibility of drones creating issues at the ballpark. In fact, they even tested a drone detection system at last year’s All-Star game in Minnesota. The concerns range from drones being modified to carry small explosives or other materials that pose a serious threat to public safety, to interrupting play and simply being a nuisance to fans.
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Though Bauer’s drone obviously didn’t pose a major security threat, understandably the league wants to nip any such activity in the bud. Also, there is a degree of danger in simply flying it around a crowded area. As Bauer noted in an article for MLB.com — which has been removed since MLB’s ruling — his drone had already crashed twice before coming to Arizona.
Crash No. 1: “I was flying it at night and I kind of lost sight of it. It went above the light that I was flying it by. It started to kind of drift, so I tried to maneuver it and it spun. [It was upside down], so all the controls were reversed. I have a video of it. On the video you hear, ‘Oh no!,’ and then you see this thing just plummet down.”
Crash No. 2: “I was just hovering it and trying to tune it a little bit and I hear a pop. And all of a sudden, it flies into a wall. I was like, ‘What happened?’ I go over there and I was like, ‘What is that orange? Oh, that’s on fire.’ The whole thing just erupted.”
That’s not a risk the league is willing to take for a cool view.
For his part, Bauer is taking the ruling in stride. In fact, he wouldn’t mind being tied to it forever.
Baseball players, man. They’ll take the attention anyway they can get it.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
