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Athletics left fielder Zack Gelof grabs his leg after contacting the wall while catching a Detroit Tigers’ Zach McKinstry fly ball in foul territory during the third inning of a baseball game Thursday, July 9, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo\/Paul Sancya) (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)<\/p>\n
Gelof was unable to continue playing and missed about 30 days of professional baseball, the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n
The complaint alleges the fencing was rigid, sharp, inadequately protected, and positioned where the defendants knew or should have known players would run and slide while attempting to make plays.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit also alleges the defendants failed to provide sufficient padding or clearance, inspect and identify the hazard, or otherwise repair, redesign, relocate, or guard the fencing.<\/p>\n
Gelof\u2019s attorneys allege that protective padding was installed over the area within weeks of the injury. <\/p>\n
The complaint includes a photograph purporting to show the padding in place during a Tigers game in August.<\/p>\n
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Athletics third baseman Zack Gelof has sued the Detroit Tigers, Ilitch Holdings Inc., and the Detroit-Wayne County Stadium Authority, alleging he suffered a serious knee injury after striking exposed metal fencing at Comerica Park during a July game. (Photo of Comerica Park during a Tigers MLB game in August 2026 showing the dangerous condition has since been padded and\/or repaired)<\/p>\n
The lawsuit cites comments allegedly made by Tigers outfielder Riley Greene after the incident, acknowledging that the area along the wall was made of metal and could be unforgiving during a hard slide.<\/p>\n
Gelof, 26, is listed in the lawsuit as a professional MLB player for the Athletics whose primary residence is in West Palm Beach, Florida.<\/p>\n
The complaint alleges Gelof suffered physical pain, medical expenses, lost wages and economic losses, as well as professional and emotional damages. <\/p>\n
It seeks compensation for those damages, along with attorney fees, costs, and other relief allowed under Michigan law.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit includes claims for premises liability, negligence, negligent design and construction of a recreational attraction, and a claim under Michigan\u2019s public-building exception to governmental immunity against the Detroit-Wayne County Stadium Authority.<\/p>\n
The complaint alleges the Stadium Authority owns and\/or controls Comerica Park, while the Tigers and Ilitch Holdings operate, manage and maintain the stadium.<\/p>\n
Attorney Jon Marko said basic protective padding could have prevented the injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t take a stadium design expert to realize that sharp metal fencing in an area where players are required to slide and play around is a recipe for disaster like the one that occurred here,\u201d Marko said in a statement included with the lawsuit. \u201cAll they had to do was put cheap padding up like they did after Zack was injured, and this entire incident could have been avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oakland A\u2019s left fielder Zack Gelof is suing the Detroit Tigers and Comerica Park officials over a knee…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2391],"tags":[537,5,7214,53,4,3226,7932,63,185,594],"class_list":["post-817285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-athletics","tag-athletics","tag-baseball","tag-comerica-park","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-athletics","tag-oakland-as","tag-oakland-athletics","tag-sports","tag-tigers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117354981441562038","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}