Calling Dave Winfield: Soccer Star Accidentally Kills Bird With Shot During Championship Match
Posted December 19, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Move over Dave Winfield, and make room on the same boat.
A once-in-a-lifetime fluke has left a soccer star apologizing for accidentally killing a bird during a game. Gaston Aguirre is a defender with San Lorenzo in Argentina. But now he’s something else – a pigeon killer.
The star was playing in a championship match for the country’s league title, when he found himself surrounded by his opponents and in control of the ball. In desperation, he tried to kick it away from them and towards the opposition Tigre’s goal, when something got in the way.
A group of pigeons happened to be on the field near the corner at the time and the shot approached them at breakneck speed. There was a flurry of feathers as all but one of the birds flew away in panic.
The one that didn’t had been hit by Aguirre’s talented toe shot and lay there badly wounded. A sudden silence descended on the stadium as several players surrounded the helpless creature, which tried to fly away, but was too badly injured. Moments later, it died.
A referee scooped up the dead bird and took it off the field and it was a few minutes before the game could continue. Aguirre was astounded by what happened and insisted he felt bad about killing the innocent bird, which really was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He worries he will forever be remembered as ‘the pigeon killer.’
His team eventually won the contest 2-1.
These kinds of accidents are rare, but they have happened before. Toronto fans remember when then-Yankee Dave Winfield accidentally killed a seagull while fielding warm-up balls at Exhibition Stadium in 1983. He was briefly charged with animal cruelty to the worldwide embarrassment of the whole city, but the accusations were later dropped.
Arizona hurler Randy Johnson once beaned a dove as it flew directly into his fastball during a 2001 spring training game in Arizona.
And just a year ago, golfer Tripp Isenhour was making an instructional video in Florida when a shot hit a protected hawk. He was also charged with animal cruelty, but this time, the allegation stuck and he pleaded no contest.
Photo credit: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images
