Ex-Dodgers star Joe Kelly shares unsettling account of suffering physical assault at USSSA World Series

Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly played in the major leagues for more than a decade but it did not prepare him for what was to come at the USSSA World Series.

Joe Kelly served as the coach for USSSA Lake Area Rattlers, a team his son, Knox, represented. During the team's last game, the two-time World Series winner had a "mind-blowing experience."

With his team leading 4-3, Joe Kelly, who was sitting on the bucket on the sidelines, going through the opposition's lineup, heard a fan shouting at him. In the latest episode of "Baseball Isn't Boring," Kelly recalled an unsettling encounter from the event.

"I have my glasses on and like ‘Are you afraid you’re going to lose to Assault? I was like, ‘What?’ and then this person leans over, ‘Yeah, you heard me. Are you afraid you’re going to lose to Assault?’” Kelly recalled (9:00 onwards). “And then, all of a sudden, I get my hat flicked off. Like, who does that?” "So then I go on the ground to pick it up and turn around and all of a sudden a fist punches me in the forehead."

After Kelly was struck by the fan, the umpire and other coaches urged to end the game and call the cops. However, the former Dodgers reliever said he wanted the game to continue as it would have been unfair on the players despite his team being the favorites in the contest.

Joe Kelly refused to end the game after a physical altercation

Joe Kelly claimed it was "unacceptable behaviour" for someone to get involved in a physical altercation at a nine-year-old's game and said the opposition team had a history of doing that.

While the umpires said it wasn't safe to continue the game after the altercation, Kelly said he liked some of the players on the opposition team and felt it would've been unfair on them if the game ended prematurely.

Kelly asked the umpire to call the cops for physical assault on the field but only after the game ended.

Edited by Chaitanya Prakash