Diamondbacks' Zac Gallen hits bird with throw, evoking memories of Randy Johnson, Dave Winfield

Jacob Camenker

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Diamondbacks' Zac Gallen hits bird with throw, evoking memories of Randy Johnson, Dave Winfield image

Zac Gallen has become known around MLB for his pinpoint control, but his command was perhaps too spot-on while he was throwing in the outfield Wednesday.

Gallen was throwing ahead of Arizona's meeting with the Athletics when he tossed a curveball to his catcher. As the ball traveled through air, a bird flew by — and directly into the path of the ball.

The bird was helpless to avoid the projectile. It careened into the ball, knocking it off course. The animal fell to the ground at the catcher's feet, as seen in this video:

It wasn't immediately clear whether the bird survived the impact of the hit. While it may have avoided Gallen's fastball, the pitcher's curveball still comes in at speeds of 83 mph. A blow like that could prove devastating for the bird, much like the fowl that was killed by a Randy Johnson fastball in 2001. The death of that feathered friend was much more evident.

Johnson's encounter came during a spring training game against the Giants on March 24, 2001. He delivered a fastball that hit a dove right as it crossed across the path to home plate. Johnson was known to reach up to 101 mph on his fastball, and the dove was coming across the field quickly as well.

The resulting collision killed the bird on impact. A cloud of feathers burst off its body.

This unfortunate moment is one of the lasting memories of Johnson's Hall of Fame career. That he, like Gallen, was a Diamondbacks pitcher at the time of the incident was noted by many MLB fans on social media.

MORE: The Randy Johnson bird game, as told by the bird's family

But Johnson and Gallen aren't the only MLB players to ever hit a bird with a baseball. Dave Winfield once accidentally hit a seagull with a throw while playing for the Yankees in 1983. He did so at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto against the Blue Jays.

Winfield's incident brought controversy. He was arrested after the game on suspicion of causing the unnecessary suffering of an animal. He was released from jail after Blue Jays general manager Pat Gillick paid his $500 bond, and the charges were dropped a day later. The Yankees were nonetheless unhappy with how Toronto police handled the case.

"To subject him to the treatment that Toronto officials did was ridiculous," then-Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said, per an article by the Society for American Baseball Research.

Gallen can at least be thankful that his incident wasn't as overblown as Winfield's or as gruesome as Johnson's.

But still, the National League wins leader wasn't feeling great after taking down the bird.

"I don't really know what happened, honestly," Gallen said, per ESPN. "I just know that the ball changed directions really. I saw what happened. It's kind of a freak accident. It's unfortunate."

MORE: Did Blue Jays' John Schneider say 'shut up fat boy' to Yankees?

Perhaps he can turn to Johnson for some guidance in aftermath of the incident. The Big Unit was bit distraught by the discourse that arose right after he hit the bird.

"I didn't think it was all that funny," Johnson said at the time, per ESPN.

Twenty years later, Johnson has put the incident behind him and has honored the creature by making it the logo for his photography company.

Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker Photo

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.