Why Baseball Games and Windshields Don't Mix

For the typical baseball fan, catching a foul ball or even a home run, somewhere like outside of AT&T Park on the water in San Francisco, is a badge of honor and a mantle piece to show off to friends and brag about to family. But every now and again something else besides a mitt ends up catching the fly-aways - unsuspecting windshields. 

One particular teenager ended up with a windshield repair even after moving his car to prevent that very thing. A prep school player named Jameson Painter hit an eighth inning home run ball to win the game. But as the long shot flew over the fence, the last place Painter wanted it to land was his windshield.

To add insult to injury, Painter had already moved his car on a whim from it's original spot to prevent this very thing - repairing his windshield. Painter's coach, Dustin Morrow told the local newspaper that he had even warned the players to move their cars with the expectation that his player would hit a homer and send the ball into the very part of the parking lot where Painter, on a whim, parked. 

Baseballs aren't the only sporting equipment to spark windshield repairs though. In August of this summer, combine kicker Matt Prater left a little surprise for one of the Denver Broncos' employees parked on the south side of the stadium just behind the field goal posts. 

The unsuspecting employee ended up with a broken windshield, but this wasn't Prater's first rodeo. In 2008, Prater broke Broncos sports beat reporter Mike Klis' windshield. Thankfully the repair was covered under Klis' insurance and Prater was confident that the employee's windshield repair would be covered under their comprehensive insurance as well. 

The same goes for Painter. Although it was his home run that sparked the windshield repair, he should have been able to cover the repair with his comprehensive insurance policy on the vehicle. 

Most windshield repairs, especially in Utah, are covered under comprehensive insurance policies. Comprehensive policies essentially cover accidents that happen if something happens to the car that wasn't an action inflicted by the driver, or happened while the car was parked. For example, a storm rolls through and lightning strikes a tree causing it to fall and crush a car, or, let's say you're at a sporting event and your car falls victim to the greatest grand slam hit to win the World Series. A windshield repair in California, Utah or elsewhere might be in order, but at least you've got a cool mantle story.