Monday, April 22, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Las Vegas Stars radio announcer Jon Sandler suffered serious facial injuries over the weekend when he was struck by a thrown baseball prior to a Stars game in Tacoma.
Sandler sustained a fractured orbital bone in his right cheek and will require surgery, according to Stars general manager Don Logan. Sandler was due to return to Las Vegas today, Logan said.
The incident occurred about an hour before the start of Saturday's Pacific Coast League game between the Stars and Tacoma Rainiers at Cheney Stadium. Sandler was on the field while the teams were taking infield practice and was hit by an errant throw.
According to Logan, Sandler was knocked unconscious and was taken from the field to a Tacoma hospital by ambulance.
"The ball hit him square in the eye and he just dropped -- it knocked him out," said Logan, who was in Las Vegas but received a report from Stars trainer Steve Sayles. "I haven't talked to Jon, but he is coming back to Las Vegas (today) and will have to have surgery right away."
Sandler was unable to broadcast Saturday night's or Sunday afternoon's games from Cheney Stadium, and Las Vegas radio station KORK 920-AM picked up the Rainiers' broadcast both days. Tacoma announcer Bob Robertson informed listeners in Las Vegas of Sandler's accident prior to Sunday's broadcast.
Logan said he was unsure how long Sandler would be out of the broadcast booth. In the meantime, Las Vegas Thunder play-by-play announcer Tim Neverett, who began working Stars home games with Sandler this season, will fly to Vancouver to work the Stars' four-game series that begins tonight in British Columbia.
Bob Blum, who produces all Stars and Thunder radio and television broadcasts, will fill in for Neverett on the radio broadcast of tonight's International Hockey League playoff game between the Thunder and Phoenix, Logan said.
Sandler, a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Virginia Law School, quit his job as a corporate lawyer to pursue a career in baseball broadcasting. Sandler earlier this month began his fourth season as the play-by-play voice of the Stars after stints at the Class A level in Salinas, Calif., and Palm Springs.
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