YORK -- The internet was buzzing after a frightening baseball video was posted on YouTube in April 2008.
Did a college pitcher survive after being hit by a batted ball traveling 100 miles per hour? Was he dead or alive?
Wade Korpi is still alive -- and now a member of the York Revolution of the Atlantic League.
Korpi was pitching for the University of Notre Dame baseball team in 2008 when a batter from Rutgers smacked a line drive back to the mound. The ball hit the left-hander in the head and he instantly dropped to the dirt. Korpi claims the radar gun also picked up the speed of the batted ball; it registered 100 mph.
"I don't remember the ball coming up at me," Korpi said. "I remember throwing it; him swinging. Then I remembered the shortstop yelling where the ball was at."
The ball struck Korpi on the left side of his forehead. The video went viral; and people who watched it kept asking and asking: Was Wade Korpi dead or still alive?
"You look at it on YouTube, it's a pretty serious injury," he said. "You'd think, very easily, if it hits me (near the eye socket) or (side of his head), I'd be dead or really badly injured."
But he was none of those things.
Korpi says he had a considerable lump and some major swelling; but he still pitched the next week for the Irish.
Brandie Peterson, the athletic trainer for the Revolution believes Korpi is lucky that he didn't suffer a concussion or any bleeding on the brain. "There's so much that can happen from that," said Peterson, in her first season with York. "It's scary; it's one of the scariest things out there."
Being released by a big league organization doesn't feel good, either.
Korpi, 26, was released last month by the Miami Marlins after compiling a 1-1 record with a 5.32 ERA in 17 games for Double-A Jacksonville. He was drafted by the Marlins in the 20th round of the 2008 draft.
The Lake Worth, Florida, native is now with York; hoping to be signed again by another big league organization.
Korpi is still hoping to add a few extra miles and hour on his high-80s fastball. "I think if he can pick up (a few more miles per hour); stay down in the zone and controls his breaking ball; I think we'll be in good shape," said York pitching coach Mark Mason.
Korpi is 1-0 in six games for the Revolution. He's walked eight and struck out eight in 11.0 innings of work.
Obviously, he's still alive and pitching.
He's also content with being best-known for a piece of YouTube video that makes one wince.
"It happened," said Korpi. "It's happened to a lot of people.
"At least I'm known, right?
Some video used in this story is courtesy of YouTube/0Jacob0.
