Rangers fan was decorated fireman

The man who died after falling over an outfield railing at a Texas Rangers game with Oakland on Thursday was a decorated firefighter and devoted father who had taken his 6-year-old son to the ballpark in hopes of catching a ball.

Suzann Stone said that her son, Shannon, and young Cooper Stone had even stopped on the way to the ball park in Arlington, Texas to buy the boy a new glove. The two were "almost attached at the hip" and went to Rangers games often, including a World Series game last season.

"That's what they were there for was to catch a ball," the 63-year-old mother said yesterday, choking back sobs. "Cooper loves baseball and he's a big Josh Hamilton fan. Had his jersey."

Hamilton, the reigning AL MVP, grabbed a foul ball in the second inning that ricocheted into leftfield and then tossed it into the stands. Stone caught the ball but tumbled over the railing and plunged 20 feet onto concrete. The 39-year-old firefighter from Brownwood, Texas died at a hospital Thursday night.

Hamilton, still grappling with the aftermath of the wrenching night, said he could hear the boy screaming for his dad after Stone fell. The player said he remembers the fall "like it happened in slow motion."

"Cooper told me where they were sitting so I could look for him on television," Suzann Stone said, adding that she was not watching when her son fell. "I missed it. I didn't see it."

Her youngest son, Chad, called late Thursday and broke the news to his parents. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office ruled that Stone died from blunt force trauma caused by the fall. He leaves Cooper and his 36-year-old wife, Jenny.

"It's a very, very sad day for the Texas Rangers organization," team president Nolan Ryan said. "We're about making memories, family entertainment. Last night, we had a father and son at the game and had a very tragic incident."

Ryan said he spoke with Jenny Stone by phone yesterday morning.

"She's very concerned about her son and the impact this is having on him, rightly so," he said.

Shannon Stone was a firefighter with the Brownwood Fire Department for 18 years. In 2007, he and another firefighter ran into a smoke-filled home in nearby Bangs to rescue a woman in her 70s, according to story in the Brownwood Bulletin. Stone and the other firefighter received a distinguished service award from the department for bravery and dedication.

Suzann Stone said her son was fun-loving and enjoyed being a father and a husband. For as long as she can remember he wanted to be a firefighter.

Stone would do all he could to make as many of Cooper's T-ball games, even when he was on duty at the fire station, Suzann Stone said. He was a "wonderful son, father and person," she said.

"I always told him if he wasn't my son I would want him as my best friend," she said. "He was so good, so caring of everybody."

A moment of silence was observed before the Rangers and Oakland played last night. Both teams wore black ribbons on their uniforms, flags flew at half-staff and a black tarpaulin covered the gap where Stone fell.