Fan Hoping To See Angels Play In Spring Training Game Bitten By Rattlesnake

PHOENIX (AP) — A California man has been hospitalized after things went awry during his annual pilgrimage to Arizona for baseball spring training.

Ralph Shelton has spent the month of March near Phoenix for the past seven years. But the 67-year-old retiree was settling into an RV park in El Mirage Sunday when he heard a rattling noise. Thinking something was wrong with his rig, he stuck his hand under the vehicle.

That's when the rattlesnake bit him.

Shelton hoped to see the Los Angeles Angels play the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, but instead he spent the day in the hospital, recovering from the bite. Doctors say he passed out after his blood pressure dropped dramatically.

Banner-University Medical Center Dr. Frank Lovecchio says Sheldon's case is the closest they've seen to a deadly rattlesnake bite in 10 years.