As Vice explains, veteran Mets pitcher Jim Torrez was on the mound against the Atros in the fifth game of the 1984 season. Torrez had already struck Thon out in his first at-bat, and with Thon back up to at the plate, Torrez decided to pitch him inside. As Torrez later recalled, Thon had a tendency to crowd the plate and by pitching him inside, Torrez hoped to jam him up, according to 1984 reporting by The New York Times. As soon as the ball left Torrez' hands, he knew something was wrong, though.
According to SABR's report on the incident, Torrez' inside fastball was "sailing," and though he tried to call out and warn Thon to duck, Thon didn't hear him. The ball glanced off Thon's ear flap and then hit him above his left eye; he ducked, but he ducked into the pitch, Torrez later commented. A 1984 report for The Sporting News (via SABR) quotes Thon: "When I saw where the ball was, it was too late to get out of the way."
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