Ralph Shelton was enjoying the night air when he heard a strange noise under his RV, which he drove to Arizona for spring training. He reached his hand into the darkness under the vehicle and a rattlesnake bites him.

He first looked underneath the RV to see what might have broken. He couldn't see anything in the darkness, though, so he stuck his hand underneath to further investigate. And then he felt the bite.

"I thought to myself, 'Man, that was dumb,'" said Shelton as he recovered from the bite in a hospital. He is also recovering from a head injury he suffered when he passed out after the bite. "In retrospect, what I should have done was get a flashlight or something like that," he said. "But, it was so innocent at the time that I didn't think to do that." "At that point, I said, 'Wow, this is kind of scary. I wonder what's going on here?'" he said.

Shelton, 67 and retired, has come from California to Arizona for the past seven years for the entire month of March to catch all the Cactus League games.

Shelton, who already takes medication for his blood pressure, passed out from the loss of pressure. He was then flown to Banner-University Medical Center Phoenix, where he spent most of the night undergoing tests.

By Premji