I was at the Yankee game on Wednesday afternoon, so I was there for the little girl getting hit by the foul ball. I'll be honest. From where I was, I couldn't really tell what happened. All I saw was the ball going into the stands. It wasn't until I saw the medical personnel running to the area that I realized it hit somebody. And it wasn't until I got home that I found out it was a 2-year-old girl who got hit.
The reaction to what happened was predictably horrified. Todd Frazier, who hit the ball, was visibly shaken, and Matt Holliday was brought to tears. When asked about it after the game, Twins second baseman Brian Dozier suggested that all ballparks need to extend the netting to cover more of the stands, a sentiment that was shared by many on ESPN and MLB Network and every other place the play was discussed.
On one of these shows (I think it was Mark Teixeira on Baseball Tonight), they made the point that it takes something like this for the topic of extending the netting to be discussed, suggesting that it's a conversation that should be taking place anyway. I'm all for fan safety, and I'm glad the little girl is going to be alright, but I think these responses, while predictable, are overreactions.
They're right in saying that you should be able to go to a baseball game without worrying about getting hurt. But there are signs all over the ballpark and how many announcements per game telling you to be alert of balls and bats, especially in field level seats? You know the risks if you want to sit there, so some of the burden has to fall on the fans that choose to buy those tickets. In fact, the ability to catch a foul ball is usually the reason why people buy tickets in those sections. And if you want those seats, you'd better pay attention. Because a ball can come flying in your direction at pretty much any moment.
Every Major League ballpark has a protective net behind home plate, generally extending across the area between the dugouts. The incident at Yankee Stadium has led for calls to extend that netting at various stadiums, and many teams have announced their plans to do it as early as next season. Most of the extended netting will cover the entire area behind each dugout (for the record, the little girl's family was sitting down the third base line, well past the dugout and beyond where even extended netting would end).
These decisions are being left up to the 30 individual teams, although some would like to see it mandated across the Majors. And those people would be wrong. Because, while their concern for fan safety is admirable, they want to take away one of the best parts of the fan experience.
Why do people sit right behind the dugout? So that they can see the game up-close and maybe, just maybe, catch a foul ball. That's why kids race down to the field level for autographs during batting practice. And how often do you see a player flip a ball to somebody in the stands from the dugout? If you extend the netting to the entire dugout area, there goes that part of the fan experience.
You know what else you would lose by extending the home plate netting? Those memorable plays. Derek Jeter's face-first dive into the stands? Not possible. Steve Bartman? Not possible. Any of those other close fan vs. player foul balls down the line? Not possible.
And you know something else? Even if you were to have the protective netting extend from foul pole to foul pole (which they do in Japan), you're still not making the ballpark completely "safe." No one's advocating protective netting in the outfield, which is obvioulsy where all home run balls land. And someone could just as easily get hit by a home run ball. Or worse. Remember a few years ago when that guy in Texas died after falling over a railing going for a home run?
This reminds me of when the NHL mandated netting behind the goals in the mid-2000s, a situation many people have likened this to. The situations are similar, I'll give them that. The NHL mandated it after a girl who wasn't paying attention died after getting hit by a puck that went into the stands in Columbus.
But there's also a key difference. In the NHL, they only mandated it behind the nets because that's where a majority of pucks that end up out of play go (obviously on shots). They didn't mandate it across the entire arena, even though pucks can still go out over the side, albeit with much less frequency.
In baseball, there's no way to predict where a foul ball's going to go, so it's impossible to try and set up netting that can protect everyone. Most foul balls go straight back, which is why there's a backstop behind home plate in pretty much every ballpark in the world. Unless you sit behind home plate (and sometimes even if you do depending on how high the backstop is), you're sitting there at your own risk, knowing that a foul ball could come your way at anytime.
There aren't backstops in MLB parks, but the home plate netting effectively serves the same purpose. As for the rest of the stadium, that same assumption of risk has to apply. A lot of people want to sit close simply because of the possibility of getting a foul ball. That's why the signs are there. And those signs are very clear. They say "be alert."
Even with those warnings, people are still, unfortunately, going to get hurt. Teams and ballparks can implement all the safety procedures they want, but that possibility is still going to exist, even with extended netting. That's why some of the onus needs to be put on the fans, as well. Your safety is important. Act like it. Pay attention to the game.
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