Major League Baseball had yet another incident where a fan was hit. During the Braves win over the Brewers, a woman sitting behind the Milwaukee Brewers dugout was hurt in the 9th inning. A line drive foul ball hit off the bat of Braves outfielder Eury Perez, causing the game to be delayed by nine minutes. Medical personnel attended to her and she was helped out of the stadium on a stretcher. The fan had her face covered by a towel. No word was available on her condition. According to ESPN, Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons said, “Man, sometimes you wish the net was bigger and covered the people that don’t have a chance to react. I wouldn’t sit that close.”
This is the 3rd incident in the Majors involving fans getting hit by something from the field. On June 5th, Tonya Carpenter was struck in the head by a broken bat off of Oakland’s Brett Lawrie. Carpenter’s injuries were life threatening, but her condition improved. On June 19th, a young boy was hit by a foul ball on the first base side during a game between St. Louis and Philadelphia.
Major League Baseball needs to really look at fan safety and move the nets. They should extend them past the dugouts so fans can enjoy the game in the best seats in the house without the fear that they are going to get hit.
What is Major League Baseball waiting for to protect fans? Three incidents this year where a fan has gotten hit by a ball or bat is three too many. All they have to do is extend the netting. It really isn’t that hard to make that modification.
Major League Baseball in the past is slow to change. They were the last major sport to adopt any sort of instant replay. What is Major League Baseball waiting for? MLB shouldn’t be like the NHL where a fan was killed in order for an adjustment to be made. This is an easy fix: expand the netting behind the plate and protect fans. Fans safety should be the number one priority at any MLB park. MLB should make it happen now for it to be safer for fans who want to sit behind the dugout.
What will it take for MLB to make a change with the netting behind the plate?
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