Red Sox Fan Hit By Piece of Broken Bat Once Again

Apr 19, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; General view of Fenway Park while the Boston Red Sox take batting practice prior to a game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Fenway Park was the scene of another fan being hit with a piece of a broken bat during the Red Sox game against the Astros. Is there really anything baseball can do to make the fan experience safer?

For the third time in the past two years, a fan got hit with a piece of a broken bat at Fenway Park. This time, in the Red Sox matchup against the Houston Astros, a piece of George Springer‘s bat got over the protective netting, hitting a fan in the head and causing a cut over his eye.

This is the type of incident the protective netting was supposed to prevent. After fans had been hit by those pieces of bat or by foul balls lined into the seats, the netting was intended to keep fans safe from projectiles entering the stands. Yet, as was proven yesterday, even that netting cannot stop everything from getting into the seats.

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Incidents like that lead to the question of whether or not Major League Baseball can do anything further to protect the fans. The netting is certainly a good idea to keep fans safe, but there is only so much that can be done to protect others from incoming projectiles. After all, isn’t that the reason why those signs warning about foul balls and bats are stationed everywhere in the stadiums, and those cautions are printed on the back of the tickets?

The fact of the matter is, no matter what baseball does, and no matter how high or far the netting is extended, no one can be fully protected from foul balls or pieces of bats. These problems will continue to exist, unless the nettings are put over the front of each section and then stretched out with a roof. But is that the experience that one really wants at a ballpark?

While the netting is not obtrusive, it does take a bit away from the fan experience. Players aren’t able to flip those balls over the dugouts any longer in those parks that extended the netting that far. Of course, something needs to be given up in the name of fan safety, but is that what the experience should be?

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Unfortunately, it does not appear as though there is an easy solution. In ballparks like Fenway, where the fans are right on top of the action, there is a greater danger from projectiles, even with the various safety measures being enacted. As much as baseball would want to protect the fans, it just may not be possible to keep incidents like that from occurring.