MLB has a serious issue with its stadiums and it reared its ugly head in Houston during the Houston Astros game against the Chicago Cubs.
A young girl was struck by a foul ball hit by Chicago Cubs outfielder Albert Almora, who was visibly shaken after the fact. It took everyone several minutes to compose themselves before the MLB game resumed against the Houston Astros.
Baseball released the following statement yesterday, the day after the incident per Mark Osborne and Aaron Katersky of ABC News:
“The events at last night’s game were extremely upsetting. ‘We send our best wishes to the child and family involved. Clubs have significantly expanded netting and their inventory of protected seats in recent years. With last night’s event in mind, we will continue our efforts on this important issue.”
Expanded netting for most stadiums only goes to the end of each dugout, maybe a little further.
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How many events like Wednesday need to happen before MLB decides to do something about it?! Statements like this do nothing unless there is action tied to it. For example, nothing really happened when a Los Angeles Dodgers fan was killed by a foul ball last August.
This issue has been steadily getting worse as the years go on. Most baseball stadiums have netting that extends to the ends of the dugouts, but I would argue that isn’t enough.
Line drive foul balls coming off the bats of MLB players are hard for even the most agile adults to react to. It happens in a second and the ball is often traveling too fast for anyone to get out of the way.
As a father of four and having a boy who absolutely loves baseball and watching baseball, there is not enough being done to protect fans in general. I never want to go to a ball game and wonder what I need to do to protect my son from a foul ball.
The solution many have proposed is putting nets up from foul pole to foul pole behind the plate. I think this is the best solution out there. You don’t need netting all around the field but protect those most susceptible to those line drive foul balls.
People might groan about the line of sight and not being able to see the game, but that is a small price to pay to ensure the safety of all those who want to enjoy it, especially the youth of the game.