The Baseball Rule

When the hell is Major League Baseball going to take some responsibility about all the harm they are doing to fans getting permanent injuries from balls being hit into the stands? In Japan the game of baseball is the most popular sport but they have clearly taken steps to make it safer for the fans and they don’t mind the extra protection. They have protective nets that stretch down each line. Past both dugouts and all the way to the foul poles. It is for the safety of the people. They don’t want anyone to get hurt while enjoying a game. In Tokyo there is a section without netting that they call those seats Excite Seats. Even there the brave fans are outfitted with helmets and gloves to keep them safe.

In America we have netting to protect those who have seats behind home plate but not much more. Baseball has become a dangerous sport for the American fans. This season should have its share of permanently damaged people due to a shot to the face from a hardball. Last fall Tom Frasier at Yankee Stadium hit a foul ball into the stands that silenced the crowd in horror. The ball hit a two year old girl in the face as she sat with her Grandfather. The impact left fans, players and broadcasters stunned. We all saw it happen in real time on TV. She could have died from the senseless accident.

Two years ago Andy Slotnick also at Yankee Stadium got his eye socket crushed and his cheekbone destroyed from the impact of a foul ball hit into the stands. Now he has double vision and metal plates in his face. There is an estimated 1,700 Major League Fans injured by stray balls since 2016 each year. How many fans have to be injured before they take some better safety measures? Does someone have to die before they take real safety measures for the fans? All they have to do is to extend the netting that is already in place behind home plate to the line of fire from foul balls down the foul lines and above the dugouts.

Would American fans buy tickets with protective netting in their vision sight? The Japanese fans have no problem with the netting and don’t like going to the dangerous American stadiums. Sports Scientists at Washington State University have determined that a ball can travel in just six tents of a second after being hit by a baseball bat. They determined that it is 75 feet from home plate where most of the fans get hit from foul balls. A typical   hard ball gets hit at 95 mph.  Even if you see the ball coming at you often you do not have enough time to defend yourself. For those people being distracted, you are a shockingly sitting duck.

It only takes a glance at your phone, or a casual conversation or even a bite out of your ball park hot dog to be instantly permanently injured. The limited response time is the reason many teams had netting in front of their dugouts. Why then are the fans seated directly above them totally unprotected? The owners know the danger and just don’t seem to care about the disabilities folks are getting probably for the rest of their lives. The owners provide no money for the treatment of a fan’s injuries. That little girl now has facial fractures to her nose, her orbital socket is destroyed, a concussion and bleeding on her brain. Others have lost their eye completely and silence from the teams.

Has it come to the point that we should instead of saying play ball please don’t play ball? Andy went to court and lost. The law protects baseball because of the fine print on the back of every ticket that says if you attend a game you assume all risk. It is such a unique privilege that it is actually called The Baseball Rule. This “Rule” shields the baseball owners in the court of law but you have no shield in the stands. That little girl cause so much outrage and pressure that now the owners voted in February 2018 that “All Major League Ballparks to have Expanded Netting for the 2018 Season” They were shamed into change.

Even though all 30 teams have extended the netting this season, it is completely voluntary. Major League Baseball has yet to mandate the teams have this netting despite the hundreds of fan injuries that happen each year. Even with the netting there are hot zones of danger. Good luck enjoying a Baseball Game. UGH!