Baseball Players Call For Increased Fan Protection At Games

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – It was a tough night in baseball as a couple of fans were struck by foul balls during a pair of Major League Baseball games on Wednesday night.

The most upsetting incident took place at Minute Maid Park in Houston in a game between the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs.

During the fourth inning of the inter league game, Cubs outfielder Albert Almora Jr. drilled a line drive into the stands in foul territory, just beyond where the protective netting ended. The crowd in the stadium fell into an eerie silence when it was clear that the ball had struck a little girl in the head.

Once Almora realized what had happened as a result of the ball he hit, he collapsed in anguish, clearly upset for the welfare of the injured person. After his at-bat and on his way into the outfield at the bottom of the inning, he stopped by the area where the ball went in the stands and learned that a child had been the receiving end of his screaming hit.

"I'm speechless, at a loss for words. Being a father of two boys." Albert Almora speaks after scary foul ball incident: https://t.co/wIl0a3TxAr pic.twitter.com/ONxuzw85jA

— NBC Sports Chicago (@NBCSChicago) May 30, 2019

It was a difficult scene as he fell into a tearful embrace with a security guard as the rest of the stadium remained somber and quiet.

After the game, Cubs superstar Kris Bryant spoke to the media and made a case for increased protection for the fans.

“Let’s just put fences up around the whole field,” Bryant said. “I mean, it’s so sad when you see stuff like that happen.

“There’s a lot of kids coming to the games, young kids who want to watch us play,” Bryant continued. “And the balls come in hard. I mean, the speed of the game is quick, and I think any safety measure we can take to make sure that the fans are safe, we should do it.”

The Astros gave a comment to the media after the incident, saying that they would look into increased protection for their fans. The injured girl’s condition was not stated.

Salt Lake Bees Work To Protect Fans

Locally, the Salt Lake Bees, who play in the Triple-A level of minor league baseball, are aware of the issue as similar incidents have happened at Smith’s Ballpark.

“It’s one of those things that we look at and study every year,” said Bees general manager Marc Amicone. “We extended our nets in 2016 to go all the way to the end of the dugouts which is farther down than what Major League Baseball recommended.”

Amicone added that the Bees went with a different product than most teams when they instilled the new nets. The netting at Smith’s Ballpark is both stronger and less visually obstructive than most netting, giving Bees fans a better look at the field while remaining safe.

Still, keeping fans safe from foul balls that can come off the bat at over 100 miles per hour is something that Amicone and the Bees try to achieve by issuing warnings on the videoboard throughout the game. Incidents do happen from time to time, but the team does everything they can to prevent them.

“Obviously fan safety is of paramount importance to us,” added Amicone.

The ‘Baseball Rule’

Bryant and Almora would probably say that the netting needs to be extended all the way down to the foul pole. It’s possible that such a change would cause an uproar from baseball purists who have long enjoyed the ability to catch an errant ball or take in the action without the restrictive nature of a net.

However, the reality is that those line drives can arrive in the areas where fans are seated in the blink of an eye. More often than not, those fans never see it coming as playing on cell phones or drinking and eating is common behavior in the crowd.

The Astros released the following statement. Our thoughts are with the entire family. pic.twitter.com/f1VGVP1kiu

— Houston Astros (@astros) May 30, 2019

It’s doubtful that anyone wants a reenactment of what happened Wednesday night in Houston, but it already happens far too often. Last season, a woman died at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles days after being hit in the head by a foul ball. It was the first death caused by a foul ball at a Major League Baseball stadium in nearly 50 years. It should have been enough to cause teams to add increased protection, but it wasn’t as clearly seen at Minute Maid Park this week.

Baseball has long hidden behind the “Baseball Rule,” which protects teams from liability in the courts, stating that as long as some fans chose not to seat in the provided protected areas of the ballpark that a team isn’t responsible for any injures that occur. It’s even printed on the back of every MLB ticket to this day.

But it’s time for these stories to stop. Watching a baseball game shouldn’t be a dangerous activity and players shouldn’t be in tears for fear that they may have seriously injured a child. It’s time to raise the nets.