Foul Territory at MLB Stadiums Should be Completely Surrounded by Netting

In the fifth inning today at Yankee Stadium, a young fan was struck by a foul ball off the bat of Todd Frazier and judging by the reactions of the players on the field, it was horrifying. Matt Holliday appeared to be wiping tears from his eyes. After the game, manager Joe Girardi said he heard the young girl was hit in the mouth, but also that she is "doing OK." There have not been many updates concerning the girl's condition, and the Yankees released a brief statement saying any further information won't be coming from them.

Every so often, the question of protective netting at baseball parks comes up as national conversation, usually after an incident just like this.

47 years ago

, the worst case scenario happened, with a fan getting killed by a foul ball at Dodger Stadium. While no one has died since then, plenty of fans have been seriously injured. Two years ago, a woman at Fenway Park was left bloodied and sustained "life-threatening injuries"

when a bat struck her in the face

. In June of this year, a fan was hit in the head with a foul ball at an

Arizona Diamondbacks game

. There are

countless

other

examples

and while they may not be totally avoidable, they can be much more avoidable than they currently are. At this point, it should no longer be a conversation. It should be a mandatory requirement for every ballpark in Major League Baseball to be outfitted with protective netting surrounding foul territory; right now, the only netting at Yankee Stadium is in the area directly behind home plate. Players are bigger, stronger, and more skilled than ever before and if you pay attention to things like StatCast and exit velocity, you know we are dealing with seriously dangerous speeds.The players union has tried to collectively bargain this issue, attempting to mandate netting down the foul line and extending even to the foul poles, but the owners, wanted none of it.

From a 2015 report from Ken Rosenthal following the incident at Fenway:

I think we can all get on board with watching the game through netting, or foregoing a souvenir if it means little kids don't get hit in the face with 100 mph foul balls. This especially goes at today's ballparks, which try their hardest to keep you distracted from the game—whether through fan experience apps, in-stadium entertainment, or absurd types and amounts of food. It's not good enough to simply say "pay attention" or post "beware batted balls" signs around the field.

If the fan experience were truly important to the owners as anything other than a way to separate them from their money, they would want to ensure the very minimum of fan safety. After all, you can't really buy anything if you're leaving on a stretcher.