Sports / Feature and Column
Teams help fans hurt by flying baseballs
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-07-17 14:35
DIFFERENT MEASURES
In other world sports, teams take different measures to try to ensure fan
safety.
In hockey, a standard Plexiglas barrier between the ice and the seats
protects spectators because a puck slapped into the stands can cause
serious injury.
Still, a 13-year-old girl was killed in March at a National Hockey League
game in Columbus, Ohio, by a puck that flew over the barrier.
In Europe and Latin America, soccer balls booted into the stands rarely
injure a spectator. Instead, fences are set up between seats and the
playing field at most arenas to protect players and officials from
fanatical fans who are known to violently dispute a call or a devastating
loss.
Jim Elliott, a Michigan attorney who has represented fans injured at
sporting events, said baseball executives should do more than reactive
usher safety drills.
"There's always netting behind home plate, but it's not uniform," said
Elliott, who won $1 million from the Detroit Tigers for a 10-year-old fan
whose hand was injured by a flying broken bat.
"There are no league requirements. It's whatever each park decides."
EXTENDED NETS
In ballparks, a net about 50 feet (15 meters) long and 50 feet high hangs
behind home plate. Elliott suggested it be extended up the first and
third base lines.
Likewise, a three-foot (one meter) Plexiglas wall could run above the
front-row railing beginning where the netting now ends and extending up
the base lines, he said.
Patrick Courtney, spokesman for Major League Baseball, said clubs decide
their own safety measures.
"There's no league-wide policy for (the use of) netting and Plexiglas,"
he said. No big-league stadium has a Plexiglas barrier.
The Nats' Sutton said Plexiglas would detract from fans' enjoyment.
"Fans are so close, they don't want to be distracted with that sort of
barrier." Ballpark injuries are less serious than at hockey games, he
said.
At a recent Nats game, David Black's fourth-row seat was so close to home
plate you could hear an errant pitch thump Chicago Cubs' batter Derrek
Lee in his side.
"You come to a game, you gotta expect a ball's going to fly your way. You
gotta pay attention," said Black, of Gainesville, Virginia. Yet he would
object to any kind of barrier. "It "removes you from the game," he said.
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