Safety First

[Majingir]

I'm sure people have heard already(or will now be finding out for first time) about the scary situation at the Yankees-Braves game. And of course the other thing happened at various games being that fans getting injured from foul balls/bats flying into seats.

So with that said, anyone think we might see some things happening anytime soon to increase fan safety at games?

For the foul ball/bat stuff, suggestions came such as having a net go all the way from one foul line to the other. Some say just from one dugout to the other. Would be some getting use to, but for sake of player safety, I think people would adjust to it. Hockey boards(along with netting behind goalie) don't bother fans, nets for baseball I don't think would either.

Nets from one foul pole to the other might be abit excessive,but at same time,along with fan safety,would also prevent fan interference plays in foul territory(but no more things such as Donaldson or Jeter like plays going into the stands to make a foul ball catch).

Nets from one dugout to the other I think wouldn't be bad idea,since flying bats only seem to go over the dugout. Anything past dugout seats are typically in good enough range where if you pay attention,you could get out of harms way. Unlike behind dugout where even if you pay attention,you still might get caught.

And what about fans potentially falling from one section to something down below? Is there any way to prevent this? Obviously it's not easy to fall over the railings so unless you're stretched/reaching over it,you shouldn't be close to falling over,but still, anything people could see added as possible safety measure?

[Master Live 013]

Re: Safety First

The nets need to be extended, perhaps about the dugout or close to it.

[Jr.]

Re: Safety First

And what about fans potentially falling from one section to something down below? Is there any way to prevent this? Obviously it's not easy to fall over the railings so unless you're stretched/reaching over it,you shouldn't be close to falling over,but still, anything people could see added as possible safety measure?

I believe the code only forces railing to be 3 ft high. They need to raise it to 5 ft. plus above the bottom deck. There's no way to monitor every person sitting in the 1st row of each section, so the MLB has to keep people safe from themselves.

[Majingir]

Re: Safety First

I believe the code only forces railing to be 3 ft high. They need to raise it to 5 ft. plus above the bottom deck. There's no way to monitor every person sitting in the 1st row of each section, so the MLB has to keep people safe from themselves.

Best thing I could think of would be maybe a netting below the section? Nothing that blocks peoples view, just like a fixed netting that extends 5 or so feet outwards below the sections. So in off chance someone does fall over, there's a net directly below they'd just fall into and could easily get back into their own section from.

[Master Live 013]

Re: Safety First

I would like for the Commissioner to take this, and pitchers padded caps, head on hopefully now but probably during the offseason.

Would hate to think they aren't taking any steps (whatever steps they could take now, considering we are in season) now during the season to try and avoid bringing more attention to the issue.

[Majingir]

Re: Safety First

Don't think we'll even hear anything significant about any possible changes till around winter meetings time.

[Blzer]

Re: Safety First

Only thing I'm still scared of is safety in security. There still aren't enough measures being taken for somebody to bring something into or near a ballpark that is explosive or armed. I'm not saying we need to take measures like airport security, but I really do think it needs to be close to it.

I'm surprised something hasn't happened in that regard yet.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Safety First

Only thing I'm still scared of is safety in security. There still aren't enough measures being taken for somebody to bring something into or near a ballpark that is explosive or armed. I'm not saying we need to take measures like airport security, but I really do think it needs to be close to it.

I'm surprised something hasn't happened in that regard yet.

I've been to three games this year, and at all of them, I put everything in my pockets into a small tray for inspection and walked through a metal detector. I'm pretty sure this is now required at all parks. What more do you want?

[Blzer]

Re: Safety First

I've been to three games this year, and at all of them, I put everything in my pockets into a small tray for inspection and walked through a metal detector. I'm pretty sure this is now required at all parks. What more do you want?

Guess I haven't been to a park since last year, but at AT&T I pretty much just walked through as long as I didn't have a bag.

Yes, that works.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Safety First

Guess I haven't been to a park since last year, but at AT&T I pretty much just walked through as long as I didn't have a bag.

Ah, OK. I agree, it used to be really lax when I went to games at Target Field before this year. I remember it being a bit stricter at other parks, but it's nice that it's uniform now.

As for the rest of the stuff, I can see the rationale for extending the nets to the dugouts. However, further blocking everyone's view with 5 ft. minimum railings in the upper decks seems like a major overreaction. 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of people who have attended MLB games and sat in the upper deck have managed to not fall out of them. Accidents will happen, but can, in practically every case, be avoided with the simple use of common sense.

[aukevin]

Re: Safety First

I've been to three games this year, and at all of them, I put everything in my pockets into a small tray for inspection and walked through a metal detector. I'm pretty sure this is now required at all parks. What more do you want?

I went to Turner Field earlier this year and forgot to take a knife out of my pocket. The detector didn't catch it.

As for rails, taller rails are a bit of a pain if you sit on the first row. For example, at Bridgestone Arena (Predators hockey) you have to lean forward to see over the higher rail to see the ice if you are in the first row of the top section.

Alcohol and stupidity is more of a problem than bad stadium designs.

[kehlis]

Re: Safety First

PNC park has metal detectors but I still can't figure out the point of them since they only tell you to take a few things out of your pockets.

They tell you to leave in your car keys and the light flashes red for every person that goes through but they don't stop anyone.

[Majingir]

Re: Safety First

PNC park has metal detectors but I still can't figure out the point of them since they only tell you to take a few things out of your pockets.

They tell you to leave in your car keys and the light flashes red for every person that goes through but they don't stop anyone.

lol, I've seen security at other places like that too. They might tell you to take certain things out,and if it beeps, they'll just ask you if you got anything else you didn't take out, and then let you go through again,and if it beeps, they're just like "don't worry,you're fine,you can go". Sure, they prob got security things which could see exactly what is setting off the detectors and prob see that it might just be keys on your pocket or something like that but still.....

[Majingir]

Re: Safety First

Was reading some comments some players had on this stuff and maybe I'm just biased,but arguments for the netting seems to be better than arguments against it.

Guys for it say that it should be added for fan safety. Saying it's harder for a fan to react than it is for a pitcher to react to a line drive directly at them cause fans aren't in an "athletic position" to react to it. Not just cause people are on their phones,but even those who aren't on it,would still have hard time avoiding something(a ball,maybe you could use a glove,but a bat...even a glove might not help too much)

Guys against it say that if people are so scared of something like that happening, don't sit there. No point in complaining about something that those fans can easily avoid. The ones who know they won't be bringing a glove/will be on their phone a good amount, shouldn't be sitting near an area where you need to be paying attention alot.


What exactly are reasoning by fans who are against having a net go from dugout to dugout? Impaired vision? Or something else? Cause the nets don't block your view of it that much at all. I mean,it costs more to sit behind homeplate than it does behind dugouts,and the behind home plate fans are fine with that netted view. And sitting behind the dugout,if a bat happens to go there and you catch it, you don't get to keep it anyways....there's greater chance of you getting injured than there is of you even getting a souvenir.

[Blzer]

Re: Safety First

What exactly are reasoning by fans who are against having a net go from dugout to dugout? Impaired vision? Or something else?

For me it's the impaired vision. I do think fans have enough time to react honestly. Not saying they should man up or that it's easy to do if you don't have a glove, of course.

Though also, I really am surprised you don't see more serious injuries or deaths with the amount of line drive foul balls there are.

One of the only things really for me is once you go one way, you can't go back. If nets ever do decide to go up, they will never ever revert. As a fan (no pun intended) of sitting right behind the dugout, I love the openness in front of me. It's not that you can see less as much as it is the feeling that you're a part of the field, line drive foul balls and all.

Things will definitely be talked about this off-season regarding more fan safety and this will be on the docket, but I hope nothing comes of it. Call me selfish or ignorant, but as Vinz once said: "That's just how I feel."