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Keith Strudler: Baseball Needs A Safety Net

 

There comes a point in many young athletes' lives when they are forced to confront a difficult question. That is, am I afraid of getting hit by a baseball? I say this without even a hint of insult or derision, speaking as someone who personally is quite afraid of that very potential reality. I have two athletic boys, both who play team sports. My nine-year-old doesn’t seem to be afraid of getting hit – granted, he doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything, which I hope eventually changes. So he still plays. My oldest son decided after last season, after getting hit by a couple of pitches, that he’s done.

 By all accounts, playing baseball itself is a highly unnatural act. Very rarely would someone stand still while someone raised several inches above them not far away throws a rock-solid projectile mere inches from their head. For most people, it takes every ounce of their being not to simply dive the opposite direction when the ball comes towards the mound. So while I have enormous respect for athletes with the courage to play, I have equal respect for those with the wisdom to bow out.

That said, when you play baseball, you are knowingly taking a risk. Just like a football player, baseball players know that they could get severely injured at a moment’s notice, not simply by pitch, but a line drive, a broken bat, and any other way these weapons of play turn dangerous. And as much as parents are now thinking long and hard about keeping their kids out of youth football, I often have equal qualms of my kids playing baseball, especially as they grow older and stronger as do to their opponents. It’s one thing to get hit by a ball from by a five-year-old off a tee. It’s another by 16-year-old pitcher throwing 70 miles an hour.

But who doesn’t necessarily want to take these considerable risks are the countless fans that go watch baseball every year in person, including the millions that watch Major League games from Fenway Park to Dodger Stadium. Yet still, fans do find themselves occasionally in the line of fire, either from a foul ball or even an errant broken bat. That happened last week in Houston, when a line drive foul ball up the third base line hit a young girl who ended up in the hospital. She’s recovering, but Cubs’ Albert Amora Jr, who hit the ball, is something of an emotional wreck.

This isn’t anything new, even if it’s gotten worse in an age where everyone looks at their phones half the game. After a particularly bloody 2017, Major League Baseball announced that all clubs would extend safety netting to the end of the dugout. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help the countless screamers that go beyond that into the stands. And it obviously wouldn’t do anything about all the minor league parks across the country that often have less quality control than a hot dog factory. 

The debate here is quite simple, and something I’m sure I’ve talked about before. On the one hand, baseball traditionalists want both the opportunity to catch a fly ball and an unobstructed view of the field, which, I suppose a webbed netting prohibits. On the other hand, anyone with child or a personal fear of getting hit in the face wants more nets, likely all the way down to the foul pole. And for the record, I once saw a grown man get bloodied trying to catch a screamer just outside home run territory. 

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred just said that he isn’t planning any immediate mandate to require more safety nets. Which means for at least the time being, I’d highly encourage buying seats in the nose bleed section – or at least nose bleed by altitude, not force. They’re cheaper, and you can take a nap during the game. But I’d also encourage baseball purists to remember that context is always king. So while I understand the argument that baseball isn’t meant to be played behind safety glass, or that people should learn to be a bit more in the moment instead of playing Candy Crush in the stands, those arguments fall flat when families decide they’d rather stay home than take the risk. Or perhaps go watch a soccer game, when the worst thing about a ball going into the stands is that you can’t keep it. Baseball purists can argue all they want about the sanctity of the game. None of it will matter if teams can’t make payroll, which is exactly what will happen with a few more events like what happened last week in Houston. 

Like a lot of young athletes, people do have to decide whether they’re afraid of getting hit by a baseball. Right now, MLB may be making that decision a bit too easy.

Keith Strudler is the director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. You can follow him on twitter at @KeithStrudler

The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.

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