Should MLB Do More To Protect Fans From Foul Balls?

MLB To Discuss Fan Protection At Next Month's Owners Meeting

MLB is "ignoring ... the big picture that includes all those fans in unprotected seats near the dugouts and the foul lines where line-drive foul balls can be lethal projectiles," according to Dave Anderson of the N.Y. TIMES. There has been only one death in MLB history as a result of a batted ball, and as "line-drive foul balls keep whistling into those unprotected seats, baseball people hold their breath." Anderson wrote Japan "has the solution, " as the Red Sox-A's exhibition games at the Tokyo Dome featured protective screens which "rose along the front-row boxes all the way to the outfield walls." MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, when asked if MLB owners had discussed similar protective screens, said that the "sentiment over the years was that the fans' view of the game would be obstructed." However, Anderson noted "nobody seems to object to the view from behind the screen and netting behind home plate." Selig for next month's MLB owners meeting promised to "bring it up and talk about it." Anderson: "But do not merely talk about it. Do something about it. Baseball does not need another black eye. Or worse, a black hearse" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/20).