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Bat-Shard Incident At Fenway Could Be Impetus For Change As Calls For More Netting Grow

The incident surrounding Red Sox fan Tonya Carpenter, who was "struck and seriously injured" by a shattered baseball bat at Friday's A's-Red Sox game, "raised larger questions about safety" at Fenway Park and other ballparks where fans are seated close to the action, according to Krantz, McCabe & Vega of the BOSTON GLOBE. Medical staff carried Carpenter "off the field, and she was taken to a Boston hospital during the second inning of the game, after a section of a bat" swung by A's 3B Brett Lawrie struck her in the head. The injury "did not deter fans from filling seats at the ball park Saturday afternoon, but it renewed discussion over whether nets that protect fans behind home plate should be extended farther toward the dugouts." That question "has provoked controversy in the past and was raised when the seats near where Carpenter sat were installed about 13 years ago, narrowing the already scant foul ground between the stands and the batter’s box." The issue of whether to extend netting to protect fans "has been controversial for years" since the "up-close feel of the baseball park is part of what makes it attractive." However, Pennsylvania-based MAC Safety Consultants President & Owner Chris Miranda said that "nets are an easy way to make games safer." Miranda: "Netting down to the beginning of dugouts, I don’t think it would ruin anyone’s time at a game" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/7). USA TODAY's Lemire & Mullen reported there "are more than a dozen signs on the first-row wall along the field at Fenway Park that warn, 'Be Alert Foul Balls and Bats Hurt,' but there's not much space for reaction time." Another increasing concern "is fans' divided attention with so many looking down at their smartphones, in addition to other distractions, such as superstar players in close proximity." Red Sox DH David Oritz: "I'm not too comfortable with the fans around the on-deck circle. When I got to the on-deck I always have kids screaming and kind of focusing on me. And I keep on telling them, 'Hey, just watch the hitter, watch the hitter.' Because I don't want to see nobody getting hit by a foul ball or anything like that" (USATODAY.com, 6/6).

OWNING THE SITUATION: FOXSPORTS.COM's Ken Rosenthal cited sources as saying that MLBers in each of the last two rounds of CBA negotiations proposed that protective netting "extend down the foul lines and even to the foul poles." However, sources added that owners "rejected the proposals for the 2007 and 2012 labor agreements, citing concerns that additional netting would detract from the experience of ticket buyers in certain premium seats." D-backs P and MLBPA negotiating committee member Brad Ziegler: "Some owners are afraid to upset the fans that pay some of the highest ticket prices, when in reality, it's an effort to protect those very fans. (The owners) seem afraid that fans will lose access to the players -- autographs, getting baseballs, etc. -- and that will cause those ticket holders to be unhappy. Or, that they'd have to watch the game through a net. (But) fans behind home plate pay the highest prices, have the same issues, and yet those seats are always full." MLBers said that owners "have seemed to place a greater priority on fan ambiance than fan safety" (FOXSPORTS.com, 6/7). Lawrie said of wanting teams to extend protective netting from dugout to dugout, "Oh, 100%. This is an older ballpark and the fans are right on top of you as soon as you come out of the dugout and all way down to the on-deck circle and then as soon as you get in there (at the plate). So it should be definitely something to take a look at and something that they should be looking to input. No doubt." Red Sox P and MLBPA rep Craig Breslow: "It seems kind of unfortunate that it takes situations like the one we had a couple of nights ago to bring this to the forefront. ... I remember being at board meetings a few years when guys have said, 'Why don't we just extend netting all the way to at least the beginning of the dugouts?' And for whatever reason, it's never really gained traction. But I think it's become a team-side issue" (USA TODAY, 6/8).

THE MAN OF THE HOUR: In L.A., Bill Shaikin cites a source as saying that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred "is expected to review whether additional netting might be in order." After Friday's "horrifying scene ... it is past time for baseball to make all the progress it can on keeping fans as safe as possible. MLB "takes in" enough "to buy a few more nets." The league "mandates protective netting behind home plate." If netting "had been extended to the end of each dugout, where plenty of line drives and broken bats land," Friday's incident might not have happened (L.A. TIMES, 6/8). USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale wrote since MLB "implemented mandatory metal detectors at every ballpark for the safety of fans and players for the first time this season," it now is also "the time to make it mandatory that safety netting extends past every dugout at every major league ballpark." Nightengale: "They do it at the ballparks in Japan. It's past time they do it here." MLB in a statement said, "We have the utmost concern for the victim of this terribly unfortunate incident. Fan safety is our foremost goal for all those who choose to support our game by visiting our ballparks and we will always strive for that experience to be safe and fan-friendly.'' Nightengale wrote when owners get together in August for their quarterly meetings in Chicago, it is "imperative" that Manfred "tells each one of them that their ballpark has to change" before the '16 season (USATODAY.com, 6/7).

A QUICK FIX: In Boston, Michael Silverman writes extending protective screening from dugout to dugout, "rather than only the stingy territory behind home plate like it is now at Fenway Park, would be a simple and inexpensive fix." It is clear that "there is a concern that MLB is going to be slow to act in any sort of unilateral way to improve fan safety" (BOSTON HERALD, 5/8). Also in Boston, Kalter & Mastrodonato write for the NHL, it "took the death of 13-year-old Brittanie Cecil -- who was struck by a stray puck -- to develop protective netting requirements." But Miranda said that increasing protective netting "will likely have to start at the college level and work its way up to the major leagues" (BOSTON HERALD, 5/8).

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