The Red Sox this season are offering "new virtual reality booths at Fenway Park," allowing fans a "chance to see the team up close and in 360 degrees," according to Jimmy Golen of the AP. The first VR video "includes shots of batting practice and pitching sessions from up close, with the viewer standing in the batter's box or behind infielders as they take ground balls." More VR videos are being "planned as the team accumulates footage from the regular season." The club for now will station "three dugout-themed booths" throughout the ballpark, and each "has several virtual reality headsets." The free video "takes two minutes -- about the right amount for a fan to see during a pitching change or between innings." Red Sox Senior VP & CMO Adam Grossman said that the club "plans to bring it to schools and to other off-site events" (AP, 4/8).
GRASS ROOTS EFFORT: USA TODAY's Maureen Mullen reports there will be "more infield grass" at Fenway Park this season, as the grass between the pitcher's mound and the basepaths "has been extended." The ballpark "hosted several events during the winter, including high school football games, the Notre Dame-Boston College football game" and the Polartec Big Air at Fenway Park. Red Sox President Sam Kennedy: "We put a lot of strain on the field through the offseason. A couple of times, we've had the opportunity to resod the entire field. This year was one of those. So when we put the field in, we added, it's a very small amount, but the cutouts around home plate, around first base, around second base, and around third base." Mullen notes the Red Sox also "overhauled the playing surface" after the '12 and '14 seasons (USA TODAY, 4/11).
NOTHING BUT NETTING: In Boston, Steve Buckley notes the Red Sox' new safety netting, which extends from dugout to dugout around home plate, "makes its debut this afternoon" as the team hosts the Orioles. But Buckley wonders if the netting will "lessen the viewing pleasure for the people sitting behind it." Fans sitting further back "will have to deal with the cable supports at the top of the netting," and the mesh doors that "provide access to the field are hard to ignore." The bigger issue "is that the netting adds yet another wall between the players and the fans" (BOSTON HERALD, 4/11). Kennedy said the netting, made by Promats Athletics, is the "most transparent solution that exists today." He said the team has relocated "a handful" of season-ticket holders who were unhappy. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh taking a tour of the ballpark Friday morning said that the netting will "take some getting used to." Meanwhile, in Boston, Keith Pearson notes the Red Sox "added 222 seats in the upper deck down the first base line" for this season. The concession area near Gate E also has been "renovated and expanded and features the '3rd Base Saloon'" (BOSTON HERALD, 4/11).
THE BIGGER ISSUE: Author Stephen King in an editorial for the BOSTON GLOBE notes the Red Sox called him in the offseason to tell him that certain areas of Fenway Park were "going to be covered by netting." One of those areas is where King's two dugout seats "are located." King: "There are questions inherent in the decision to net, and I think they're bigger than baseball." When does protection "become overprotection?" King: "I understand the Red Sox bear some responsibility, but I also accept my responsibility to take care of myself -- to the best of my ability -- when I'm at the ballpark." There is something "almost ludicrous about wrapping America's baseball stadiums in protective gauze when any idiot with a grudge can buy a gun and shoot a bunch of people" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/11).
