MLB has contacted AT&T Park officials to "express its concern that an infielder could get hurt by losing a ball" in fans' "so-called 'rally lights,'" according to a source cited by Henry Schulman of the S.F. CHRONICLE. Giants fans this season have been holding up lights -- usually the flashlight app on their phones -- in late-game scenarios. Dodgers 3B Justin Turner "complained about one light that was shining in his eyes Monday night." The umpires "stopped the game briefly and had the customer flip off his light." MLB has "not told the Giants that fans cannot do the rally lights." But the league "wants the team to work with ushers in the sections between the bases behind the plate to get those lights turned off for safety reasons" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/27).
ORIGIN STORY: In S.F., Sam Whiting wrote no one "knows how it started, but this much is known for sure -- in a month in which not much else has worked for the Giants, the flashlight rally has gotten the job done." Giants PA announcer Renel Brooks-Moon said, "It just happened organically and caught on like wildfire." The "necessary elements appear to be thus: the seventh inning, a man on base and long at-bats to allow the light show to build." The lights first appeared on April 14. The inning "began with two strikeouts," before Giants 1B Brandon Belt "came to the plate with a man on base." Mike Muldowney, a splash-cam operator for NBC Sports Bay Area, "zoomed across the stadium to flashing lights in the left-field upper deck." With each ball Belt fouled off, "more cell-phone flashlights appeared." Rusty Phillips, who was working the TV camera by the Giants’ dugout, "set his camera on a wide angle and caught a sea of flash" as Belt ripped a base hit. The lights "stayed on as the Giants strung together five singles to score four runs." Whiting: "There was something to this new flash mob" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/26).
