The Phillies Are Leading the Charge to Enhance Protective Netting at Major League Baseball Ballparks

Well, if there’s one good thing to remember about this season other than the pretty damn good trades Ruben Amaro, Jr. made, it would probably have to be this story.

Ken Rosenthal reported yesterday that the Phillies have become the first Major League team to intend to enhance the protective screening behind home plate and down the first and third base lines due to the increase in the number of incidents regarding fan safety in baseball, especially this season.

At least one major-league team plans to extend protective netting for fans.

The Philadelphia Phillies intend to install such netting at Citizens Bank Park, but are waiting on baseball before proceeding with final plans, according to major-league sources.

The Phillies do not want to proceed and then be forced to adjust if baseball establishes different regulations, sources say.

Leave it to MLB to not let any of their teams try to protect their fans until everybody’s on the same timeline. I mean, a lady almost died earlier this season when she was struck by a shard of a broken bat at Fenway Park in Boston. Another lady was struck by a foul ball last week. You know, the whole warning of “Be alert at all times!” can only be used as a crutch for so long. Every person attending a baseball game is never alert at all times. That doesn’t mean they’re badasses who have a thrill for risk, it’s because life happens. People talk to their neighbors. Their son or daughter may spill their expensive ice cream that you now have to clean up and, you know what, you’re stealing that little helmet, too, until you can trust them to not make a mess.

“We are actively studying and evaluating a number of issues related to fan safety, including bat safety, netting, etc., at the league level,” Courtney said.

Baseball, however, cannot implement a uniform set of rules without first thoroughly examining the laws and codes in the cities and counties where its teams play.

Why does this have to be an issue? Oh, you want to protect your fans? Well, you can’t. Not until you look at our laws and codes. That just like telling Danny Tanner your kitchen is dirty and then asking him to come and clean it for you, only after taking a leap into a toxic waste dump. It’s exactly like that.

What’s wrong with a team hiking up their protective netting now and then changing it if MLB’s newly passed rules and regulations about protective netting changes? It’s common sense here, really.

Does this automatically mean if you go to a ball game with your son or daughter that you won’t be able to grab a souvenir for them? NO. Baseballs are hit at every angle all the time. Baseballs are still going to find their way into the crowd. But wouldn’t it be better if, you know, you were more prepared to see it coming down as a pop fly rather than a line drive or have to worry about broken pieces of a bat, or, hell, even an entire bat? I think it would.