TBT – LACK OF NETTING IN BALLPARKS & THE “BASEBALL RULE LAW”

On Wednesday, another fan was injured at a Major League Baseball park when a line drive off a player’s bat careened into the stands down the left field line at an Astros game and into a section without protective netting.

This time, it was a little girl that was carried off and taken to the hospital. While her outlook seems to be positive, I can’t help but think back to an article I wrote in 2015. I discussed the perils of ballparks without netting in this day and age of bulkier players, better equipment and closer stands.

I wondered why baseball owners didn’t take more precautions and instead, seem to be testing the limits of the human body’s ability to withstand a 100+ mile per hour hard ball heading straight for it.

The bottomline (then and now) is that owners need not worry about the ramifications of whether or not a little girl dies in their place because they refuse to put up netting. They are shielded by the “Baseball Rule Law”, a law protecting MLB franchises going back to 1913.

While a number of teams have indeed, extended netting down to the dugouts in the last two years since another little girl got smacked in the face with a line drive behind the third-base dugout, it’s clearly not enough. That little girl sustained multiple facial fractures and bleeding on the brain. She was just shy of her second birthday…

The worst part of it all: Baseball owners don’t want to do the right thing NOW, before there are more victims. What’s it going to take??

THROW BACK TO THE LADY LOVES SPORTS ARTICLE POSTED JUNE 8, 2015:

On June 5, 2015, a fan was gravely injured while attending a baseball game at Boston’s Fenway Park, after she was hit in the face by a broken bat.  She was sitting in a second row seat between home plate and the third-base dugout, beyond the required netting area.

Currently, MLB only requires seats behind home plate to be netted for spectators’ safety from foul balls.

Within days of that incident, it was revealed that since 2007, the MLB players union twice proposed increased netting in ballparks “extending down the foul lines and even to the foul poles” for the protection of spectators.

However, MLB owners twice voted down these proposals, citing fears that increased netting would obstruct fans views, especially for those sitting in the expensive “premium” seats (mostly in front down the foul lines).

Obviously, accidents similar to June 5 could have been prevented if MLB owners simply agreed to put up increased netting.

Instead, they were worried that premium ticket holders might be turned off by the netting blocking their views and have decreased access to the players (autographs, getting baseballs, etc.),

It’s upsetting that MLB owners have had the confidence to withstand the pressure of putting up these safety features in these dangerous unscreened areas, because they currently have protection in courts of law.

Referred to as the “Baseball Rule”, a traditional law has been adopted by a “majority of jurisdictions” which limits owners’ responsibilities to fan safety in the “zone of danger” only to the area behind home plate.

Essentially, it puts the burden on spectators sitting in unscreened areas to assume the risk of being injured by debris entering the stands during the ordinary course of play and pregame.

According to an article written by James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D. on June 1, 2013, “the Baseball Rule avoids creating a potential lawsuit for every ball entering the stands and striking a spectator. Absent the Baseball Rule, under general principles of landowner liability for negligence, each spectator injury would have to be considered on a case-by-case basis based upon the particular circumstances of a particular game in each stadium setting. Accordingly, the Baseball Rule avoids a flood of litigation by increasing the likelihood that a spectator lawsuit will be dismissed prior to trial on a motion for summary judgment.”

Thus, rather than holding MLB owners liable for every incident of a fan getting hit by balls in unscreened areas, the courts have decided not to open the flood gates and protect them from being barraged by law suits.

A July 14, 2014 article on AtlantaMagazine.com suggests that data released in 2003 as part of a lawsuit showed that during a 5-year period in the 1990s at Fenway Park, between 36-53 people were injured by foul balls each season.

If we take that average (44) that’s the number of law suits that each owner could potentially expect to face each MLB season from fans getting hurt in unscreened areas.

As a result of protection under the “Baseball Rule Law”, MLB owners seem to be willing to roll the dice with our well-being.

It’s safe to assume then, that MLB knows about this law.  The only requirement for netting in ball parks is the same area(s) which owners could be dinged for in a court of law.

Certainly, if June 5th’s almost fatal incident does not propel MLB to require extra netting, perhaps it’s time for courts to open up liability to the owners in unscreened areas.

Further, if MLB chooses not to require the extra netting, it needs to be held accountable for letting owners choose their stance on issues that pertain to spectators’ safety.

In the meantime, for those fans sitting in these unscreened areas, be forewarned that the law may not be on your side.

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