Following the horrific injury suffered by a Red Sox fan, now identified as 44-year old Tonya Carpenter, on Friday night at Fenway Park, the cries to extend the netting behind home plate at all 30 MLB ballpark are growing louder.
But what we didn’t know is that inside the game, the cries had been growing for years. According to a report filed by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports on Sunday morning, the MLBPA proposed extending the netting during the last two CBA negotiations…and were shot down both times by the owners.
The players, in each of the last two rounds of collective bargaining, proposed that protective netting extend down the foul lines and even to the foul poles, according to major-league sources.
The owners, however, 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, sources said.
Well, that’s not going to be a good look for the owners. Netting has been mandated behind the nets at NHL games since 2002, when a 13-year old fan was struck by a puck at a Columbus Blue Jackets game, later succumbing to her injuries.
In Rosenthal’s article, several players also spoke out in favor of extending the netting, accusing the owners of caring more about money than safety.
Brad Ziegler of the Diamondbacks…
“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.”
CJ Wilson of the Angels…
“The blowback we got is that people pay lots of money for those seats and don’t want a net in front of them. The difficulty for owners is balancing the premium seats and the safety of the people in the premium seats.
“Obviously, there is a lot of velocity involved with anything that goes into the stands, whether it’s errant throws, broken bats, foul balls — especially foul balls. It’s terrible whenever something happens and somebody gets hurt. That’s why we encourage people to literally bring a glove to the game. It’s completely random when it happens. It’s not predictable.”
Chris Capuano of the Yankees…
“Hopefully something bad doesn’t have to happen for something to change. We talked about it the last time (in collective bargaining). I’m sure it will be on the table this time.”
Former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig didn’t seem to be a fan of extending the netting back in 2008.
“While we’re always very, very concerned with the health and the welfare of the fans, you also don’t want to do anything to obstruct the views of the fans, which creates really a major problem. You sort of have to weigh one against the other.”
And therein lies the brilliant politicking of this situation. Players can claim to want the nets extended for the safety of the fans. Owners can claim *not* to want the nets extended so the fans can enjoy the game with an unobstructed view and have better access to the players. Whatever ends up happening, one side can claim the other party doesn’t care about the fans. This is a cynical point of view on my part, but it’s an amazing negotiation tactic.
But one thing to keep in mind – netting isn’t a guarantee of safety. Remember in April, when a Pirates fan standing behind home plate got hit by a foul ball *through* the netting? A net wouldn’t prevent a smaller piece of a shattered bat from sneaking through and cutting a fan. A net wouldn’t stop a sharply hit line drive from hitting a fan foolishly standing directly against the netting.
Despite all that, extended netting *would* prevent fans ten rows deep from getting a foul ball to the dome. It would prevent fans five rows behind the dugout from getting hit by a bat when a player doesn’t use enough pine tar and can’t keep a hold of it. There are pros and cons of extending the netting, and while I think it’ll eventually be extended, there will likely be some sort of compromise that manages to satisfy both parties in one way or another.
