Photo: Our Cincinnati-based t-shirt guy, who is trying to hurt me

Photo: Our Cincinnati-based t-shirt guy, who is trying to hurt me

The bow tie man himself, smallish green vegetable Ken Rosenthal, writes (presumably in crayon):

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.

Baseball is working diligently on the fan-safety issue, but does not expect a resolution before the end of the season, league spokesman Pat Courtney said.

Few things:

  • Great decision and much needed. Over the last few years, the world has slowly been dialing back elements of the past 150 years that really weren’t that safe in the first place. Glad to see ah, sometimes you get hit in the face at a baseball game is on that list.
  • The Phillies waiting until MLB issues guidelines is counter to the point of the nets in the first place. Presumably, they’ll come out with a statement when they do install them saying something along the lines of “fan safety is of the utmost importance to us”… but I assume the statement won’t include “but only when it’s not too much work for us to make the change and then have to tweak it again should the league issue rules.” If it’s that important, why not just do it and then, if MLB issues different guidelines, tweak it? I’m sure they can figure out a way to adjust net dimensions without too much cost. If someone gets hurt between now and the end of the season, that line about the Phillies waiting will come back to haunt them.
  • Social media often gets blamed for society’s ills, but I swear progress like this wouldn’t happen as frequently without it. What used to be a footnote in a game story – “a fan was hit by a foul ball and taken to a local hospital, her status is unknown” – gets replayed endlessly online, where enough outcry that they should really fix this forces action. Expanding those nets is a no-brainer decision.