By William Coppola
“We have also considered comments from our great fans. While the current protective netting meets the recommended guidelines established by Major League Baseball, the additional protective netting we are planning to install for the 2018 season will exceed the current guidelines established by the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.”
Wow! Thank goodness this statement came out during this pre-playoff game at Yankee Stadium today on the last day of the regular season. At least, I’ll have something to write about on a day where players seem to be going through the motions. Although the managers gave a good effort as both challenged bad calls by the umps.
But about the installation of additional netting, if fans payed attention more instead of playing on their cell phones or eating $13 steak sandwiches and trying not to spill a drop of a $12 beer, they may be able to see a ball coming at them and either catch it or duck.
As far as comments from fans, my friend Brian JR texted, “I guess we won’t see another Jeter face plant into the stands anymore.”
Today I saw numerous baseballs fly into the seats, fans love it. Pay attention and stop changing the game. I understand the addition of more netting will prevent people from getting hurt and I have come to understand that the people attending games today are different than fans 20 or more years ago.
While the necessity of providing a safe environment of all fans is understandable, can the baseball gods please leave something about this grand game that’s still somewhat familiar to us old-timers?
William Coppola is a contributing writer. He has 40 years in baseball as a player, umpire, and advanced scout.
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