It's great for drunks who want to eat, take bathroom and bar breaks, hold a beer and a pizza in hand. Great for parents who don't have to helicopter parent. Great for kids who can see their idols up close. Great for seniors who aren't quick enough to get out of the way. Great for casual fans who don't want to bring a glove to the stadium or can't catch a soft toss let alone a line drive. Even great for baseball fans who want to talk about the game, write shit in their score books, check the scores from other games. It's great for the players who have all said repeatedly they want nets. Nets don't just benefit the pussies who can't get out of the way. They benefit everybody.

It's bad for the 2 or 3 times a game a foul ball hits the new nets instead of going into the crowd. And the 1 or 2 people I've actually heard complain about it obstructing the view. It's not just a safety benefit. It's great for the game.

IM PISED GONA KIL MY FAMLY AND SELF

Rangers fan got hit in the head by a foul ball, 25 rows back.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">For the first time in 47 seasons, the original foul poles at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheK?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheK</a> are being replaced.<br> <br>A piece of one of the originals will be sent to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Royals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Royals</a> Hall of Fame.<br> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AlwaysRoyal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AlwaysRoyal</a> <a href="https://t.co/bnqduNB0Z2">pic.twitter.com/bnqduNB0Z2</a></p>&mdash; Kansas City Royals (@Royals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Royals/status/1215031369832644608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Royals are replacing the old foul poles to put up ones that can handle netting.

Meanwhile: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/08/us/ho...rnd/index.html

https://i.imgur.com/ofoN22h.png

The world moves on, things improve, the "dammit in my day we were tough" crowd like scho quickly forgets and moves on to the next wussification outrage that's going to ruin this country.

Yeah, I'm sure people were saying football was "wussifying" or whatever when Teddy Roosevelt almost banned the sport entirely because players kept dying on the field.

People will get over this.

I'm actually very surprised netting hasn't been mandated long ago in MLB considering our very very litigious society nowadays.:shrug:

Am I wrong to say that if you sit in an area of the stadium where balls are coming at you at 110 MPH, you fail to pay attention, and you get hit with said ball... that shit is on you.

https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/...-476042702.jpg

If you sit a 2 year old in that area, FAIL TO PAY ATTENTION, they get hit by a ball, and they now need to be spoon fed for the rest of their lives... that shit is on the parent.

Parent paying attention:

https://tribktla.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/hero2.jpg

Parent not paying attention:

https://res.cloudinary.com/tsl/image...t-baseball.jpg

-----

Nah... why experience personal accountability when we can just sue and babyproof everything for the dumbest common denominator?

I don't think there's any proof that the parent wasn't paying attention.

It's not the smartest thing to bring your kid there. But if your stadium's way of punting liability is to tell fans they have to be ready at a moment's notice to catch a 110 mph hardball screaming at your head or else it's your fault... So who's not allowed down there now? No kids. Nobody with poor coordination, probably a lot of women. No seniors. No handicapped. All phones confiscated. No scorebooks. And while we're at it, nobody should be allowed to hold a beer or nachos during a pitch. Maybe then people will just pay attention like they're supposed to.

This is a real dumbass take.

Why do they need to be told??? Logic states that a 100mph fastball crushed into the stands on a line drive is gonna hurt like a mother ****er if it hits you.

Drink beer and chow nachos while updating your twitter feed all you want. Nothing needs to be confiscated nor do people need to go through some sort of coordination test. But if you get drilled by a baseball... it is on you. If you brought your 2 year old that CAN'T pay attention for themselves... then doubly so.

/completely agreed with the bolded part

Excellent response. I can see why you are a valued member of this community. The conversation that you bring is just...

https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedi...a/19513640.gif

Seriously who give a shit about the white sox.

And what about the players who are scarred for life? Maybe just to be nice to them we can look through some netting? Would you like to go to work knowing you could give a little kid brain damage - even if it's 100% her parents' fault?

This isn't exactly "better put warnings on everything to tell people hot coffee might not feel good when spilled into your lap".... why should there even be a possibility of being hit with a ball traveling at 110mph when you're watching a baseball game?

You could say they shouldn't sue and should assume the risk... but, saying the netting is 'babyproofing' is quite the stretch. And it's perfectly illustrated by your "paying attention" pic being of a guy knocking down a bat instead of a 110mph ball.

I'm good with the nets being extended to protect the fans. I remember that September 1, 1982, game when Amos Otis threw his bat on three consecutive swings (https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/09...4530399873600/), with the first bat going over the Rangers (third base) dugout and hitting a fan that I believe may have been hard-of-hearing. I don't fully trust my memory, but I think the injured fan had come to the game missing an ear and when he got hit, blood was coming from that area of his head. It was already bad enough that a fan got injured, but that particular fan was someone who seemed to go from one minute paying attention to the game to then being a very unwilling object of everyone's attention, frightened and injured. I was only a couple of rows away, with my back turned making a hot dog for a customer. (I was a food vendor at Truman Sports Complex from 1982-88.) That bat did some damage. The Rangers manager said after the game that he felt that Otis was trying to throw the bat into the dugout, in retaliation for being hit in the back of his head during his previous plate appearance. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2635...2_amos_otis_2/

Anyway, back then, the nets just protected the areas in between the dugouts, but now they also protect the area behind the dugouts. I'm OK with them going further down the line, mostly to protect fans from hard-hit foul balls, but the nets also would prevent fan interference, which very much irks me. Down the left-field foul lines in Chicago, there was that ridiculous Bartman incident that kept Alou from catching a foul at Wrigley, but there was also that glorious catch by Alex Gordon against the White Sox, so I suppose there are some bad aspects to the extended netting. But, all and all, I'd rather not see fans and workers in the stands get hit by projectiles.