Fans express concerns with safety at ballpark

Is it worth risking serious injury for a little clearer view of the action at a baseball game?

That debate was rekindled Wednesday afternoon at Yankee Stadium when a line drive off the bat of Todd Frazier struck a young girl in the seats beyond the visiting dugout. The game stopped for nearly four minutes as the youngster was carried from the stands and taken to local hospital.

“I brought my kids to the last Yankees game and I always fear when I’m down there,” said Robert Mora, of Long Island, who was sitting in a section behind where the incident occurred. “It just came so fast.”

All around the lower sections are signs alerting fans to be aware of foul balls and broken bats. Reminders are played on the video screen and heard across the sound system during the game.

Still, the only netting to protect fans at Yankee Stadium goes from the near side of one dugout to the other.

Major League Baseball has encouraged teams to have “netting that shields from line-drive foul balls all field-level seats that are located between the near ends of both dugouts [i.e., the ends of the dugouts located closest to home plate, inclusive of any adjacent camera wells] and within 70 feet of home plate.”

Some clubs — including the Mets — have taken extra precautions with extended netting, but the decision is made by each organization.

“People complain about the sightlines, but the seats behind home plate are still expensive because people want to be there, [even though] the net’s there,” said a man named Josh from Minnesota, wearing a Twins jersey.

Another fan, who preferred not to give his name, said he doesn’t go to many baseball games, but was “kind of hiding a little bit” in his seat after Frazier’s foul ball came close to his section. It wasn’t a unanimous decision, though. Said Angela Casolaro from Manhattan, who was sitting in a section behind where the foul ball landed: “I’m undecided about the nets because when you pay that much for seats, you don’t want your view blocked.”