BASEBALL Senators want foulball data

Illinois’ two senators continued their pressure campaign on Major League Baseball to be more proactive about fan safety at ballparks, urging greater transparency about how often and how seriously fans are hurt by foul balls.

Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth said in a letter to Commissioner Rob Manfred this week that MLB should “collect and report data about fan injuries.” Durbin and Duckworth previously have called on all 30 majorleague teams to extend protective netting to the foul poles at their stadiums.

“We currently rely on media coverage about foulball injuries, which can lead to misinformation and confusion,” the senators wrote in the letter, sent Tuesday. “The creation of an injury registry would help provide the public a better understanding of fan injuries at MLB stadiums and help evaluate the voluntary safety measures that many teams are implementing.”

Last month, the Chicago White Sox became the first team to extend protective netting from foul pole to foul pole. The safety measure was announced a week after a foul ball at the park sent a woman to the hospital with her head bleeding.

Manfred, however, has resisted mandating that all teams extend netting to the foul poles, saying different ballpark configurations make a blanket rule impossible.

Briefly: The Cubs signed former A’s catcher Jonathan Lucroy, 33, who cleared waivers and was unconditionally released by the Angels . ... Relievers Greg Holland (Arizona) and Trevor Rosenthal (Detroit) were designated for assignment . ... ExA’s infielder Ryon Healy, now with Seattle, had hip surgery and is expected to need at least four months to recover, the Seattle Times reported . ... Players put on the injured list include Atlanta utilityman Austin Riley (knee) and Miami shortstop Miguel Rojas (hamstring).