Fans mull safety after injury at Fenway
BALLPARK ACCIDENT: Woman in serious condition after broken bat flies into stands during game in Boston
BOSTON — Erik Barnard sat with his three-year-old son along Fenway Park’s third-base line, a few sections from where a woman was seriously injured when a broken bat flew into the stands two days earlier.
He never considered surrendering those front-row seats that aren’t guarded by netting. But he would be sure to protect little Christopher.
“I’ll definitely be watching out for him and putting him on my lap,” Barnard said before Sunday’s game between the Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox.
It’s a delicate balance for fans throughout the major leagues: weighing the danger of being hit by a wayward bat or ball against the enhanced experience of being so close to the action, few closer than at cosy Fenway.
Over the past three days, bats have flown into the stands in at least three cities. Yet fans consider the risk of injury minimal.
“I’d absolutely sit down here. Why not?” said 38-year-old Doug Jones, who was in the front row along the third-base line Sunday in Boston, “but you need to pay attention.”
On Friday night, 44-year-old Tonya Carpenter was struck in the head by a bat that broke on a swing by Oakland third baseman and Langley native Brett Lawrie in the second inning of Boston’s 4-2 win.
She was treated in the stands then taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with what police described as life-threatening injuries. She was listed in serious condition Saturday and Sunday, a hospital spokesman said.
In Cincinnati, no one was hurt Saturday when a bat landed in the stands. Everyone was OK Sunday when a bat sailed into the seats at a White Sox game in Chicago.
And in the first inning of a 7-4 Red Sox win over the Athletics on Sunday, Boston’s Hanley Ramirez lost control of his bat. It hit the net in front of Oakland’s dugout.
Some fans with seats near the field prefer to sit directly behind home plate where they’re protected by a backstop. Parents sometimes arrange seating with their children between them. Others said they don’t consider safety when buying tickets.
At most major-league parks, the netting that protects fans from foul balls covers the backstop behind the catcher, but stops before each dugout. Some fans said they would sit closer to the field if the netting were extended.
But that net might decrease a fan’s enjoyment of the sights and sounds on a perfect afternoon for baseball like Sunday — sunny and warm with a slight breeze at historic Fenway.
“I do understand the objection of having something in front of you,” said 42-year-old Chad LeBlanc, who attended Sunday’s game with his 12-year-old son Logan.
Another fan, Jeremy Welford, said he was more conscious of the risk after Friday’s injury.
“If you’re with a youngster, it’s too dangerous,” he said with his nineyear-old daughter Megan beside him. “I sit behind the nets all the time and it doesn’t bother me.”
The backs of tickets tell fans to remain alert. At Fenway, about a dozen signs facing fans in the front row of box seats warn in red and white capital letters: “BE ALERT FOUL BALLS AND BATS HURT.” But no matter how vigilant, fans do turn away from the action to snap a selfie, fill in a scorecard or hail a hotdog vendor.
In Toronto, Karen Luscombe sat behind the third-base dugout with her son. “I worry about it, for sure,” she said, but “the best view is where we want to sit.”