MLB Report It’s time to protect fans from fierce foul balls, flying bats

Imagine this. You are a father taking his son to his first big-league game. You have splurged for choice seats. They are close enough to the dugout that you can hear the baseball thwack into the catcher’s glove. Your son can pick up occasional chatter from the players.

Your son has his hot dog and soda and wears his new baseball cap. You have a cold beer. It’s perfect.

Until a foul ball comes screaming off a bat at 90 to 100 mph and reaches your son’s face in less than a second. The perfect day at the ballpark has turned into a nightmare.

It’s a tragedy that should never happen. The technology is in place to install protective netting that minimally changes the fans’ experience and could save a life or protect someone from traumatic injury.

In 2002, a 13-year-old girl attending a Columbus Blue Jackets game died after being struck by a puck, prompting the NHL to erect mandatory netting the next season. After a few games, fans barely noticed the nets.

I bring this up now because the New York Mets have announced they are expanding their protective netting at Citi Field. It will be in place after the All-Star Game, in time for the Rockies’ visit to New York on July 14-16.

Fans now will be protected well beyond the dugouts and down the left- and right-field foul lines. Along with expanding the 30-foot netting by four sections on each side of home plate, the Mets are installing 8-foot netting that spans two sections farther down each foul line.

According to the Mets, the new protection covers an area three times larger then the existing netting at Citi Field. The Mets also said the new netting will utilize “enhanced technology that increases transparency and is 97 percent invisible.”

I broached this topic on Twitter the other day and most fans who responded agreed with me that all big-league ballparks should enhance fan protection from flying bats and balls. Of course, more than a few fans disagreed.

“Why change it? Baseball’s been like this for more than 100 years,” one fan tweeted.

To which I say, just because something’s been around forever doesn’t mean it shouldn’t change. Also, most of the new ballparks are more intimate than those of 50 or so years ago. Fans are on top of the action.

According to a 2014 study by David Glovin of Bloomberg News, 1,750 fans are injured each year by foul balls or broken bats that fly into the stands.

Another fan accused me of promoting “a nanny state,” while another said it’s the responsibility of the fans in the most expensive seats to “pay attention” to the game on the field.

Yes, fans should be alert. But in today’s world of smartphones and other instadium distractions, getting hit by a flying bat can’t be blamed on fans simply for not paying attention.

And new netting isn’t going to ruin the fan experience. Some of the best and most expensive seats in the house are behind the backstop.

Adding netting down the foul lines, like the Mets are doing, wouldn’t be terribly expensive. The added protection would still allow fans to catch harmless pop flies, but it would keep them out of harm’s way from foul line drives and splintered bats. Perhaps the nets could be dropped between innings so that players could toss baseballs to little kids.

Major League Baseball recommended in December 2015 that teams have protective netting between the dugouts for any field-level seats within 70 feet of home plate. That was just a recommendation.

Now the Mets have gone above and beyond. I applaud the Mets for their decision and I hope the Rockies and every other team in the majors follow their lead. Patrick Saunders is the president of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America: psaunders@denverpost.com or @psaundersdp