TheStar.com

Dangers of attending baseball games, aside from getting food poisoning with all of the chemical  and ingredients in hot dogs. You don’t even want to know what is in them.

The following are only a few of the injuries suffered each year by fans going to major league baseball games.

Do the baseball commission and the teams owners really care? I think the answer is obvious by their lack of actions to correct the problems.

Fenway Park: June 5, 2015

When the Oakland Athletics’ Brett Lawrie broke a bat in the second inning of a game against the Boston Red Sox, a hunk of wood went hurtling into the stands, striking Tonya Carpenter directly in the head. The bloodied woman was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries. After undergoing brain surgery, she is still recovering.

Citi Field: Aug. 29, 2011

In the ninth inning of a game between the New York Mets and the Florida Marlins, Marlins third baseman Greg Dobbs hit a foul straight into the stands above the Mets’ dugout, striking 12-year-old Eliezer Shalomoff in the face, fracturing his nose and sinuses. Shalomoff endured repeated hospital visits and severe headaches after the accident.

Turner Field: Sept. 14, 2010

Longtime Atlanta Braves fan Reza Ezell was watching her favourite team against the Washington Nationals when a foul ball came barreling towards where she was sitting, just above third base. The ball landed squarely in Ezell’s face. Ezell, who remains a diehard fan, has endured numerous surgeries and has lost vision in her right eye because of the incident.

Turner Field: May 30, 2010

When Atlanta Braves outfielder Melky Cabrera hit a foul line-drive in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the ball crashed into the head of a 6-year-old girl sitting behind the third base dugout, fracturing her skull in 30 places and causing traumatic brain injury. Her family has since sued the Braves for not installing protective netting at the stadium.

Dodger Stadium: May 16, 1970

When the Los Angeles Dodgers faced off against the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers’ Manny Mota hit a line drive that struck 14-year-old Alan Fish in the left temple. Fish died four days later, making the teenager the only spectator to die from being hit by a foul ball in MLB’s long history.

Some are injuries severe, some are life threatening and some only result with a bump on the head.  But getting hit with a foul ball in any manner is not a good thing.

There is an estimated 1,750 people a year that are injured while attending a ML baseball games from foul balls or broken bats; A YEAR.

As we would assume, the baseball commission and greedy owners of the teams do not want to take preventative measures that ARE available to help eliminate the serious problem.

They come up with every reason under the sun to shirk their responsibility but as we all should know, it is all abut money.

In the Land of the Rising Sun where baseball has a god like presents, they  put the safety of their fans before the Almighty Yen.  They have installed protective screens all the way from home plate to past the out of bounds or foul ball markers on each side of the field.

Foul ball or broken bat injuries are minimal.

They also have workers stationed at critical stations in the park where foul balls are commonly hit with whistles and warning devices if a ball is hit in that direction to alert them.

Unlike their  American counterpart that have the court systems rigged in their favor; a Japanese court  just awarded a women hit by a fowl ball the equivalent of $ 350,000.00 for her injuries.

We all know that the owners of the teams in the USA not only gouge the fans with the price of some tickets but the peanuts – pop corn – cracker jacks and the watered down beer the sell also brings in a big bucks. If they were compelled to put up safety nets, the cost would cut into their profits. We wouldn’t want to see these people living on poverty row.

It has always been a practice of mine to; take care of whomever takes care of me. That is not rule the team owners live by.

In order to CTA (cover their ass) and protect themselves of any liability, on the back of each ticket sold there is a disclaimer, that I am sure 95% of the fans never read, releasing the owners of any baseball team of any responsibility for any fans that gets injured in their stadium. Read the fine print.

#1 dumb question of the day. Are home owners liable if someone gets injured on their property? We just haven’t figured out how to pay off the court system yet.

If Japan can be as safety conscience as they are, what is preventing the money mongering baseball owners and commission in the USA for following suit? Ono word; GREED.

When anyone purchases a ticket for a ball game and walks through that gate, all the owners see is an ATM with legs. Keep spitting out that money folks.

I have ALWAYS viewed the relationship between team owners of any sport and it’s fans as a very one sided arrangement. All of the considerations goes to the owners and to the loyal but foolish fans that keep these guys living on Knob Hill.

Here are a couple great examples of their GREED for you.

MONEY

Sports fans are accustomed to seeing ticket prices go bonkers when the stakes are the highest—specifically, when a championship is on the line. Courtside seats to the Game 7 of the NBA Finals have sold for $30,000, even $80,000 in recent years. Even the “cheap seats” for the Super Bowl in 2015 were going for over $4,000 on the secondary market. 

They are laughing at you FOLKS!! How is any seat anywhere worth that kind of money?? I contend that the fans are the fools and the owners are the hogs.

FOOL                                                               HOG

It would be nice to see the hogs cut loose with some of the soldi to protect the fools that are supporting them. Add .50 to each ticket fellas and  a buck to that watered down beer, the drunks will never notice. You can pay for that fence netting in no time.

Let’s start protecting the people that are keeping your old ladies in diamonds.

I would love to see the fans boycott all sporting events for one year and give these billionaires a much needed attitude adjustment.