Fans will see a safer Fenway Park next season, whether all of them like it or not.
The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball issued fan safety recommendations on Wednesday in hopes of keeping fans attending MLB games safer in their seats.
The main recommendation is for clubs to either extend or maintain netting (or another type of protection) that shields line drives and other hard-hit balls from seats located between the near ends of both dugouts and within 70b feet of home plate.
MLB will help all interested clubs that may need assistance in implementing the recommendation.
And yes, the Red Sox are one of those clubs that plan on making the changes. What those changes are yet have yet to be determined. And it sounds like ticket holders who may be affected by it will have some level of say.
The Red Sox sent out a press release the same time MLB did. It reads:
The Red Sox commend Major League Baseball and Commissioner Manfred for their thoughtful analysis on this very important issue. The league has completed a thorough investigation in consultation with all 30 clubs, including the Red Sox, and with input from a variety of experts.
The Red Sox take matters of fan safety very seriously and intend to follow the recommendations put forth by Major League Baseball by expanding the backstop netting behind home plate for the 2016 season. The club is in the process of evaluating different design options to identify the best solution for Fenway Park, and is proactively reaching out to the ticket holders most affected by the planned changes.
A woman sitting a couple rows back behind the on-deck circle was struck with a broken bat on June 5 at Fenway Park and sustained life-threatening injuries. She needed emergency medical attention and play was actually halted as paramedics tended to her, placed her in a stretcher, and pushed her across the infield where she left in an ambulance. She survived the accident, but there was a feeling among players that something had to be done to prevent injuries like that in the future.