An unfortunate situation from last season still hangs over the baseball world.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the family attorney for the 2 ½ year-old-girl that suffered a skull fracture when she was hit by a foul ball during a Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs game last May says that the child is still undergoing treatment for the injury that could have lifelong effects.
So far, legal action hasn’t been filed against the Astros, Minute Maid Park’s operators, or MLB. Attorney Richard Mithoff says the girl is taking anti-seizure medication.
“She (the child) has an injury to a part of the brain, and it is permanent,” Mithoff said. “She remains subject to seizures and is on medication and will be, perhaps, for the rest of her life. That may or may not be resolved.”
“She is able to continue with much of her routine as a girl her age would do, but her parents have to be particularly vigilant, as they are,” he added. “She has wonderful parents and is receiving wonderful care. They obviously are concerned, but she is blessed with a family that is doing relatively well, considering everything.”
Too Many Fan Injuries
In August 0f 2018, MLB suffered its first baseball death in 50 years when a 79-year-old woman at Dodger Stadium was struck. Her death, however, didn’t compel teams to put up the netting.
Via Post: “”Erwin Goldbloom was at a game at Dodger Stadium last August with his wife, Linda, when she was struck in the head by a foul ball and later died at the hospital of a fatal brain injury…the team offered to hold a moment of silence for Linda before a 2019 game, but Goldbloom declined, asking instead for something more tangible.
“We don’t need their sympathy. We want action,” Goldbloom told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” in late March of 2019. “If they agree to make changes to improve safety for fans, then I’ll go down there.”
Last season after a series of injuries suffered by fans, the Chicago White Sox, however, did in less than two weeks what other teams weren’t willing to do. Just protect the entire park.
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, (D) Illinois, urging Major League Baseball to extend protective netting to the left and right field corners of stadiums to reduce the number of fan injuries due to being hit by balls. Congratulated White Sox for moving to extend netting this season.
— Doug Wolfe – WAND TV (@WANDTVDoug) July 9, 2019
During the winter meetings, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that all 30 teams will have extended netting for the upcoming 2020 season that will reach “substantially beyond the far end of the dugout.”
About time.
