The risk to baseball fans from foul balls continues to pose a clear and present danger throughout professional baseball, five years after the death of Linda Goldbloom.
Five years after the foul-ball death of Dodgers fan Linda Goldbloom, baseball fans remain in harm’s way from high-speed foul balls entering the stands throughout professional baseball.
Jana Brody, the daughter of Mrs. Goldbloom, is available to speak with media about her ongoing advocacy for fan safety. Her recent book, Sit Behind The Nets, chronicles her family’s grief and frustration in the aftermath of Linda’s death.
“No other family should have to suffer the tragedy of a foul ball killing or seriously injuring their loved one. It is unacceptable minor league parks have been given until 2025 to extend safety netting. injuries keep happening while MLB stalls at taking immediate action to stop these preventable incidents,” said Jana Brody.
Foul Ball Safety Now has compiled a growing list of at least 45 children in all levels of professional baseball who have experienced serious injuries since 2008. Most of those kids suffered head injuries.
At least two young children have been injured this summer. A 3-week-old baby suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain after being hit in the head by a foul ball at a Hickory Crawdads minor league game on August 25, 2023.
Another child suffered a serious head injury in Peoria, IL on July 28, 2023 at Dozer Park, home of the Peoria Chiefs, who continue to play with no netting above the dugouts.
MLB has instructed all minor league affiliates to extend netting down the foul lines, but will not hold teams accountable until 2025. That has left fans exposed to ongoing risk, despite the fact that netting extensions can be performed in a few days.
Balls are frequently hit into the stands past the end of the dugouts throughout baseball, where they are capable of crushing people.
In July, a fan attending an MLB game at the Pittsburgh Pirates’ PNC Park was struck in the head, and Foul Ball Safety Now confirmed this week that the fan’s eye could not be saved.
“MLB continues to fail to protect fans from dangerous foul balls in both their major league stadiums and their affiliates’ ballparks throughout the Professional Development Leagues,” according to Jordan Skopp, founder of Foul Ball Safety Now.
“I believe children especially (who can’t be expected to understand assumption of risk) should be prohibited from attending all professional baseball games until adequate netting goes up,” Skopp said.
For more information, visit FoulBallSafetyNow.com
About Foul Ball Safety Now
Foul Ball Safety Now! is a campaign started by Jordan Skopp, a Brooklyn realtor, lifelong baseball fan, and author of a forthcoming book about the wildly overlooked scandal in the professional baseball industry – the all-too-frequent incidence of fans being maimed by dangerous foul balls due to the lack of extended protective netting, and related failures to educate fans about their assumed risk at the ballgame. For more information, visit Foul Ball Safety Now https://www.foulballsafetynow.com/