After a series of ugly incidents this season where fans were struck by foul balls — including a woman who was hit in the head by a line drive and taken away on a stretcher during the first inning of Sunday’s game between the Cubs and the Braves at Wrigley Field — fan safety has become a pressing issue, one the game would be ill-advised to leave unaddressed. Every industry should have customer experience at the top of its list of priorities, of course. And although fan safety has suddenly become a popular topic of discussion, this isn’t a new development: There have always been foul balls hit into the stands, and fans have always been at risk.
Last year, one estimate by Bloomberg put the fan injuries caused by foul balls at 1,750 per season, coming from an estimated 30 foul balls reaching the seats per game. That’s roughly three injuries for every four games, caused by anywhere from 50,000-70,000 foul balls per season.
Which is part of the reason that there’s a warning on every ticket in tidy legalese telling you to pay attention or the consequences are on you. But is that really good enough? I’d argue it isn’t, and that baseball must take action, because several variables have changed that have increased the risk to fans.
First, with MLB attendance trending back up, potentially reaching its first season north of 75 million since 2008, there are simply more people in the stands — and thus more people at risk.
Second, the average fastball velocity is at an all-time high — around 92 miles per hour. It’s up more than a tick in just the last five years, and it’s still picking up steam. So ballplayers throw harder than ever, and that automatically makes for more hard shots into the stands, with the average velocity off the bat now pushing closer to 100 mph. Josh Donaldson crushed a home run in April that came off his bat at more than 120 mph. Before this year, Giancarlo Stanton hit one with an exit velocity over 122 mph. Simply put, balls are moving faster off the bat.
Third, as uncomfortable as it might be to bring up because it risks blaming the victims, there are more ways to be distracted during a ballgame than ever before. That’s not all on the fans, though. Whether it’s your own cell phone or the in-game entertainment on the scoreboard or interacting with a vendor to get a bite or a beer, there’s no end of diversions that might literally take your eye off the ball.
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