Tragedy struck Major League Baseball and the Texas Rangers tonight. During the second inning of tonight's game between the Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers, a fan died after falling over a railing while trying to catch a ball thrown into the stands. According to the linked story above, the fan fell approximately 20 feet, into the visiting (Oakland) bullpen area, after going over the railing. This happened in the left field corner above the 14 foot tall video board at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas.
Before I go any further with this, I'd just like to pass on my thoughts and prayers to the friends and family of this Texas Rangers fan (they have yet to release his name). I especially want to send out my prayers to the young son of the fan, who was at the game with his father and probably saw the entire thing.I can't imagine what that child is going through at this very moment.
Not to sound insensitive, but my first thought when I saw this story was sadly, "I'd hate to see the lawsuit that comes out of this." In the long run, we'll probably find out whether the fine print on the back of ticket stubs is worth anything. I've never been to a Rangers game, or the state of Texas for that matter, but I'm sure the print is the same on the back of all MLB tickets. I have a Cubs ticket from Wrigley Field in front of me and according to the print on it, the Cubs and Wrigley Field are not responsible for any injures that occur during the game or any time at Wrigley Field. I'm sure the fine print on the back of Rangers tickets say the same thing.
This happens to be the second fatal fall at a major league ballpark this year. Back in May, a fan at Coors Field in Colorado fell 20 feet after trying to slide down the railing to one of the many stadium staircases. This is also the second incident to happen recently at Rangers Ballpark. Last July, a fan fell 30 feet and suffered a fractured skull and a sprained ankle. Luckily, he survived the ordeal.
After watching the video of this incident, I have to say the fan is at fault here. That doesn't mean the Rangers and the other major league teams shouldn't make changes to their venues to make them safer. From the video, I see the fan in question lean over in front of another fan to attempt to catch the thrown ball. In doing so, his momentum carried him over the railing. I understand all fans want to catch a foul ball, but leaning in front of another fan, while also hanging over a 20 foot drop is not a good idea. It's way too easy, as evident by tonight's incident, for momentum to carry the person completely over the railing. Again, I don't want to sound insensitive, but that's what I saw in the video.
Going forward, teams should not be allowed to have uncovered gaps between the outfield wall and stands, like the one in left field at Rangers Ballpark, especially when there is a significant drop in between. Those should be covered up in some capacity. I'm not saying that it needs to be completely covered by something solid either. As I mentioned above, there is a bullpen there and fans feel closer to the action if they can see what is going on below. I would have no problem if they covered that gap, and similar ones around the league, with a section of chain link fence. That way it is almost impossible to fall through and get hurt and fans can still see what is going on below. That seems like a fair compromise to me. Hell, even a heavy duty net would do if they wanted to go that route. Either way, that gap, and gaps like it, need to be covered so that something like this does not happen again.
I also think that the league needs to mandate that taller railings be installed around the league. When I say railings, I'm talking about the ones at the edges of the playing field and the upper decks. Most railings are only about waist height for an average sized adult. As I said before, when you're leaning over the railing, it's not hard for your momentum ot carry you over the railing. Instead of making them waist height, I propose that the league mandates that all railings in those positions are a MINIMUM of four feet tall. That way (in theory) an average sized fan only has anything above their chest hanging over the railing. That should keep a majority of their body weight on the correct side of the railing, thus keeping them on the correct side of the railing.
I understand that this might create a bit of a vision problem, but that's the least of my concerns at the moment. If that's the case, there could be a slightly larger space between the horizontal railings to created a viewing window for the fans closer to the railing. If that were to happen though, I also propose that the install strategically spaced vertical bars in between the horizontal ones so that fans cannot lean through the bars easily. Besides, I'd much rather have a slightly obstructed view of the game than leave in a body bag.
In closing, I again want to send out my prayers and condolences to the friends and family of this unnamed Rangers fan. Major League Baseball needs to use this as a wakeup call to insure that something like this cannot happen again at a major leauge ballpark. If possible, try to turn this tragedy into something that can make the league and its ballparks safer. That should be the main objective here.
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