An incredibly scary moment took place at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
A young fan sitting behind the third base dugout was hit by a Todd Frazier line drive foul ball and had to be carried out of the stands. Play was halted for several minutes while the fan was tended to. Frazier and other Yankees and Twins players on the field were visibly shaken up.
NJ.com's Brendan Kuty has some details:
Sean Cushing of Manhattan was standing on the concourse about 30 feet away when the accident happened.
Cushing said the ball hit the girl almost square in the mouth.
It's unknown if the girl lost consciousness, but by the time she left the seats, Cushing said she was crying and responsive.
Cushing said the girl was taken to the first aid stand near the seats before leaving the ballpark on a stretcher.
ESPN's Andrew Marchand reports the young girl is toddler who was attending the game with her grandparents.
The Yankees have since provided the following update on the fan:
The Yankees released this statement concerning the fan who was struck by a foul ball this afternoon: pic.twitter.com/BtOo30fpyq
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) September 20, 2017
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that he was told that the young fan hit by a ball "is doing OK."
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) September 20, 2017
Several teams, including the Mets, have extended netting from behind home plate down the foul lines and over the dugouts. The Yankees have remained noncommittal about extending the netting at Yankee Stadium this year.
The bottom line: the longer MLB teams wait to extend the netting, the more likely it is a foul ball or flying bat will seriously injure or even kill someone. It wasn't that long ago that they put up railings in front of the dugouts because the actual pros couldn't react fast enough to foul balls and bats.
There is no reasonable argument against extending netting. Sight lines are a non-issue. Anyone who has sat behind the plate will tell you the netting isn't noticeable. Autographs? That can be fixed easily with closable windows within the netting. "Pay attention" is in no way a realistic solution, as anyone who has ever gone anywhere with another human being could tell you.
The young child at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday is not the first person who had to be carried away after being struck by a foul ball and they won't be the last either, at least not until the netting is extended. Please, MLB. Be proactive, not reactive.
