With such a horrifying scene at the Cubs-Astros game Wednesday night, as a foul ball hit a young fan in the stands, and Albert Almora broke down on the field, the calls to see netting at ballparks around MLB have been renewed with vigor. While some fans may complain about their views being minimally impacted by extended netting, the reality is that the game is played in such a way now that leaving significant areas exposed down the third and first baselines is necessarily very dangerous. You just hope that it won’t take an even more horrifying incident to effect significant change.
In the meantime, at least one level in the Cubs organization is taking it upon itself to extend netting to improve safety. The Iowa Cubs are already working on it:
I-Cubs Working to Extend Netting to Foul Poles at Principal Park https://t.co/17LkQ5tpnh pic.twitter.com/9sZVPUtOVC
— SoundOFF (@SoundOFF13) May 31, 2019
Iowa Cubs assistant GM @RandyWehofer said on @Murph_Andy today that the I-Cubs have already had discussions about extending the netting at Principal Park all the way to foul poles.
The @IowaCubs were ahead of the curve extending netting past the dugouts three+ years ago. pic.twitter.com/o5uE4l0ORv
— Keith Murphy (@MurphyKeith) May 30, 2019
As Iowa Cubs President Sam Bernabe told WHO TV, “Two days ago, I was going through my invoicing to see what it’s going to take to finish up the engineering to get the nets moved. Probably before the next season starts, we’ll be at the end of the foul polls at both sides.”
It’s a commendable and rapid approach by a minor league team, and one that undoubtedly caters to a large number of young fans in the stands. Good on you, Iowa Cubs.