Extended netting required to preserve and protect

Kudos to the White Sox for becoming the first MLB team to commit to extending the netting down to each foul pole.

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A view of the new extended netting behind home plate at the Giants’ ballpark in April 2018 in San Francisco.

A view of the new extended netting behind home plate at the Giants’ ballpark in April 2018 in San Francisco.

Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

We humans have a nasty habit of not doing anything to prevent bad stuff from happening until really terrible stuff happens.

And if the bad stuff happens slowly or randomly or can be excused as unavoidable, then we still might not do anything.

Hell, I grew up without seat belts in cars. They weren’t required until 1966.

In the previous two years, 92,634 people had died in car wrecks in the United States. Guess that was the tipping point.

Something tipped before the White Sox-Cubs game Tuesday when the Sox said in a statement that they would extend the protective netting at Guaranteed Rate Field down the lines to the foul poles.

That will make the Sox the first major-league team to have the netting go everywhere it is needed. No other team has done that.

Which is ridiculous.

Apparently, not enough fans have been severely injured by foul balls to get Major League Baseball’s attention.

But kudos to the Sox anyway. Late beats never by a mile. Their new screens, when finished — and if there were a baseball god, they’d be hung by the Sox’ next home game June 28 against the Twins — will prevent the kind of ugly thing that happens way too often at ballparks.

A screaming foul ball, a thrown bat (especially when Addison Russell is up), a wild throw from the outfield — all are as dangerous as can be.

Cubs outfielder Albert Almora was devastated last month when a foul ball off his bat hit a little girl in the stands at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Almora took a knee and had to be consoled by manager Joe Maddon and teammates.

The girl was carried out of the seating area. Extended netting would have protected her.

Such a simple remedy. But the status quo always has an excuse. Extended netting would block fans’ views of the field. People should be alert at a game. Dangerous foul balls don’t happen that often. Netting would be an unbudgeted expense.

All nonsense.

During batting practice Tuesday at Wrigley Field, both teams hit foul balls that landed in the stands or ricocheted off the top of the low brick walls down each line. Wrigley already has wire cables holding up netting that runs from behind home plate as far as the dugouts. 

The cables go all the way to the foul poles. Even a gaggle of idiots could hang some nets on there past the Bartman seat in left and just below the Budweiser video board in right.

Why not?

After hitting that kid, Almora was so shaken that he could barely speak. When he could, he said: ‘‘I want to put a net around the whole stadium.’’

When he learned the Sox were doing something almost like that — there never will be outfield nets, of course — he said: ‘‘That’s a positive step in this sport. I don’t think anybody should go home with bumps or bruises or even worse.’’

Games played with hard, flying objects that can leave the playing area need to protect fans.

The die-hards who say no to nets expect everyone to focus on every pitch and every throw like a hunting dog on a squirrel. But ballparks are so full of things designed to take your eyes elsewhere that only a zombie could stare endlessly at the ball.

‘‘I see counterarguments like, ‘Don’t sit there,’ or, ‘Just pay attention to the game,’ ’’ Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito said. ‘‘Dude, no matter how much you’re paying attention to the game, if that thing’s coming in 115 miles an hour with tail, no matter if you have a glove this big, it could hit you right in the forehead.’’

And that could kill you.

I have a tale from the stadium on 35th Street when it was called U.S. Cellular Field. The Sox were playing, and journeyman catcher Chris Widger was at the plate. He fouled a pitch up and over the screen, straight toward the press box. The ball curved, and I picked it up with my peripheral vision just as it cleared my laptop by a half-inch — I was typing diligently — and struck me square in the chest.

I trapped it there, and PR man Scott Reifert later gave the ball to Widger, who signed it and gave it back. On it, he had written: ‘‘Now I know why you weren’t a wide receiver.’’

Two days later, I had a deep purple bruise where the ball hit me. Call me a statistic. A lucky one.

For God’s sake, MLB, please extend the netting.

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