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Yankees fans accept new netting, but have a related complaint
NEW YORK — After three fans were seriously injured by flying bats and balls last season, the New York Yankees decided to extend the protective netting in Yankee Stadium down the foul lines this year.
But the consensus from fans during Tuesday’s home opener was that the extended netting is fine. But the poles that hold it up have to go.
“The poles are a nuisance,” said Jeremy Liebhoff of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, who was seated in a lower-level seat down the third-base line behind the new netting. “They’re a lot more of an annoyance than the net.”
“The netting’s not bad, but the poles are a problem,” said Rick Lamparelli of Brookfield, Connecticut, who was sitting in the first row in short left field. “If somebody leans forward to my right, I can’t see ‘cause now I have the pole and the person. I probably won’t make a complaint, but I don’t like it.”
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By this year’s opening day, all 30 major league teams had extended their netting beyond Major League Baseball’s 2015 recommendation that clubs extend the barrier from the area behind home plate to the near end of both dugouts.
The new netting at Yankee Stadium tapers down from 20 feet high behind the plate to 9 1/2 feet high above both dugouts and then 5 1/2 feet above the railings in front of the high-priced seats down both lines.
Because of the 40-degree weather and steady misting rain, Tuesday’s game was sparsely attended. About 100 widely scattered fans sat on each side of the field directly behind the nets. According to a Yankees news release, the netting down the lines is the same thickness — 1.2 millimeters — as the netting behind home plate and is “field green” in color, designed to blend in with the grass and minimize the visual impact.
“Very unobtrusive,” said Dick Ruebenacker of Westbury, New York. “Which is surprising. I thought it would be a distraction.”
What some fans did find distracting was the series of black steel poles, 11 of them on each side of the field, that support the steel cable from which the net hangs.
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Lonn Trost, the Yankees’ chief operating officer, who was in charge of the netting plan, declined to be interviewed. A team spokesman did not say if the Yankees had received any complaints from fans about the new netting.
In July, after the New York Mets extended their netting at Citi Field during the All-Star break, Trost said the Yankees were concerned about negative reaction from their season-ticket holders if they were forced to sit behind a net.
“The issue is, how much screening is appropriate?” Trost said at the time. “What do the fans want? Some fans are upset about it. We have fans communicating with us that they are upset that we’re even considering it.”
On Tuesday, several fans echoed Trost’s concerns but seemed resigned to the need for more ballpark safety after three fans, two of them children, were seriously injured at Yankee Stadium last season by flying balls and bats.
“I don’t necessarily need a net for protection, but I do recognize that often young children come here, so to protect all the people it’s worth it,” said Harvey Klein of Morristown, New Jersey. “I’m far enough back that I can look just over the edge of the net, so I’m OK with it.”
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Liebhoff said: “I feel like it takes away a little from the experience. I don’t feel as connected to the game. But I understand it. When you have little kids being hit in the head by balls, my view of the game takes second place.”
Some fans thought the Yankees had not gone far enough.
Ryan McCaffery of Farmingville, New York, said he did not think the netting was high enough.
“It’s definitely better than it was, but I think what’s going to happen is someone’s going to get hit with a ball and they’re going to have to raise it,” he added. “So why wait? Being proactive is better than being reactive.”
At least one fan was too preoccupied with the action on the field to take much notice of anything else.
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“You’re just so excited to be here,” Kim Finocchio said, “you don’t even see it.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
WALLACE MATTHEWS © 2018 The New York Times
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