22 September, 2017
A young girl at Yankee Stadium was injured by a 105 miles per hour foul ball, prompting a call for protective netting to be extended across Major League Baseball.
"The expanded netting will be installed during the offseason and will be in place by Opening Day 2018, when the Reds take on the Washington Nationals at 4:10 p.m. ET".
Cincinnati's stadium, the Great American Ball Park, adheres to current Major League Baseball standards for netting.
The young girl struck by a foul ball on Wednesday was sitting behind the third base dugout.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that the Reds had the intention of expanding its protective netting before Wednesday's incident. "I still have a knot in my stomach".
"It remains an ongoing discussion in the industry", Manfred said yesterday on the subject of netting, with a 2-year-girl in the hospital after being struck by a ball traveling at 105 miles per hour.
"The events at yesterday's game involving a young girl were extremely upsetting for everyone in our game", Manfred told ESPN's Bob Ley.
"Over the past few seasons Major League Baseball has worked with our clubs to expand the amount of netting in our ballparks", Manfred said.
"The Cincinnati Reds plan to install additional netting at Great American Ball Park for the 2018 season, extending new netting to the end of each dugout and replacing the existing netting behind home plate". "In light of yesterday's event, we will redouble our efforts on this important issue".
The team's current nets already meet the MLB's recommended guidelines, but the new netting aims to go "beyond the standards" of the commissioner's office.
