That headline probably makes me look a monster. Fair if you decide to only read the headline, which is what so many people do in today’s instant news cycle. Protective netting conversations in baseball are going to be a real thing in the next few years. Many baseball journalists pushed for it over the last couple of years for baseball to add nets to the foul pole. The Chicago White Sox came out and said they would be doing it in 2020 whilst the next Texas Rangers stadium will also carry protective netting to the foul pole. While these are great gestures, there are things that need to be factored in when making a decision like this one.

The argument that many people who are in favor of the protective netting make is ‘Well the most expensive seats have protective netting and no one seems to care about it.’ That’s true. I’m not going to dispute that, but in most cases, those tickets are not season-ticket holders. Those are business tickets where a variety of people, baseball and non-baseball fans are watching the game. Will a season-ticket holder still want his or her’s season tickets up the third base line if they have to watch their 10 to 20 games through a net? I’m unsure. We haven’t seen what the White Sox or Rangers will do with the nets, maybe they’ll not reach as high as behind the plate. We’ll see if this has any effect on season tickets for either team next season.

In today’s hot take culture, people want you to take a side on these things. I’m personally torn with the netting decision. On one part of this argument, I totally get why they’re needed. They protect children and adults from getting hit with baseballs. For adults, it’s becoming harder to assume they’ll pay attention to a full game. I cannot blame them. It is almost habitual to check their phone or get the perfect baseball shot for their Instagram story. But there’s another part of this where I feel like if we net the whole stadium, it is like we’re watching these guys like zoo animals. You lose some of the natural elements of baseball. Hockey has boards, but those really only affect the first few top rows across the ice.

I assume that protective netting will come to all stadiums, but my other assumption is that it will take some time.

Charlie.