Jana Brody, whose mother died days after being hit by a foul ball at Dodger Stadium last August, told ESPN’s Outside the Lines that failure by Major League Baseball to increase the netting requirements at ballparks is “unconscionable.”
Brody learned from OTL that a little girl was taken to the hospital Wednesday night with injuries after being hit by a line drive off the bat of the Cubs’ Albert Almora Jr. at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
“It’s unconscionable that fans are still getting hurt by hard-hit foul balls and MLB has not increased the netting requirements, even after a foul ball caused a brain hemorrhage and my mom’s death in August at Dodger Stadium,” Brody said.
“We see not only the fans, but the players are traumatized by the horror and damage. … At least the players earn millions of dollars and they can afford therapy for their trauma.”
Brody’s mother, Linda Goldbloom, was hit in the head by a foul ball during the ninth inning of a game on Aug. 25 at Dodger Stadium. Four days later, she died.
Goldbloom was seated in an unprotected loge area behind home plate, just above a section that does have safety netting.
For the start of the 2018 season, all 30 big league stadiums had netting from home plate extended to at least the far ends of each dugout. Major League Baseball does not mandate specific netting coverage and neither MLB nor its teams responded to Goldbloom’s death with announcements of extensions of netting for this season.
The so-called “baseball rule” insulates MLB and teams in most cases from liability for the risks incurred by fans attending games.
“[The] saddest part will be the injured child’s family will hear from the team, ‘Sorry, no compensation for your trauma’ since the ticket states ‘Enter at your own risk,'” Brody said.
The Goldbloom family reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgersthrough mediation before a lawsuit seeking damages was ever filed. The terms are confidential.
Brody said MLB needs to take action to protect everyone involved.
“This new, sad injury happened today, on my birthday,” Brody said. “May be a message from my mom, Linda, to speak out once again and keep demanding more ballpark safety.”
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