When you Attend a Baseball Game ... Stay Alert or EXPECT to Get Hit

Injury highlights hazards at games

I can hear all the ambulance chasers now, "But, But, But ..."

Whether fans in the stands know it or not, they cheer on their baseball teams at their own risk.

A roughly century-old so-called Baseball Rule states that stadium owners and operators are not responsible for injuries sustained by foul balls or pieces of shattered bats, so long as netted or screened seats are in place for a reasonable number of spectators. The onus is on the fans to be alert during the game.

“That is a longstanding legal principle that fans who chose to sit where balls or shards of bat could hit them have a duty to pay attention for their own safety,” said Steven A. Adelman, a sports attorney focusing on venue safety.

Or, put another way, the gamble is simply the price of fandom.

The risks of injuries in the stands from errant bats or balls “are an unavoidable — even desirable — part of the joy that comes with being close enough to the Great American Pastime to smell the new-mown grass, to hear the crack of 42 inches of solid ash meeting a 95-mile-per-hour fastball, or to watch a diving third baseman turn a heart-rending triple into a soul-soaring double-play,” Missouri Judge Paul C. Wilson wrote in a 2009 case, describing his court’s general philosophy on the matter.

Tonya Carpenter

Debate about the controversial rule renewed after Tonya Carpenter, 44, of Paxton was struck and seriously injured by a shattered baseball bat at Friday night’s Red Sox game at Fenway Park.

The age-old rule makes any attempt to bring a lawsuit an uphill battle in which the odds are stacked against injured fans and their families.

“It’s harsh and old-fashioned,” said Adelman, noting the rule appears to apply in Carpenter’s case. “She’s presumed to be watching what’s happening on the field. It’s reasonably feasible that a thrown or batted ball can leave the field and enter the stands.”

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