Fan Taken To Hospital After Being Struck By Foul Ball During Rangers Game Sunday
ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - A woman seated in the 25th row down the right-field line of Globe Life Park during the Texas Rangers - Detroit Tigers game Sunday afternoon, was struck in the head by a liner hit by Rangers outfielder Willie Calhoun.
Calhoun waited for a few minutes and watched as the fan was attended to at her seat before returning to the batter's box.
The fan eventually walked out of the seating area accompanied by stadium personnel and was transported to a hospital for further evaluation.
Several fans, including a 2-year-old girl in Houston, have been injured by hard-hit fouls this season. Many players and fans have implored Major League Baseball to require pole-to-pole netting covering foul territory at every ballpark.
The Chicago White Sox became the first team in the major leagues to extend protective netting from foul pole to foul pole in July.
The White Sox announced the safety measure a week after a foul ball at the park sent a woman to the hospital with her head bleeding.
"It's a great idea," White Sox pitcher Evan Marshall said. "It's a shame it wasn't done sooner and just almost a standard across baseball, I think. Finally the players are speaking out because everybody is tired of seeing people get hit.
"It just sucks the air right out of the game and we see it happen. It's hard to move on to the next pitch or do whatever because somebody's going to the emergency room," he said.
The new netting in Chicago is 30 feet high above the dugouts and reach a maximum height of 45 feet down the lines.
As for ground rules, the nets are treated like walls — as in, a ball that bounces or is thrown into the netting remains in play.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
