Jacobson said doctors had not yet determined whether his daughter would require facial surgery or whether her vision would return to normal. Her nose has a bump on the side, but, Jacobson said, “to me, that’s a cosmetic thing; it’s not a worry to us because of how serious the other injuries are.”
Television footage of the episode — showing the girl being carried up the stairs in her grandfather’s arms while some players fought back tears on the field — spurred renewed calls for major league teams to better protect their fans.
Ten of the 30 major league teams currently have netting in their ballparks that extends at least to the far ends of both dugouts. In the rest of the ballparks, including Yankee Stadium, the netting reaches only the beginning of the dugouts, leaving significantly more seats exposed to foul balls and shattered bats.
In the wake of the episode involving Jacobson’s daughter, at least four teams had announced they would also extend their netting for next season — and the Yankees have now joined that group. Until their statement on Sunday, they had repeatedly declined to comment about the netting issue since the girl’s injury.
The…
