Tragedy in Texas

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On Thursday night Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers tossed a foul ball into the left field seats. His throw was off though and the fan who reached for the ball, Shannon Stone, fell 20 feet from the stands into the walkway between the stands and the wall of the field. Sadly Stone died on the way to the hospital. The firefighter had been at the game with his 6 (i believe) year old son who watched his father fall.

Josh Hamilton, who could hear the boy screaming for his dad, was noticeably shaken by it. The Rangers set up a fund for the family of Stone (http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20110708&content_id=21597834&vkey=pr_tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex]link[/url]) and both teams wore black ribbons on their Jerseys for the rest of the weekend.

Josh Hamilton decided to play despite Ron Washington saying he would give him the day off on Friday and did not have a good game. He rebounded however on Saturday going 4 for five and hitting a walk-off 2 run homer. Hamilton told the world that he was praying for the family of Shannon Stone after the game.
 
You really can't blame Hamilton, but I understand how he would feel it was his part. Rest In Peace man. This is such a sad story.
 
The MLB should make a new rule that there has to be a tall fence that can't be reached/leaned over on all areas of the stadium where this accident could happen again. I'd almost be surprised if they didn't do something like this....

Rest in peace.
 
It's the 3rd time in the last 10 years that someone has fell from the stands in the Rangers stadium, I really think they should make the walls higher.

Apparently the dad was conscious when the ambulance arrived, but he died of Cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital.

RIP.
 
I wouldn't either but Ozzie do you really want that? Any fence like that would remove the intimacy that baseball fans have with the game. Baseball is one of the only sports where you can really be close to the action. Plus a fence would make it hard for someone in the stands to see. I can understand why people would want it i just don't think it is really needed. I hope that man rests in peace and i hope this never happens again but i don't think that baseball should be changed because of this.
 
Yeah, I guess so, but what do you want more? Fan safety or reaching over the fence to catch a ball and possibly ruining a play for one of the players?

Plus it could be glass so it would be easy to see through.
 
I for one hope that the MLB doesn't change anything. Relating to higher fences, I think higher fences would do more bad than good. It would annoy the fans and it would make it harder to catch foul balls, homerun balls, etc. Relating to glass fences, not only would it be pretty expensive to have glass fences, it also wouldn't be that good of an idea. You would need glass that can withstand a hit by a line drive without cracking, breaking, or just getting a scratch. That would have to be really thick glass. So, no to glass fences.

Rest In Peace Shannon Stone.
 
I think a fence would be a bad idea, but I really do think they need to at least fix the stands at the Rangers stadium. I don't know how short it is, but judging by the fact that 3 people have fallen in the last 10 years, it's gotta be heightened.
 
The thing is the fences are higher than most other ballparks. Plus the people who have fallen have either been being stupid (Aka the first girl was leaning out over the rail to have someone take her picture and wouldn't stop even when the security guard told her not to) or going for foul balls/tossed balls. Someone will go over a fence for a ball without thinking no matter how tall it is IMO.
 
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Jul 11, 2011 12:04:54 GMT -5 Ranger Addict said:The thing is the fences are higher than most other ballparks. Plus the people who have fallen have either been being stupid (Aka the first girl was leaning out over the rail to have someone take her picture and wouldn't stop even when the security guard told her not to) or going for foul balls/tossed balls. Someone will go over a fence for a ball without thinking no matter how tall it is IMO.
They only way they could have fallen is if the railing is below their center of gravity, which is the waist. I saw the video of the guy who fell, and it was definitely below his waist. All they need to do is raise the railing about a foot, and accidents like this could be avoided.

Edit: Also, could you remove my double post?
 
Double post removed 209. :P

I honestly hope that this tragedy will teach fans to be much more careful. Do I think the railing needs to be taller? I think that would be good, but if a fan is really trying to get a foul ball, you're underestimating the stupidity of some people because these fans will do crazy things to get a souvenir ball. The Rangers should put all aspects of safety into consideration though.
 
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