The Minnesota Twins recently became the first of what is likely to be many MLB teams who will install protective netting behind their dugouts.
While netting is already in use behind home plate, the most protection used near the dugouts are Plexiglas ‘windows’ which are usually kept extremely short and only focus on seats directly on the field.
That will change however with the Minnesota Twins now installing the new protective netting behind the dugouts.
Team president Dave St. Peter announced Sunday that the club will install protective netting above the Target Field dugouts, with installation scheduled to begin in mid-March despite concern among certain fans as to the effect the nets will have on the field-level view.
“We just think it’s the right thing to do,” St. Peter said. “We understand we might lose some season tickets with that. I hope that doesn’t happen, but it may. It’s one of those issues for us (where) we think it’s probably better to lead on than follow on.”
Matt Hoy, the club’s senior vice president of operations, said the netting won’t be quite as thick as the traditional safety net behind home plate, and will be affixed to the front of each dugout, putting it out of reach of fans sitting in the first row and making it “less invasive to sightlines.” The seven-foot netting won’t obstruct cameras located along the baselines, and won’t enter the sightline of fans seated more than 20 rows above each dugout.
While some baseball fans might not be huge fans of having then netting in their view, it’s a much safer way of watching a game.
