Baseball Rules: Court Case Study

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There is currently a rule in place called the “Baseball rule,” which says that baseball stadiums only need to have netting behind home plate and that fans are sitting in the seats close to the action at their own risk. (Juliano, 2010) There have been a couple of lawsuits that have been filed dealing with the so-called “Baseball Rule.” An example is Mantovani vs. Yale University. In this lawsuit, the plaintiff was injured by a foul ball in the right field pavilion at a minor league baseball game. (Juliano, 2010) The pavilion had picnic tables with seating that were facing away from the field. The plaintiff argued that the defendant, which in this case was the baseball stadium, knew about the risk of foul balls in the pavilion but failed to protect or warn patrons ahead of time. …show more content…
(Juliano, 2010) The baseball stadium won this case because of the "baseball rule." In another related lawsuit that happened in the Massachusetts Appeals Court, a spectator was injured by a foul ball at Fenway Park. (Abrams, 2015) Her claim was that she had never attended a game before and had no idea of the risks involved. (Abrams, 2015) The Justice ruled against her though and said, “The dangers are obvious to a person with average intelligence.” (Abrams, 2015) This person had to have known that a foul ball could enter the stands at any time during the game. While the MLB remains protected from lawsuits due to the "Baseball Rule," fans continue to be injured each year in situations the could be prevented. As Roger Abrams states “Why would anyone subject themselves to such danger at a baseball game? Because it is the experience of going to a game.” (Abrams, 2015) This experience is what keeps fans coming back in spite of the possible risks of