The Business of Safety

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It's been more than a week now since Shannon Stone of Brownwood, Texas, fell over the railing in Rangers Ballpark.

That was a shocking sight, to be sure, and it aroused all sorts of emotions in people. But even though, as I mentioned the other day, some people did suggest that Stone had been negligent (to a point), no one said he was reckless or stupid.

Not so Keith Carmickle, the fan who nearly fell to his death while trying to catch a ball at the Home Run Derby during the All–Star Game festivities earlier this week.

With concerns about stadium safety already elevated, Carmickle — by his own admission — used "bad judgment" ...

... which seems like a no–brainer, given that Carmickle risked his life for a baseball that was hit in an exhibition — and he already had two baseballs, as it was.

To make up for it, Carmickle says he is going to auction off the souvenir baseballs and give the proceeds to Stone's widow.

There is a certain symmetry to that, I guess.

But more needs to be done.

It is beyond Carmickle's power, no matter how many baseballs he sells. It is even beyond the admittedly powerful images of Stone's widow and their young son, who watched his father fall to his death.

Frankly, it's in the hands of baseball's powers that be. Well, mostly.

"The incidents, days apart, have committed and casual fans alike debating who's responsible for preventing ballpark accidents," opines the Fort Worth Star–Telegram. "The quick answer is everyone. The harder question is how."

There are those who decry the so–called "nanny state" — and, believe me, I understand their position. I, too, worry about unwarranted intrusion on individual liberty.

But there are some places and some situations in which those in charge must step in to make sure the environment remains manageable — and sports events are at the top of the list.

There was a time in my life when I went to sports events frequently — especially during (and even after) my college years. There is an undeniable excitement that comes with being there, and, most of the time, I think people are content simply to savor the moment.

We've all seen crowds that got out of control. It would be nice if we could always be sure that good sense will prevail, but we have seen too many Carmickles — they're usually the guys who are shirtless in sub–freezing weather.

Safety truly is everyone's business — but, until we can be 100% certain that fans will always behave maturely, management must shoulder most of the responsibility.

Death Be Not Proud

Tomorrow, major league baseball's stars will be gathering in Arizona to play the annual Midsummer Classic, the All–Star Game.

The first All–Star Game was played nearly 80 years ago; it was part of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. Only once since that time has the game not been played — when World War II interfered in 1945.

Otherwise, however, it has been an annual baseball tradition. Barring a totally unexpected development, it will be renewed tomorrow night.

Today, friends and family — and even folks who never knew the man — gathered in central Texas to say goodbye to a fellow who probably would have been watching the All–Star Game with his young son, the way they apparently had watched many baseball games together in the past.

But that fellow, firefighter Shannon Stone, fell to his death at Rangers Ballpark last week, trying to catch a baseball for his son — who witnessed the whole thing.

I'm sure you know that story by now. One struggles to find some meaning in it. Death — or fate or whatever — is always doing this. It takes people in horribly random and cruel ways.

We've always known that life isn't fair. Turns out that death isn't, either.

The more religious among us always assure us when tragedy strikes that "God has a plan," and they speak of his incomprehensibly "mysterious ways."

That is intended to comfort those who grieve, even those who never knew the person who died. But sometimes there is little comfort to be found in those words.

For many of us, it is hard to see how this contributes to such a "plan." God's ways are a bit too mysterious for the mortal mind.

As a writer, my inclination on such an occasion is to put my thoughts on paper, but that isn't always easy. Sometimes I want to know what others are saying.

I've re–discovered — as if such a reminder was necessary — that the human mind also looks for someone to blame when terrible things happen. But that's the thing that has been so frustrating about this matter, I suppose. There is no one to blame. Everyone's intentions were good. No one meant for anything bad to happen.

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Should we blame Josh Hamilton because his toss was just a little short? He was only trying to accommodate the fans.

Should we blame Stone because he lost his balance? It's true that fans must bear a certain amount of responsibility for their own safety — and I've heard some people suggest that Stone was negligent, at least in part, because of the "recklessness" of his own behavior and because his footwear apparently provided him with little, if any, traction.

But, although there have been similar incidents at Rangers Ballpark in the past, falls were not epidemic. There was no reason for that possibility to dictate what he wore or anything else.

Should we blame the Ballpark management because the railings, even if they do exceed existing city requirements, are lower than they probably should be? The management couldn't foresee this, although I do think, as I have said, that making certain that stadiums are safe and family friendly, not merely that they meet city codes, should be their top concern now.

I guess I feel I am too close to this one — much as I did 16 years ago when I lived about a half hour's drive from where Timothy McVeigh blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City — and I need the perspectives of those who are farther removed.

In the aftermath of Thursday's tragedy, I have been thinking about something that I hadn't thought about in several years.

When I was teaching journalism at the University of Oklahoma, a student of mine died in a freak accident at his fraternity.

There was a ritual at this fraternity that involved the members going outside following a house meeting and shaking the flagpole. I don't know why. How does any tradition begin?

I don't know how long it had been done, but nothing had happened to anyone before. On this occasion, however, the upper one–third or so of the flagpole snapped and fell, striking my student and another boy. The other boy suffered minor injuries. My student, however, suffered far more serious injuries and died the following day.

There was no one and nothing to blame for that accident, either. The students who shook the flagpole had no reason to think it might snap. As far as I know, it had never snapped before. No one intended for anything bad to happen. Even so, a young man lost his life.

And, like the tragic case of Shannon Stone, we were left with lots of questions and precious few answers.

In my quest for understanding, I have found some fascinating observations from some folks who may never have been to Texas — but they understand things like childhood and fatherhood and the need to strike a better balance between fun and safety:

• Like Steve Solloway of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald, who wrote very movingly of the "purity of the moment" that should have ended in triumph but ended in tragedy instead.
  
  All that Stone sought, Solloway wrote, was "[a] baseball to forever remind him and his son of the July day they watched the Texas Rangers play a game. It can't be any simpler than that, which makes the sorrow that much harder to bear.
  
  "Until this week," concluded Solloway, "Shannon Stone was a stranger to most when in fact, he was always one of us."


• If there is something good to take away from this, it may be that "baseball fans across the country are discussing ballpark safety," reports Paul Blume of FOX9 News in Minnesota's Twin Cities.
  
  Of course, each ballpark is designed differently, and no facility can be prepared for the sizes of all the people who might buy tickets to events there, but if Stone's death leads to an across–the–board requirement of railings that are higher than most adults' centers of gravity, well ...

... as I say, if that is what ultimately comes from this tragedy, that will be a good thing.

• Rodger Jones of the Dallas Morning News says, in response to a survey on a blog on the News' website, that baseball players should not be banned from throwing balls to the fans.
  
  I agree. That would be a knee–jerk overreaction.
  
  However, he does believe railings should be raised — even if they make it difficult for some fans to see what is happening on the field.
  
  "Sightlines be damned," he writes. "If you disagree, wonder how you would feel if the next accident (and there will be one) involves someone you know."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

We Should Do What We Can

The deeper one goes into the tragic story of Shannon Stone, the firefighter who fell to his death during Thursday night's Ranger game, the more pointless his death seems to be.

But I believe it is a clarion call.

Stone, as just about everyone knows by now, tumbled over the railing trying to catch a baseball. What went through his mind, what motivated him can only be guessed — but the emerging story of a devoted father strongly suggests he was trying to catch it for his son.

Such selflessness only makes this story more tragic.

There was a time when most, if not all, ballparks had netting around elevated sections — but that practice was stopped, as I understand it, because fans went out on the netting to try to catch baseballs, making it unsafe.

Yes, there was a railing in front of Stone's seat — but if you have seen the video, you know that it wasn't sufficient to prevent even an average–sized man from losing his balance if he was leaning forward trying to catch a ball. (I haven't heard how tall Stone was, but, just from watching the video and knowing his profession, my guess is that he was taller than average.)

I was listening to a local sports talk radio show here in Dallas yesterday, and one of the hosts reminisced about when he moved to the area in the 1990s and there wasn't even a railing like the one that could not prevent Thursday's tragedy — as if the fact that the installation of a short railing since that time could somehow mitigate what happened.

It can't, of course, but it is a reminder that there are steps that baseball in general, not just the Rangers organization, needs to consider. Seriously.

Rangers President Nolan Ryan pointed out that players toss balls into the stands all the time now. He doesn't remember whether there was a policy that either encouraged or discouraged it when he was playing, but he speculated that it evolved from a desire on the part of baseball in general to be more accessible to fans.

That's a good objective, but it carries a certain amount of responsibility. What happened in Arlington can happen anywhere, and the co–objective must be to prevent tragedies like that from happening again.

Stadium management can't install a two–foot railing and honestly believe it can keep a six–foot man from falling. You can't take away netting that is supposed to keep people safe because inadequate security permits people to congregate on them.

Stone was doing something that has become increasingly difficult for people to do — take their children to ballgames. Gone are the days when a father could take his kids to a ballgame and buy them hot dogs and caps for a few bucks.

It's a major investment now, especially in this economy, but there are still folks who want to share the experience with their children.

Baseball should do whatever it can to encourage them to do that. To be sure, baseball does have special promotions, yes — Family Night or Ball Night or whatever — but that is really about the profit margin, not fan safety.

It may be more confining — and expensive — for fans to install more adequate barriers to keep them from being hurt. It may be more expensive to hire additional security people to make sure no one gets on the netting during games.

But isn't the good public relations of a safe, family–friendly environment worth it?

Drivers don't like being told to wear seatbelts, and motorcyclists don't like being compelled to wear helmets, but they are required to do so because they make the experience safer.

Really, I believe this should be a no–brainer.

I sort of feel the way the panels investigating the sinking of the Titanic must have felt when they heard that there were not enough lifeboats to accommodate everyone on board.

Why not?

The people who operated the Titanic justified their decision a couple of ways — (a) the Titanic was believed to be unsinkable, and (b) the lifeboats on board met specifications. As I recall from my studies of that disaster, the number of lifeboats actually exceeded what was required at the time. But still there weren't enough.

We know sports events aren't always safe — and there are certain things you really can't prevent — but it is incumbent upon stadium management to do whatever it can.