Foul Ball Kills Fan at Dodger Stadium

Linda Goldbloom, 79, was struck in the head during a game in August
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 5, 2019 7:01 AM CST
Foul Ball Kills Fan, Just Third Time Ever
A baseball is lodged in the protective netting surrounding the New York Mets dugout Monday, May 28, 2018, in Atlanta. Atlanta won 4-3.   (AP Photo/John Bazemore0)

Every baseball team installed additional netting this season to protect fans from foul balls. It wasn't enough, however, to save 79-year-old Linda Goldbloom at Dodger Stadium, reports ESPN's Outside the Lines. Goldbloom, sitting on the first-base side of home plate, was struck in the head by a ball on Aug. 29. She underwent emergency brain surgery but died days later of "acute intracranial hemorrhage" caused by the "blunt force trauma" of the baseball, according to the coroner's report. Goldbloom is just the third person killed by a foul ball in Major League Baseball history, and the first since a 14-year-old was killed in 1970, also at Dodger Stadium. Teams put up the extra netting this year after a toddler was nearly killed at Yankee Stadium in 2017, but Goldbloom's seat was just above where the netting ended.

"Ushers came down and asked if she was all right, and she said no, then EMT came and rushed her to the hospital—she threw up in the ambulance," says Goldbloom's daughter Jana Brody. In a statement, the Dodgers said only that the team is "deeply saddened" by the death and that the "matter has been resolved" between the Dodgers and the family. Brody would not comment on any possible settlement, but she tells the Washington Post that it's time to re-examine the "antiquated law that protects teams." The reference is to the fine print on tickets telling fans that the team bears no responsibility if they are struck by a ball or bat. She also thinks the current netting isn't enough. “We’re just hoping that they’ll double-think this," she says. "Why not make the nets higher?” (The 2017 Yankee Stadium incident was traumatizing for the batter, too.)

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