Mayor Marty Walsh took a tour of Fenway Park on Friday to get a first-hand look at all of the off-season improvements.
Among them is a 10-foot high protective netting that has been installed from dugout to dugout. This new addition will hopefully protect fans from being hit by foul balls or broken bats.
"It’s important for fan safety, we are complying with Major League Baseball rules, it’s something that I think you get used to very quickly," Tom Werner, Red Sox Chairman, said.
There is new technology, including a virtual reality dugout.
Fans will get the chance to see and feel what it is like to be a professional player.
Fans will also get to see newcomer David Price take the mound, and ownership is optimistic for a more successful season.
"I think we’ve improved our pitching rotation, we’ve improved our offense, it’s a competitive division, a competitive league, but I am very optimist about this year," Werner said.
On Friday, Tonya Carpenter, a fan who was seriously injured by a flying bat at Fenway Park, released a statement:
As she struggles in her recovery, Tonya is gratified to hear that something good has resulted from her terrifying experience and injuries.
The fans, including children, sitting in the zone of danger from bats and balls need protection, not warnings. At a speed of 100 MPH it takes a bat less than ½ of a second to reach a fan sitting approximately 60 feet from home plate as Tonya was when she was hit in the head by the barrel of the bat. No amount of attentiveness can be expected to prevent a catastrophe from a flying bat at that distance. It needs to be stopped before it reaches the seats.
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