Fan Advocate Jordan Skopp Demands to Know Why America Falls Behind South Korea When It Comes To Protecting Our Fans from Deadly Foul Balls

Life-long baseball fan and stadium safety advocate Jordan Skopp has a pressing question for Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Rob Manford: Why does the U.S. continue to lag behind countries like Japan and South Korea when it comes to protecting fans from deadly foul balls? Those two countries have installed safety netting in their stadiums and have reduced serious foul ball injuries to nearly zero. By contrast, the United States has seen at least 39 children and a countless number of adults maimed by foul balls at Major and Minor League ballparks since 2008 alone.

“It’s time for the MLB to stop shirking a basic business and social responsibility to provide a stadium-experience that’s safe for its millions of cheering fans,” says Jordan Skopp, who is spearheading a movement to retrofit safety netting at ballparks across the U.S. “For too long they have cowered behind an antiquated ‘baseball rule’ that shields them from liability. It’s time for that to stop!”

To raise public awareness and gain further safety insights for his upcoming book on life-altering foul ball injuries, Skopp is holding a press conference this Wednesday, January 27 (see details below) with South Korean baseball reporters. At that conference, Skopp plans to unveil a gut-wrenching chart that drives home the frequency of foul ball injuries that have occurred at baseball stadiums across the US – where young children, in particular, are at risk for life-threatening injuries.

“The Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) has taken effective measures to ensure fan safety, as has Japan’s league. Why doesn’t Major League Baseball in the U.S. do the same and install appropriate safety netting at every ballpark?” asks Skopp. “I’m holding a press conference with South Korean sports writers to ask what drove South Korea to establish their fan safety standards – and what it says about U.S. Major League Baseball that I have to go ask other countries about this?”

Joining Skopp for the press conference will be several fans whose lives were forever changed by a single foul ball injury, including:

• Erwin Goldbloom, the widower of Linda Goldbloom who was killed by a foul ball incident at Dodger Stadium in 2018.

• Jana Brody, daughter of Erwin and Linda Goldbloom, who will talk about the tragic loss of her mother to a fatal foul ball injury.

• Stephanie Wapenski, who was hit in the head at Fenway Park while attending a Boston Red Sox game in 2015. She received 40 stitches.

• Alexis Hoskey, who was just 4-years-old when she was hit by a ball while attending a Kansas City Royals game in 2011. She experienced major head trauma.

• And others to be announced at the press conference.

While no one has a tally on the total number of fans injured by foul balls, a 2019 NBC News report found 808 injuries occurred in 4 of the MLB’s 30 MLB stadiums between 2012 and 2019. Extrapolating that data out to the remaining MLB ballparks, it conservatively suggests the average number of fans injured during that period could be a staggering 5,000.  And those incident numbers don’t account for Minor League play that, in total, has nearly 4 times the number of games on their rosters as the Majors.

Skopp is the founder of Foul Ball Safety Now which hosts a public petition addressed to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. He hopes reporters in South Korea will run articles and hold discussions with him on the issue and perhaps “show up” the MLB for its failed response to a very serious safety concern – before U.S. stadiums open their gates again this spring.

Press Conference Details:

Jordan Skopp’s Foul Ball Safety NOW Press Conference

Date/Time:

Thursday – Jan. 28, 2021 at 01:00 GMT

• (Thursday – Jan 28 at 10:00 AM KST)
• (Wednesday – Jan 27 at 8:00 PM US Eastern Time)

Zoom Video Link:

https://zoom.us/j/93882110417

Meeting ID: 938 8211 0417

By Phone:

Dial by your location
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 938 8211 0417

Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aglLLodQj

About Jordan Skopp

Jordan Skopp is a baseball fan, stadium safety advocate, and author of an upcoming book detailing foul ball injuries at professional parks and what can be done to ensure fan safety. Skopp is the founder of foulballsafetynow.com.