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NY politicians urge Yankees to install protective netting

Paul Bereswill / Getty Images Sport / Getty

As several MLB teams move forward with plans to install protective netting in their stadiums, New York City politicians are putting added pressure on the Yankees, urging the organization to do the same following Wednesday's incident in which a 2-year-old was struck by a foul ball.

"This is a terrible tragedy, we're going to take a hard look at whether teams should extend this netting further to protect fans," New York City mayor's spokesman Seth Stein told Christian Red and Peter Botte from the New York Daily News.

NYC councilman Rafael Espinal Jr. has been particularly vocal in regard to protective netting at Yankee Stadium. Espinal introduced a bill in May that would force stadiums of 5,000 or more seats to have netting from home plate covering both sides of the outfield.

"I would never have wanted to see something like what happened yesterday ever happen. I think it could have been avoidable, if only netting had been put in place before yesterday's game," Espinal said.

"But this is the reality and I hope this is a moment where the Yankees do some reflecting and finally move forward with putting it in to protect their fans. Coincidentally I decided a few days ago to move forward with holding a hearing on my bill (scheduled for Oct. 25)."

"... My hope was that the teams would take this issue upon themselves without needing any legislative action. But it’s becoming more obvious that we need to move forward and the government has to step in and be expedient on this issue."

The Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, and Seattle Mariners have already announced they will extend netting at their stadiums by Opening Day 2018.

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