Outreach to Major League Baseball, Corporate Sponsors, & Elected Officials
Letter to corporate stadium sponsors June, 2021
Hello,
My name is Jordan Skopp and I’m reaching out to discuss an important safety concern regarding the stadium bearing your corporate branding. As you probably know, your company owns the naming rights to this minor league ballpark, and has its corporate branding throughout. I would like to extend an invitation to the appropriate company representatives to engage in discussion about what needs to be done urgently to protect fans from dangerous foul ball injuries.
The minor league baseball season is underway, and fans are back in the stands. Unfortunately, they are in danger of severe maiming or even death due to the lack of extended protective netting that is needed to protect spectators of all ages at this ballpark, where the netting doesn't protect fans seated beyond the dugouts. Here's a brief video depicting the worst-case scenario.
I am the founder of FoulBallSafetyNow.com, and author of a forthcoming book on this issue. As I’ve investigated the threat to fan safety from foul balls in recent years, I realize it’s not well known how dire the situation is. You may not have realized this is a matter of urgent and ongoing importance. Sadly, it’s not if but when more fans will be injured or possibly killed by high-speed foul balls.
I have communicated with nearly 100 minor league box offices this spring, and unfortunately I’ve discovered that more than 40 ballparks still do not have extended netting beyond the dugouts.
I would like to have a conversation with representatives from your company in the hope that we can solve this problem together.
The good news is that it’s not too late to act to protect fans this season. The necessary extended netting and safety improvements can be completed in just a few days and at reasonable cost. There are experts you can consult with to ensure the ballpark is maiming free as soon as possible.
Can we schedule a conversation to discuss and get this done?
I look forward to hearing from you very soon.
Thank you,
Jordan Skopp
Letter to Caterpillar Inc, corporate sponsor of Dozer Park May 10, 2021
Hello,
My name is Jordan Skopp and I’m reaching out to discuss an important safety concern regarding Dozer Park in Peoria, Illinois. As you probably know, Caterpillar owns the naming rights to this minor league ballpark, and has its corporate branding throughout. I would like to extend an invitation to the appropriate company representatives to engage in discussion about what needs to be done urgently to protect fans from dangerous foul ball injuries.
The minor league baseball season is underway, and fans will return to Dozer Park next week for the home opener on Tuesday, May 11. Unfortunately, they will be in danger of severe maiming or even death due to the lack of extended protective netting that is needed to protect spectators of all ages at Dozer Park.
I am the founder of FoulBallSafetyNow.com, and author of a forthcoming book on this issue. As I’ve investigated the threat to fan safety from foul balls in recent years, I realize it’s not well known how dire the situation is. You may not have realized this is a matter of urgent and ongoing importance. Sadly, it’s not if but when more fans will be injured or possibly killed by high-speed foul balls.
I have communicated with nearly 100 minor league box offices this spring, and unfortunately I’ve discovered that Dozer Park is one of the most dangerous ballparks in professional baseball due to its lack of extended netting. I had an informative call earlier this week with the general manager of the Peoria Chiefs, and would like to continue the conversation with representatives from Caterpillar in the hope that we can solve this problem together.
The good news is that it’s not too late to act to protect Chiefs fans this season. The necessary extended netting and safety improvements can be completed in just a few days and at reasonable cost. There are experts you can consult with to ensure the ballpark is maiming free as soon as possible.
Can we schedule a conversation to discuss and get this done?
I look forward to hearing from you very soon.
Thank you,
Jordan Skopp
Letter to the Governor of Illinois from Jordan Skopp May 10, 2021
Governor Pritzker,
My name is Jordan Skopp and I'm the founder of Foul Ball Safety Now, an organization dedicated to ending the serious injuries and deaths resulting from foul balls in our nation's baseball stadiums and minor league ballparks. I am writing to you to seek your immediate assistance in preventing further fan injuries in Illinois.
Most urgently, there is a state of emergency in Peoria, where the minor league Chiefs will host their home opener on Tuesday, May 11 at Dozer Park, which I’ve discovered is one of the most dangerous ballparks in America due to its lack of extended protective netting.
The Chiefs’ ballpark stands out as the worst offender with no netting at all over the dugouts at Dozer Park. Please review the ABC Heart of Illinois news segment about this issue that aired this past weekend. https://hoiabc.com/2021/05/07/457187/
I’ve been in touch with Senator Durbin’s office, and spoke with Senator Duckworth’s office just today about the ongoing threat to baseball fan safety. I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak with you or your staff as soon as possible.
As you may know, Illinois has been at the epicenter of the foul ball crisis, and your state’s courts are currently adjudicating several important lawsuits brought by injured fans, including the cases of Jay Loos and Leiah Zuniga. During the 2019 regular MLB season, at least 15 fans were maimed by foul balls, including a woman who was taken to the hospital after being struck by a foul ball at Guaranteed Rate Field on June 9.
Hundreds and probably thousands of people have been seriously injured by foul balls over the past decade. People have been killed, including Linda Goldbloom, who never regained consciousness after being walloped by a foul ball at a Los Angeles Dodgers game in 2018. Many children have been permanently maimed, including a toddler whose skull was fractured by a foul ball at an Astros game in 2019. Vendors and other staff are also at risk, including a volunteer for the Astros who lost her eye due to a foul ball in Kissimmee, Florida a few years ago. Nor can fans adequately protect themselves from balls batted at speeds that can surpass 100 miles per hour.
All of these injuries were both foreseeable and preventable, if there had been adequate safety netting installed at the stadiums and ballparks. At the end of 2019, Major League Baseball Commissioner Manfred suggested that more netting would be coming to extend netting at most of the 30 Major League stadiums for the 2020 season. But as the situation in Peoria demonstrates, the threat to fan safety remains dire, and requires urgent government intervention.
As I’ve sadly learned from conducting a survey of nearly 100 minor league ballparks this spring, at least 42 teams still do not have netting past the ends of dugouts. Fans regularly are maimed by foul balls past the end of the dugouts.
Major League Baseball has already produced a dramatic scene this spring, with a fan narrowly escaping injury when a foul ball exploded his beer can at Spring Training, a moment that could have easily involved blood and bones shattering instead of beer suds.
Before another fan is injured or killed by a dangerous foul ball, I am appealing to you to step in. Please stop these games in Peoria and elsewhere until the threat from 100mph balls reaching human beings in a split second is fixed permanently. Unless there is decisive action taken urgently, it’s not a matter of if but when some else will be maimed.
I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.
Thank you,
Jordan Skopp
Letter to the Governors of Arizona & Florida from Jordan Skopp February 11, 2021
Dear Governor Ducey and Governor DeSantis,
My name is Jordan Skopp and I'm the founder of Foul Ball Safety Now, an organization dedicated to ending the serious injuries and deaths resulting from foul balls in our nation's baseball stadiums. I am writing to you to seek your immediate assistance in ensuring that the stadiums and fields where Spring Training activities and games will soon begin are appropriately netted and safe for fans.
Hundreds and probably thousands of people have been seriously injured by foul balls batted into their seats over the past decade. People have been killed, including Linda Goldbloom, who never regained consciousness after being walloped by a foul ball at a Los Angeles Dodgers game in 2018. Many children have been permanently maimed, including a toddler whose skull was fractured by a foul ball at an Astros game in 2019. Vendors and other staff are also at risk - I recently learned of a volunteer for the Astros who lost her eye due to a foul ball in Kissimmee, Florida a few years ago. Nor can fans adequately protect themselves from balls batted at speeds that can surpass 100 miles per hour.
All of these injuries were both foreseeable and preventable, if there had been adequate safety netting installed at the stadiums. At the end of 2019, Major League Baseball Commissioner Manfred suggested that more netting would be coming to extend netting at most of the 30 Major League stadiums for the 2020 season. But it still appears that many of the stadiums where both major and minor league games are played in Florida and Arizona will remain not fully protected.
At the end of February 2020, I called all of the spring training facilities in Florida and Arizona which host exhibition games and found that the majority of teams had not extended netting past the ends of the dugouts. People are maimed regularly at baseball games without netting beyond the ends of the dugouts. As governors of the states that host Spring Training it is your public health responsibility to ensure that the stadiums are safe.
We need an emergency call to action to protect fans from dangerous foul balls before Spring Training begins. We call upon you, the Governors of the great states of Arizona and Florida, to immediately inspect your stadiums and facilities to ensure that appropriate safety netting has been installed in each of them before allowing fans and staff in for Spring Training. The baseball-loving public has had enough to worry about during this pandemic-filled year, and fans are looking forward to being able to enjoy the American pastime. They should not have to also worry about being maimed by a foul ball.
Thank you,
Jordan Skopp
Letter to MLB from Jordan Skopp January 12, 2021
Dear Commissioner Manfred,
Please find below links to recent media coverage of the Foul Ball Safety Now campaign, which I launched in order to demand immediate action to protect fans from dangerous foul balls throughout MLB and Minor League baseball.
I believe you understand the gravity of this issue, and my growing coalition of supporters — including Erwin Goldbloom, the Hoskey family, Stephanie Wapenski, Dwayne Sowa and many other foul ball victims — will not rest until you have satisfactorily ended the preventable crisis of fan maimings throughout professional baseball.
Dangerous foul balls have maimed far too many children and other fans who went to the game looking for entertainment and left with life-altering injuries. Linda Goldbloom lost her life to a foul ball that never should have reached her head, and the foot-dragging and excuses of MLB executives, team owners and lawyers are accountable for her death and all of these other serious injuries.
Every stadium and ballpark must be retrofitted immediately — before fans return to the game in person — to guarantee fan safety from screaming foul balls.
You are singularly capable of ending this epidemic of pain and suffering, and ensuring that the players don’t carry the burden of worrying whether they will be the next to alter a fan’s life forever with a foul ball.
I hope you finally get it done. Your organization has ignored responsibility and danced around this issue for too long.
Foul Ball Safety Now will continue to advocate on behalf of all baseball fans for the creation of an independent netting council to oversee the retrofitting of all MLB stadiums, minor league affiliate ballparks and Spring Training facilities. We are also working to destroy the Baseball Rule which your industry has hidden behind for far too long.
Rest assured that the articles below are just the beginning of a groundswell of relentless pressure that you will feel until you have fixed this problem once and for all.
It’s past time for you to rescue baseball’s reputation, or MLB will go down in history as no better than Big Tobacco.
Sincerely,
Jordan Skopp
Letter to MLB from Jordan Skopp November 17, 2020
Dear Commissioner Manfred and MLB team owners,
My name is Jordan Skopp and I am a Brooklyn-based realtor and lifelong baseball fan.
I am appealing to you today to please take immediate action to extend safety netting throughout all MLB, Minor League and Spring Training facilities so that all baseball fans will be protected from dangerous foul balls from now on.
As you are well aware, at least 15 fans were maimed by foul balls in MLB during the 2019 regular season, including several young children who were severely injured. Although publicly available data are not available, this situation surely is even more precarious for fans at the minor league level, where ballparks are sorely lacking in adequate protective netting.
This is unacceptable, and I contend that your knowledge of this ongoing pattern of maimings each year puts your industry in the same category as Big Tobacco. In order to rescue the reputation of professional baseball from this ongoing scandal, it is imperative that you now act transparently to fix this entirely preventable epidemic of serious foul ball injuries to fans.
Commissioner Manfred, you must mandate comprehensive extended netting at all MLB, Minor League and Spring Training facilities. The record of ongoing maimings clearly proves that leaving it up to individual teams has not worked, and fans have suffered greatly as a result of inconsistent and ineffective leadership on this issue. It’s been far too long that you’ve been dancing around the issue of fan safety. The buck stops with you, sir.
It’s long overdue for all fans to be protected from dangerous line drive foul balls. The past is the past. Please fix this problem now before fans return to the ballpark. Collaborate with local authorities throughout North America to ensure that no maiming will ever occur again in your stadiums and ballparks.
I have started a petition at FoulBallSafetyNow.com where fans can join this effort to hold you all to account.
My forthcoming book on this topic will review the history of failure to respect fans’ lives, including the two known fan fatalities at the Major League level — 14-year-old Alan Fish in 1970, and 79-year-old Linda Goldbloom in 2018. More protective netting should have gone up immediately after Fish’s death. MLB could have acted responsibly to protect fans from that day forward. It didn’t happen.
Before fans return to watch America’s pastime in person, you bear the responsibility to ensure that your facilities are updated to completely end the era of foul ball fan maimings once and for all.
Get it done.
Sincerely,
Jordan Skopp