Hoornstra: Dodger fan’s death is more than a cautionary tale about foul balls
From J.P. Hoornstra at the Orange County Register on February 6, 2019:
Chavez Ravine was nearly free of concrete when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958. While they waited for their new ballpark, the Dodgers played their home games in the football-friendly Los Angeles Coliseum. The first row of seats in left field sat a mere 250 feet from home plate. To prevent routine fly balls from becoming home runs, a 40-foot high net was installed, an awkward but necessary accommodation to baseball.
Linda Goldbloom was a secretary for CBS Radio at the time. Sometimes she would receive complimentary tickets to Dodger games at the Coliseum. Her newlywed husband, Erwin, counted it as a nice perk of their marriage, though as he recalled on Tuesday, tickets “were only a couple bucks then.”
By 2018 the Goldblooms were still attending games together at Dodger Stadium. They had season tickets in the loge section behind home plate. On Aug. 25, the Dodgers were playing the Padres when a foul ball cleared the backstop netting, sailed into the stands, and struck 79-year-old Linda Goldbloom in the head. The resulting injury proved to be fatal.
Read the full article here: https://www.ocregister.com/2019/02/06/hoornstra-dodger-fans-death-is-more-than-a-cautionary-tale-about-foul-balls/
Originally published: February 7, 2019. Last Updated: February 7, 2019.