Time to Eliminate the Ball Dude Program

Some things are just meant to be phased out at AT&T Park. Take Rusty the mechanical man near the right field pole that lasted less than a season. Take the Build-a-Bear shack behind center field, it got the boot this past season. Take the concession kiosks that were near the line of sight to the field on the promenade level - doneski! Take the seats on the field level on the 1st base line that's been converted to the Corona Beach party area.

Now is the time to get rid of the Ball Dude program. We all know that these individuals have a hard fielding a soft grounder let alone a one-hop seed off the bat of Buster Posey. It's become a liability for the fans and players they are to suppose to help and protect. Case in point, just last week one of the Ball "Girls" tried catching a foul ball when three Giants were charging into foul territory to catch it! Thankfully, Joaquin Arias snatched it before we had a Steve Bartman moment at AT&T Park. We can understand why the club instituted the program at the 'Stick ... the foul territory was immense and the Ball Dudes pretty much stayed out of the way. But at AT&T Park where the foul territory is smaller we need individuals that can actually field and stay out of the way. In most other stadiums, they just have an extra set of bat boys deployed down the line or they recruit the local college softball players to do the same. Why can't the Giants move the program to have younger and capable individuals serve as Ball Dudes/Girls? It's just a matter of time before a major incident happens before the Giants are forced to alter the program - why wait for something like to happen?

An Accident Waiting to Happen

Ball Girl Going for Stephen Drew's Pop Up