The problem is not the 18 minutes - it's that you have to pay attention the whole time to know exactly which 18 minutes you need to be paying attention. You can't turn away between the pitches or you won't know when the next pitch is about to happen.
I've never been to a game, I live in Australia ad thus am unqualified but i can't help but think it would hurt the in game experience and fans love catching foul balls
Better, you build an invisible electric fence that when activated by speed and location of the baseball triggers either pop up pads for each fan ( like an air bag ), activates a pop up net for the entire baseline, or deactivation of the baseball flight path. In the pad situation, fly balls could still be caught. Line drives would be protected. Mother Sized Nets will take away from the experience of being "outdoors." There need to be better solutions for the new stadiums. Tech can solve this.
Instead of a net, we can use hockey style bullet proof plastic barriers. They are see through so it won't be as bothersome as having netting. When was the last time a hockey fan had to be carried away on a stretcher?
Just read a report that during the last 2 CBA negotiations, the players wanted to extend the netting all the way to the foul poles and the owners said no. Cmon, man, it's not that difficult. Also, you do not have to sit in those areas. There are thousands of other great seats in a ballpark that do not carry the same risk. On a much different scale, it's similar to going to Sea World, sitting next to the glass wall, and getting angry when Shamu splashes water all over you.
So if your son starts crying loudly because he wants cotton candy you ignore him for 18 minutes because you have got your eyes on the at bats the entire time to avoid being hit by a foul ball? Cmon now
If your son is so young that he can't understand "ok, in a minute" he probably doesn't belong in that small area of seats anyway. And use some common sense. Sit between your kid and home plate. Sit next to an aisle so you can sneak out at inappropriate times (ie anytime except between half-innings & pitching changes). And don't do the wave. And I think you misunderstand the 18-minutes of action. That's a cumulative average of "ball-in-play time" throughout a whole game.
If only kids of all ages were so amicable. Honestly though, to think that there isn't one time during a baseball game that you might get distracted during an at bat is a bit naive.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">MLB will soon announce new regulations for extended netting for ballparks, Rob Manfred said.</p>— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) <a href="https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/667430222514544640">November 19, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Totally agree with this.... and every time I've sat behind home plate, I've never felt my view to be obscured or affected by netting.
