Major league baseball's security policy allows teams to dictate some of their own safety implementations based on the individual clubs' market.
Editor's note: This is the second part in a four-part series focused on ballpark security following the recent Boston Marathon bombings. These stories are meant to inform readers on the mechanisms in place to keep ballparks safe and how different threats can be addressed. They are not intended to raise alarm about or discourage fans from attending baseball games or other sporting events.
BOSTON — Major league baseball's security policy allows teams to dictate some of their own safety implementations based on the individual clubs' market.
The most visible form of security for fans is the point-of-entry screening, and there are three types of security procedures that should be familiar: bag checks, pat downs and wanding — the use of a handheld metal detector.
The NFL requires all three league-wide: bag checks, pat downs and wanding. MLB requires only bag checks. But, MLB clubs are free to implement wanding and pat downs if they feel it necessary.
"Bag checks are mandatoryat every club and we employ a range of other measures to ensure safety at our ballparks," an MLB spokesperson said.
A source with knowledge of Major League Baseball's security directives told MassLive.com that the league "in the last couple weeks has definitely focused on this issue for obvious reasons, the security and screening at gates. I know there's several discussions on-going at a league level with all teams."
The NFL made wanding mandatory in late 2011, following an embarassing incident in September of that year. A fan brought a Tazer gun into MetLife Stadium, home of the Jets and Giants, on Sept. 11 of that year — the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
"Beginning in late 2011, we added handheld metal detectors to our already comprehensive stadium security plan for regular season games," an NFL spokesperson said. "All teams used them during the 2012 season."
But you won't find them everywhere in baseball.
The market-to-market allowances are not necessarily a problem. Yet MLB's variations from park to park do stand in contrast to the NFL.
"I'm very comfortable with, in this case, MLB issuing general standards and letting the specific implementation of those standards be on a club-by-club basis," said Steve Adelman, a Phoenix-based lawyer whose practice and expertise is venue safety. "The reason for that is people in a local market know their market better than people in a New York office. And so I trust, for example, the people in Kansas City to know the temper of that crowd and what will cause them to get excited. I trust them to know best what they're dealing with rather than some suit in New York."
Bill Bordley, MLB's vice president of security, was not available for this story.
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