Fanatics/Topps/MLB Outreach
In this section you’ll find our public statements and media outreach on the scandalous case of a Toronto Blue Jays fan who was hit by a foul ball in the forehead only for her injury to be glorified by Topps creating a baseball card. Fanatics/Topps is the official MLB partner for all cards. What is professional baseball doing celebrating fan injuries? 110 cards printed for a 110MPH punch to the head? Outrageous!
Read our letter to Topps, our three press releases and our Letters to the Editors of The New York Times and the Toronto Star.
Letter to Michael Rubin and Topps July 2024
Dear Michael Rubin and Topps,
Your company’s recent decision to produce a Topps Now baseball trading card for the fan injured by a 110 MPH foul ball at a Toronto Blue Jays game, was disrespectful and showed bad judgement.
I implore you to take back all the unsold cards and destroy them, and buy back the cards the fan sold on eBay and burn those too. I hope Topps will admit its mistake publicly, address this matter immediately, and pledge to never again glorify fan injuries from foul balls.
I don’t know who made the call on producing this card, but someone was asleep at the helm who should have reconsidered the wisdom of this distasteful exploitation of a foul ball victim.
It certainly does not align with the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics published by Fanatics, the owner of Topps, which states a commitment to “do the right thing, always” and “making sure your actions show respect for and earn the trust of our stakeholders, including fans…”.
The company code also instructs employees to consider the following impacts “before taking an action, ask yourself: Does it reflect our Company values and ethics? Does it respect the rights of others? Could it damage the reputation of the Company?”
Glorifying any fan’s serious injury is bad business practice, plain and simple. People have been killed by foul balls, and their families don’t appreciate anyone making light of the tragic experience of foul ball injury.
I hope you not only take immediate steps to apologize for this incident, but also use this as an opportunity to use Topps’ significant reach and resources to advocate for more netting so it won’t happen to anyone else anywhere in professional baseball.
Sincerely,
Jordan Skopp
Press Release #1
Foul Ball Victims Don’t Belong On a Baseball Card
Poor judgement continues in professional baseball.
Brooklyn, NY (PRUnderground) May 22nd, 2024
The baseball industrial complex is cruel and insensitive to victims of foul ball injuries.
Take the case of a fan who was hit in the head on Sunday May 19, 2024 by a 110MPH foul ball at a Toronto Blue Jays game.
The fan posted about the incident on social media, then someone tagged Topps, the baseball card company. Topps replied, and put together a ‘custom card’ featuring the fan’s selfie of her heavily swollen forehead, and framed it with the words: ‘FAN WEARS 110MPH FOUL BALL LIKE A CHAMP.’
Topps should be just as ashamed as all of professional baseball ought to be that fans continue to be maimed by dangerous foul balls. Turning this into some sort of sick joke is adding insult to injury.
“Where have our standards gone? Why does anyone, let alone a long-running respected brand like Topps, think it’s ok to make fun of foul ball victims?” Skopp said.
This poor judgement is reminiscent of the 2020 pandemic-era move by Major League Baseball to place cardboard cutouts of fans in the stands and then offer prizes when a foul ball struck the cardboard cutout.
“The very real human victims of foul balls who I talked to back then found this very insensitive. I’m sure they’ll be just as shocked to learn about Topps’ custom card for a foul ball victim in 2024,” Skopp said.
All of professional baseball has known this fan injury crisis has been happening for decades, they’ve admitted warning their own families to sit behind the netting, yet this has remained an open secret for too long.
“Instead of making fun of victims, isn’t it time for baseball to apologize to the victims? Then take immediate action to stop dangerous foul balls from ever reaching fans’ heads in the first place. Anything less is disrespectful,” Skopp said.
Press Release #2
Proceeds with Caution: Foul Ball Injury Scandal Taints Charitable Intent – Foul Ball Safety Now
Should hospitals be the recipients of charitable donations that result from a scandalous incident?
Brooklyn, NY (PRUnderground) June 4th, 2024
The Toronto Blue Jays fan who was smashed in the forehead by a 110 MPH foul ball recently earned a lot of media attention, accelerated by her decision to auction off a number of Topps baseball trading cards featuring her injured likeness and claiming that she’s donating partial proceeds to a children’s hospital in Canada.
“This fan may be famous right now, but for all the wrong reasons,” according to Jordan Skopp, founder of Foul Ball Safety Now. “Is this hospital being brought into a conversation that they don’t want anything to do with? Who wants to be associated with an assault on a fan that could have ended in death? This is Major League Baseball’s dark secret, and it’s no laughing matter,” Skopp continued.
These incidents will continue to happen regularly as long as professional baseball fails to ensure the safety of all fans who enter their ballparks.
“Topps glorifying a fan injury sets a bad precedent. What are they going to do? Make a card every time a fan gets smashed in the face?,” Skopp said.
Victims of foul ball injury and death would likely find this insensitive, just as they did with the cardboard cutouts fans were encouraged to purchase during the pandemic, another distasteful media stunt baseball pulled that put profit above human dignity.
“Hospitals need to have their guard up and consider whether to accept donations that are scandalous. It’s a certainty that more victims will be slammed with foul balls – and that’s not the guaranteed outcome anyone should cheer for or hope to benefit financially from. We deserve better as fans. Nobody injured by a foul ball should be glorified or celebrated. Apologize and focus on real solutions to this ongoing crisis,” Skopp said.
The media frenzy around this story is symptomatic of what’s wrong with the baseball industrial complex. Topps was just the first commercial interest to exploit this incident. Others have since pounced on it, offering the injured fan $100 in free hot dogs, for example.
Press Release #3
Topps Was Wrong to Glorify Baseball Fan’s Foul Ball Injury
There’s nothing redeeming about this exploitation of foul ball victims.
June 20, 2024
Topps’ recent decision to produce a Topps Now baseball trading card for the fan injured by a 110 MPH foul ball at a Toronto Blue Jays game was disrespectful and showed bad judgement, according to Foul Ball Safety Now founder Jordan Skopp.
“When the next baseball fan gets hit by a 108 MPH foul ball and gets killed, should they be presented on a Topps Now baseball card as a hero for taking one for the team?,” Skopp said.
Skopp suggested that symbolizing serious fan injuries sends the wrong signal altogether.
“Topps should take back all the unsold cards and destroy them, and they should buy back the cards the fan sold on eBay and burn those too. I would hope Topps would admit their mistake, address this matter immediately, and never again glorify fan injuries from foul balls,” Skopp said
People who were lucky to escape with their lives after a serious foul ball injury have been treated poorly by the baseball industry previously. Many foul ball victims found MLB’s publicity stunt with the cardboard cut-outs during the Covid pandemic insensitive.
“The baseball industry has no respect for the fans. Putting foul ball victims on trading cards demonstrates that clearly. The achievement of surviving 110MPH ball is not something to celebrate or turn into a collectible item. There’s nothing redeeming about this exploitation of foul ball victims,” Skopp said.
Also at issue is Major League Baseball’s delayed action to address the ongoing threat to fan safety in its affiliated minor league and Partner League ballparks, according to Skopp.
“MLB is the ultimate culprit, announcing in 2022 a plan to implement netting requirements in the minor leagues but not until 2025, which is ridiculous. They should have informed fans about the heightened risks and advised them to leave their children at home at least until 2025,” Skopp said.
The urgent need for extended netting throughout professional baseball was made clear in a 2019 ESPN video. “Nowhere do you see ESPN inserting a Topps baseball card of a survivor in their very powerful production emphasizing the risks fans face from the lack of netting. It would be insulting – it is insulting – to glorify fan injuries. So why does Topps think that’s a good idea?,” Skopp continued.
Letter to the Editor
Submitted to The New York Times - May 2024
Re: Fan Hit by a Foul Ball Gets Her Own Trading Card, by Jesus Jiménez (Sports, B6, May 23):
Topps should be ashamed, as should all of professional baseball, that fans continue to be seriously injured by dangerous foul balls. Turning this into some sort of twisted publicity stunt adds insult to injury.
Jiménez incorrectly reported that the “odds of being struck by a ball or bat at a baseball game are low” and that MLB’s piecemeal netting improvements “keep fans safe.”
Tell that to an 8-year-old boy who was struck in the eye by a foul ball last Friday (May 17) at Dodger Stadium – the same ballpark where the two known fan fatalities from foul balls occurred (Alan Fish in 1970 and Linda Goldbloom in 2018). A fan was blinded by a foul ball at a Pittsburgh Pirates game on July 1, 2023. Two young children were critically injured last summer at minor league ballparks operated by MLB affiliated teams.
The truth is that this is an ongoing fan safety crisis, and not nearly enough has been done to fix it. MLB hides behind the antiquated and scandalous ‘Baseball Rule’ which limits liability for fan injuries. It should be eliminated.
Instead of glorifying fan injuries on trading cards, isn’t it time for baseball to apologize to the victims? When will MLB be held accountable for knowing this has been happening for decades? Players and managers have admitted warning their own families to sit behind the netting, but nobody warns the rest of us.
These incidents are entirely preventable, and whether by an act of Congress or otherwise, it should no longer be tolerated that any fan is maimed or killed in a professional ballpark in America.
Jordan Skopp
Brooklyn, NY
Letter to the Editor
Submitted to Toronto Star - June 2024
Foul Ball Injuries are No Laughing Matter
The Toronto Blue Jays fan who was smashed in the forehead by a 110 MPH foul ball recently has earned a lot of media attention, but for all the wrong reasons. Now she is trying to auction off a number of Topps baseball trading cards featuring her injured likeness, and claiming that she’s donating partial proceeds to a local Toronto children’s hospital.
The hospital ought to think twice before accepting these scandal-tainted donations. Major League Baseball has known for decades that fans will continually require hospitalization for foul ball injuries that could be easily prevented by adequate protective netting and responsible business practices.
Toronto fans continue to be placed in harm’s way, for no good reason. Extended netting can be installed in a matter of days.
Nobody injured by a foul ball should be glorified. In fact, we should all be horrified that this keeps happening.
An 8-year-old boy was struck in the eye by a foul ball on May 17 at Dodger Stadium – the same ballpark where the two known fan fatalities from foul balls occurred (Alan Fish in 1970 and Linda Goldbloom in 2018). A fan was blinded by a foul ball at a Pittsburgh Pirates game on July 1, 2023. Two young children were critically injured last summer at minor league ballparks operated by MLB affiliated teams.
How many more fans need their heads smashed before everyone wakes up to the reality that baseball has been hiding this from us for decades? Players and managers admit warning their own families to sit behind the netting, but nobody warns the rest of us.
These incidents are entirely preventable, and it should not be tolerated that any fan is maimed or killed in a professional ballpark in North America. The local hospital should take a stand and refuse donations related to this public health scandal.
Jordan Skopp
Brooklyn, NY