Chicago man blinded in one eye by baseball sues the sport

CHICAGO: A man blinded in the left eye by an errant ball in one of a series of recent baseball stadium injuries is suing Major League Baseball and the Chicago Cubs.

John Loos, 60, was hit in the eye by a foul ball during an August game at the Cubs´ home stadium Wrigley Field, where he was seated close to the game action, according to his attorneys.

"My eye took a direct hit. It´s not functioning," Loos told a news conference Monday after his lawsuit was filed on Friday in a Chicago court.

Loos said the high-speed ball destroyed his eye, which may need to be replaced with a prosthetic, and broke five facial bones.

His injuries have required three surgeries and will require "at least two more," he said.

There have been a series of incidents of fan injuries, leading to calls for more protection for spectators at Major League Baseball (MLB) games.

Four teams announced in September that they would extend protective netting, joining 10 others, after a young girl was hit by a foul ball at New York´s Yankee Stadium.

A Cubs executive announced in September that safety netting would be expanded at Wrigley as well, according to local media.

"We´ve studied... where the balls are heading and obviously, we´ve been pulling the nets further and further," Chicago TV station WBBM reported Cubs´ business operations chief Crane Kenney as saying.

But Loos said MLB should do more to protect fans.

"There should be nothing more important than (fan) safety. This is a problem that Major League Baseball has known for decades," he said.

The Cubs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.