New MLB Metal Detectors Causing Long Lines and Delays for Baseball Fans

Conventional wisdom decrees that any time you have an opportunity to lower the possibility for violence at a sporting event, you take it.

Conversely, it would appear that new security measures around the league have made entering stadiums a longer, more tedious process for fans. 

In keeping with a 2014 MLB mandate, all 30 teams around the nation will use hand-held and/or walk-through metal detectors to screen fans attending games throughout the 2015 season. It would appear teams are following the directive to a T, and as a result, fans are experiencing even longer waits than usual over the course of this busy Opening Day. 

Some bottlenecks appear to be worse than others, as pictures of long lines caused by metal detectors surfaced on social media Monday.

"

@RiverAveBlues a result of the new metal detectors pic.twitter.com/WsHhtWjusB

— B. Jones (@bjones_51) April 6, 2015"

Clearly, a lot of fans aren't feeling the new security measures.

This is a tough one. On one hand, you don’t want yahoos walking in with knives, guns or metal signs forgiving Alex Rodriguez. On the other hand, you’ve got to get people in the ballpark, and there’s an increased chance of unrest and violence by mashing groups of frustrated people together and making them miss portions of the ballgame. 

We’ll leave it at this: The initiative is young, and both the fans and the teams will have to adjust accordingly to make it a livable situation. If that means fans showing up earlier and security agents resorting to less stringent hand-swiping, then that’s a compromise for consideration. 

Otherwise, show up early, and expect more than an ocular pat-down at the gate.

Dan is on Twitter. Always trust the ocular pat-down.