On July 23, 2000, Delinda Middleton Taylor went to a Mariners baseball game at Safeco Field with her minor sons, Gavin and Jordan and then-boyfriend, Glen Taylor. They went to the game more than an hour early and watched the players warm up and also wanted to get their autographs. Their seats were close to the field, section 114, along the right field foul line and four rows up from the field. A pitcher for the Mariners, Freddy Garcia, was standing on or about the right field line facing center field, in front of section 114. Garcia was throwing a ball back and forth with José Mesa, who was standing approximately 120 feet away in right center field. As Taylor stood in front of her seat, a ball was thrown by Mesa, missed by Garcia and hit Taylor…show more content… The Mariners’ motion was for summary judgment. They claimed that their responsibility for protecting the audience from balls going into the stands was fulfilled by having a protective screen behind home plate. They also stated that Taylor was familiar with the sport of baseball and familiar with the risk of balls leaving the field, thus, she was also familiar with the risk of her injury. The Mariners can justify their assumption that Taylor is familiar with the risk of her injury because she was a Mariners fan and had been to one of their games before. She also watches their games on television and knows that professional baseball players don’t always catch the ball, which means the ball could go into the stands during a game. Also, Taylor’s two sons play baseball; one played for seven years and the other for six. She went to almost all of their games, where she saw balls leave the field and enter the stands. The Mariners’ pitching coach, Bryan Price testified that the pitchers warm up by playing “long-toss,” where they throw the ball back and forth at increasing distances. Price claimed that this method minimizes the possibility that another player could be struck by an errant throw and that this is an unwritten customary method to the sport followed at every level, including Little League to the Major