The pair of seats four rows down in field box 58 have belonged to Stu Gray for the last 30 years.

The visitor’s dugout has been just a glance to the left for three decades. The pitcher’s mound always has been right in front of him.

But Gray couldn’t help inspecting the newly installed netting that now separates him and the game, not so much a wall, but a million tiny windows sewn together.

From where he was sitting, the net didn’t alter his view dramatically. He was well below the top of the netting, where sightlines in the lower loge levels might get tricky, and he was far enough back that the net itself looked translucent.

But there was the thick black border that outlines the doorway to the field.

“I’m not nuts about that black outlining of their doorway,’’ Gray said, sitting with his grandson before the Red Sox opened up at home against the Orioles on Monday. “That could change the view from here to third base. But other than that, you’ll hardly notice and you’ll still be able to get the popups that come over the screen.’’

Aesthetics weren’t Gray’s issue with the netting. It was ambience. It felt different not seeing fans leaning over the wall for high-fives. It felt different not having players stop by to sign baseballs.

“I like the game because it hasn’t changed a lot,’’ Gray said. “I like to see people shaking hands with the players before the game by the screen. I just like the ambience of the friendly confines of Fenway.’’

But with protective netting now extending from the backstop to both dugouts, how he sees the game will be slightly different.

The change was one that Major League Baseball saw necessary for all 30 ballparks after a number of alarming incidents a year ago of spectators being injured by foul balls and broken bats, including two at Fenway, brought fan safety to the forefront.

The incidents at Fenway were jarring for fans and players alike. When a broken bat struck Tonya Carpenter in June, she had to be taken off on a stretcher. She was in serious condition upon being taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, but ultimately recovered. In July, Stephanie Wapenski was hit by a foul ball. She had to be escorted away in a wheelchair, and received 35 to 40 stitches at Beth Israel.

Once the league announced the new netting policy, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy immediately began working on a plan with executive vice president of business affairs Jonathan Gilula, senior director of facilities management Jonathan Lister, and facilities superintendent Donnie Gardiner. Having worked on the additions of the Green Monster seating as well as the seats in the right-field deck, Kennedy was aware of the importance of the netting being protective without being intrusive.

The Sox opened the ballpark to season ticket-holders last week to preview the changes. On Monday, Kennedy walked around before the game to hear what fans thought.

“I’m sure we’ll see what our season ticket-holders have to say after they experience four or five games,’’ Kennedy said. “That’s why we want to make sure everyone knows that if you’d like to be relocated or change your seats, we understand and we’ll accommodate you. But so far, so good. But that’s just the first day.

“When you’re sitting in a location for so long and your view is one way, to have it change, that’s a big deal. We’re sensitive to that. That said, we commend the commissioner’s office for what they did. I think it was important to have a guideline for clubs to follow and you see it happening around the league.’’

For some fans, the netting was an inconvenience. For others, safety was worth the inconvenience.

Mariela Montoya, 36, paid the netting no mind when she grabbed her seats with her two children after making the trip from Newburyport. For 11 years, it’s been a family tradition to come to the home opener. They were sitting in the seats of a friend who has season tickets. They come to the ballpark a lot over the course of the summer, Montoya said, generally sitting in the box seats, but never as close as they were on Monday. Usually, they’re nestled behind the netting.

“The only problem is you know you’re not going to get a foul ball,’’ she said. “Because you want to go home with that.’’

But with two small children, she said, “I’d definitely rather be safe.’’

Dick Druckman, who made the drive from Princeton, N.J., was face to face with the netting in his front-row seats. A professional photographer, he had his camera and lens with him. The net makes shooting photos more challenging, but he agreed with the need for safety.

“It’s good and bad,’’ the 77-year-old said. “It’s good because it protects us, and that’s really important, particularly in this stadium. It’s bad because I’ve got to shoot through it. I can shoot through it, but it’s not quite as good as shooting without it. But it’s good to have the nets overall. It doesn’t bother you.’’

Norm Marcotte of Chepachet, R.I., has attended a couple of dozen games every year since the late 1970s, including Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. He said he had mixed feelings about the netting.

“It’s different. I’m not sure that I’m going to like it,’’ said Marcotte, 62. “Obviously there’s a safety concern, but I think you have to pay attention when you have these seats. It’s something to get used to . . . I guess I have no choice.’’

Scott Hokanson said his wife, Ann, was pretty excited about not having to worry about getting hit by a ball. That, in turn, means he was excited.

“I love the net,’’ Scott Hokanson said, “because I won’t end up on YouTube as the loser who let his wife get hit while I cowered in the corner.’’

The horrific scenes from last season still stuck with Sox manager John Farrell.

“I recognize that our fans want to be uninterrupted in the action, but our priority, and I think Major League Baseball’s priority, is fan safety,’’ Farrell said. “So we’re seeing it in every ballpark with the netting that’s there. I think like many changes that you see around the league, we’re going to get accustomed to the difference in the netting there, but we saw a pretty scary thing here [last year] and I don’t think any of us want to see that again. So we feel like this will remedy some of those potential issues.’’

In seven years patrolling the box seats next to the Sox dugout handling security, Bill Hussey has seen his share of scary sights and close calls. He seen enough accidents to make sure he was always prepared, knowing he’d most likely be on the scene before medical staff.

“I actually carried gauze, a handkerchief, something,’’ he said.

The netting, he said, not only makes his job easier, but it puts his mind at ease.

“Especially this close to home plate, today with people looking at their phones quite often and not watching every pitch like they used to do in the old days, they’re more apt to get hurt,’’ Hussey said. “I’ve been here on this side of the field, this is my seventh season and I’ve seen a lot of people hurt by bats and balls. This is a good thing. This is all good.’’

Gray said he was sitting three rows up from where Wapenski was hit.

“It turns your stomach,’’ he said. “I thought that that ball hit the back of the seat, the crack was so loud. It really hit her right in the eyes. It was terrible.’’

He didn’t tell his grandson about it when he went home afterward, he said. Instead of being afraid of being hit by a foul ball, he said he wanted his grandson to be aware that one could whiz his way because it’s part of the game.

“I wouldn’t only because I didn’t want him conscious of them getting hurt,’’ he said. “I’d rather him to be conscious and be alert than to be afraid.’’

Globe correspondent Tim Healey contributed to this report. Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @julianbenbow.