"Carl Crawford has new reservations about a practice he's engaged in throughout his major league career.

The Red Sox left fielder said last night prior to a game against the Orioles at Fenway Park that he's never thought twice about tossing a souvenir ball into the stands. It is a goodwill gesture that players routinely make and always is appreciated by the lucky fan on the receiving end.

That fan-friendly gesture has come under new scrutiny after a fatal incident at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, on Thursday night. Rangers left fielder Josh Hamilton had retrieved a foul ball hit by Oakland outfielder Conor Jackson and instinctively looked to the left field lower-reserve seats.

Hamilton's toss toward Section 5 was short of the wall. Shannon Stone, 39, a firefighter from Brownwood, Texas, leaned over to catch the ball and fell 20 feet to his death.

"It is something that you never want to see happen and unfortunately it happened," said Crawford. "I'm now just going to have to be real careful and make sure the guy doesn't have to reach over."