The Height of Cool

MAJOR BLOGS - www.majorblogs.net - Last week, about this time, Mike Coolbaugh was struck down by a line drive accident in a Texas League game, killing him. A freak occurrence? Probably. Should base coaches, whose job means having to look away from home plate, be required to wear some sort of protective head gear?

In a sport which started with gloveless hands and sticks, we've come a long way. We have even made it over the macho hurdle of putting on protective head gear at the plate when the concept of even one death of a player due to that kind of head trauma was unacceptable.

Are base coaches any different?

Sure, it doesn't happen all that often. Someone at the plate being killed by a bean ball was pretty uncommon too, when you consider the number of guys that stood there in front of high heat from some of the best arms in the long history of the game.

Coolbaugh got hit in the neck, and blew up an artery, which is something that a helmet wouldn't resolve. Still, line drives are an occupational hazard at first and third, and coaches, while pretty good at getting out of harm's way, should probably have some minimal form of protection for their head. Even with a helmet, a coach could at least turn and use it to deflect the incoming missile to avoid trauma such as Coolbaugh's, if they had a fraction of a second to react. 

During practice, the positions get deflection nets at most parks. They're impractical to use during game time because they're distracting to the action on the field during a game, but obviously it is a concern. During game time, something should be done to give them a chance to protect themselves.

You may say it looks uncool to see the base coach wearing a helmet. They said the same thing about players when they stepped up to the batter's box with the first go-rounds of the new rule. We all got used to it, and no one thinks twice about it. With all of the big companies that design hip gear, certainly someone can come up with a base coach helmet that has a significant cool factor.

The principle of one life is one life too many, though, is a good one. Is another young family with a father, or an older one with a grandparent, better off with their loved one protected? I'm calling out MLB and MiLB to put that on the agenda at this year's Winter Meetings. I'm calling on Spaulding and Mizuno and Wilson and anyone else who designs protective gear to design a decent base coach helmet. Without any shred of a pun intended, it's a no-brainer.

The cost to the game of the gear is really minimal in the long run. The cost to a family without a dad is much higher.

- Brian ROSS 

 

We  have made available copies of the Mike Coolbaugh illustration featured over at MLN Sports Zone in our illustrations section at MLNStore and Amazon.com. All of the profits from MLN's sale of the reproductions will go to the Mike Coolbaugh Memorial Fund.

Update on Friday, November 9, 2007 at 06:12AM by Blog Admin

MLB decided to give helmets to the base coaches yesterday (See "Major League Base Coaches to Wear Helmets" Raw Feed 11.09.07) . It is really nice to see them take decisive action on that. My thanks to my friend Branch Rickey at the PCL for his take as well. Apparently the owners considered that the well-being and safety of their coaches was a good move.  Hats off to Major League Baseball!