Running 2017 MLB regular season thread

Was surprised to learn that batting helmets didn't become mandatory in MLB until the late 1950s — in fact, like hockey, players who didn't want to wear a helmet were grandfathered in, and the last one retired in 1979.

 

Beltre at 2,999. Shit's getting real.

 

Yeah, but helmets weren't introduced to MLB at all until 1941, and became virtually universal within 15 years. Football facemasks were quite rare before 1955; everybody used them by 1965.

With bat speed and hit speed becoming more of a "thing," you'll probably see pitchers getting drilled on the mound with increasing frequency. That'll bring on the pitching headgear.

 

I know it only takes one in the right place to make a tragedy and cause a radical shift, but it's still the baseball equivalent of the planet-killing asteroid hitting Earth. There's a few out there that can do it, but the odds are still generally small when you think of how many pitches are thrown in a game, an MLB day or a week.
According to Baseball Reference, there have been 214,731 games played. At a conservative average of 250 pitches per game (an uneducated guess), that's a little less than 54 million pitches in about 120 years of professional baseball. And how many times has a pitcher been hit in the head to the point that their careers were ended? Few enough that we probably could name a lot of them.
So it happens, but it's still a statistical blip that if you obsess over it you won't be able to function.
For the padded head gear to really take hold, one of three things has to happen -- either someone dies; someone (probably a superstar) suffers a severe head injury to the point that they never recover; or these incidents become so frequent that it becomes a crisis. Sadly, I'd bet on one of the first two happening before the third.

 

Options 1 and 2 are obviously statistical longshots, but I bet the frequency of incidents at lower levels will continue to increase. And they will develop lighter and less cumbersome headgear, and over (I'd bet) the next 10-15 years, the adoption of headgear will happen.

Of course if either of your headline incidents occur, it'll happen overnight.

 

I remember in the '60s, people registered legitimate concern that a Frank Howard line drive would kill someone, and soon.

 

Royals trade for Melky Cabrera. What do you think @Dick Whitman ?

Royals acquire Melky Cabrera from White Sox

 

Beltre does it ... ropes one down 3B line for a double ...

 

In his Hall of Fame speech, Tim Raines mentioned Jonah Keri campaigning on his behalf. Such an incredible (and rare) gesture:

 

10 years ago no one thought he was on a Hall of Fame track. Five years ago people still debated whether he'd have a chance to get in. Amazing second-half career.