Three weeks ago, Pittsburgh center fielder Andrew McCutchen smashed a line drive back at the mound.
Right at pitcher Drew Smyly’s head.
Smyly (Little Rock Central, Arkansas Razorbacks) didn’t have time to duck. He didn’t have time to raise his glove for protection. He didn’t even see the ball coming. He just stood there, totally exposed.
Smyly wasn’t wearing any kind of protective gear on his head. Baseball has not figured out how to protect the pitchers, which boggles the mind.
Luckily, the ball missed Smyly’s head. Barely.
“I heard it pass my nose,” Smyly said. “I didn’t see it off the bat.”
Smyly looked at a replay, and the ball was just a couple of inches from hitting him in the face.
“Yeah, it’s scary,” he said. “When you are out there competing, you don’t think about it. But when you come in here [to the clubhouse], you think, ‘Whoa, that was a close call.’”
Pitcher safety became a hot topic this week after Tampa Bay pitcher Alex Cobb was hit in the head last Saturday on a line drive by Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer. Cobb sustained a mild concussion.
“That’s the worst one I’ve ever seen,” Tigers Manager Jim Leyland said. “Thank God that kid is all right because that could have been a disaster.”
A disaster that seems so preventable.
Pitchers should be required to wear some kind of lightweight helmet. Not a heavy, bulky batting helmet. I’m talking about some kind of helmet that is comfortable and doesn’t affect the pitcher’s delivery.
But this won’t happen. Not yet.
That’s because a lightweight, comfortable helmet does not exist. A heavy batting helmet wouldn’t work because it would fall off during the pitching motion.
“I’m not real sure a guy can pitch with a helmet, to be honest with you,” Leyland said. “I can’t imagine a pitcher out there pitching with an ear flap on. … I hate to sound cold about it, because I don’t mean to, but I’m not sure that’ll work.”
Several companies are working with Major League Baseball to come up with other options. The most logical first step is to attach some kind of liner to an existing cap.
And, yes, Smyly said he would wear it.
“Of course,” he said. “If they came up with something, it would be a great improvement.”
Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello would wear it, too.
“I’ve been hit three times in one game before,” he said. “Nothing in the head, knock on wood. I’ve been hit on the upper shoulder, back, leg. I’ve been hit a lot.
“Everybody goes through close calls. Max [Scherzer], this year, has had three or four that have come extremely close to his head.”
Last year, Doug Fister was drilled in the head in Game 2 of the World Series but he wasn’t injured and continued to pitch.
“I had no problem,” Fister said. “I had no headaches or anything, so I was OK.”
Fister, like many pitchers, is in no rush to wear any kind of head protection.
“Right now, I wouldn’t wear anything,” he said. “I think there has to be a lot of research to it.”
Scherzer said he would be willing to wear a protective liner.
“It won’t prevent the injury, but it might lessen the blow,” he said. “If that’s the case, as long as it’s comfortable and I could keep the mechanics, I’d be interested in wearing it.”
I asked Scherzer how many times he has had close calls at his head.
“Enough for me to want one,” Scherzer said of the liner.
Some argue that it is rare for a pitcher to be hit in the head, so they don’t need protection. This seems like a weak argument when you consider all the close calls. It’s like somebody arguing that it is silly to wear a seat belt because they haven’t died in a car crash yet.
Every sport evolves and changes with safety advancements. Usually after tragedy.
NASCAR did not require the use of the HANS (Head and Neck Support) device until the death of Dale Earnhardt in 2001. Baseball didn’t require first- and third-base coaches to wear helmets until Tulsa Drillers first-base coach Mike Coolbaugh died in North Little Rock after being hit in the neck during a minor league game at Dickey Stephens Park in 2007.
“It took a long time to get the base coaches to embrace wearing helmets, but now it’s just a given,” Orioles Manager Buck Showalter said.
Sadly, that seems to be a trend.
Nothing will change until somebody dies.
Sports, Pages 22 on 06/23/2013