Is safety worth looking like 'Lord Helmet?'

Those of you who are still watching the New York Mets play baseball might have noticed that third baseman David Wright was sporting quite an unusual helmet last week. After being drilled in the head with a 94 mile per hour fastball in mid August, Wright elected to wear a new batting helmet that is reminiscent of Rick Moranis’s character, Lord Helmet, from “Spaceballs.”

Wright, or “The Great Gazoo,” as I like to call him, chose the new Rawlings S100 helmet that provides extra padding and can withstand pitches of up to 100 miles per hour. But while this helmet certainly seems to be much safer, its bulkiness is uncomfortable to some players, which revitalizes an age-old discussion on the balance between safety and performance.

Interestingly, the S100 will be required in the minor leagues next season, and major league players will have the option of wearing them. While Wright initially adopted the new helmet, last weekend he elected to return to his old batting helmet for several reasons. Citing its size, Wright called the new helmet “uncomfortable” and joins other MLB players who aren’t so enthusiastic about it.

Outfielder Jeff Francoeur, a teammate of Wright’s, told ESPN that getting hit in the head, “is going to hurt no matter what you’re wearing” and that, “it doesn’t seem like anything can fully protect you.” Some players are worried that the size of the helmet may compromise their speed. Also, according to Yahoo! Sports, Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster quipped that the new helmet “felt like my own bobblehead day.”

In recent years, safety in the game of baseball underwent some significant changes. Following the death of Colorado Rockies coach Mike Coolbaugh (who was hit with a line drive while coaching first base) in 2007, all MLB base coaches were obligated to wear helmets the following year. But other safety concerns, such as the frequency of dangerous broken bats, have yet to provoke serious changes.

In college baseball, all base coaches are also required to sport headgear, and players’ helmets are closely regulated by the NCAA. But even with the current safety measures in place, the ultimate decisions regarding a player’s safety come down to the individual athlete, and that presents some interesting questions.

Columbia outfielder Jason Banos maintains that players are much more likely to take safety seriously and wear more protective padding after they themselves have been hit.

“There isn’t really any protective gear that people would put on unless they’ve been hit prior to it,” he said. “People usually try to use the minimal amount of protection.”

It’s obvious that a player’s mobility is compromised every time he adds additional padding, but some argue that preventing serious injury should be the top priority.

Banos clearly understands the importance of the new helmet, stating that Major League Baseball is “trying to protect the players and at the level where pitchers are throwing 95 [miles per hour], this is a good direction for MLB to be going in.”

But when I asked Banos if he personally would wear the helmet, he told me that “seeing how it probably gets in the way a little bit, I would be kind of 50-50 on it.”

In a perfect display of this dilemma, Banos admitted that he hasn’t “been hit by a pitch since freshman year so I don’t really worry about it.” But he also imagines that “if I got hit like Wright, my perspective would change and I’d be wearing that helmet.”

Banos is certainly right about one thing: his luck. Although he sat out as a junior last season with an injury, the outfielder was one of only two Lions who was not hit by a pitch in the 2008 campaign. In 2007, he was plunked just two times.

But in the Ivy League, where pitchers often struggle with their control, the issue of batters’ safety is even more important. Banos’s teammates—and especially his opponents—haven’t been quite so lucky. Last season, Columbia batters were beaned 44 times, while opponents were hit 59 times by the Lions’ pitching staff. In short, there were nearly 2.4 hit batters per game last season, and let’s not forget that Columbia played several seven-inning games.

In a game in which a player’s offensive numbers directly translate into his salary, there will always be a preference for discarding equipment that potentially hinders performance. Even Wright, who is lucky enough to be back on the diamond, told MLB.com that the helmet is “the last thing I need to be worrying about” when he is trying to do his job.

But in the Ivy League especially—in which many athletes look forward to other careers after graduation—players should carefully examine their own safety, even if they have no pretext for doing so. Often times, the most serious injuries can occur when a player doesn’t see them coming—rest assured, David Wright didn’t see it either.

Jacob Shapiro is a List College senior and is majoring in history and Talmud.
Sports@columbiaspectator.com.