One of the allures of baseball is you can see hundreds of games and still expect to see something you've never seen before the next time you walk into a ballpark. One play I hope to never see starts with the pitcher getting hit in the head with a batter's 100 mph line drive.
In a game obsessed with statistics, probabilities and superstition, May 7 has become a bad day to pitch in Major League Baseball.
This year on May 7, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher JA Happ was struck in the side of the head and suffered a fractured skull. A former season strikeout leader at the highest level of the minor leagues and promising young starter, Happ is hoping to return to a Major League mound by August.
On May 7, 1957, Cleveland Indians pitcher Herb Score was struck in the face with a line drive, suffering a broken nose and swollen retina. Score, who had led the major leagues in strikeouts in his Rookie of the Year season in 1955 and in 1956, was never the same.
There's only a handful of ways for baseball players to suffer serious head injuries, chief among them blunt force trauma from a batted ball or pitched ball. Protective helmets have been mandated for major league batters for nearly half a century and MLB is introducing a significantly upgraded helmet. Pitcher headgear hasn't changed since the sandy depths of time.
Note to purists and pitchers resistant to change: Baseball batters and pitchers have been vying to gain advantage over each other for 150 years. Batters are gearing up with body armor literally head-to-toe, which can only boost their comfort level at the plate and performance. Ironically, pitchers are being crushed in an arms race.
MLB reportedly has eight companies trying to develop protective headgear for pitchers. I hope they develop the gear soon. With at least three major league pitchers suffering serious head injuries from line drives in less than a year, the odds of seeing this play appear to be going up. And I'll think twice about going to ballpark on May 7.
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