As many people know, I'm no fan of Bud Selig. He's been a lackey for the owners having been one himself and he turned a blind eye to steroids when they crept into baseball which has tarnished the game irrevocably. He's taken forever to finally install an instant replay system into the game, while every other major sport has been using them for years. As you might have heard, since Buster Posey, a star catcher for the San Fransisco Giants was seriously injured due to a collision at home plate, now collisions are no longer part of baseball starting this season and it hasn't stopped there.
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon McCarthy joined "The Buzz" podcast Wednesday and said there's a chance that MLB pitchers could have the option of wearing special protective headgear as early as the 2014 season. He said the headgear would look like a hat but would be able to protect a pitcher from serious injury. "They're coming," McCarthy said of the headgear. "From everything I know they'll be available this year. I don't believe they're going to be mandatory. Actually, I'm almost certain they won't be mandatory."
Say what?
When reached for comment on this possibility, an MLB spokesperson said, "One product that has passed the testing standards should be available to players for next season. We are still evaluating a number of other potential products. Our conversations with the MLBPA are ongoing. We expect this issue to continue to evolve, but we believe this is an important first step."
McCarthy, as you might remember, suffered a serious injury when took a line drive off the side of his head during a game in 2012 when he was with the A's. He said the new headgear that he's working on with a company would have prevented that injury. "It should be strong enough and capable enough that literally if I got hit by the same exact ball, I would have been able to keep pitching in that game," McCarthy said.
I'm all for player safety, but this is ridiculous. I don't see how many pitchers are going to want to wear headgear after pitching their whole careers without them. Usually Selig will start major changes in the minor leagues to see how things pan out.
The only problem with the headgear? How it looks.
"It looks ridiculous and we get so used to the way things look," said McCarthy, who recently took a picture of himself with the headgear on and sent it to other pitchers in the league.
"You mentioned the new football helmets and batting helmets, everything looks silly until it doesn't look silly anymore."
What's next, aluminum bats for the major leagues?
