1B + 3B Coaches Helmets… When?

[sflnyc]

It just occurred to me, but when did the 1B & 3B coaches start wearing those 1970’s style batting helmets? I’m sure it's been awhile but I never really noticed or paid attention until this year. I’m sure it may have something to do with safety, but the old “soft baseball cap look” looked better IMO. :cap:

If it is for safety, then why not have the flaps (left for 1B and right for 3B) on the helmet?

Granted that I grew up with the flapless helmets, but after 3 decades of seeing helmet flaps, seeing a flapless helmet makes the coach resemble a kid who’s he just finished eating a cup of ice cream and put it on their head, or a kid that got it at a “Helmet Day” promotion at the ball park.

Catchers of course now use the hockey mask style helmets, but looking at pictures of Rick Dempsey wearing a soft cap backwards brings back memories (picture from photobucket attached). :homeplate:

[Michael Green]

Mike Coolbaugh, a minor league coach, was killed by a line drive to his head and this led Major League Baseball to require the helmets:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/27/coaches-grousing-over-mandatory-helmets/

Vin Scully had been calling for this on Dodger broadcasts for as long as I can remember. Naturally, Larry Bowa objected most strenuously, being a legendary idiot.

[spark240]

We had a considerable discussion (http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=74309) about this at the beginning of the year when it was announced.

I have decided that it looks okay--maybe even kinda cool, since the flapless helmets are old-school--but I still believe, as I said back in the spring, that it does not represent much of a real safety measure. (A helmet would not have saved Coolbaugh, as he was struck below the ear.) The current helmet policy for base coaches is about the appearance of being properly concerned about safety.

The best thing anyone on the field, or in the close stands, can do to protect themselves is to pay attention.

[KevinWI]

It's a silly knee jerk reaction. Coolbaugh wasn't even hit in the head, he was hit in the neck.

Cool off-topic note, I was going through a Brewers game program from 2001, and Coolbaugh was in it, though in the section of Triple-A players who are most likely to be called up for a few short stints during the season. I'd scan it but its 1:21 am right now. :yawn:

[sturg1dj]

We had a considerable discussion (http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=74309) about this at the beginning of the year when it was announced.

I have decided that it looks okay--maybe even kinda cool, since the flapless helmets are old-school--but I still believe, as I said back in the spring, that it does not represent much of a real safety measure. (A helmet would not have saved Coolbaugh, as he was struck below the ear.) The current helmet policy for base coaches is about the appearance of being properly concerned about safety.

The best thing anyone on the field, or in the close stands, can do to protect themselves is to pay attention.


I saw this thread and I laughed, because it was made into such a huge deal earlier this year


it is an example of people doing everything they can to make a grieving widow a little happier (man that sounds insensitive).

he was hit in the neck, so they gave out helmets, which means if he was hit in the chest they would be wearing neck guards and if he was hit in the crotch...well who knows?


question, do they now force players to actually wait in the on deck circle since Juan Encarnacion got drilled last season?