A tragic legacy of head injuries
Hopefully for all concerned, Buster Posey’s time on the concussion disabled list won’t be long. The Giants’ All-Star catcher was drilled on his helmet by a 94 mph fastball Monday and placed on the DL Tuesday with concussion symptoms. It’s always scary when a pitch is delivered high and tight in the region of a batter’s head. Sometimes a pitch gets away. Sometimes it’s meant simply to brush back the hitter. Sometimes it has more mischievous intent. Whatever the circumstance, getting beaned is one of the great dangers of baseball, and history holds many examples of serious consequences for hitters who got drilled in the head, face or helmet. Some lost considerable amount of time. Some never rebounded to form. Some were forced into premature retirement. There has even been a fatality. Not until 1956 did the National League require protective headgear, either a helmet or cap insert. The American League adopted a similar rule two years later. Helmets weren’t mandatory until 1971, though players who were in the league before 1971 were allowed to continue wearing only inserts under their caps because of a grandfather clause. Earflaps on helmets weren’t required until 1983. Again, there was a grandfather clause. In the years protection wasn’t required, some players used various methods of headgear to try protecting themselves. Here’s a list of players seriously hurt by beanballs.
Tony Conigliaro: The Red Sox outfielder was projected for greatness. But in 1967 at age 22, he was struck by Jack Hamilton of the California Angels and got carried off on a stretcher. He had a broken cheekbone, dislocated jaw and blurred vision. He played four more seasons but wasn’t the same after his mid-20s.
Mike Piazza: His feud with Roger Clemens involved a series of incidents including a high fastball in 2000 that knocked Piazza to the ground and caused a concussion. Later, in that season’s World Series, the highly emotional Clemens picked up Piazza’s shattered bat and threw it toward him.
Mickey Cochrane: The Hall of Fame catcher was hospitalized with skull fractures after a 1937 beaning by the Yankees’ Bump Hadley, ending Cochrane’s career at age 34.
Don Zimmer: The Dodgers’ infielder had four screws inserted into his head after taking a pitch to the temple in the minors in 1953, leaving him in a coma. Two years later, he was a World Series champion in Brooklyn.
Adam Greenberg: He played one game for the 2005 Cubs, got hit in the head on the first pitch he saw and never played again until the Marlins — whose pitcher, Valerio de Los Santos, threw the pitch — gave him a one-day contract in 2012.
Dickie Thon: The Astros’ shortstop was drilled in 1984 by Mike Torrez and never rebounded. He returned in 1985 but had issues with depth perception. Paul Blair: Coming off a career year in 1969, the Orioles’ outfielder was hit in May 1970 by a pitch from the Angels’ Ken Tatum and carried off the field with facial injuries. He hit .474 in the 1970 World Series and had a long career but never came close to repeating his 1969 season.
Robby Thompson: Before Trevor Hoffman became a changeup specialist, he threw a pretty good fastball, one of which connected with the Giants’ second baseman in the heat of the 1993 NL West race. Thompson had a fractured cheekbone but returned to play the final game in a mask, and the Giants lost to finish a game behind the 104-win Braves.
J.T. Snow: About to start his first year with the Giants, the first baseman (batting right-handed) took a 97 mph Randy Johnson fastball in a 1997 spring training game, suffering a fractured orbital bone of his left eye. Even so, Snow had a career year with 28 homers and 104 RBIs. A couple of years later, he gave up switch-hitting and hit only from the left side.
Ray Chapman: An Indians infielder, Chapman was pronounced dead 12 hours after getting beaned by Carl Mays, a sidearm pitcher, in 1920. The following spring, teammates experimented with leather helmets like those worn by football players at the time.