RIP Mike Coolbaugh

[scOtt]

In a weird turn of events, it was Chapman's death that 1)spurred wearing batting helmets 2) spurred the use of clean new balls and 3) ushered out the "dead ball era". Chapman's story is just as tragic (I assume) as Coolbaugh's, but it probably served a greater purpose, all around.

As well might Coolbaugh's. Maybe 1st and 3rd base coaches all over baseball will now wear helmets.

I hate to mount my soapbax... but the same precautions need to be made for (especially) college pitchers, pitching to aluminum bats, but also to anyone pitching. I'm amazed no pitcher has ever been killed.

[gallden]

I'm surprised that this doesn't happen in the college level at all. I think they should start using wood bats I understand the cost and everything but as hard as they hit the ball its crazy.

[DrungoHazewood]

In a weird turn of events, it was Chapman's death that 1)spurred wearing batting helmets 2) spurred the use of clean new balls and 3) ushered out the "dead ball era". Chapman's story is just as tragic (I assume) as Coolbaugh's, but it probably served a greater purpose, all around.

As well might Coolbaugh's. Maybe 1st and 3rd base coaches all over baseball will now wear helmets.

I hate to mount my soapbax... but the same precautions need to be made for (especially) college pitchers, pitching to aluminum bats, but also to anyone pitching. I'm amazed no pitcher has ever been killed.

I'm sure the Chapman incident was cited as one of the reasons for batting helmets, and there were experiments with them in the 20s, but the first major league team to wear them in the regular season were the 1953 Pirates. 33 years after Champan was killed. They weren't made mandatory until 1971, and players were grandfathered in - they didn't have to wear them if they'd been in the league before. Bob Montgomery was apparently the last major leaguer to bat without a helmet in '79, nearly 60 years post-Chapman.

[Mark Carver]

I'm sure the Chapman incident was cited as one of the reasons for batting helmets, and there were experiments with them in the 20s, but the first major league team to wear them in the regular season were the 1953 Pirates. 33 years after Champan was killed. They weren't made mandatory until 1971, and players were grandfathered in - they didn't have to wear them if they'd been in the league before. Bob Montgomery was apparently the last major leaguer to bat without a helmet in '79, nearly 60 years post-Chapman.

And... according to mandatory earflap on the batting helmets wasn't required until 1983. And than they grandfathered that also... and Tim Raines was the last player to wear a helmet without ear flaps, during the 2002 season.

Also, Major League bat-boys and ball-boys are required to wear a helmet rather than a cap while performing their duties while on the field of play. They are allowed to use the no-flap helmet for this purpose, and most do. Some Major League catchers also continue to use the no-flap helmet, wearing it backwards along with their mask.

[howie14]

The players like Montgomery (I believe another was former Oriole and Senator Fred Valentine) in the 1960s and '70s wore the plastic hat liner, I think. I remember seeing one. It was small light and fit right in the hatband.

Were those actually required? And, if so, starting when?

[Migrant Redbird]

I'm surprised that this doesn't happen in the college level at all. I think they should start using wood bats I understand the cost and everything but as hard as they hit the ball its crazy.

They don't need to go back to wooden bats. All they need to do is to put a halt to the "performance competition" among the bats manufacturers. Composite bats could be engineered to have the same coefficient of elasticity (or whatever it's called) as wood does. The NCAA could require teams to use only bats certified to have performance equivalent to wooden bats and allow opposing managers and umpires to select bats at random occasionally for testing. They still wouldn't sound like wooden bats (although I suppose they could work on that too), but they could perform like wooden bats while still providing the same economic benefits.

[scarey1999]

Another personal story to relate to this awful story.

I was at a minor league game in Frisco, TX last week with my girlfriend. We sat right behind the visitors dugout so needless to say we had a great view of the 1st base coaches box and could hear almost everything the coaches and players were saying on the field since it was a relatively sparse Monday night crowd.

Anyways, my girlfriend asked if the coaches ever got hit or hurt by batted balls. I thought it was a strange question to ask knowing that it rarely happens but it was a good question that a casual fan might ask. I told her "Naahh, it never happens....the coaches are always watching, knowing the situations, fully aware, etc, etc".

And then the other day I heard about this terrible news.

Oh by the way, who was the 1st base coach that day for Frisco that spurred on our conversation you might wonder? None other than former major leaguer and Mike's brother, Scott.