My annual head first slide thread

[webbrick2010]

Every year players are injured sliding head first into bags or even worse home plate.

Just noticed that EBJ has a head injury from sliding head first into home (really dangerous and stupid)

I'll say it again, what analytics driven organization will be the first to ban head first slides for all of their players

I remember when David Sequi was a decent player and ended his career with a serious hand injury sliding head/hand first into home.

Cal never slid head first, and wouldn't have been the iron man if he did.

[Natty]

Lou Brock didn't slide head first. He stole 938 bases. 

[Fiver6565]

Gunnar’s leg got twisted up a bit on his steal of second the other day. Not injured but it looked awkward and could have been. Slides in general are always going to carry risk. 
 

Guys slide head first because it’s easier to hang on to the bag. If you want more feet first slides, then they have to start calling out/safe differently on those plays. Even if you beat the throw by a mile, you’re still out if you come off the bag 3 seconds later by a fraction of an inch.  Basically, replay has guaranteed the continued presence of head first slides. 

[Fiver6565]

Also, Segui had a million injuries. Terrible example for your point. 

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, Fiver6565 said:

Also, Segui had a million injuries. Terrible example for your point. 

I think a lot of Segui's injuries were PED related.  

[glenn__davis]

3 minutes ago, Fiver6565 said:

Gunnar’s leg got twisted up a bit on his steal of second the other day. Not injured but it looked awkward and could have been. Slides in general are always going to carry risk. 
 

Guys slide head first because it’s easier to hang on to the bag. If you want more feet first slides, then they have to start calling out/safe differently on those plays. Even if you beat the throw by a mile, you’re still out if you come off the bag 3 seconds later by a fraction of an inch.  Basically, replay has guaranteed the continued presence of head first slides. 

I agree whole-heartedly with webbrick but this is actually a good point.  I think there should be an exception for the feet first slide during the pop-up.  If you come off the bag during that, you're still good.

[DirtyBird]

Was hoping to see a video of Webbrick doing a head first slide in this thread

[interloper]

I gotta say, I just don't care about this very much at all. 

[Aristotelian]

Headfirst at the plate in particular seems like an awful idea.

[Moose Milligan]

22 minutes ago, glenn__davis said:

I agree whole-heartedly with webbrick but this is actually a good point.  I think there should be an exception for the feet first slide during the pop-up.  If you come off the bag during that, you're still good.

Agreed.  Silly that if you slide with the feet first and you come off after the tag has been applied, you're out.  

[SemperFi]

7 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Headfirst at the plate in particular seems like an awful idea.

At home it's often the only way to avoid a tag, even sliding through and reaching back has injury risk.  Players didn't go head first in the old days because they weren't as friendly as today-you would get kicked, spiked or a hard tag in the kisser-also no batting helmets as a shield to the throw.  The bags were also softer and easier to maintain contact with.

[sportsfan8703]

You know life is good when there are threads like these. Burnes + our lineup tonight. Wow

[Frobby]

24 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Headfirst at the plate in particular seems like an awful idea.

Generally it allows the runner to slide well outside home plate and just swipe the hand to tag home, which doesn’t present much of a target.  

[Aristotelian]

8 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Generally it allows the runner to slide well outside home plate and just swipe the hand to tag home, which doesn’t present much of a target.  

You can also slide to the side of the bag and reach back... I'd like to see data both on safety and success rates for each one before making a call. 

Either way, I agree, a team probably shouldn't on their own put themselves at a competitive disadvantage by voluntarily imposing rules on itself. So if this is a problem, then the proper way to deal with it would be to change the rules like they have with catcher's interference (which I support). 

[Aristotelian]

By the way, something they absolutely need to legislate is the size of the oven mitt. I forget who it was, one of these guys had one that was basically giving him 18 inch fingers.