Via Pete Abraham, we are pointed to a press release about a new product coming to a baseball diamond near you: helmets for pitchers. It actually appears to be more of a shield that fits over a cap, but I can’t tell. Head protection is head protection, I suppose.
The press release makes mention of a high school player, Gunnar Sandberg, who was seriously injured by a comebacker to the head. And as these things usually go, I suspect that we’ll see more of this in the amateur ranks before it works its way up to the majors.
And once it gets to the majors: like with most safety measures, I presume this will follow through the normal progression: mockery-outrage-denial-grudging acceptance-acceptance. All that will ultimately matter is if pitchers’ mechanics are the same with it and without it. If so, players will be wearing them soon enough.