Balls either grounded or aired can produce paths that will exceed reaction times. This is also a factor of # of games, I believe, having past my 1,000th.

Now you see why I didn't give your lesson in reaction times to you? It would have been deleted as my free offer to educate you was.

Don't worry, I have an entire new post on this which you can be enlightened. Now just sit there and don't go ballistic again and this post of mine you will stick. Get out your 3x5 spiral and sharpen your pencil.

I heard briefly on the radio yesterday that the autopsy showed the cause of death as being a crushed artery in the neck. Does this mean that a helmet wouldn't have protected him?

In a sad but related story to this discussion....

http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6841489

Could be. Unfortunately, it is not possible to protect ourselves from all dangers. I really don't think there would be any significant benefit from mandating that base coaches wear helmets. How often do they actually get injured at all?

Sometimes bad things happen :(

One comment on that story linked to Jurrasics post. I believe that in LL Majors and below per rule, there is no on-deck batter allowed.

It's the age old argument, one life, what is it worth?

Sure, seeing as how big brother can tell us we have to wear seat belts in our cars and helmets while on a motorcycle, why shouldn't a league determine what's best for us. Of course that leaves hot dogs and beer out of the equation for soooo many.


Tim.

Originally Posted by fitump56
It's the age old argument, one life, what is it worth?

I am the last of the last to have governments or governing bodies dictate any considerations into my life but I am not so hard-grained, anti-Government to refuse to accept the enormous amount og good "Big Brother" has done for us. The facts are clearly evident in the belt and helmet cases you have cited. Thank God they did force it on us.

Equating governing bodies with always malicious intent when they often save us from ourselves (Big Brothering as you call it) runs a truly deaf ear to US history.

First off, before you ever defend anything called Big Brother you need to read 1984. I garauntee you will never use the term Big Brother as part of the defense of anything again.

Second, you are not the last of the last because you clearly are going to go before me.

Third, the issue is not so much who is dictiating what as whether or not it makes any sense. A batting helmet runs about $35. You are going to require every team to buy 2 more. That's $70 a team. Now how many teams are there in America? There's well over 100 in my league alone. We're talking hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars and in the end the coach still dies because he was hit in the neck. It doesn't make any sense to mandate it because its too expensive for too little return.

If we were to apply the same logic to all tragedies that have occurred on a baseball or softball field we would have all players and coaches wearing heart guards and face guards as well as helmets. Take for instance the young 12 year old softball player that was recently killed by a thrown ball that hit her in the head during a routine practice. Should we now call out for all fielders to be forced to wear a helmet?

What about the young players who've been killed after getting hit in the chest with a batted ball, pitchers most noteably. Should we now mandate heart guard protectors for all players?

Where would it end is the real question.



Tim.

You need to reread my post. Read Orwell, protested the Vietnam War, you're preaching to the wrong guy. BUT, that does not mean that BB is always evil, e.g. seat belts, environmentals, pollution......
Au contraire, they bought and upgraded equipment when their liability insurance and the costs to defend, win or lose, multi-million $$ lawsuits became a reality. That fact and that fact alone may drive the use, if not, then you can expect nothing will transpire.

Tim, you make a great point. I look at people who want to do away with aluminum bats due to isolated tragedies. What happens to baseball when someone gets struck or impaled by a broken wood bat. Where does the game go from there?

In all likelihood, yes.

I suggest you reread 1984. Big Brother is nothing but evil incarnate. But you have to understand, I would never have protested the Vietnam war, except maybe the limited way in which it was fought.

The point is it won't become a reality. It was a fluke incident.