Bulldog 19 posted:Sorry to hear about your son Elijah. Definitely a scary situation! Seen it a few too many times in my career. Heck, I've been hit in the face personally a couple of different times in my playing career. It's actually one reason I do my job now..
Anyway, questions about the helmets are very much valid and warranted. As I get further into my career, I've started to have a lot of questions about why we do what we do and how we do it. We spend time and money on reconditioning and re-certifying football helmets. Lacrosse helmets are supposed to meet similar requirements. But baseball equipment (helmets, catchers gear, etc) is largely left up to the parents to deal with. I'm beginning to question how appropriate that is as we continually evaluate risk mitigation from a school liability perspective. It will definitely take a culture change to bring about many of these changes. It costs money and people don't seem to like spending money.
Thanks, Bulldog. He has recovered and is feeling fine. I obviously feel like the helmet issue has not been properly addressed by people in charge of baseball operations on many levels. I think Perfect Game and PBR should be leading in this regard.
If you are on this site, you will most likely have a son that will face 90+mph pitching. All major travel orgs have players that are in this category. If I led a travel org, this would be a priority for me because if one of my players gets hit in the head with a 90+mph fastball, I would want to be able to say that I had an option for that player before he was hit.
I am not saying PG or PBR should make it mandatory for players to wear these helmets, but I do think that they should be working with Rawlings to make them available.
@PitchingFan, did you players complain about the weight of the helmets? I do not want to be that parent that tells the HS coach that my son will be wearing a different batting helmet than the rest of the team. I really, really do not want to be that guy. I would like to be able to take some info to him when I speak to him well beforehand so it will not be a surprise. Who knows, maybe my son's school will consider what you have done for your players.