Dodgers Wear First Protective Headgear
It had been 21 years since Ray Chapman was killed after being hit in the head by a pitch, but the Brooklyn Dodgers unveiled the first protective headgear on this day in 1941.
It is strange to think of a player going to bat without a batting helmet. Yet, like all innovations, batting helmets were not always the norm. In fact, it would need to take quite the situation to make these helmets accepted by the players, as even the death of Ray Chapman after being hit in the head did not lead to protective headgear.
As it turned out, a beanball war led to the usage of such headgear. After the Brooklyn Dodgers had been involved in quite a few of those battles, leading to the hospitalization of Joe Medwick and Billy Jurges, it was time for something to be done.
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That led to the creation of the Dodgers protective headgear. Not quite a batting helmet, the hats had a thin plastic liner within to provide some protection. These liners, while not all that noticeable, unlike the padded hats that pitchers these days have the option to wear, were still refused by the majority of players.
Eventually, batting helmets would be the norm, and mandated by Major League Baseball for all players. Yet, that would take some more time, given the reluctance of players to protect themselves, even after seeing first hand how dangerous a beanball could be. Sometimes, the players need to be protected from themselves.
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Sometimes, it takes a series of unfortunate events for innovations to be made, especially when personal safety is concerned. With that being the case, it may be no surprise that it took until several players were hospitalized in beanball wars before protective headgear found its way to the batter’s box.