New S100 baseball helmet kicks up debate

But two days after the New York Times ran a story about the new helmet, three players were hit in the head on the same day: on Aug. 15, the Mets' David Wright and the Rangers' Ian Kinsler were hit by pitches and Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda was hit by a line drive.

Wright went to the hospital with a concussion. He became the third player to go on the disabled list with a concussion after getting hit by a pitch since late July, joining the Padres' Edgar Gonzalez and the Reds' Scott Rolen.

A fourth, Micah Owings of the Reds, probably would have gone on the DL if rosters hadn't been expanded when his eardrum was perforated after getting hit by the Braves' Kenshin Kawakami.

Pitchers are throwing harder than ever and batters are getting hit more often, making them more vulnerable than ever.

According to SI.com, players are almost twice as likely to get hit by a pitch in a game now than 50 years ago. Players are getting hit by pitches in 36 percent of games this decade, compared to 19.4 percent in the 1950s.

Major League Baseball acknowledged the problem by making it mandatory that all minor leaguers wear the S100 next season. Players will also have to wear it in the Arizona Fall League.

The players union would have to agree to such a change across the majors and and the Basic Agreement doesn't expire until 2011. But this is a way to affect change from the bottom up; if players get accustomed to it in the minors, maybe they'll wear it in the majors.

"Now that we have guys who throw 100 mph and some throw even harder, [we thought] we should provide at least the option to players to have a helmet that would withstand such a blow," said Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB's executive vice president of baseball operations. "Players' health and safety is our utmost concern."

Change can be glacial when it comes to baseball equipment, with safety losing out to style, comfort and familiarity. MLB didn't mandate batting helmets until 1971. It added an earflap in 1983 and even that included a grandfather clause.

Now, even Wright won't wear the S100. After agreeing to wear one when he got off the DL, he scrapped it for his old helmet after three games.

"It felt like it was too high on my head and bouncing around," said Wright, who tried one with two earflaps for a tighter fit. "Every time I'd run, it wouldn't stay on. When I was swinging, it was moving around. It was pretty uncomfortable."

Wright and Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster are the only two players who wore one in a game this season. Wright assured the reason he stopped was not because of the kidding he took from teammates, who hung a picture of  the Great Gazoo from "The Flintstones" in his locker.

"For me personally, it's not so much about how it looks," Wright said. "It's about the effectiveness and the comfort level. That is the glaring thing for me ... [that] it's uncomfortable. And I don't think it's very practical."

That's the trade-off. The current Rawlings "Coolflo" helmets are sleeker and about four to six ounces lighter. But they are built to withstand pitching speeds of only 65-70 mph.

David Halstead, technical advisor for the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, said most helmets major leaguers wear don't meet the standard set for helmets worn by Little League, high school and college players.

Halstead said if a ball were to hit an unprotected head, striking the skull at its most vulnerable spot, even at 35 mph, that person would die.

"So the fact that David Wright, who gets hit at 90 mph wearing an absolute piece of garbage helmet, isn't dead is pretty interesting news," Halstead said. "But you'd like him not to be injured. You'd like him to be able to take his base."

Halstead believes had Wright been wearing a standard Little League helmet, he could have gone to first base. And that helmet is built to withstand a direct hit at 60 mph, which Halstead said equates to a glancing blow at 90 mph. Players can usually react quickly enough to avoid a direct hit.

The S100, which has both a polypropylene and a composite layer, is built to withstand a direct hit at 100 mph. That added protection is why Halstead has his 8-year-old son wearing an S100.

He knows convincing major leaguers is not the same. Halstead believes the issue is self-image and ego.

"If you're a Major League Baseball player and you know what I know, you wouldn't want to bat," Halstead said. "So you convince yourself, ‘I'm better than anybody else, that's why I'm out here playing and I'm not going to get hit.' The minute you say to yourself, ‘I better wear this helmet,' it's a defeat."

Still, MLB is hoping for some middle ground. Solomon said MLB has asked Rawlings to redesign the S100 to make it sleeker and lighter.

Mike Thompson, senior vice president of sports marketing and business development for Rawlings, acknowledged that won't be easy.

"To achieve the safety standard [of 100 mph], the shell has to be bigger," Thompson said. "We'll continue to refine the helmet and work on it to make it smaller ... but for right now, it is what it is. It's a larger helmet. And everybody understands it protects better. It's whether or not somebody is willing to hang up the old one for the new one because of safety."