After Tulsa Drillers first base coach Mike Coolbaugh tragically died from a line drive to his head/neck during a game last month, there's been some buzz around baseball that wearing a helmet in the coach's box should become mandatory. Rockies first base coach Glenallen Hill went so far as to start wearing a helmet himself. Perhaps due to all this, at November's general managers' meeting, making helmets on base coaches a mandatory rule will be discussed.
The measure, which was discussed at a meeting of team scouting and farm directors this week, will be discussed at the general managers' meetings in November. If adopted, it could be implemented as early as next season in the majors and the minors.It remains to be seen if they'll actually vote on the measure, but if nothing else, it's at least going to be discussed. Obviously, I would file this one in the "good idea" cabinet. Although, the odds of another incident like Coolbaugh's happening again is slim, it just seems to make sense.
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"The issue should be discussed because we had a situation where a tragedy befell someone on the field, and we are the guardians of the sport, and the general managers will make a decision to what level it should be implemented," Jimmie Lee Solomon, M.L.B.'s executive vice president for baseball operations, said yesterday in a telephone interview.
{Via BBTF.}
