Christy Collins' vision for the future of baseball can be glimpsed through the polycarbonate bars of a face mask.
The Ohio researcher examined data from dozens of high school teams and concluded that the best way to reduce serious injuries on the diamond would be to require that all infielders, from pitchers to shortstops, wear helmets and face protection.
Her suggestion, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, would mean a huge change in the game's gear. Few think the idea will come to pass soon - if ever - but it has become part of a larger discussion about safety in America's pastime, where a long-held culture of toughness is slowly giving way to more cautious attitudes.
Major League Baseball's general managers, for instance, required first- and third-base coaches to wear helmets beginning this season, after the July death of minor-league coach Mike Coolbaugh.
"To have a starting pitcher wear a helmet the whole time could be a burden, but you have to weigh the pros and cons and the dangers of being hit in the head," said Mike Napoleon, head coach at New Trier High School in Chicago. "Does it happen enough [to warrant a helmet]? I don't know. I haven't seen it happen, but one time might be enough."
Baseball is among the safest high school sports, with a total injury rate well below that of football and even soccer. But when it comes to serious harm, a 2000 study showed that it trails only wrestling for injuries that keep players sidelined for a week or more.
As part of a wider survey on sports injuries, Collins, a researcher at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, looked at two seasons of high school trainers' reports. She found that extreme injuries - fractures, concussions and dental damage - were more likely to afflict players who had been hit by a batted ball.
"It can be pretty costly to treat head and face injuries," she said, "as well as having an impact on the player - keeping them out of play, changing their outlook on sports. ... Sports are one of the major ways kids can have a physically fit and healthy lifestyle. If a player sustains an injury, they may quit in the long term, and we definitely don't want that to happen."
Though some have tried curbing those injuries by limiting the size of bats or allowing only wooden ones, Collins said the best defense would be for all infielders to sport helmets and face shields, or at least mouth guards and protective eye wear. She speculated that the same advice would benefit younger athletes, who play on smaller fields and whose reflexes aren't as sharp.
