ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – It’s strange to say that the outcome of a game doesn’t matter, even though we all know that in the grand scheme of things, it never really does. That fact is made ever clearer, though, when one bears witness to a grisly injury on the field that pretty much renders the evening moot.
I can tell you that as I type this, hours after J.A. Happ was hit by a Desmond Jennings line drive — apparently on the left side of the head, just above the ear — I still have a sick feeling in my stomach as I’m sure many others do.
We see line drives whizzing by pitchers’ heads and think “that was close” or “wow, he got Charlie Brown’d” or “that’s how you answer an inside pitch” and sometimes even “if that was two inches to the right…” but I’m not sure we ever really think about those two inches, or about a pitcher lying face-down on the mound in a pool of his own blood, as Happ was Tuesday night.
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When Happ was struck, all the air was sucked out of Tropicana Field as the crowd of just over 10,000 watched him writhe in pain, watched trainers and doctors come out to tend to him, and watched paramedics secure him to a backboard, place him on a stretcher and then take him off the field.
A shaken Jennings, who raced to third when the ball caromed off Happ’s head and down the right-field line, walked off the field into his dugout during the delay, and crossed paths with Melky Cabrera, who pointed to the side of his head to show the stunned Rays’ outfielder where the ball hit Happ.
We didn’t know it at the time, but Happ was communicating with his teammates, doctors and trainers as he lay face-down on the mound, and with the paramedics as they stretchered him off. He did manage to raise his right hand as he exited the playing surface, though, signaling those watching that he was conscious, at the very least, if not OK. Of course, we won’t know for a couple of days if Happ Is going to be OK — Brandon McCarthy, then of the Oakland A’s, was hit in the head by a line drive late last season and walked off the field under his own power despite having suffered a skull fracture. McCarthy would later have an epidural hemorrhage and spend a week in hospital. He’s now with the Diamondbacks, and was preparing for a start against the Dodgers in L.A. when Happ was hit.
As they did when McCarthy got hurt, calls immediately began to find a way to protect pitchers’ heads when Happ went down. There have been discussions about Kevlar liners for caps and there is a device made of a hard foam that’s been developed that fits over the brim of the cap to protect the temples and front of the skull.
It goes without saying that head protection for pitchers should be mandatory. They’re often sitting sucks out there on the mound, and we saw Tuesday how little reaction time there can be — Happ couldn’t even get his glove up to protect himself. But pro sports are slow to change, and we’ll hear the same sorts of things we did about hockey helmets — they’re uncomfortable, they look stupid, a “tough guy” doesn’t need it — whatever the ridiculous excuse is. I’m sure J.A. Happ would rather have looked weird on the mound than be going through what he’s going through right now.
Athletes can never be fully protected from serious, traumatic injury, but certain steps can be taken to protect them as much as possible without changing the game that they’re playin. However, if McCarthy’s injury didn’t lead to any changes, I have a hard time believing that Happ’s will.
Here’s hoping for a speedy and complete recovery for J.A. Happ, we’ll worry about the baseball later.