Essay On Home Plate Collisions

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It’s 1970, the 12th inning of the MLB All-Star game, and Ray Fosse of the Cleveland Indians is catching. The Reds’ Pete Rose comes running down the base path to home plate and collides with Fosse, resulting in a serious injury. Fosse separated his shoulder, damaged his knee and sustained multiple fractures. Forty five years later, Fosse is still in pain from fractures that never healed properly, but believes it was just part of the game. Home plate collisions in Major League Baseball (MLB) became an issue after Buster Posey, a catcher for the San Francisco Giants , broke his leg and tore 3 ligaments because of a base runner colliding into him in 2011 (Smith 1). Today it is considered a home plate collision when a runner and catcher make harsh …show more content…

A catcher wears shin guards that were designed to protect him from hits from balls and bats (Catcher's Equipment 9). Bats and balls can cause damage and hurt if someone gets hit with them. Shin guards were made to try to minimize the amount of injuries. Helmets that a catcher wears is the most important gear they can wear. The helmets are made to keep the top, back, and sides of the head safe from any type of forceful blow (Catcher’s Equipment 4). Head injuries are very serious, and are mostly caused by hits to the head, but catcher’s gear can help prevent such injuries to the catcher. Baseball has been around for over one hundred years and throughout that time, gear has been helping players. In 1907, catchers began to wear protective gear, and that gear has been changed to help protect catchers in years since (Catcher’s Equipment 2). Catcher’s gears has been improved on very frequently, and it will keep following that pattern so catchers can be as safe as they can. Since MLB has rules in place that help lower the impact of home plate collisions, if one does occur, the gear that the catcher’s wear can only help protect the catcher even

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