FanHouse MikeCoolbaugh

One of the things I'm still not used to seeing this spring is the first and third base coaches all paying their respect to John Olerud this season by wearing those batting practice helmets while out in the field this season. It's a new rule baseball passed after the death of Mike Coolbaugh, who died after being hit in the head by a line drive while coaching first base.

Obviously, there are going to be some coaches who don't like wearing the helmet, as Larry Bowa showed earlier this spring when he refused to wear one in the Dodgers spring opener. After receiving a stern talking to, Bowa wore one in the Dodgers next game. While Tigers first base coach, Andy Van Slyke, has been wearing his helmet during games, he's not exactly happy about it.

"I don't ever have headaches," he said, "but because of the heat, I've had a headache after every game I've had to wear it. But I guess some of the new general managers, the Ivy League ones, believe it solves something.

"I've had Randy Johnson, in his first start in the big leagues, not knowing where the ball was going, coming so close to me that I felt the wind under my chin. So I think I have a pretty good idea about how to get out of the way of a baseball. The rule is eyewash.

"I'm not going to break the rule, but some coach is going to have a heart attack this year because of how hot he gets with a helmet on. It's going to be brutal.

"I don't people are thinking the rule through."

The Rockies have become everybody's favorite underdog. First they had a scorching finish to the regular season, forcing (and winning) an epic one-game playoff with the Padres.

Then, undaunted by playing the favored Phillies, they won the first two games on the road to put the Phillies on the ropes. But if that wasn't enough, well, there's this -- from the Denver Post:

Manager Clint Hurdle revealed today that the players, of their own accord, voted a playoff share to Amanda Coolbaugh, the widow of Tulsa Drillers coach Mike Coolbaugh.

Coolbaugh, the Drillers' first-base coach, was killed when a line drive struck him in the head during a game earlier this summer. Tulsa is the Rockies' Double-A farm team.
[...]
"I was passed on the information that they voted Amanda Coolbaugh a share - a full share - which I found speaks to their awareness, speaks to their passion, speaks to every good thing about them," Hurdle said.

Make no mistake, we're not talking about chump change -- as the Post points out, if the team goes on to win the World Series, a full share could be as much as $362,000. On a team like the Yankees or Red Sox, that's what's left between the cushions of the clubhouse couch, but the Rockies ranked 25th out of 30 with a modest $54.4 million payroll this year, and 30% of that ($16.6 million) is going to just one player, Todd Helton. For about half the guys on the team, $362K would represent a 50% (or more!) increase to their 2007 salary. Seriously, if you don't have a horse in this race, how can you not be cheering for the Rockies right now?

Previously on FanHouse:
Tulsa Drillers Coach Mike Coolbaugh Killed by Foul Ball

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.

[ .. ]

"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.

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.

{Via BBTF.}

The Pulaski County coroner has released a preliminary autopsy report on Mike Coolbaugh, the Tulsa Drillers coach who was killed by a line drive while in the first-base coaching box Sunday.

Here are the details:

A preliminary autopsy report shows that a burst blood vessel in Mike Coolbaugh's neck, near his brain, killed the Tulsa Drillers hitting coach when he was hit by a batted ball on Sunday.

"It hit him in the back of the left side of his neck, kind of right below the ear," Pulaski County coroner Mark Malcolm said.

The ball compressed the left vertebral artery, which travels up the left side of the spinal column and provides blood to the brain. The artery compressed against the vertebra at the top of his spine, right at the base of the skull, and a hemorrhage was the result, Malcolm said.

What's of particular interest to me is since Coolbaugh was struck in the neck, a batting helmet may not have even saved his life. In any event, this report further strengthens the fact that the coach's box can be a rather dangerous place.

{Via the Biz of Baseball.}

Partly due to the recent tragic death of Mike Coolbaugh and partly because he's wanted to do it for some time, Rockies 1B coach Glenallen Hill wore a helmet throughout tonight's game against the Padres.

"It just makes sense," he said Tuesday night.

[ ... ]

As a player, Hill hit some balls that whizzed past the pitcher's heads so fast they didn't have time to react. "I was thankful they didn't hit them because they didn't move," Hill said. "They didn't move their glove."

Still, it wasn't until Coolbaugh's death that he decided to don a helmet.

"I had thought about it but didn't want to put it into play," Hill said. "Then, I heard about Mike and it brought a lot of emotions, for his family, his children, safety, how many close calls I've had. It just makes sense."

Hill said he always appreciates it when batters reach first base and hand over their body armor: "I strap the stuff on."

I understand the sentiment here. Really, I do. This certainly isn't a bad idea. But if we're going to start throwing this logic around -- Joe Torre says later in the article that every base coach should be wearing a helmet now -- this should certainly extend to pitchers. They are much closer to the hitter and thus are at a higher risk for injury -- even with gloves.

But until someone dies on the mound from a line drive, I sincerely doubt we're going to be seeing a pitcher in a helmet anytime soon.

As the AP story properly states in the headline, "Tragedy Strikes on Baseball Field." Former major leaguer Mike Coolbaugh, who was drafted by the Blue Jays and played with the Brewers in 2001, and the Cardinals in 2002, was killed on Sunday night.

The Drillers' radio announcer, Mark Neely, said during the game's broadcast that Coolbaugh, 35, was struck in the left temple by a hard-hit line drive from Tulsa's Tino Sanchez and immediately fell backward.

Coolbaugh reportedly lost consciousness and stopped breathing. He was administered CPR on the field and was taken by ambulance to Baptist Medical Center in North Little Rock where he was pronounced dead at 9:47 p.m., said Terry Kuykendall, a spokesman for the North Little Rock police department.

It's always terrible to have to write about news like this. The story serves as a reminder to show how dangerous batted balls can be. You have to wonder if baseball will make it mandatory for coaches to start wearing helmets in the coaches boxes. Given light of this story, I think that would be an excellent idea.