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Showing posts from August, 2017

Nate's Notebook: How I would try to make baseball safer

Although it's a given that baseball players are going to get hurt, there are some ways that Major League Baseball could make the game less hazardous for it's athletes. Here are a few practical ideas to help make the game safer without changing the way it's played. 1. Foam rubber outfield walls. Why are the outfield walls in major league baseball parks covered with padding the thickness of an oven mitt? In some spots there is no padding at all. Wrigley Field literally has a brick wall out there. Players get hurt crashing into these walls all the time. Earlier this season, Yankees OF Jacoby Ellsbury received a sprained neck and a concussion slamming into a wall. He made the catch, but landed on the DL. Clearly, the "warning track" is not enough of a deterrent. Outfield walls are bad for your health. Photo: USA Today My suggestion: 3-foot-thick foam rubber outfield walls. This would prevent countless serious injuries every year, and it wouldn'