On July 22, 2007, Mike Coolbaugh, a first base coach with the Tulsa Drillers, a Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, was struck in the head with a line drive while coaching first base.
He died later that evening.
The next season Major League Baseball required all first and third-base coaches to wear helmets in the field in both the majors, and at the minor league level in order to prevent another tragedy like the one that happened with Coolbaugh.
In high school baseball, however, where coaches are the same distance from home plate and that hitters use aluminum bats, you won't see this.
At the prep softball level, the players are even closer to home plate, yet you won't see coaches with helmets either.
Minooka coach Mark Brown got hit a few times earlier this season. There were a couple of times when he got hit in the shin, while Kassie Marsala nearly smacked him right in the knee.
In the Indians' game against Morris on May 6, Brown was involved in a situation coaching third base that was downright scary.
While one of his runners was trying to score, a Redskins fielder overthrew third base and the ball went past Brown. Morris pitcher Morgan Akre, who was backing up, accidentally hit Brown in the head on the throw towards home plate, and he was down for a little bit.
"I was looking at the play. All of the sudden, I was on the ground. It took me out for about five seconds," Brown said. "If it would have got me in the temple I would have been in some serious trouble."
Thankfully for Brown, Akre was close to him when she threw the ball.
"That was scary," Morris coach Amy Barr said. "Thankfully it was a thrown ball, and Morgan tried to stop her throw when she realized he was in the middle of a play.
"At first I thought he was out. He wasn't thankfully, and luckily he bounced up and seemed to be OK."
These days, the bats that prep softball players use are stronger, and the pitching rubber was moved back two years ago, giving hitters yet another advantage. Brown has also been hit in the head a couple of times in practice, and he admits that he takes a few steps back when one of his more powerful hitters is up.
With what he felt that day, Brown wouldn't argue if the IHSA forced coaches to wear helmets in the field.
"If it's for safety I wouldn't be opposed to it. You're not really winning a fashion contest out there to begin with anyways," Brown said. "You're pretty close, especially softball. Baseball's a little further back and they're still wearing helmets (at the professional level).
"Especially with the bats they're making now. They're jumping off the bat, it's coming at you pretty quick. I wouldn't be opposed to it at all."
Even though she saw what happened to Brown, and was hit with a ball on her lower body by Morris third baseman Layney Miller in a game against Seneca this spring, Barr admits that she wouldn't necessarily want to wear a helmet.
"I think at first, I'd feel really weird. I don't know if I would feel comfortable with that," she said. "I don't know, I guess because I've never done that before. You just think of it as a player thing."
Scary moment in the I-8
Former Plano baseball coach D.J. Cocks, who was the head man at Newark from 2004-07, was at the center of another ugly moment this past season.
Cocks was coaching third base in a game against Sandwich when his top hitter, Alex Ramirez, smacked a line drive right at the coaches box. Cocks did his best to move out of the way, but the ball was just hit too hard.
"He hit the ball so hard that I didn't have any time to react whatsoever," said Cocks who was laid off from his teaching position at the end of the school year, and had to give up his coaching job. "All I could do was lift my leg a little bit and it hit me in the calf."
The Reapers actually had a second game later that day, and Cocks just iced up the leg when his team got on the bus to Hinckley-Big Rock to play under the lights.
The next day at school while Cocks was sitting at his desk, he wanted to get up and walk, but realized he couldn't put any pressure on his leg, which was swollen. So, he called the trainer down, just wanting to get some crutches.
Cocks ended up finding out that the injury was more serious than he thought. The trainer told him that he had compartment syndrome. Basically, he had no pulse in his leg.
The trainer sent him to the emergency room at Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora. Doctors there put him into surgery right away and he was in the hospital for four days.
If Cocks wouldn't have went to the hospital, he could have easily lost his leg.
"I got lucky by the fact that our trainer did a good job saying 'hey, you need to go to the emergency room,'" Cocks said. "She probably saved my leg."
Cocks knows that if that ball off Ramirez' bat would have hit him in the head, it could have been a different story.
"If that would have hit me in the head, I don't know if I'd be talking to you today," he said. "I seriously doubt I would have been a normal human being again after taking a shot like that."
Cocks admits that even though he's had some close calls before that incident, prior to nearly losing his leg he wouldn't have wanted to wear a helmet out in the field.
That incident, however, changed his mind. He also said that the Manteno coaching staff has decided to wear helmets next season, due to what happened to Cocks and the fact that they've had some close calls themselves.
"To tell you the honest truth, before this happened to me, I would have probably not liked (wearing a helmet). I think sometimes guys in general get that tough-guy syndrome. I think that's kind of how I felt," Cocks said. "It's definitely something that's opened my eyes."
The future
If the IHSA were to pass a rule requiring coaches to wear helmets in either baseball or softball, it would most likely have to be adopted by the National Federation of State High School Associations first. Whenever the NFHS adopts a rule, the IHSA is usually following.
IHSA Softball Administrator Matt Troha said that if the IHSA wanted to adopt a change without the NFHS, he would go to his softball advisory committee, which is made up of five coaches, an athletic director, a principal and an official.
So far, Troha said he hasn't heard of anyone adopting a rule.
"I have never been asked about it. At least not in detail where there would have been any recommendation or legislation," Troha said. "It's something that wouldn't shock me if we saw it down the line."
Baseball coaches with different opinions
Coal City's Jerry McDowell is another area high school coach that would be fine with wearing a helmet. In fact, he's almost surprised that it's not mandatory yet.
"I figured we would have it. You've got it in the pros, you've got it in college. Why not have it in high school where the ball's coming off the bat fast? I always thought we'd go with wooden bats by this time. I'm sure the coaches will be required to wear a helmet," McDowell said. "[Wearing helmets] would be fine, because it's a safety issue. Because we're trying to clear everything up safety-wise."
McDowell is on the state board for the Illinois Elementary School Association, and he says that the prospect of coaches wearing helmets in the field has been talked about at that level, but that nothing would probably happen unless the IHSA adopts the rule change.
"I'm sure next year it's going to be a hot topic to be talked about," McDowell said.
Seneca coach Kirk Houchin is one person that admits he wouldn't be in favor of wearing a helmet in his third-base coaching box.
"I would not like to wear one myself. I've never had a ball come close to me. Personally, I would rather not wear one," Houchin said. "Just personal comfort. I've gone 25-30 years without one.
"I've had some line drives over my head and I've been able to get out of the way of some. ... I'd rather just take my chances."
Morris coach Todd Kein has been hit a few times coaching the bases, and was hit in the back about five years ago. He decides not to wear a helmet, but is also fine should the IHSA decide to force coaches to do so.
Kein does think that eventually, himself and all other prep coaches will have a batting helmet resting on their head at either first or third base.
"I can definitely see a time, where I think we're one or two more incidents away from something like that from becoming mandatory," he said. "It's one of those situations where you tend to put up the stop sign after the accident."
"Anything within the spirit of safety is certainly reasonable."
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