Gregory Crews

Instructor Mrs. Mahaffey

English 1102

18 February 2013

Sources

Alexander, Richard. "Blog." Alexander Injury. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. In this blog they are leaning more towards the protection of athletes from the helmet issue standpoint. They even show that the number of batters hit is up 50 % from the 1960s. They also talk about a player who died from a head injury from a pitch to the head. Using this source will be the main argument to my paper show the need for better helmets.

"Other Sports." Boy's Baseball Injury Raises Bat Safety Questions. N.p., 17 May 2008. Web. 18 Feb. 2013 When Steven Domalewski was hit in the chest with the lack of protection he ended up becoming disabled. Steven Domalewski was a healthy young athlete when we was struck in the chest by the baseball and stopped his heart. An injury like this is a clear indication that their should be more protection in sports to

prevent something like this. This source is a perfect example of the need to better protect the athletes in baseball and will be my main case to help argue the need for better protection.

Pediatrics Vol. 107 No. 4 April 1, 2001 pp. 782 -784 looking at all the aspects of injuries in baseball, from head injuries to chest injuries to eye injuries there is a clear need for better protection in sports. Baseball is the leading cause of eye injuries from the ages 5-14 years old. This article will help me show that even the little things can make a big difference in protection like just wearing goggles to protect your eyes and will help back up my previous source with protection all throughout baseball.

Perez, Angel. Personal interview. 10 Feb. 2012 During this interview Mr. Perez stated that there is more of a need for better helmets now than ever with all the athletes becoming bigger and stronger. Also he said that he has seen some really bad head injuries that have led to hospitalization and that could have easily been prevented with better helmets. Using this source will help me backup my sources with personal experiences and eyewitness accounts of head injuries.

Xenith Football & Batting Helmets for Enlightened Warriors." Xenith Football & Batting Helmets for Enlightened Warriors. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.

With the new design for helmets not only for baseball but for football too the new helmets will be more effective in preventing blows to the head. Like car air bags they have shock absorbers in the helmets to help prevent the head from moving and to disperse the force of the impact when hit. This source will help me with what is to come in the future and take this paper further.

Synthesis Athletes are becoming bigger, stronger, faster and more skilled every day and trying to figure out how to prevent injuries is something that would really help in all sports worldwide. The sources I have collected I feel will help my paper the most to help argue there is a great need for protection in baseball. Most of these sources overlap saying that there is a great need for better head protection in baseball. Some of the sources though talk about that there should be more focus on not only the head but other parts of the athlete too like the eyes and chest. From one of my sources there was a young athlete who was hit in the chest and his heart stopped and now he is disabled. That is a scary thought in itself that he could have died. Also from one of the sources I found the number of athletes getting hit by a pitch has increased from 0.22 to 0.33 thats a 50% increase from the 1960s. From seeing numbers like this it is scary that there has been a 50% increase in the number of player being hit by a pitch and it a one in three chance you will get hit. Also from my personal interview, I asked my coach; what is the best thing that could be done to help protect athletes? And his response was coaches arent teaching the batters how to protect themselves when they are

put to bat and how to avoid the pitch. From this I can say that coaches arent focused on the essentials they are focused on making their team the best. From the source Pediatrics Vol. 107 No. 4, they focus on the eyes injuries and this is something I found to be surprising I didnt realize that baseball was the leading cause in eye injuries. The best part of the resources that I found was there is a company that has actually developed a new helmet for baseball and football. From what I have read their helmets are comparison to airbags and the air plates in the helmet are meant to take more impact and help spread the impact throughout the helmet. I feel that all my sources are very good and all agree in the sense that there needs to be something done to help with the protection with the athletes and that in the future there will be better helmets and better protection for eyes and the chest.